Sympathy Crying: Insights from Infrared Thermal Imaging on a Female Sample.

To
induce crying female participants were given the choice to decide which film
they wanted to cry to. Compared to baseline, temperature started increasing on
the forehead, the peri-orbital region, the cheeks and the chin before crying
and reached even higher temperatures during crying. The maxillary area showed
the opposite pattern and a gradual temperature decrease was observed compared
to baseline as a result of emotional sweating. The results suggest that tears
of sympathy are part of a complex autonomic interaction between the sympathetic
and the parasympathetic nervous systems, with the latter preceding the former.
The emotional origin of the phenomenon seems to derive from subjective internal
factors that relate to ones personal experiences and attributes with tears
arising in the form of catharses or as part of shared sadness.