 | What do expressions mean to poets? Well, they transform its mysteries into lyrical words while artists paint its beauty. However, it is only skin-deep. Scientists and psychologists are able to dig into a person by "reading" one's face. "In a sense, the face is equipped to lie the most and leak the most, and thus can be a very confusing source of information," Paul Ekman, Ph.D, notes. Presently, psychologists are working with scientists to decihper these mixed signals. Yet, how possible is it really to be able to read a face? There are several things one must consider - your brain my comprehend it and analyze it within the context, but judgements are influenced by personal experience and memories. All in all, it is quite difficult to read expressions unless they are obvious ones such as smiling or crying. Thus, we subconsiously filter out weak signals. There is some evidence that women are better than men in reading weak signals. Scientists are able to measure brain signals of facial expressions, thanks to today's technology. It seems that the more genuine the expression, the more activity will occur in the brain. For example, a grocery bagger may smile while saying "have a nice day" to a customer, but the brain will produce more signals if the same person were to smile when he sees his girlfriend.
Interesting Facts For the Mind:
* With just 44 muscles, nerves, and blood vessels threaded through a scaffolding of bone and cartilage, all layered over by supple skin, the face can twist and pull into 5,000 expressions, all the way from an outright grin to the faintest sneer.
* There's a distinct anatomical difference between real and feigned expressions--and in the biological effect they produce in the creators of those expressions.
* We send and read signals with lightning-like speed and over great distances. A browflash--the lift of the eyebrow common when greeting a friend--lasts only a sixth of a second. We can tell in a blink of a second if a stranger's face is registering surprise or pleasure--even if he or she is 150 feet away.
* Smiles are such an important part of communication that we see them far more clearly than any other expression. We can pick up a smile at 300 feet--the length of a football field.
* Facial expressions are largely universal, products of biological imperatives. We are programmed to make and read faces. "The abilities to express and recognize emotion are inborn, genetic, evolutionary," declares George Rotter, Ph.D., professor of psychology at Montclair University in New Jersey.
* Culture, parenting, and experience can temper our ability to display and interpret emotions. Abused children may be prone to trouble because they cannot correctly gauge the meaning and intent of others' facial expressions.
Source: Sex Roles, A Journal Of Research Source: Psychology Today |
