Abstract
Smiles are the most commonly and frequently used facial expressions by human beings. Some scholars claimed that the low accuracy in recognizing genuine smiles is explained by the perceptual-attentional hypothesis, meaning that observers either did not pay attention to responsible cues or were unable to recognize these cues (usually the Duchenne marker or AU6 displaying as contraction of muscles in eye regions). We investigated whether training (instructing participants to pay attention either to the Duchenne mark or to mouth movement) might help improve the recognition of genuine smiles, including accuracy and confidence. Results indicated that attention to mouth movement improves these people’s ability to distinguish between genuine and posed smiles, with nullification of the alternative explanations such as sample distribution and intensity of lip pulling (AU12). The generalization of the conclusion requires further investigations. This study further argues that the perceptual-attentional hypothesis can explain smile genuineness recognition.
Highlights
Facial expressions are the primary channel used by humans to express social intent
We found that the proportion of AU6 was 92.5% (37 out of 40) for genuine smiles and 17.5% (7 out of 40) for posed smiles
The results show that paying attention to mouth movements can help improve performance with regard to distinguishing between genuine and posed smiles
Summary
Among the various human facial expressions, smiles are the most common and frequent. Smiles are often expressed during social interactions, representing a powerful signal of affiliative behavior, cooperation, and social bonding (Tomkins, 1962; Bachorowski and Owren, 2001; Martin et al, 2017). Smiling individuals are perceived as happier (Otta et al, 1996), more attractive, communal, competent (Matsumoto and Kudoh, 1993; Hess et al, 2002), likable (Palmer and Simmons, 1995), approachable, friendly, and honest (Centorrino et al, 2015). A smile from another promises a safe and satisfying interaction (Krys et al, 2016). That is why people tend to produce smiles frequently and voluntarily. The perceiver has a vested interested in examining their spontaneity
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
