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YOUR Microexpression Questions Answered

Dr. David Matsumoto, Director of Humintell answers questions from his free microexpressions webinar on February 3, 2022. To watch the replay of the webinar in its entirety, go here.

Please find below a complete list of questions and their timestamps corresponding to the above video:

0:00 Introduction by Dr. Matsumoto

0:31 How do you get better at seeing microexpressions? I know I miss SO much

View all of Humintell’s Microexpression Training here

1:43 What is the role of different cultures on micro-facial expression recognition?

2:55 What would be the most necessary jobs that need this type of training?

4:19 What’s better about reading faces than reading the whole body?

6:34 Sometimes the connection btwn microexpressions and emotions is under discussion. I believe you see a clear connection, is this correct? What is your scientific view on this?

Learn more on emotion appraisals here

9:17 Does the ability to achieve high level of focus play a role in the ability of recognizing microexpressions?

11:52 Why don’t we develop videos as a tool to detect microexpressions? If it’s difficult to detect expressions in videos, why don’t we use artificial intelligence or machine learning techniques to detect facial muscles?

15:48 What do you think about using videos in the training process? Is there any reason why you didn’t want to use videos but used photos instead?

16:40 When I go microexpression training, should I treat it like an athlete training who need to exercise on a regular basis to keep up in shape or will I get to the point where I will be able to recognize microexpressions without the need for training?

17:59 Normally I want a candidate to feel comfortable during a recruitment interview but microexpressions show best during high stakes interactions. Is there a specific technique you recommend when asking behavioral based interview questions to keep the candidate comfortable, but also nervous enough to show a true emotion through microexpressions?

20:23 Are there any competencies (ex. teamwork, conflict, leadership, handling stress) that you recommend targeting during a recruitment interview that may reveal microexpressions more so than others?

22:00 Would you prefer virtual video recording to observe full expressions over interviewing in person while wearing a mask?

23:22 Are there any famous incidents of crimes being prevented through microexpression training reading? I remember Lie to Me talked about the murderer’s face.

24:07 Can you recommend any recent publications on microexpressions?

  1. Background factors predicting accuracy and improvement in micro expression recognition
  2. Scientific Evidence for Training the Ability to Read Microexpressions of Emotion
  3. Judgments of Subtle Facial Expressions of Emotion
  4. Microexpressions Differentiate Truths From Lies About Future Malicious Intent

24:23 Are there any degrees or programs where I can study facial expressions or microexpressions in a university? I haven’t been able to find any.

For more information on how you can earn a certificate in nonverbal communication, go here

26:22 What do you think about the face reading techniques? Like those face readers who read the physiognomy and not muscle movement. 28:16 I have a question regarding CONTEMPT. Some younger people say that they do not see contempt in this way (PFE). In faces of older people they see that expression, in faces of younger people they don’t see contempt in this way. My first thought is that they don’t see the mircroexpressions. Or is it possible that contempt changed a little by generation?

See The Relationship Among Expressions, Labels, and Descriptions of Contempt

The post YOUR Microexpression Questions Answered first appeared on Humintell.

Babies use ‘Saliva Sharing’ to Infer Close Relationships

Baby, Baby With Mom, Mother Kiss

Any parent of young children know that raising kids can be a bit messy, especially when they’re infants. In addition to plenty of kisses, there’s always drool to be wiped, and slobbery feedings.

Recent research has shown that exposure to family members’ saliva, what is known in the academic world as “saliva sharing”, plays a crucial role in how we make sense of the world around us. It helps shape our discernment of social relationships, starting from our first months of life.

The study entitled “Early concepts of intimacy: young humans use saliva sharing to infer close relationships” was led by Ashley Thomas and recently published in the journal Science.

At MIT, Thomas studies how infants recognize different types of social relationships and how they learn about their specific social worlds, how they place themselves into relationships and into larger social groups.

 

Saliva Sharing

As reported in MIT News, In human societies, people typically distinguish between “thick” and “thin” relationships.

Thick relationships, usually found between family members, feature strong levels of attachment, obligation, and mutual responsiveness. Anthropologists have also observed that people in thick relationships are more willing to share bodily fluids such as saliva.

“That inspired both the question of whether infants distinguish between those types of relationships, and whether saliva sharing might be a really good cue they could use to recognize them,” Thomas says.

To study those questions, the researchers observed toddlers (16.5 to 18.5 months) and babies (8.5 to 10

months) as they watched interactions between human actors and puppets. In the first set of experiments, a puppet shared an orange with one actor, then tossed a ball back and forth with a different actor.

After the children watched these initial interactions, the researchers observed the children’s reactions when the puppet showed distress while sitting between the two actors. Based on an earlier study of nonhuman primates, the researchers hypothesized that babies would look first at the person whom they expected to help. That study showed that when baby monkeys cry, other members of the troop look to the baby’s parents, as if expecting them to step in.

The MIT team found that the children were more likely to look toward the actor who had shared food with the puppet, not the one who had shared a toy, when the puppet was in distress.

In future work, the researchers hope to perform similar studies with infants in cultures that have different types of family structures. In adult subjects, they plan to use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study what parts of the brain are involved in making saliva-based assessments about social relationships.

Related to Disgust

In a commentary published alongside this new study reported by BT Times, Christine Fawcett of Uppsala University in Sweden notes that the findings not only bring to light what young children understand about the social structures around them, but also raise further questions about how children acquire these expectations and how universal they may be.

She points out that exchanging saliva with a stranger might make individuals feel disgusted, possibly as a method to protect themselves from contamination or disease, but that people will willingly do so with those close to them, even their pets.

According to Fawcett, there may be an evolutionary pressure to suppress disgust with body substances in order to aid in the care of babies, and infants’ experience with this type of caretaking may then lead to a learned expectation that such behavior is connected with closeness.

Various volunteers took part in the series of experiments, but as the study progressed, the researchers recruited a more geographically, ethnically, and economically diverse population. However, all of the participants were from the U.S.

While saliva sharing may be an universal cue, Thomas pointed out that saliva norms and who is considered family vary around the world – and so may what seeing a saliva sharing connection imply.

The post Babies use ‘Saliva Sharing’ to Infer Close Relationships first appeared on Humintell.

Free Microexpressions Webinar Recap

Did you miss Dr. Matsumoto’s free microexpressions webinar on February 3rd?

Don’t worry, you can watch the entire recording below!

Universal Facial Expressions

Arguments Against Facial ExpressionsAny discussion of microexpressions starts with a large acknowledgement to the fact there are seven facial expressions of emotion that research has shown to be universally expressed and recognized.

The original universality research has led to decades of further research documenting the universality of the expression and recognition of these facial expressions of emotion.

Today the area of emotion research is also known as the field of affective sciences and these areas of research are huge not only in psychology, but other social sciences as well.

The Benefit of Reading Facial Expressions of Emotion

Family, Love, Parenthood, VacationThere have been so many studies over the last few decades that have demonstrated and documented the importance of being able to read facial expressions of others.

This research has documented those benefits within

  • Families
  • Social groups
  • Work settings
  • Clubs

One of the biggest reasons why facial expressions are so important is because they serve the purpose of communication.

We see other people’s facial expressions of emotion and we have an idea of:

  • What’s going on in their mind
  • The social meaning about whatever they’re emotional about
  • Their intentions and motivations

All of this serves the purpose of communication, just like words.

If you follow the evolutionary history of humans, facial expressions of emotion occurred in non-human primates before language. They are the original language (albeit nonverbal) that we have to allow for social coordination.

The main purpose of all communication (verbal and nonverbal) is to share our intentions.  By sharing our intentions with each other, that’s how we can build on our societies and cultures.

The ability to share our intentions to the extent that we can as humans by language is further augmented by facial expressions of emotion. Without the ability to share our intentions, we would have social chaos.

What about Microexpressions?

Microexpressions are a very special type of facial expression of emotion and were first discovered by Haggard and Isaacs (1966).

In their study, Haggard and Isaacs outlined how they discovered these “micromomentary” expressions while scanning motion picture films of psychotherapy hours, searching for indications of non-verbal communication between patient and therapist.

Microexpressions are very different- expressions that occur under 1/2 a second. Often times it is very difficult for people to see them or even if they are seen, people don’t know how to interpret them.

It doesn’t seem that people in human societies need to be able to see microexpressions for us to generally get along. Often times people miss them or if they see them, they don’t know how to interpret them. Despite this fact, humans are thriving all around the world. For the survival of the species and social coordination as a whole, we probably don’t need to see microexpressions.

However, some of us may want to have that ability. Especially those who are in professions where they interview others professionally where they want that extra edge to understand others’ thoughts and feelings.

We know from our research and from our training that we can learn to see microexpressions.

Development and Validation

Humintell’s microexpression training tools have gone through many steps for development and validation.

These steps include:

1. Image Creation

Researchers have measured exactly which muscles are activated when people are spontaneously experiencing and expressing an emotion. If people all around the world experience an emotion and express it spontaneously, the same muscles on their face are activated.

These muscles are measured and thus, the specific muscles and their combinations that correspond to the seven basic emotions is known and validated by science.

This first step called image creation involved hiring a broad range of actors. Each actor was taught to move the specific muscles corresponding to each emotions.

Thousands of photos were taken from individuals representing 6 different ethnic groups and both genders (male and female).

2. Preliminary image selections

This process involved sorting through the thousands of photos that were taken to see which ones were usable and which ones are not.

3. FACS coding and validation

After the images were selected, they were FACS coded. FACS stands for the facial action coding system. Each image was coded according to which muscles were activated on the face.

The validation procedure began once the images have been FACS coded. They were matched to the appropriate emotion based on decades of research which has outlined which specific muscles are activated when a spontaneous facial expression of emotion is elicited. Each image was matched to their corresponding emotion based on their FACS codes.

4. Selections for balance across sections

This step involved matching the intensity of the emotion as well as matching for gender and ethnicity for each section of the training.

5. Structure of the training

The overall structure of the online training: pre-test, instruction, practice, review, and post-test was based on learning pedagogy. There is substantial training development literature that demonstrates that this course format is the best way to train any skill.

Live Q&A

At the end of the webinar Dr. Matsumoto answered live questions as well as questions that were previously submitted via email.

The post Free Microexpressions Webinar Recap first appeared on Humintell.