facial expressions Archives - Page 3 of 10 - Renee Ellory

Expression of the Day: My Thoughts

May 5, 2016/2 Comments/in 7 Universal Expressions, expression, facial expressions, human behavior/by Eyes for Lies

On May 3, I posted this photo and asked people what they saw when they looked at this expression. I also asked, “If a person did this after you asked them a question, would you think they are lying because they are covering their mouth?”

This is not a universal expression of emotion. It’s just one of many, many facial expressions we make as humans, and while it shows a negative response–that’s about all we can say. There is not enough information to determine anything else.

Some of the potentials one could simply speculate at without forming an opinion would be:

–Thought of something startling, uncomfortable, displeasing
–Tasted something displeasing or possibly burped up something unpleasant
–Saw someone do something unpleasant
–Has a feeling of disbelief over hearing some news, conversation–or seeing a behavior (theft?)

The list could on with other examples, too.

We can’t determine much from this picture other than she felt something negative until we got more information. If I saw a person reacting like this, I would simply say, “Are you okay?” and let the person provide more information.

Now, if you ask someone a question and they give you this response, I do not believe covering the hand over one’s mouth signifies lying. We cover our mouths for many reasons from shock to disbelief to surprise.

A reaction like this could also be as simple as this woman remembering she was supposed to be somewhere, and forgot–totally unrelated to anything anyone said!

While we can see an emotion or expression displayed on someone’s face, we can never be sure of why until we dig deeper.

Reading Foreign Faces

March 20, 2016/3 Comments/in expression, facial expressions, facial features, facial profiling/by Eyes for Lies

As Westerners, when we look at people from the East, we often struggle to identify different nationalities. It’s more challenging for us to identify Taiwanese features and distinguish them from say Japanese or Vietnamese features. It’s even difficult at times to distinguish the differences in facial subtleties of people of the same nationality.

But have you ever wondered if we are equally as challenging to read to Easterners?

We actually are more challenging for them to differentiate for them, too!

Does this surprise you?

If you want the answers to this test given on the video, click over to the YouTube video and the answers are in the text below the video.

Do you find this interesting?

It’s much like meeting a foreigner. You assume “they” have an accent, right? When in reality you BOTH have an accent to each other.

Thanks to Paul for sharing this!

Have you heard of face blindness?

March 1, 2016/10 Comments/in face reading, facial expressions/by Eyes for Lies

60 Minutes on Sunday night did a story on face blindness (also known as prosopagnosia). I suspect you probably take your ability to identify people by their face for granted, but not everyone is so blessed. People who suffer from face blindness cannot use facial features such as eyes, nose, lips or face shape to recognize a face. Instead, they rely on hair style, clothing style, gait, voice, etc. to identiy people in their life.

Scientists estimate 1 in 50 people suffer from this disorder, and they are either born this way, or lose the ability after a stroke or injury.

How do you recognize a face of a friend or family member?

How do you differentiate your dad’s facial features from your uncle, or the man next door?

How would tell someone to identify that this man is Bob and not Bill? And that Bill is not John, or Tim, or Zack!

Are you scratching your head?

We do a lot of powerful things with our subconscious mind, don’t we?

You don’t have to think about how you know Susan from Sandy, or Bill from Bob, or your co-worker from your neighbor. You just do it naturally and intuitively. You recognize the subtle differences that make up each face. But scientists don’t know how we do that. And when you think about it–it is complex.

How would tell a face blind person how you read people’s identity through their faces so they could identify 100 different men or women?

I somewhat liken face blindness to what I do. I see so many subtle elements that people communicate that others don’t, and I can tell you in a very challenging to communicate those subtleties to other people. You think all people see them, but they don’t.

Next time you run into someone that doesn’t seem to recognize you–give them a little extra space. They may suffer from face blindness.