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Dr. Matsumoto Podcast Interview Part 2

Last week, we began discussing Dr. David Matsumoto’s podcast interview, but we weren’t able to get to all of it. So, now time to discuss the second half!

This time around, Dr. Matsumoto expounded on topics including the connection between deception and microexpressions, the role of gestures in communication, education, and artificial intelligence.

One of the important uses of microexpressions is their role in deception detection and lying. Even when somebody is trying to mask their true emotion, signs of it will “leak out” before they are able to sport the smile or passive expression that would hide their feelings. This is even more likely when that underlying emotion is particularly intense.

These “leaks” don’t necessarily prove truth or deception, but they may show that the emotion being expressed is not the expression being experienced. This can be the case for their gestures, body language, or facial expression.

Dr. Matsumoto connects this idea to the use of microexpressions. It is these ultra-quick expressions that get produced, but they are very hard to notice. Even people who notice a strange expression struggle at interpreting it. That is why most of the research involves video taping people and looking at the tapes frame by frame.

After this discussion, the interviewer sought to understand how different behaviors translate to their underling emotion.

While this is a big question, Dr. Matsumoto started by discussing different kinds of gestures. For example, certain types of hand waving exist to “animate speech.” These do not have inherent meaning, but this is still important in conveying excitement or word emphasis. Other gestures, called “emblems” can have specific verbal messages and include the “thumbs up,” among many others.

Gestures help with communication, but they also strengthen our own cognition. In experimental settings where hand gestures are constrained, people are shown to struggle at performing certain tasks, such as memory tests or mathematical problems.

Both Dr. Matsumoto and the interviewer emphasized the role of nonverbal communication in education. Clearly, an educational context is shaped by environmental factors, the behavior of the professor, and the way that professor conveys information.

Because these environmental factors determine a lot about a communicative context, as we discussed last week, Dr. Matsumoto emphasized the need for teachers to arrange classrooms as they saw necessary to determine certain sorts of educational engagement.

Similarly, while society emphasizes “what to say,” it often does not focus on how teachers should say things. Even if we praise (or chastise) a student, it is very important how this is done, in terms of the gestures and nonverbal behaviors conveyed by the teacher.

Finally, the interview ended with a discussion of artificial intelligence and how machines can be made to communicate effectively. Dr. Matsumoto stressed the need for machines to resemble humans but suggested that there was still uncertainty over exactly how human the robot looked.

Better Reading Body Language

While we have been focusing on microexpressions, reading people often depends on identifying their body language as well.

Humintell’s Dr. David Matsumoto has done exciting work on the role of body language in human communication and the extent to which similar patterns span cultures. As we’ve noted, it is necessary to disentangle what expressions are universal from those that differ based on culture, and in this respect body language is no different.

A recent article in Discover Magazine dug well into some of Dr. Matsumoto’s past work on body language and posture. Specifically, author Teal Burrell discussed Dr. Matsumoto’s work on the postures of Olympic and blind Paralympic athletes from around the world. This research found that, regardless of sight, victorious athletes consistently made the same posture of triumph.

While powerfully demonstrating universals across cultures, this same research also pointed to the role of culture. For example, defeated athletes often slump their shoulders in shame, but this is less common for those from cultures which discourage outward displays of shame. However, blind athletes from those same countries slumped their shoulders regardless of culture.

This helps show both a tendency to slump shoulders in shame but also the ability of culture to teach people to avoid that form of expression.

Dr. Matsumoto’s research underscores the importance of body language in understanding people and the culture that influences them. As the magazine piece continues, we can leverage our body language to make positive impacts on our own mood.

For instance, smiling may help reduce our stress levels, while so-called “power postures” can improve our confidence. A power posture, as we have blogged on before, is when the chest is thrust out with arms crossed, in a way that Burrell aptly describes as a “Wonder Woman” pose. Research into power postures does find that they lead to a great sense of power, but still such correlations can be taken with a grain of salt.

Body language isn’t just about changing how we feel but can also shape people’s perceptions of us. Eye contact, though not really an indicator of deception, helps promote a perception of trust. Similarly, mirroring posture and facial expressions helps show that we are listening and feeling empathetic.

This helps show how important body language is for us, but like many universal expressions, humans are not alone in our use of such communicative tools. In fact, Burrell points out how critical body language is for bees to communicate, and similar sorts of communicative dances are present among fish. Similarly, the highly intelligent ravens use their beaks to point and gesture, helping to form interpersonal bonds.

Coming to grips with how universal and powerful body language is is as important as understanding how culture mediates it. By better understanding both determinants of behavior, we can learn how to read people better and communicate effectively.

In Dr. Matsumoto’s Own Words

We’ve been talking about new microexpressions research for the last two weeks, so we’ll all benefit from Dr. David Matsumoto’s own insights.

In this new video, Dr. Matsumoto discussed his recent article on microexpressions and the importance of precisely studying microexpressions and their neurological correlates. He emphasizes the striking difference in neurological patterns between expressions at or above 200 ms and those below.