NBC News.com reports on wrinkles making people look sadder and madder than they truly feel.  This new study suggests that wrinkles impede people’s ability to read a person’s facial expression of  emotion.

Researchers reported that people in the study rated faces of older adults as much more sad and angry than faces of younger adults even though they were exhibiting  neutral facial expressions.

More research is needed; however, to confirm these findings but the implications of such a study has a wide range.  These findings may affect how our older generations are treated in medical settings.  For instance, doctors may misperceive an older individual to be in more pain or anguish than they truly are.

The researchers found that there was no link between the level of sadness or anger participants thought older adults experienced in real life and their ratings of the faces.

Carlos Garrido,  researcher and doctoral student in social psychology at Penn State University states that wrinkles on the face can cause the mouth to drop and the forehead to crinkle, features that others may misperceive as anger or sadness.

In a similar article from HealthCanal.com, boys more so than girls were found to be able to perceive depression in their parents even when the parent thinks they are not showing any signs.

A University of Michigan Study finds that children who have one parent suffering from depression are skilled at picking up on their parent’s sadness.  Researchers analyzed data on 104 children ages 7-13 who had at least one parent diagnosed with depression.

Nester Lopez-Duran, one of the study’s authors and an assistant psychology professor said that high-risk boys were more sensitive to subtle expressions of sadness than their peers, including high-risk girls.  He notes that this can be due to a few things:

1.  Boys are less social than girls in important situations.  Perhaps high sensitivity to sadness influences how boys see their social world (i.e. they are less apt at using others as sources of comfort when they are sad).

2.  Other evidence points to the fact that different underlying processes that put kids at risk for depression may be different for boys than girls.

3.  It’s also possible that this unique skill does not reflect an underlying vulnerability and might be an adaptive strategy that develops in response to the environment. That is boys are more likely to receive harsh punishment and parental depression increases the risk of using harsh punishment.
“It is possible that these high-risk boys developed this skill in order to reduce the possibility of getting harsh punishment by essentially recognizing when mom or dad is upset and getting out of the way,” Lopez-Duran said.

Do you agree or disagree with the findings of this study? 

How would you react to your phone asking you if your super excited or feeling depressed?

HuffPost Tech reports on this new app for smartphones that is programmed to inquire and track your emotions throughout the day.

How it Works:

The app will pop up periodically asking its user how they are feeling.  It will then record and keep the user’s reponses so that it can track any patterns.  I will also invisibly monitor data such as a user’s calling and texting patterns as well as  track their converstaions to get an accurate log of how they are feeling.

Cecilia Mascolo, a reader in mobile systems at the Cambridge Computer Lab, points out, “Most people who see a therapist may only have an appointment once every fortnight.  Many, however, keep their phones with them most of the time. In terms of sheer presence, mobiles can provide an ongoing link with a person.”

This is similar to a past blog about 3D therapists.  For a fration of the cost, this app could be a pocket therapist that individuals can take anywhere and everywhere.

What is Your Opinion on this new Smartphone App? 
Is it a great idea or does it infringe on our privacy?

Photo Courtesy of imagerymajestic

Emotions are a huge part of human nature and social communication. Many people use the common social smile in every day interactions.  Although the social smile is easy for most people to flash on and off the face at will, there are factors that distinguish it from a true Duchenne Smile.

PopSci delves into the discussion that distressed emotions such as anger, fear, sadness and sometimes surprise are more difficult to fake on demand.

Why is this ?

Years of research from various sources purport that these expressions cause tension throughout the face as one part of the brain tries to control an expression caused by another part of the brain.  These expressions also rely on antagonistic muscle groups, pulling parts of the face in opposing directions.

According to the PoPSci article, sadness is a good example of this.  Sadness often involves both an expression of sadness and the desire to control that expression. “The tug of war over your face creates the quivering lip,” says Dr. Mark Frank, professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Buffalo.

Dr. David Matsumoto, Humintell’s director, comments on the facial muscles involved in the emotion of fear, “Fear involves more muscles in the top of the face than other emotions.  We have much less neural connection to the forehead, the eyebrows and the upper eyelids than to the lower muscles in the face, so it becomes hard for us to voluntarily control them.”

Dr. Hillel Aviezer, professor of Psychology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem goes on to point out that facial expressions are different from reactions.

– A reaction like a knee jerk is in response to sensory stimuli and activates motor responses, bypassing the brain. In contrast, body cues and facial expressions demonstrating emotion are brain based, meaning they can be controlled to a certain extent, even if we aren’t very good at it.

He goes on to point out, “Recreating the expression without feeling the emotion can be tricky.  Many people are poor posers of expressions; they simply don’t know what to move where.”