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Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test

truth-lies-deception-deception detectionSo you want to catch a liar in the act. What is the first thing you should look for? The answer are what researchers call “hot spots”. Hot spots are inconsistencies between what people say and what their nonverbal behavior is saying.

For example, if you ask a person how they like your dress and they say “I love it!” but they flash a sign of disgust, this would be a hot spot. What they said and what their body said are inconsistent with each other.

It’s important to understand that hot spots always a sign that someone is lying, but often times are situations where there is an underlying or hidden message.

NOTE: If you see a hot spot and you feel the situation is necessary, you should ask more questions, or find out why that individual has hidden feelings about that topic. Don’t jump to the conclusion that they are automatically lying.

Put Yourself To The Test!

Put yourself to the test with the fun videos below.

This episode of National Geographic’s Brain Games tested actor Ted Danson’s ability to read microexpressions.

They brought in 4 poker players who are known to control their expressions in high stakes situations. Each poker player had two shot glasses in front of them- one containing apple juice and the other containing apple cider vinegar.

Their instructions were to drink the liquid (not knowing if they were drinking the juice or vinegar) and to say “this tastes good” all while keeping a poker face.

Who is Lying?

Let’s look at each individual one by one to see what their faces revealed.

Person #1

Person #2

Person #3

Person #4

Who do you think is lying and what did you see?

Weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section and we’ll reveal the answer in our next blog!

The post Reading Microexpressions: Put Yourself to the Test first appeared on Humintell.

The Role of Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom

What role does nonverbal communication play in the classroom? As many children around the country head back to school, it’s important for parents and teachers to think about nonverbal communication and how it influences behavior and learning.

In the video below, Dr. Matsumoto discusses the role of nonverbal communication between teachers and students in order to create better engagement between them. For the complete interview, visit this past blog post.

Dr. Matsumoto believes teachers can think about how to structure an environment to foster a certain type of engagement. He emphasizes different types of environments give implicit messages. 

The Latest Research

Research backs up what Dr. Matsumoto suggests. A 2018 study published in the Journal of Experimental Child Psychology found that heavily decorated classrooms can bombard students with too much visual information, interfering with their memory and ability to focus.

While teachers have good intentions when decorating, many classrooms end up being “sensory-rich” in a way that “could hamper children’s learning gains rather than help,” according to psychologists Pedro Rodrigues and Josefa Pandeirada, who co-authored the study.

7 Tips to Foster a Better Learning Environment

What are some helpful tips to improve students’ executive functions, which include skills like memory, attention, and self-regulation? Read our handy infographic below created with info from Edutopia.

The post The Role of Nonverbal Communication in the Classroom first appeared on Humintell.

Can Children Read Masked Faces?

Can Children Read Masked Faces?

As children around the country return to school, the debate whether or not children should wear masks in school continues. In addition, the issue of whether kids wearing masks delays development has become a hot-button topic for many.

Some parents believe their children are being negatively impacted. They suggest that kids are unable to read social cues or see expressions and thus, they do not want their children or anyone else wearing them.

But those who want to prevent their unvaccinated kids from contracting COVID state that developmentally, children are just fine, even when they and everyone else around them is masked.

What does the latest research say about children, mask wearing, emotion recognition and child development? Read on to learn more.

Babies and Infants

Emotion Recognition Skills in ChildrenResearch has shown that infants as young as 27 weeks old begin to recognize facial expressions of emotion. In addition, a series of studies have shown that babies between the ages of 5 to 7 months recognize facial expressions of happiness, sadness, fear and surprise.

A key part of learning to communicate for a child is watching the faces, mouths, and expressions of the people closest to them. Babies and young children study faces intently, so the concern about masks covering the face is understandable. However, there are no known studies that use of a face mask negatively impacts a child’s speech and language development.

Interestingly, visually impaired children develop speech and language skills at the same rate as their peers. In fact, when one sense is taken away, the others may be heightened. Young children will use other clues provided to them to understand and learn language. They will watch gestures, hear changes in tone of voice, see eyes convey emotions, and listen to words.

Some people worry that although young infants shouldn’t wear face masks themselves, they will be subjected to developmental delays from not being able to see others’ full faces.

Yet experts say that babies and toddlers can get all the face time they need in the home with family members who aren’t wearing face masks.

By providing dedicated time to converse with your child without screens or other interruptions, children should reach their expected milestones.

READ: 4 Tips to Improve Infant Emotion Recognition Skills

Children age 3-5

While essential emotion processing is evident in infants, early childhood is considered a critical period for the development of understanding emotions and emotion processing.

In a report entitled “Masking Emotions: Face Masks Impair How We Read Emotions” researchers demonstrated that face masks influence the human ability to infer emotions by observing facial expressions.

Specifically, a mask obstructing a face limits the ability of people of all ages to infer emotions expressed by facial features, but the difficulties associated with the mask’s use were significantly pronounced in children ages 3 and 5 years old.

The researchers’ findings are of essential importance; they suggest that we live in a time that may potentially affect the development of social and emotion reasoning. In addition, young children’s future social abilities should be monitored to assess the true impact of the use of masks.

One proposed solution is to design devices for personal protection that allows visibility of the lower part of the face, especially all environments important for developing social and interaction skills in children, such as in education or rehabilitation. This is especially important for children suffering from sensory or cognitive deficits.

Children age 7-13

A grid of faces showing various emotions.

In research conducted by Ashley Ruba and her team at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, researchers used our own JACFEE/JACNeuF images (available here) to conduct their study.

They showed more than 80 children, ages 7 to 13, photos of faces displaying sadness, anger or fear that were unobstructed, covered by a surgical mask, or wearing sunglasses.

As reported by UWM, the kids were asked to assign an emotion to each face from a list of six labels.

The results? The kids were correct about the uncovered faces as often as 66 percent of the time, well above the odds (about 17 percent) of guessing one correct emotion from the six options.

With a mask in the way, they correctly identified sadness about 28 percent of the time, anger 27 percent of the time, and fear 18 percent of the time.

The researchers suggest if children can do better than guessing at emotions even with a mask in place, they’re likely to do even better in real-life situations. It all adds up to kids growing in their emotional capabilities, even if some of their interactions with others are happening through face coverings.

Says lead researcher Ruba:

“I hope this settles some nerves. Kids are really resilient. They’re able to adjust to the information they’re given, and it doesn’t look like wearing masks will slow down their development in this case.”

For more on how children learn about emotions, watch this lecture by Dr. Ruba below:

Tips to Communicate with Kids while Wearing a Mask

Maybe you’re in a profession where wearing a face mask is required. What are some helpful tips to better communicate with children while wearing a face mask?

The American Academy of Pediatrics has some helpful tips to be a better communicator:

The post Can Children Read Masked Faces? first appeared on Humintell.