Social Engineering Blogs

An Aggregator for Blogs About Social Engineering and Related Fields

James Holmes’ Facial Expressions

Several people have asked us to comment on James Holmes’ facial expressions during his first court appearance on July 23.

The 24 year-old Holmes is the sole suspect in the Aurora Theater shootings which left 12 people dead and almost 60 others wounded.

Our thoughts go out to all the victims’ families affected by this senseless tragedy.

Photographs are often difficult to analyze, as you cannot usually tell if the expression is a reaction or a gesture.  You also cannot see how long the expression is on the face.

When asked what facial expression can be observed in the picture above, Dr. Matsumoto states that it “Depends on how long it’s on the face and if it’s a reaction or a gesture.  If reaction then fear. If gesture then disbelief”

Can a photograph serve as a reliable document of truth?

Take a look at Dr. Matsumoto’s Academy of Art interview below to hear his thoughts.

Facial Distortion: Optical Illusions

A new and interesting video shows an optical illusion that researchers have dubbed the “Flashed Face Distortion Effect”.

How does this work?  

Well, it is quite simple:  by flashing ordinary portraits aligned at the eyes, the human brain begins to compare and exaggerate the differences, causing the faces to seem malformed and hyper exaggerated.   Researcher Matthew Thompson writes,

“ Like many interesting scientific discoveries, this one was an accident. Sean Murphy, an undergraduate student, was working alone in the lab on a set of faces for one of his experiments. He aligned a set of faces at the eyes and started to skim through them. After a few seconds, he noticed that some of the faces began to appear highly deformed and grotesque. He looked at the especially ugly faces individually, but each of them appeared normal or even attractive.“

Click here to view the embedded video.