Microexpression

Microexpressions of emotions (in order: surprise, fear/shock, sadness, anger, happiness and disgust)

A microexpression is a facial expression that only lasts for a short moment. It is the innate result of a voluntary and an involuntary emotional response occurring simultaneously and conflicting with one another, and occurs when the amygdala responds appropriately to the stimuli that the individual experiences and the individual wishes to conceal this specific emotion. This results in the individual very briefly displaying their true emotions followed by a false emotional reaction.[1]

Human emotions are an unconscious biopsychosocial reaction that derives from the amygdala and they typically last 0.5–4.0 seconds,[1] although a microexpression will typically last less than 1/2 of a second.[2] Unlike regular facial expressions it is either very difficult or virtually impossible to hide microexpression reactions. Microexpressions cannot be controlled as they happen in a fraction of a second, but it is possible to capture someone's expressions with a high speed camera and replay them at much slower speeds.[3] Microexpressions express the seven universal emotions: disgust, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, contempt, and surprise. Nevertheless, in the 1990s, Paul Ekman expanded his list of emotions, including a range of positive and negative emotions not all of which are encoded in facial muscles. These emotions are amusement, embarrassment, anxiety, guilt, pride, relief, contentment, pleasure, and shame.[4][5]

  1. ^ a b Elena Svetieva; Mark G. Frank (April 2016). "Empathy, emotion dysregulation, and enhanced microexpression recognition ability". Motivation and Emotion. 40 (2): 309–320. doi:10.1007/s11031-015-9528-4. S2CID 146270791. ProQuest 1771277976.
  2. ^ Hurley, Carolyn M; Anker, Ashley E; Frank, Mark G; Matsumoto, David; Hwang, Hyisung C. (Oct 2014). "Background factors predicting accuracy and improvement in micro expression recognition". Motivation and Emotion. 38 (5): 700–714. doi:10.1007/s11031-014-9410-9. S2CID 91178436. ProQuest 1555933143.
  3. ^ Polikovsky, S.; Kameda, Y.; Ohta, Y. (2009). "Facial micro-expressions recognition using high speed camera and 3D-gradient descriptor". 3rd International Conference on Imaging for Crime Detection and Prevention (ICDP 2009). pp. P16. doi:10.1049/ic.2009.0244. ISBN 978-1-84919-207-1. Retrieved 2022-03-02.
  4. ^ Ekman, Paul (1999). "Basic Emotions". In T. Dalgleish; M. Power (eds.). Handbook of Cognition and Emotion. Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
  5. ^ Ekman, Paul (1992). "Facial Expressions of Emotion: An Old Controversy and New Findings". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. B335 (1273). London: 63–69. doi:10.1098/rstb.1992.0008. PMID 1348139.