Facial expression - Prof. Dr. Joerg Merten

Learning to distinguish and understand facial expressions (of emotions)

Facial Expression

a) The app gives you a step by step instruction to recognize and distinct the different movements of the face.

To recognize and distinct the facial movements we have a look at the different effects of the musclesy activity on the appearance of the face.

You will learn to detect lines, wrinkles, furrows, bulges, pouches appear and disappear or becoming more visible. Also the appearance of the lips and the mouth are very informative for the detection of facial movements.

The muscles of the face pull in different directions: up/down (vertical), left/right (horizontal), oblique and orbital. So, in a moving face you can learn to distinct these different moving directions.

Emotions

b) Facial movements express emotional reactions to changes in situations and appraisals. You will learn which facial movements belong to which emotions and appraisals.

The psychology of emotions distincts: the evaluation of a situation (Appraisal), the organismic reactions bodily changes and the action tendencies associated to the emotion.

All these may become visible in the face and serve as signals to social partners.

Training – Distingush facial expressions and emotions

c) A precondition to interpret facial movements is the accurate distinction of the manyfold variants of those. In this part you will be trained in this competence.

Beyond Basic Emotions

d) The facial expressions of emotions reflect the different changes in appraisal and organism, they send messages to the social field.

In this part of the app you will learn to understand what the different components of a facial expression mean. As result you will be able do distinct different variations of the same basic emotion e.g. "cold" from "hot" anger.

In everyday life you often will be confronted with partial expressions of emotions. If you know the single components of an emotion, you will also become better to interpret facial expressions, which are not full expressions of emotions.