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Darwin the detective: Observable facial muscle contractions reveal emotional high-stakes lies. Joe Flynn & Tasha Hanley. assertions made by daRWIN. Emotional expressions are: Inherited Involuntary Emotion-based Adaptive . DARWIN’S INHIBITION HYPOTHESIS.
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Darwin the detective: Observable facial muscle contractions revealemotional high-stakes lies Joe Flynn & Tasha Hanley
assertions made by daRWIN Emotional expressions are: • Inherited • Involuntary • Emotion-based • Adaptive
DARWIN’S INHIBITION HYPOTHESIS • Some “emotional” facial muscles can’t be inhibited • Attempts to hide these will fail • Previous studies support this
Deception BRINKE ET AL GENERAL HYPOTHESIS • Some facial muscles are involuntary and will signal emotions Do you remember which part of the face the study hypothesized would be more associated with involuntary movement (lies)? • Emotional leaking is likely to happen when the lie is complex and/or associated with strong emotions that have to be concealed • People perform at chance levels when asked to gauge if someone is lying • People lie (on average) 2x a day
STUDY • Looked at videotaped behaviors of 52 people emotionally asking for the return of a missing relative • Half of these (n=26) people were later determined to be guilty of murdering the missing person (based on “overwhelming evidence”) • Looked at muscle activation associated with surprise, sadness, and happiness • Very specific coding system (Facial Action Coding System)
Hypothesis 1 & 2: Genuinely upset people will show more activation of the (1) corrugator superciliiand of the depressor angulioris (2)
Hypothesis 3 &4: Deceivers will show activation of the frontalis- which pulls up the eyebrows (only the medial frontalis is relevant to sadness) and (4) produce more voluntary smiles (zygomatic major)
Results • Genuine pleas lasted longer • “Honest” pleas did activate the corrugator superciliifor longer than the deceivers (H1) • H2 was not statistically significant but seemed to be supported • H3 was supported- liars activated the frontalis more • H4 was also supported- deceivers DO smile more
Note: Relationship totals exceed sample size due to several cases of
Discussion Deceptive people from the study: • Activated specific facial muscles’ associated with lying • Had more gross frontalis activation • Smiled more frequently (thought to mask emotional leaks) • Genuine pleaders from the study: • Often showed activation of innate grief muscles (transcultural & Darwin said these displays facilitated human communication) • Had contractions of the corrugator supercilii for a greater proportion of their pleas (Hypothesis 1) • The depressor angulioriswas engaged more often (Hypothesis 2)
Example • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nP5FunbZvJ8