Explain the face of fear

Everyone knows what a frightened face looks like. Seeing the murderer use a chain saw in a killing movie, the frightened girls often widen their eyes and open their noses in horror and terror. Scientists found that this reaction is not only produced by the cinematic effect but is actually in response to biological function by transforming the way our senses perceive the world.

Joshua Susskind, a graduate student in psychology at the University of Toronto, conducted an experiment to understand the function of facial expressions - saying: 'The hypothesis we have is that different variations of faces will resulting in differences in the amount of feeling involved. Fear is a defensive reaction. A change in the face like opening your eyes - a feature of fear - is the result of trying to evaluate more information in your surroundings'.

Squint your eyes and hold your nose tight

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To test the hypothesis, Susskind and his advisor, Adam Anderson and colleagues, took pictures of people's faces when they described emotions related to fear and disgust. Using the statistical model, the team analyzed the images and found that the two emotional states create the opposite face effect.

Then they studied the function of facial changes. Scientists apply various evaluation criteria to determine sensory perceptions, such as absorbed air volume, width of visual field and peripheral vision and speed of vision correction. Researchers found that when creating a fearful face, subjects often inhale more air, a larger vision field and can track targets more quickly.

In an interview with LiveScience, Susskind said: 'We found certain types of face changes to express fear or disgust. Those changes match the idea that fear extends the surface of the sensation. The disgusting feeling creates the opposite effect, which is related to the sensory factors received '.
When holding the nose tight or squinting to show a disgusting feeling, hearing and vision are worse.

Susskind said: 'We affirm that these emotions are opposite to expression as well as function. One is the need to receive more information and the other is the need to deny information. '

Darwin's point of view

Darwin was the first to assume that the emotional expression on his face might have evolved for some reason. According to Susskind, 'Darwin does not consider it a symbol or an interest that they have a purpose. They increase the viability of animals or species'.

Darwin and some other scientists hypothesize that expressions are fun (laughs) and sad (frowning) respond to social function by conveying feelings within people.

Later scientists such as Silvan Tomkins or Paul Ekman found similar expressions in different cultures - similar fear or disgust on the faces of New Yorkers or people. Nigeria. People of different cultures can also identify emotions like being happy, resentful or surprised on the faces of other people even though they do not speak a common language.

Emotional expression is global, which makes scientists believe that they are used not only for social or communication purposes but also for the role of adaptive biological functions.

Future research

This new study is probably the first study to identify changes in sensory acquisition associated with facial expression.

Susskind said: 'From what we know, we are the first to understand the real consequences of receiving information - the problem has only been considered before'.

Scientists do not believe that their results are limited only in the two emotional states tested. Other forms of facial expression changes also carry biological functions.

'We want to know how biological functions are expressed through other expressions. Can you determine the variability obtained for feeling angry? Perhaps you are narrowing down what you receive. We do not think this is true only with feelings of fear and disgust. '

Susskind and his colleagues will conduct experiments to determine whether animals can express emotions with similar facial expressions and whether these emotions have the same purpose in different species.