Communications of the ACM
The 'not Face' Is a Universal Part of Language, Study Suggests
Researchers at The Ohio State University have identified a facial expression interpreted across many cultures as the embodiment of negative emotion.
Credit: The Ohio State University
Ohio State University researchers have identified a universal facial expression interpreted across many cultures as the embodiment of negative emotion.
The "not face" look is rendered as a furrowed brow, pressed lips, and raised chin, and it is identical for native speakers of English, Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and American Sign Language (ASL).
To test their hypothesis that the not face consists of three combined expressions signifying moral disagreement--anger, disgust, and contempt--the researchers filmed and photographed 158 students as they engaged in a casual dialogue with a cameraman in their native tongue. Clear grammatical markers of negation were identified in all participants, and the researchers tagged frame-by-frame images of the subjects speaking to show which muscles were moving and in which directions. Algorithms then sifted through the frames to find common patterns, revealing the not face expression no matter what language was being spoken. A computer analysis also compared the frequency of facial muscle movements to determine all subjects formed the expression at the same rate at which people speak or sign words in a sentence.
In addition, ASL speakers sometimes form the not face in lieu of signing the word "not."
The next step of the project is to use new algorithms to filter out and analyze facial movements without human assistance.
From The Ohio State University
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