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How Do You Know Which Emotion a Facial Expression Represents?

How Do You Know Which Emotion a Facial Expression Represents?

5 years ago
Anonymous $4ckUSNo_FL

https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/how-do-you-know-which-emotion-a-facial-expression-represents/

Look at the picture above. Do you think the young woman is surprised? You may be wrong. A facial expression of emotion depends not only on the face itself, but also the context in which the expression is situated.

We all remember “the dress.” An illusion like this shows that even a phenomenon as basic as color perception can be ambiguous. Emotions are much more complex entities than colors and thus can lead to even more confusion. Our perception of emotional expressions is related not only to the physical properties of a face, but also to a bunch of other factors affecting both the percipient (for example, a person's past experience, cultural background, or individual expectations) and the situation itself (the context).