Jan
22
Can you tell a fake smile?
Filed Under Science | Leave a Comment
Take the twenty person test offered by BBC. Designed by Professor Paul Ekman, a psychologist at the University of California, this test offers quick videos of various individuals smiling. After ranking your optimisim or pessimism level and a self-assessment of your ability to distinguish between a fake and real smile, you are lead through twenty videos of people smiling. After being allowed to watch each video only once, you then decide whether or not the person is truly smiling. According to the explanation after the test, although difficult to distinguish, fake smiles use different facial muscles than genuine ones. Apparently there’s a coding system called “Facial Action Coding System (FACS)” that allows scientists to determine if a person’s smile is the real McCoy.