In fact, there may be at least three times more recognizable human facial expressions than previously¹ thought, the researchers said.

 

In a new study, researchers defined 21 facial expressions that we use to convey our emotions, and found that a computer model could tell them apart with a high degree of accuracy by looking for small changes in facial muscles.

 

Among these facial expressions were the six, long-recognized basic emotions -- happy, sad, fearful, angry, surprised and disgusted -- but also 15 others, which were a combination of these basic feelings. For example, a person may show that they feel happily surprised, or angrily surprised, said the researchers, calling such feelings compound emotions.

 

This extended library of facial expressions of emotions may be useful in studying human brain and social communication, as well as in the design of computer systems that can communicate with humans, researchers said in their study published today (March 31) in the journal Proceedings² of the National Academy of Sciences.

 

"We've gone beyond facial expressions for simple emotions like 'happy' or 'sad.' We found a strong consistency³ in how people move their facial muscles to express 21 categories of emotions," said study researcher Aleix Martinez, a cognitive⁴ scientist and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at The Ohio State University. "That tells us that these 21 emotions are expressed in the same way by nearly everyone, at least in our culture."

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