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March 16, 2012

Strange But True!

Q. What do scientists mean by people of different cultures having a “facial accent”?

A. When presented with photographs of gatherings of people drawn from different countries and asked to select those from the same region as themselves, research participants do quite well, so long as the facial expressions are not neutral, says Marianne LaFrance in “Lip Service.” “It is rather amazing that a still shot of a facial expression caught in midstream is enough to mark a person as belonging to one's own group; in short, a facial accent.” To be an insider is to have a deeply embedded knowledge about how others of the same culture smile, even while being hard pressed to describe what it is.


 
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