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A new finding suggests that facial expressions are innate rather than products of cultural learning. A research team led by David Matsumoto at San Francisco State University published their study Monday in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. It found even individuals blind from birth produce the same facial expression as the sighted when they need to smile for courtesy's sake.
The research team conducted analysis on the facial expressions of both sighted and blind judo athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics and Paralympic Games. More than 4,800 photographs were captured and analyzed, including images of athletes from 23 countries.
Matsumoto found that blind individuals use the same facial expressions as the sighted. For example, losing silver medalists were found to emit 'social smiles' to hide their emotions. Social smiles use only the mouth muscles whereas true smiles cause the eyes to twinkle and narrow and the cheeks to rise.
Professor Matsumoto said, "The perfect correlation between the facial expressions of sighted and blind individuals suggests a genetic source of facial expressions of emotion."
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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