I'm reading an extraordinarily important and fascinating book: What's Going on in There: How the Brain and Mind Develop in the First Five Years of Life (Lise Eliot, 1999, Bantam Books). I'll probably end up making several blog posts out of quotations from this book, so here's a start. I always wondered why deliberate smiles, such as those manufactured for photographs or in an attempt to look more cheerful than one actually is, usually look so false:
[S]miling is not voluntary. Although you can willfully concoct your face into a smile, this kind of “polite” smile uses only the muscles of your mouth. Genuine smiles, by contrast, also involve a specific muscle that surrounds the eye, the orbicularis oculi, and movement of this muscle is entirely involuntary.
Comments
But what if I think happy thoughts? Is it still involuntary?
Posted by
Andy
on Friday, August 12, 2005 at 9:32 pm
That's probably why "say cheese" or some similar phrase often works to elicit a good smile -- more from people's amusement than from any facial position involved in speaking.
Posted by
SursumCorda
on Saturday, August 13, 2005 at 6:33 am
I wonder if it is possible to move the "involuntary" eye muscles if you are trying to move your eye muscles.
I have a smiley face that I have used in plays where I make my eyes bigger by opening my eyelids more, and people have said it makes my excitement/smile more believable.
I have a smiley face that I have used in plays where I make my eyes bigger by opening my eyelids more, and people have said it makes my excitement/smile more believable.
Posted by
jondaley
on Tuesday, August 16, 2005 at 2:13 pm
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