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Austin Forst
Instructor: Malcolm Campbell
UWRT 1103
April 12, 2016

Micro Expressions:
In 1872, Charles Darwin was the first person to suggest that emotions were
universal. This was a big finding in his Theory of Evolution, suggesting that emotions
and their expressions were biologically innate and evolutionarily adaptive, and that
similarities in them could be seen Phylogenetically (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). To
strengthen these ideas, more experiments were completed in 1963 by notorious
psychologist Silvan Tomkins where he found that facial expressions were reliably
associated with certain emotional states (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). Later, Tomkins
began working with other renown psychologists Paul Ekman and Carroll Izard to
conduct a study to prove that facial expressions were universal, these types of
experiments are called Universality Studies. The first of these demonstrated high
cross-cultural agreement in judgments of emotions in faces by people in both literate
and preliterate cultures (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). Then James Friesens 1972
study documented that the same facial expressions of emotion were produced
spontaneously by members of very different cultures in reaction to emotion-eliciting
films (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). All these results proved the same point: No matter

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who someone is or where they live, we all express and experience the same emotions. It
is up to us whether or not to show those emotions (macro expressions) or hide them
(micro expressions).
All of this ground breaking scientific research was just the starting point of
research that is still being done today on emotions. There is so much more to come in
the future of researching emotion. What those psychologist found to be true was that
there are seven universal facial expressions of emotion: Anger, contempt, disgust, fear,
joy sadness and surprise (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). Those seven emotions are
what psychologist call Macro expressions. Macro expressions are normal expressions
that usually last between -second and 4 seconds. They often repeat, and fit with what
is said and the sound of the persons voice (Micro Expressions, 1).
What are Micro Expressions?
There is another significant type of facial expression as well, called Micro Expressions.
These are very brief, usually lasting between 1/15 and 1/25 of a second. They often
display a concealed emotion and are the result of suppression or repression (Micro
Expressions, 1). These two are arguably the most important categories of facial
expressions people will make in their life time. My researched is focused around Micro
expressions because of how unique they are and their significance in the real world. The
two men that actually discovered micro expressions were Ernest Haggard and
Kenneth Issacs in 1966 (Humintell). In their study, Haggard and Isaacs outlined how
they discovered these micro momentary expressions while scanning motion picture

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films of psychotherapy hours, searching for indications of non-verbal communication

between patient and therapist (Humintell). From there many other psychologist
including Ekman, Matsumoto, Hwang, and so many more have intensified the findings
that Issacs and Haggard came up with and completed many experiments leading us up
to todays newest discoveries in
Why are they significant?
micro expressions. It takes a decent amount of training to detect micro expressions
because of the short time you have to spot them (1/15-1/25 of a second). However, that
emotion lasting less than a second could determine the future of someones life when it
comes to criminals. More recently, experts in micro expressions have been used to help
law enforcement track down criminals of all sorts by interviewing them and simply
talking to the suspect to see if they are lying. All it takes is one conversation because no
matter how sly someone is, those feelings will leak through a guilty face somehow.
Knowing how to detect micro expressions can help someone in so many areas of their
life whether its with trying to empathize with friends and family, or in the business
world when making credible assessments, or detecting deception.
Research on the neuroanatomical bases of emotional expressions suggests how
these micro expressions happen in the brain. There are two neural pathways that
mediate facial expressions, each originating in a different area of the brain. The
pyramidal tract drives voluntary facial actions and originates in the cortical motor strip,
whereas the extrapyramidal tract drives involuntary emotional expressions and

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originates in subcortical areas of the brain. (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). When
individuals are in intensely emotional situations but need to control their expressions
they activate both systems, which engage in a neural tug of war over control of the
face, allowing for the quick, fleeting leakage of micro expressions (Matsumoto and
Hwang, 2011).
How do experts detect them?
When this process occurs in someone's brain, it produces the slightest movements on
someone's face. If one is expressing a micro expression, depending on their emotion,
they could slightly crinkle their nose, raise their eyebrows, purse their lips, widen their
eyes, look left or right, and so much more to give off that concealed feeling. The
existence of micro expressions was verified almost a century after Darwin by Ernest
Haggard & Kenneth Isaacs while scanning films of psychotherapy sessions in slow
motion (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). Later Ekman & Friesen demonstrated that
micro expressions occurred in their frame by frame analysis of interviews with
depressed inpatients. Most recently Leanne ten Brinke demonstrated that micro
expressions occurred when individuals attempted to be deceitful about their emotional
expressions (Matsumoto and Hwang, 2011). Studies have also been done to prove micro
expressions in twins that were separated at birth. Experts have to intensely study the
anatomy of the human face in order to understand what could be normal behavior and
what might not be. The person showing these micro expressions may trying to conceal

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emotions they are having or they very may well not know they feel this way and it all
could be subconscious, yet the emotions still show through on their face.
Are they reliable?
Understanding a person as a whole comes with being able to read their macro
expression, body language and possibly even their micro expressions. If you want to
really know how someone is feeling study their body language and then their face
because they are much more likely to not notice they are doing something a little
strange with their hands or posture than their own facial expressions. Leave the micro
expression deception for the experts! Research for micro expressions has a very bright
future. Although it has been studied for over 40 years now, there is still so many
questions and concepts that have yet to be discovered about expressions, body language,
etc. Experts will continue to question suspects in the court of law using their abilities to
detect deception and with time and research, micro expressions will be one of the most
studied topics in the psychology world. All in all, micro expressions are brief facial
expressions that last barely a fraction of a second. When someone is unconsciously
concealing a feeling or a lie, a micro expression might be shown on their face. When
facing the decision to convict someone of a crime or not, experts in micro expression
deception can come in very handy. The case may be that you need to know if the
witness or suspect is lying and it would help move the case forward. While people may
be skeptical of someone going to jail solely based off the fact that they were interviewed
by a so called "Micro expression expert" it is actually a very valid way of seeing when

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someone is telling the truth because a person physically cannot hide or conceal an
emotion they're feeling. A feeling will be there, shown blankly on ones face. It's just a
matter of whether or not someone can detect them, and even if it can't completely solve
a case it can help move one along. They are little hints in our daily lives to keep us from
letting someone know how we feel or expressions that can help someone empathize
with us or get us in trouble for something we were trying to hide.

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Works Cited:
Ekman, Paul. Facial Expressions Archives - Paul Ekman Group, LLC. Paul Ekman
Group LLC. Web. 9 Apr 2016. <http://www.paulekman.com/category/facialexpressions/>.
Microexpressions: More Than Meets The Eye. NPR. NPR, 10 May 2013. Web. 09
Apr. 2016. <http://www.npr.org/2013/05/10/182861380/microexpressions-morethan-meets-the-eye>.
Matsumoto, David, and Hyi Sung Hwang. Site Under Maintenance. APA. May 2011.
Web. 9 Apr. 2016. <http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2011/05/facialexpressions.aspx>.
Ekman, Paul. Micro Expressions, Facial Expressions, Paul Ekman Group. Paul
Ekman Group LLC. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
Humintell. Humintell RSS. Web. 9 Apr. 2016. <http://www.humintell.com/news/
davids-blog/>

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