Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-16T15:05:08.770Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Expressive smiles or leucosignals?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2010

Paul Bouissac
Paul Bouissac
Affiliation:
French Linguistics, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario M5S 1K7, Canada. [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The assumption that a complex and fuzzy notion like smile can be the basis of a scientific, rather than semantic, inquiry can only lead to confused and inconclusive results. It would be more productive to start with the well-defined and measurable patterns of the clearly visible contrasts that are produced on the human face by various muscular contractions around the white patches formed by the sclera and the teeth. These features are universal, whereas a common word, in whatever language, is necessarily ambiguous, culture-dependent, and historically rather than biologically determined.

Type
Open Peer Commentary
Information
Behavioral and Brain Sciences , Volume 33 , Issue 6 , December 2010 , pp. 436 - 437
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bouissac, P. (2001) The visual role of the sclera and the teeth in facial interaction. In: Oralite et gestualite, ed. Cave, C., Guaitella, I. & Santi, S., pp. 161–66. L'Harmattan.Google Scholar
Bouissac, P. (2005) What is a trustworthy face? Available at: http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/risk/Trustworthyface.pdf Google Scholar
Buchanan, T. W., Tranel, D. & Adolphs, R. (2009) The human amygdala in social function. In: The human amygdala, ed. Whalen, P. J. & Phelps, E. A., pp. 289–318. Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Ekman, P. (2001) Telling lies: Clues to deceit in the marketplace, politics, and marriage. W.W. Norton.Google Scholar
Leonard, C. M., Rolls, E. T., Wilson, F. A. & Baylis, G. C. (1985) Neurons in the amygdala of the monkey with responses selective for faces. Behavioural Brain Research 15(2):159–76.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Niedenthal, P. M. (2007) Embodying emotion. Science 316:1002–1005.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schultz, W. (2007) Multiple dopamine functions at different time courses. Annual Review of Neuroscience 30:259–88.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tsao, D. Y. & Livingstone, M. S. (2008) Mechanisms of face perception. Annual Review of Neuroscience 31:411–37.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whalen, P. J., Davis, F. C., Oler, J. A., Kim, H., Kim, M. J. & Neta, M. (2009) Human amygdala response to facial expressions of emotion. In: The human amygdala, ed. Whalen, P. & Phelps, E. A., pp. 265–88. Guilford Press.Google Scholar