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Qualitative Differences in Men’s and Women’s Facial Movements in an Experimental Situation

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Discovering Hidden Temporal Patterns in Behavior and Interaction

Part of the book series: Neuromethods ((NM,volume 111))

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Abstract

Studies indicate that men and women show quantitative differences in their production of facial movements. However, less is known regarding the qualitative aspect of facial differences between women and men. The aim of this study was to determine whether men and women could present a gender-specific temporal organization of facial movements. Eighteen Brazilian students (nine men and nine women) were filmed whilst performing a perceptual task involving verbal answers, the aim being to generate various types of facial expressions. The location of 29 facial points involved in facial movements were coded frame by frame and then analyzed with the THEME Software, allowing the detection of temporal patterns (T-patterns) of facial movements. Our results highlighted three typically feminine T-patterns (expressed only by women) in an experimental context, all involving mouth movements. No typically masculine T-patterns were detected in the same situation. This study shows the existence of some qualitative differences between women and men in their facial movements’ organization.

This chapter is dedicated to the memory of Professor César Ades who died tragically in an accident in March 2012.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    This software has been developed by Magnus S. Magnusson as Invited Professor at the University of Paris 13.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Marion Hacquin as research assistant in a pilot study and Adélaïde Racca (adelaide@superblitz.org) for providing us with the illustration of the face used in Figs. 2 and 5.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Experimental and Comparative Ethology, University of Paris 13 Sorbonne Paris Cité, Villetaneuse, France

    Anaïs Racca & Claude Baudoin

  2. Human Behavior Laboratory, University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Magnus S. Magnusson

  3. Institute of Psychology, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    César Ades

Authors
  1. Anaïs Racca
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  2. Magnus S. Magnusson
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  3. César Ades
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  4. Claude Baudoin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claude Baudoin .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Iceland, Reykjavik, Iceland

    Magnus S. Magnusson

  2. University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Judee K. Burgoon

  3. Department of Bio.Ne.C., University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy

    Maurizio Casarrubea

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Racca, A., Magnusson, M.S., Ades, C., Baudoin, C. (2016). Qualitative Differences in Men’s and Women’s Facial Movements in an Experimental Situation. In: Magnusson, M., Burgoon, J., Casarrubea, M. (eds) Discovering Hidden Temporal Patterns in Behavior and Interaction. Neuromethods, vol 111. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3249-8_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3249-8_8

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4939-3248-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4939-3249-8

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