SADNESS AND FACIAL ACTION CODING SYSTEM (FACS)

Power point presentation, made at Schloss Greifensee (near Zurich), on the 25.1.2006,

by Michael Coster Heller, Dr. Phil Psychologist & Psychotherapist FSP/AVP/EABP

Rue du Maupas 10, CH-1004 Lausanne

Contact and articles : www.aqualide.ch

Book: The Flesh of the soul.

I. The notion of Facial Action Coding Units• A facial action, as defined by Ekman et al. 2002, can be

described as the action of one or several muscles situated in a part of the face.

• There is an action when there is a visible movement.• Each action has:• - A number ( 4 for frowning, 12 for smiling, etc.).• - An intensity ( A for very weak, D for extreme intensity). 4D is extreme

frowning. • - Symmetry (S for symmetry, R for only right side and L for only left side).

R4D means extreme frowning with the right eyebrow.

• What I call a chronic position is not coded in the FACS system. For example a person may have eye brows which are permanently pulled down and close to each other, as in frowning.

Muscles of the face(From : Facial Action Coding System. Investigator's Guide by Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen & Joseph C. Hager. Download from: http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/facs/guide/FACSIV1.html

)

Units distinguished by the FACS system

Units distinguished by th FACS system

AU Number FACS Name Muscular Basis

1 Inner Brow Raiser Frontalis, Pars Medialis

2 Outer Brow Raiser Frontalis, Pars Lateralis

4 Brow Lowerer Depressor Glabellae; Depressor Supercilli; Corrugator

5 Upper Lid Raiser Levator Palpebrae Superioris

6 Cheek Raiser Orbicularis Oculi, Pars Orbitalis

7 Lid Tightener Orbicularis Oculi, Pars Palebralis

8 Lips Toward Each Other Orbicularis Oris

9 Nose Wrinkler Levator Labii Superioris, Alaeque Nasi

10 Upper Lip Raiser Levator Labii Superioris, Caput Infraorbitalis

11 Nasolabial Furrow Deepener Zygomatic Minor

12 Lip Corner Puller Zygomatic Major

13 Cheek Puffer Caninus

14 Dimpler Buccinnator

15 Lip Corner Depressor Triangularis

16 Lower Lip Depressor Depressor Labii

17 Chin Raiser Mentalis

18 Lip Puckerer Incisivii Labii Superioris; Incisivii Labii Inferioris

20 Lip Stretcher Risorius

22 Lip Funneler Orbicularis Oris

23 Lip Tightner Orbicularis Oris

24 Lip Pressor Orbicularis Oris

25 Lips Part Depressor Labii, or Relaxation of Mentalis or Orbicularis Oris

26 J aw Drop Masetter; Temporal and Internal Pterygoid Relaxed

27 Mouth Stretch Pterygoids; Digastric

28 Lip Suck Orbicularis Oris

38 Nostril Dilator Nasalis, Pars Alaris

39 Nostril Compressor Nasalis, Pars Transversa and Depressor Septi Nasi

41 Lid Droop Relaxation of Levator Palpebrae Superioris

42 Slit Orbicularis Oculi

43 Eyes Closed Relaxation of Levator Palpebrae Superioris

44 Squint Orbicularis Oculi, Pars Palpebralis

45 Blink Relaxation of Levator Palpebrae and Contraction of Orbicularis Oculi, Pars Palpebralis

46 Wink Orbicularis Oculi

Table 1-1: Single Action Units (AU)

The table indicates where we have collapsed more than one muscle into a single Action Unit, or where we have distinguished more than one Action Unit from a single muscle. The FACS names given in the table are a shorthand, not meant to describe the appearance changes, but a convenience to call them to mind. From : Facial Action Coding System.Investigator's Guide by Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen & J oseph C. Hager. Download from: http: / / face-and-emotion.com/dataface/facs/guide/FACSIV1.html

Emotional expressions distinguished by FACS I. (Following information from Cohn et al. 2005)

• EMOTION PROTOTYPES MAJOR VARIANTS• Surprise• 1+2+5B+26 / 1+2+5B+27 / 1+2+5B / 1+2+26 / 1+2+27 / 5B+26 / 5B+27• Fear• 1 +2+4+5*+20*+25, 26, or 27 / 1+2+4+5*+25, 26, or 27 / 1+2+4+5*+L or R20*+25, 26, or 27 / 1+2+4+5* / • 1+2+5Z, with or without 25, 26, 27 (no 4, but extreme 5)• 5*+20* with or without 25, 26, 27• Happy• 6+12*, 12C/D• Disgust• 9, 9+16+15, 26 / 9+17 • Contempt• 10* / 10*+16+25, 26, 10+17• Anger• 4+5*+7+10*+22+23+25,26 / 4+5*+7+l0*+23+25,26 / 4+5*+7+23+25, 26, 4+5*+7+17+23 / 4+5*+7+17+24 /

4+5*+7+23 / 4+5*+7+24• Any of the prototypes without any one of the following: AUs: 4, 5, 7, or 10.• Note how AU05 is important for anger, fear & surprise.

Sadness

• Introductory remarks: • - Although weeping and tears are a common concomitant of sad expressions, tears

are not indicative of any particular emotion, as in tears of joy (Darwin 1872, Chapter VI). Infants do not shed tears during the first two or three months, when they are sad. This correlates with Rochat’s (2001) observation that during the first 6 weeks children do not seem to communicate with others, although their behavior may be experienced as expressive.

• - Intensity of sad expressions does not always correlate with intensity of sadness (Kostić 2003).

•

Darwin (1872, Chapter VI) notes that there are two types of grief: an expressive phase, and a deeper one which generates a lack of

expression

• A) Expressive phase (the one studied by Ekman)• - Children have prolonged expirations with short and rapid, almost spasmodic

inspirations (the breath is inhaled almost spasmodically), followed at somewhat more advances age by sobbing. The manipulation of this dimension can make one cry.

• - Screams with closed eyes and wrinkles around them, with compression of the eye balls.• - Opened mouth with retracted lips so that the mouth opening is square.• - AU01 is often present.• - AU17 + AU 11 (raised chin with deepening of the naso-labial fold)• A) Despair or deep sorrow (for Ekman this is more depression than sadness): silent

motionless grief• - Sitting motionless, with a gentle rock to and fro.• - Skin pales.• - Respiration is almost forgotten, but deep sighs are drawn.• - Prostration: collapsed muscles and dulled eyes.•

Suzanna Block and the globality of expression

• The Darwinian stance on expression is that it mobilizes all the dimensions of the organism, a fact which is particularly visible on an infant who expresses himself using the body from head to feet as one expressive system.

• An example of research from this perspective is that of Susanna Bloch (1989). She tried to study which bodily activation could help actors to activate an emotion in their organism. For example postures with tense muscles activated fear and anger, while sadness, tenderness and joy could mostly be situated by relaxed postures.

• In the case of sadness, effective postures were usually closed postures, with protection of the ventral surface and a curved spine, as well as limp or even hypotonic muscle tone in certain areas.

• Her work mostly focused on what breathing pattern induced a basic emotion. The crucial elicitor for sadness is Darwin’s spasmodic inspiration.

• Most efficient was the combination of facial, respiratory and postural emotional traits.

Expressions of sadness

distinguished by FACS II (Following information from Cohn et al. 2005)

• General configuration. AU: 1+4+6+11+15+17, at various intensities• 1+4+11+15B with or without 54+64• 1+4+15* with or without 54+64• 6+15* with or without 54+64• 1+4+11 with or without 54+64• 1+4+15B with or without 54+64• 1+4+15B+17 with or without 54+64• 11+15B with or without 54+64, 11+17• 25 or 26 may occur with all prototypes or major variants

• Table note: * means in this combination the AU may be at any level of intensity.

• 54 is head oriented downwards, and 64 eyes oriented downwards.

Inner Brow Raiser (AU1)

Inner brow raiser & brow lowerer (AU 1 + 4)(these and the follwing pictures are copied form the FACS Manual (Ekman, Friesen & Hager 2002)

Nasolabial Furrow Deepener (AU 11)

Lip corner depressor (AU 15)

Chin Raiser (AU 15)

Lip corner depressor & Chin Raiser (AU 15 + 17)

Cheek raisor & lip corner depressor & chin Raiser (AU 06 + 15 + 17)

Suicide study (Heller et al. 2001)

• - 23 patients were filmed less than 48 hours after a suicide attempt. 11 made a suicide attempt during a follow up period of 900 days, 12 made no further suicide attempt in this period, to our knowledge.

• This is list of the expressions observed during short filmed samples. The time is in 1/100 of a second unit (maximum is 4340, which is 43.40 seconds).

• - In such circumstances sadness is expected. Except for a few examples, expressed sadness is observed, but in this sample as well as in others we viewed, not prevalent. As sadness was “in the air” most of the time, blended with other emotional expressions (contempt, anger, fear, etc.), one would need to redefine Darwin’s second type of despair, which has few facial components.

• - Sadness does not alone one to distinguish patients who made other suicide attempts from those that did not. The signs that correlated with suicide attempt risk were not emotional expressions, as defined by Ekman (2007).

Sadness expressions Observed in our suicide study samples (Heller et all. 2001)

• A) Clear sadness A) Possible sadness• S01B R11B• S01C S01B+S04B+S10B+S26B• S01D S11B• S01B+S04B S11B+S20B• S01B+S04D S11B+S20C• S01B+S04C+S06C S11B+S26B• S01B+S06B S11C• S01B+S14B S11D• S01D+S04B S15B• S01D+S04D+S11B S15B+S24B• S15B+S26B

References• - Bloch, Suzanna (1989). Emotions ressenties, émotions recréée. Science et Vie, 168: 68-75.• - Bloch, Susana. (2003). The Development of Alba Emoting. Idaho: Idaho University Press.• - Cohn, Jeffrey F.; Ambadar, Zara and Ekman, Paul (2005): Observer-Based Measurement of Facial

Expression with the Facial Action Coding System. In J. A. Coan & J. B. Allen (Eds.), The handbook of emotion elicitation and assessment. Oxford University Press Series in Affective Science. New York: Oxford.

• - Darwin, Charles (1872). The expression of the emotions in man and animals. Oxford: Oxford university press, 1998. (Ekman is the editor of this edition, and adds comments relating Darwin’s observations to FACS.)

• - Ekman, Paul (2007). Emotions Revealed: Recognizing Faces and Feelings to Improve Communication and Emotional Life. Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated.

• - Ekman, Paul; Friesen, Wallace V. & Simons, Ronald C. (1997): Is the Startle Reaction an Emotion? In Ekman, Paul & Rosenberg, Erika L. (eds.): What the face reveals. Oxford, England : Oxford University Press, pp. 21-35.

• - Heller, M.; Haynal-Reymond, V.; Haynal, A. & Archinard, M. (2001). Can Faces Reveal Suicide Attempt Risks? In M. Heller (ed.), The flesh of the soul. The body we work with: 231-256. Bern: Peter Lang.

• - Kostić, Aleksandra (2003): The accuracy of intensity ratings of emotions from facial expressions. Psychologija, 2003, Vol. 36 2: 157-166. www.scindeks.nbs.bg.ac.yu/pdfovi/0048-57050302157K.pdf.

• - Rochat, P. (2001). The infant's world. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.• - Scherer, K.R. & Ellgring, H. (2007). Multimodal expression of emotions: affect programs or

componential appraisal patterns? Emotion, 7, 1: 158-171. www.affectnet.unige.ch/system/files/2007_Scherer_Emotion_Multimodal.pdf