Real Smile / Fake Smile?

Regular readers of GEMINI will be aware that I have an unnatural obsession to smiles.

From Huey Wen's blog, there is a BBC survey on whether you are able to distinguish a 'real' smile from a 'fake' one.

Click here to take the test.

Most people are surprisingly bad at spotting fake smiles. One possible explanation for this is that it may be easier for people to get along if they don't always know what others are really feeling.

[...]

Fake smiles can be performed at will, because the brain signals that create them come from the conscious part of the brain and prompt the [...] major muscles in the cheeks to contract. These are the muscles that pull the corners of the mouth outwards.

Genuine smiles, on the other hand, are generated by the unconscious brain, so are automatic. When people feel pleasure, signals pass through the part of the brain that processes emotion. As well as making the mouth muscles move, the muscles that raise the cheeks [...] also contract, making the eyes crease up, and the eyebrows dip slightly.

[...]

Scientists distinguish between genuine and fake smiles by using a coding system called the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which was devised by Professor Paul Ekman of the University of California and Dr Wallace V. Friesen of the University of Kentucky.

I scored 14/20. How about you? :)