The basic emotions are four, and not six as was believed

The human being is of emotional nature, and mood is often unequivocally reflected in facial expressions.

The four basic emotions (and not six)

There is a popular belief, maintained for years, and that it was first proposed by the American psychologist Paul Ekman, he prays that there is a total of six basic emotions or main ones that are known worldwide and that are easily decipherable through specific facial expressions, independent of the culture or condition of the person. These emotions, according to Ekman, were: sadness, the happiness, the afraid, the go to, the surprise and the disgust.

However, it seems that Ekman was wrong to include any of them. A recent study published in Current Biology and carried out by researchers from Glasgow University, in the United Kingdom, it has changed the paradigm regarding what are the basic emotions of the human being. The study concludes that there are not six base emotions, but only four.

The results were obtained by observing the different facial muscles, which scientists have called "Units of Action", involved in signaling various

emotions, as well as the time during which each muscle performs a contraction or relaxation.

This research is a great start in the objective study of dynamics of facial expressions, and probably more will emerge in the future thanks to the analytics platform that Glasgow University has developed.

What are the basic emotions?

The group of scientists from Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology She has stated that although the facial expression signs of happiness and sadness are manifestly different from start to finish, fear and surprise share a base signal, eyes wide open, at the beginning of both expressions.

In addition, disgust and anger have in common the wrinkled nose in the first moments in which they are emitted. These signals could be adjusted to an ancient signal that we emit when we are in danger.

The key to emotions is found in evolution

Researcher Rachael E. Jack explained in a press release: “The results are consistent with evolutionary predictions, that is, that facial cues are designed by evolutionary pressures, both biological and social, in order to optimize its function ”.

In addition, it states: “The signs of reaction to danger, the early signs, confer an advantage, facilitating a quick reaction. On the other hand, the physiological advantages (the wrinkled nose does not allow the inspiration of harmful particles that float in the air, while the eyes open fully increase the perception of visual information that we will later use to flee) are greater when facial expressions are made more early ”.

“Over the generations, and as man moved around the planet, socio-ecological diversity promoted the specialization of certain previously common facial expressions, affecting the variety and typology of signals through cultures, ”adds Jack.

State-of-the-art technology to analyze facial movements involved in emotions

A software designed by Philippe Schyns, Hui Yu and Oliver Garrod, which they named after Generative Face Grammar, uses cameras to capture a three-dimensional image of the faces of people specifically trained to mobilize the total of forty-two facial muscles independently.

By collecting this information, a computer is capable of generating specific or random facial expressions in a three-dimensional model, based on the activation of different Units of Action, to be able to reproduce any facial expression.

Study on basic emotions

Participants were asked to observe the three-dimensional model while displaying various facial expressions, and they had to write down what emotion he was expressing each time. Scientists discriminated Units of Action concrete that in each case the participants associated with a emotion determined.

With the analysis of these variables, they found that the facial signals of fear / surprise and anger / disgust tended to be confused in the early moment and only became recognizable moments later, when other Action Units entered play.

Rachael Jack stated:

“Our study discusses the idea that interpersonal communication through emotions is made up of six fundamental, psychologically irreducible categories. Our research, then, suggests that there are a total of four fundamental expressions of emotion”.

Cultural biases in the expression of emotions

Apparently, the architects of the research have proposed to develop this line of study by analyzing the facial expressions in different cultures, including some East Asian populations that some have reported academics, interpret some of the classic emotions differently, emphasizing the movements of the ocular muscles instead of those of the mouth, in comparison with the execution of the emotional movement that we can observe in the West.

Undoubtedly, these new findings should be conveniently contrasted, and the cultural variable will play an essential role in being able to say with certainty which are the gestures associated with certain emotions. We'll be alert.

Bibliographic references:

• Rachel E. Jack, Oliver G.B. Garrod, Philippe G. Schyns. Dynamic Facial Expressions of Emotion Transmit an Evolving Hierarchy of Signals over Time. Current Biology (2014). DOI: 10.1016 / j.cub.2013.11.064.