On view
Dissatisfaction, somber thoughts (left); Reflection (right), figure 14 from Mecanisme de la physionomie Humaine (The Mechanism of Human Facial Expression),
ca. 1856, printed 1862
The French neurologist Duchenne de Boulogne was the first person to empirically test the idea that emotional expressions can be understood as movements of facial muscles. Duchenne applied electrical currents to facial muscles and, with newly invented photographic techniques, recorded the movements of the face. His research influenced Charles Darwin and generations of modern psychologists. The Facial Action Coding System, a popular system used to classify emotions in psychology and computer science, is partly based on Duchenne’s research. Here, he photographed expressions after stimulation of the corrugator supercilii, one of the muscles controlling the eyebrows. He called this muscle the muscle of pain, believing that it completely controlled expressions of pain. By covering half of the face, he could demonstrate that the expression was due to local movements of the eyebrow rather than movements across the whole face.
Alexander Todorov, Author of Face Value
Information
ca. 1856, printed 1862
Europe, France, Paris
Fig. 14. - Destinée a montrer comparativement, chez le meme individu, la contraction au maximum de l'orbiculaire papebral supérieur et du sourcilier. "A gauche, électrisation trés forte de l'orbiculaire palpebral superieur: mécontentement, pensée sombre. A droite, électrisation du sourcilier." (Destined to show comparatively, in the same individual, the maximum contraction of the superior pectoralis orbicularis and the eyebrow. "On the left, very strong electrification of the upper palpebral orbicularis: discontent, dark thought, right, electrification of the eyebrow.")
