Social smiling is universally regarded as being an infant's first facial expression of pleasure. Underlying co-constructivist emotion theories are the assumptions that the emergence of social smiling is bound to experiences of face-to-face interactions with caregivers and the impact of two developmental mechanisms--maternal and infant imitation. We analyzed mother-infant interactions from two d...

BACKGROUND Hyperactivity of depressor septi nasi muscle leads to smiling deformity and nasal tip depression. Lateral fascicles of this muscle help in widening the nostrils. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the nasal length changes and the alar base and the alar flaring changes during smile. METHODS Standard photographs are performed in the face and lateral vi...

Smiling, as a visual expression and nonverbal behavior, has been the subject of many studies, but less is known about smiled speech. This paper aims at examining the perception of smiling in audio only, visual only and in audiovisual conditions, among three different linguistic groups. The subjects’ reaction times and the perceived intensity of the smiles were recorded, during a task where subj...

OBJECTIVES To measure the attentional distraction to the facial paralysis deformity using eye-tracking, and to distinguish between attention paid to the upper and lower facial divisions in patients with complete paralysis. We hypothesized that features affected by the paralysis deformity would distract the casual observer, leading to an altered pattern of facial attention as compared to normals...

OBJECTIVE Assess the ability of facial reanimation surgery to restore affect display in patients with severe facial paralysis. STUDY DESIGN Survey of healthy observers' perception of change in facial visage from preoperative to postoperative state. SETTING Academic tertiary referral center. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Observer graded affect display. METHODS Ninety naive observers completed a ...

Static and dynamic hyperinflation is an important factor of exertional dyspnea in patients with severe COPD. This proof-of-concept intervention trial sought to study whether laughter can reduce hyperinflation through repetitive expiratory efforts in patients with severe COPD. For small groups of patients with severe COPD (n = 19) and healthy controls (n = 10) Pello the clown performed a humor i...