Disgust: Dissecting the Facial Expression

Disgust A few weeks ago, we posted an article about the hapless kombucha drinker whose disgust facial expressions went viral.

This week, we get the benefit of Humintell’s own Dr. David Matsumoto’s insight into the details of her expressions.

After trying kombucha, the video’s subject, Brittany Tomlinson, cycles through a rapid sequence of vivid facial expressions, providing a great example for us to learn how to recognize these expressions.

One of the clearest expressions is the one Dr. Matsumoto begins discussing at minute two: disgust.  The upper lip is raised, creating a horseshoe around the nose. Her lips are pursed, and her brow is wrinkled. Dr. Matsumoto suggest that much of this is her being thoughtful and attempting to process the experience.

This immediate reaction of disgust, he explains, is a sign of that universal human expression. But it is followed by a series of additional and quite distinct expressions, and many of these are also similarly reflective of universal expressions.

For comparison, Dr. Matsumoto also shares a video of his own grandson eating fermented beans, or rather trying not to eat them. There is a great example of the disgust expression around 6:30 in the video. Try comparing that to Tomlinson’s expression from the previous video!

Dr. Matsumoto’s discussion is just the briefest introduction to reading these expressions, but you’re in luck, because you can get even more information through Humintell’s training program!

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