Dr. Matsumoto recently appeared on the metadata podcast in Brazil where he was interviewed by Victor Santos, Anderson Tamborim and David Leucas.
View the entire video or see below for timestamps to specific questions.
2:00: How did you get interested in the area of nonverbal communication and behavior?
8:25: In your study “Spontaneous Facial Expressions of Emotion of Congenitally and Noncongenitally Blind Individuals” there is solid evidence for the universality of certain facial expressions of emotion in certain contexts.
What other studies exist that support the claim regarding the universality of facial expressions of emotion?
13:05: Although we have solid evidence of the innate character of the facial expression of spontaneous emotion, the posed expression, often used as a linguistic code, meets a cultural demand.
What role do you think posed expressions play in emotional expression in this context of cultural variability?
19:00: We see more and more uses of facial expression analysis of emotions and body language being used in the most diverse segments, especially public security. It is particularly difficult to find field research in the area of security, due to the many ethical issues involved and complications to carry out experiments or obtain the ground truth.
How useful do you think this knowledge is for public security professionals who will need to apply it in real time rather than watching a video in a lab?
23:41: There is a lot of criticism about nonverbal behavior coming from people are involved in areas of science. This happens because there is a lot of junky science which are then promoted by these critics. The conclusion that is made is that nonverbal behaviors such as microexpressions are junk science.
Do you see these kinds of criticisms in the United States or other countries?
28:30: Several researchers including famous names like Lisa Barrett Feldman insist that there is no facial expression of universal emotion and also that the face does not have the power to demonstrate the emotion experience. In some articles we also see a claim that there is no evidence that there is any kind of emotion neural circuit.
What is your point of view on these specific kinds of criticisms?
33:45: When you talk about spontaneous expressions, there’s not a single, specific FACS codification that you can use all the time in any situation. This is because our face is not just made to express microexpressions, it’s also made to be used to agree with people, to show empathy, etc. Most of our facial movements are not taken into consideration in a lot of research. Some researchers say “look at this person who is feeling angry. Matsumoto and Ekman say angry faces must have these AUs (action units). Ah ha! They don’t fit, so that must mean there is no universal angry face”.
What are your thoughts on this issue and point of view?
38:00: What do you think about the inclusion of contempt in the group of primary expressions?
44:40: Can you talk about your publication in 2019 in Frontiers of Psychology entitled “Microexpressions Differentiate Truths From Lies About Future Malicious Intent”?
50:40: In your opinion, what would be the main area involved in the study of facial expression of emotion that needs further research? What do you think is the future of this research area?