Descripción del proyecto
Investigar la evolución y la función de las expresiones faciales humanas
Utilizamos las expresiones faciales para comunicarnos. Este tipo de lenguaje relativamente simple desempeña una función importante en nuestra vida social, pero puede ser muy diferente de una persona a otra y también puede verse afectado por trastornos psicológicos o médicos. No obstante, la función social, la anatomía y la evolución de estas diferencias individuales en las expresiones faciales todavía no se comprenden. El proyecto FACEDIFF, financiado con fondos europeos, liderará un estudio interdisciplinar que investigará la causa de la diferenciación en la expresión facial y cómo esto resulta en beneficios o costes en el compromiso social del individuo. FACEDIFF utilizará métodos diversos (psicológicos, anatómicos y entre especies) para medir las diferencias en la producción y la percepción individuales de las expresiones faciales, y rastreará sus determinantes evolutivos.
Objetivo
Communicating with others via the face is crucial for navigating our social world. Deficits in facial expression production can have debilitating effects on social interaction, characterising several clinical conditions such as autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia and Parkinson’s disease. Despite this, we know surprisingly little about individual differences in facial expressivity in the typical population, what causes these differences and whether such differences impact on individual lives. In part, this could be due to an historical focus on the universal nature of facial expression, assigning individual difference to random ‘noise’, rather than an evolutionarily relevant characteristic. The FACEDIFF project will diverge from this classic approach and test the novel hypothesis that individual differences in facial expressivity equip individuals’ differentially to engage with their social environment: expressivity has a benefit (social engagement) but also a cost (over-exposure and thus risk of being cheated by others) and is related to the size and quality of an individual’s social network. FACEDIFF will combine psychological, anatomical and cross-species methods to provide the first thorough interdisciplinary investigation of individual differences. First, individual variation in production and perception of facial expressions will be measured via laboratory experiments and in relation to social network size and quality. Second, variation in human facial musculature will be documented through cadaveric dissection and existing MRI databases. Third, facial expressivity will be examined in a primate model to determine whether patterns are unique to humans. This project will be the first to provide a comprehensive and interdisciplinary perspective on individual differences in facial expression and will stimulate new theories on the function and evolution of individual differences in humans.
Ámbito científico
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineanatomy and morphology
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesdatabases
- natural sciencesbiological sciencesevolutionary biology
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologyparkinson
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinepsychiatryschizophrenia
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
Régimen de financiación
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitución de acogida
NG1 4FQ Nottingham
Reino Unido