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Topic
Facial expression, a gateway to affective semiotics
Date & Time

Selected Sessions:

Jan 19, 2025 04:00 PM

Description
Marc Mehu, Department of Psychology, Webster Vienna Private University In communication, the access to a person's face is priceless. Not only the face is the center of important sensory organs, but it is also a hub for the production of multimodal signals. Scholars have long recognized that understanding multimodal signals is key to the study of social cognition, as the sheer diversity of social signals likely results from evolutionary pressure imposed by the perceptual and cognitive processes involved in the management of our social environment. This diversity of signals is evident in the face alone. With over forty action units, facial behavior is responsible for a large portion of the visual signals we display on a regular basis. Facial signals have deep connections to sub-cortical brain areas and are thereby under the influence of instinctive, push factors. Facial signals are also under the control of voluntary processes and can be used strategically to manage social impressions and to sway listeners' opinions. In this webinar, I will argue that the essential role played by facial expression in communication is that they allow signalers to quickly adapt to the volatility of social interactions. Facial behavior achieves this feat by forming flexible associations with speech. More information: https://smartsemiotics.com/facial-expression-a-gateway-to-affective-semiotics/