SUBTEXTinto a heartbreaking expression of sadness—an expression so
ing, so brief, that at normal speed it went unnoticed.
This microexpression gave the lie to all his words. The camera-
man at the time of the interview had noticed it subliminally without
understanding what he saw. The doctor, concentrating on the pa-
tient's chart, had missed it completely.
When I told a friend, a psychoanalyst, about this, she nodded.
"Yes, it impressed you subliminally, but with practice and training
you can learn to see those expressions. I've learned because in
my practice they are giveaways. In fact, it's one good reason, I
believe, for facing a patient during a psychoanalytic session."
Dr. Ekman suggests that one way of training the eye to observe
microexpressions and read their subtexts is to have someone flash
a photograph of a facial expression as fast as he or she can in
front of your eyes. Try to guess what emotion was shown in the
picture, then study the picture to confirm your guess. Then try
another picture. To become proficient, repeat the exercise with
at least a hundred pictures.
Not only sadness leaks through in these microexpressions, but
also glee or triumph or cunning—any one of a dozen emotions
can be revealed. Matched against the statements being made,
they are an intriguing way to catch a lie.
One interesting point about these microexpressions that "leak
out" when we are talking is that many of them are not easy to
control or fake. They involve certain muscle movements that very
few people can make intentionally. But they do make them uncon-
sciously.
As an example, Dr. Ekman says only 10 percent of the people
he tested could deliberately pull the corners of their lips down
without moving their chin muscles. Yet those he tested, when
they felt sadness, sorrow, or grief, did do it!