Still Smiling at 99 by Michael Levy5/22/2023 The name is a nod to French anatomist Guillaume Duchenne, who studied emotional expression by stimulating various facial muscles with electrical currents. Psychologists call this the “Duchenne smile,” and most consider it the sole indicator of true enjoyment. Other muscles can simulate a smile, but only the peculiar tango of the zygomatic major and the orbicularis oculi produces a genuine expression of positive emotion. The entire event is short - typically lasting from two-thirds of a second to four seconds - and those who witness it often respond by mirroring the action, and smiling back. This emotional data funnels to the brain, exciting the left anterior temporal region in particular, then smolders to the surface of the face, where two muscles, standing at attention, are roused into action: The zygomatic major, which resides in the cheek, tugs the lips upward, and the orbicularis oculi, which encircles the eye socket, squeezes the outside corners into the shape of a crow’s foot. The hand feels the pressure of another hand. The eyes spot an old friend on the station platform.
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