Do others remember you? The key is not appearance, but expression.

Next, let me explain the contradiction about face. Our faces are really great. The face is our own, but we can't see our eyes. The face is a part of the body, but it seems hard to say that the face belongs to you completely.

So, whose face is this? I will stare at my face and cherish it as if it were someone else! For example, fans will treat idols' heads (frontal busts and ID photos) as treasures, parents will set their children's heads as computer standby screens, and some people will put the heads of their deceased relatives into photo frames. It feels like someone else's face. It can also be said that if the face is owned by someone, we will care so much about our face!

However, it seems superficial to care so much about looks. Emotion is dominated by face all day, and it's really hard to be emotional. However, there is no denying that some people are invincible by their faces. Seeing this situation, their mood will become particularly complicated.

On campus, handsome guys and beautiful women attract attention. It seems that just one face can make teachers and classmates sit up and take notice of them, which is very popular.

But in fact, from the research of social psychology, we can know that handsome guys and beautiful women are not as popular as we thought. Handsome and beautiful, there are actually good and bad. Because most people have preconceived ideas, they all think that "handsome guys and beautiful women are born good people." This stereotype is actually a curse, a bondage; Can not get rid of this curse and bondage, but also the fate of handsome guys and beautiful women. Because everyone examines them on the premise of good people's standards, it is natural for them to do good things. On the other hand, as long as you do a little bad things, you will be magnified to be extremely vicious and judged as "a beautiful person is a poor character."

It's really strange that everyone has a natural face, but some people are red and some people can't eat it. For our own faces, we sometimes think, "Why do I have such a face? But if you think about it, this sentence actually has a bad language.

Why do we have to compare faces? When we feel that we are not good-looking, what kind of face do we compare our face with? In fact, I think this may be related to the mechanism by which we remember faces.

In fact, everyone's face is not very different. As far as cats and dogs around us are concerned, we can distinguish them by breed and size, but if we distinguish them by face alone, I'm afraid it's hard for even the owner to do so. Therefore, it is really difficult to rate the charm of cats and dogs with only one face.

Like cats and dogs, faces are just a collection of similar facial features. However, our society takes it for granted that we can remember many faces. Therefore, if you suddenly meet a familiar friend or supervisor outside, but pretend you don't know him, you will feel embarrassed when you think about it afterwards. On the other hand, in this case, if you can say hello casually, it means that you have firmly remembered each other's looks.

If you can't remember other people's faces, life in this society must be very hard. However, 2% people in the world just can't recognize other people's faces, and they will encounter all kinds of difficulties in their lives. In the company, if you can't remember the boss's face, that's bad. If someone calls the manager and finds him standing by talking to a colleague, you say, "The manager is not at his desk, but he is out now." What will happen? Employees who are always confused about other people's faces just can't confirm whether the manager is in the office.

Our ability to recognize faces that look very similar is actually incredible. It's like we can use a zoom lens to enlarge the differences between faces and then compare them. Simply put, we can enlarge the different features of each face and try to remember each face.

The reason why people can distinguish faces is actually through the ability of comparative learning. Because if you want to survive in society, you have to remember the looks of others, so you will unconsciously compare faces.

In other words, as soon as we see other people's faces, we are making comparisons. This habit will make people automatically compare their faces with others' looks and grade their faces.

Now let's go back to the question of handsome men and beautiful women. Handsome men and beautiful women are conspicuous, but in fact, most of the popular kings in the group are not them, but others. Usually, the reason for popularity is either the creator of the atmosphere or the comforter. It looks ordinary, but people who whisper can gain high popularity and popularity with the accumulation of time.

So, what is the decisive factor of this result? Actually, it has something to do with a kind of magic called expression. In other words, the face is a combination of five senses and various expressions.

When a beautiful woman is expressionless, sometimes she suddenly looks vulgar, and Peace Day gives people a completely different impression. Or the self in the photo, obviously the same face, why sometimes I like it, sometimes I just hate it. When you are nervous or careless, sometimes you will be photographed with a strange face, not even like yourself at all.

Therefore, professional photographers will ask models to relax and present their "best self". The so-called most like yourself refers to your unique expression. Expression is very important. Only those who know how to use it skillfully can have a pleasing face.

Is my expression correct? The way is not to look in the mirror. I think everyone understands the importance of expression. However, what can be done to present a good-looking face? Before going out, some people will definitely fight in front of the mirror and try their best to take care of their appearance. However, as mentioned above, when looking at your face in the mirror, you should pay special attention.

Here is a simple experiment. This is David, a British facial expert. A study by Professor David perrett. Please compare the two faces in the picture (figure 1- 1). Which face looks more feminine? I think we all know that these two faces give people different impressions.

Although it gives a completely different impression, it actually just turns the same face photo from left to right. How's it going? Isn't it amazing that turning your face upside down can change your impression of your face? The effect of left-right inversion is really amazing. From this study, we can know that the face reflected in the mirror is actually different from the face we see. In other words, the face in the mirror is actually upside down.

And there is another secret hidden in these two faces. In fact, this face is a combination of two different faces, one is more like a woman's face and the other is more like a man's face. In the photo on the left, there is a more masculine face on the left and a more feminine face on the right. The photo on the right is just the opposite. The face on the left is more feminine and the face on the right is more masculine.

Figure 1- 1 Which face looks more feminine?

This photo actually starts from the middle position, splicing the faces of women and men, and then turning them upside down. These two photos are actually the same face, but one of them is more feminine. The answer to the puzzle is in the text.

Because the faces that favor men and women are left and right, the answer is half and half. Answering which face is more feminine should not be the correct answer; However, most people will answer that the face on the right is more feminine. In other words, from these answers, we can know that the average person's impression of the face is determined by the left face facing us.

The key to changing our view of faces so dramatically lies in our brains. Because when we look at the face, the most powerful part is on the right side of the brain. Complexly, the brain is divided into left brain and right brain. The images seen in the right field of vision will enter the left brain, and the images seen in the left field will enter the right brain. In other words, when we look at the face, the more active right brain will share the face seen in the left field of vision. Of course, we can also say that because the face seen in the left field of vision affects the right brain, it has a stronger impression.

Although we can only see this phenomenon through the photos provided by researchers, in fact, the same situation will happen in daily life. The face you see on the left is actually the right face of the other person in real life, but the face in the mirror is on the left. Because the face reflected in the mirror is upside down, the face that gives a strong impression is also upside down. So the face in the mirror looks different from mine.

Simply put, when you look at your face in the mirror, it is actually different from when others look at you. As mentioned above, in fact, we can't see the face. And in fact, the face will keep moving, so we can see all kinds of expressions. This alone is enough to make the face posed in front of the mirror and reflected completely different from the actual face.

Is there no way to judge whether your face and expression are good or bad today? There is a need for reverse thinking here. Give you a hint, that is, "face exists in society."

The answer is, you don't have to look at your face, just observe the people around you. People communicate through their faces. You give a good face, and the other party will give a good face. If you put on an unpleasant expression, the other person should feel it immediately ... I suggest you always observe the faces of people around you.

The first impression is very important, because the accuracy of reading people is as high as 70%. I think few people can ignore each other's expressions and talk endlessly when facing their friends. However, if you want to speak in front of everyone, you must have this attitude.

Anyone who speaks in public will be a little nervous. No matter how calm you are, as long as you stand on the stage and look at the faces of the audience in front of you, your heart will keep beating. But it's amazing that you just have to think to yourself, "These people in front of me are not people, but vegetables. In this way, you can speak very smoothly.

It is supposed to be just a speech, and it should have nothing to do with the number of people on the scene. However, we just look at each other's faces and talk, trying to peep through his expression. People learn to speak in the process of evolution and can communicate with each other through words. However, as we all know, it is not only words that can connect people.

We will care about the reaction of the people in front of us, and the more we care, the less we know how to deal with it. But if there is a familiar face in the crowd, you will suddenly breathe a sigh of relief. Of course, I will be nervous when I see rows of faces, but I can feel at ease when I see a face where Zhang Wei listens to himself with a smile.

What we care about is actually the face. In a strange environment full of strangers, when we hesitate to know who to say hello to, isn't attitude and face the key? Seeing gentle and kind people, it is easy for everyone to step forward; If you have a fierce face, it is difficult for people to talk to him.

Introducing a new teacher in the new semester, students are both looking forward to and afraid of being hurt. Everyone is very concerned about what kind of teacher it will be, so they will try their best to find out whether the new teacher is male or female, guess the age, and even be very strict.

Professor Alexander of Lastun University? Todorov and his students did a shocking experiment. They can know the election result by the candidate's face and demeanor.

In this experiment, they plan to take the upcoming US Senate and governor elections as the experimental objects. Todorov first asked students to choose two candidates who are sure to be elected among the candidates in various regions, and then put the heads of these candidates side by side, and then asked students to judge which candidate is more talented in a short time. The experiment was conducted before the election, and the students also chose candidates from unfamiliar areas. In other words, students make judgments without any information except appearance. A few weeks later, comparing the election results with the experimental results, it was found that the hit probability was as high as 70%!

Later, they investigated whether this experiment can predict the elections in neighboring countries, that is, let American students judge Mexican candidates. By the way. For Mexicans, the appearance of talented people is tall and bearded; In the eyes of Americans, talented people should look like lawyers and entrepreneurs in Hollywood movies, that is, they should be tall, handsome and modern. Because of the different standards of judging people, everyone thinks it should be difficult to predict this time. Surprisingly, American college students can also accurately predict whether Mexican candidates will be elected.

This is incredible. The first impression or instant judgment when making a judgment seems really important. The longer the interval between judging after looking at the face, the lower the chance of successfully predicting the election. We can know from this experiment that the first impression of a face has magical power. Then, let's talk about face recognition ability.

Some people are really face-blind. It is not the ability of adjectives to recognize faces that is important, but the operation of the brain to support them. The ability to recognize faces is also impaired, which can explain this truth.

It is common that language ability is impaired due to cerebrovascular diseases such as stroke and cerebral thrombosis. At this time, the patient's mind is clear, but he can't communicate through language, and it is very hard to restore his language ability through rehabilitation. Language-related brain functions, including understanding what others say and expressing yourself in words, are handled by different parts of the brain. Speech therapists are specialized in rehabilitating people with language disorders.

Compared with the brain responsible for speaking, it is on the left, while the brain responsible for recognizing faces, as I explained before, is on the right. Because they are opposites, language ability and face recognition ability are a set of comparative abilities.

Although this situation is not as much as language barriers, some people do lose the ability to recognize faces because of brain damage. Seeing that a person can't speak with his mouth, anyone can immediately understand that this person has a language barrier; However, when the ability to recognize faces is impaired, even the patients themselves sometimes don't know what disease they have.

A patient once rushed into the neurology department and said to the doctor, "I can't read people's faces." ""What face? Are you a fortune teller? Doctors and psychologists are at a loss after hearing this. Psychologists are people between doctors and patients, chatting with patients and checking their psychology. After listening and asking by the psychologist, I realized that the patient could not recognize the expressions and faces of his daughter-in-law and son. Through the tests made by psychologists, it is finally clear that there is a problem with the patient's face recognition ability (edited by Joanna, Department of Psychological Science, University of London? In her research, [〔Joanna Parketny〕] pointed out that most people can recognize 80% of celebrity faces, and if they can only recognize less than 60%, there is a problem.

Some patients also said that it should have been familiar, and the result looked like the same balloon, which was completely indistinguishable. What they are most afraid of is meeting their families in a crowded crowd, because they can't find the faces of their wives and children in the vast sea of people, so they often make their families very depressed. Therefore, every time they go out, they will try to remember the color or style of clothes worn by their families and use clothes as a clue to find someone. Symptoms such as this inability to recognize faces are called prosopagnosia (commonly known as face blindness).

There is a suspense movie in the United States (edited by "Face in the crowd"), in which the heroine is attacked by a murderer and loses the ability to distinguish the five senses (experiencing a major accident is one of the reasons for face blindness). The most impressive thing about this movie is that the heroine is frightened every time she looks in the mirror, because her face looks as strange as others', and in order not to let her family know that she has face blindness, she always remembers her husband by the color of his tie. So the killer killed the heroine with a tie flower. In the plot, the murderer deliberately wore a tie the same color as her husband, waiting to ambush her at the party. It's really scary to watch the heroine talk intimately with the murderer who tried to commit suicide as her husband.

However, I think this film is not true in some places. The only place where the heroine can't recognize others is her face, so as long as she hears the voice, she should still know who the other person is. In other words, the heroine should be able to find out immediately that the killer wearing the same tie disguised as her husband.

Face recognition is a complex brain activity. Face blindness only focuses on the face, so it is not quite the same as agnosia. General agnosia refers to the loss of recognition ability of objects. The patient's eyes and eyesight are good. They know whether the line is straight or oblique and the direction, but they don't know what the object is when they look.

In terms of what can be seen but can't be distinguished, object agnosia is very similar to face blindness. But strangely, people with agnosia can recognize faces, but people with agnosia can recognize things. For example, let agnostics look at playing cards, they don't know it's a deck of playing cards. However, they can distinguish the ghost card from the face of a human head, and the only thing they can't distinguish is the face. As mentioned above, face blindness patients can distinguish the colors of clothes and ties besides their faces.

Now, while comparing the pictures, we can confirm the brain parts related to face recognition (see Figure 2- 1). The images we see through our eyes will be transmitted to the last side of the brain, where we can interpret information such as the angle and direction of lines. This visual information will spread to the side of the brain (temporal part, located on both sides of the head) after fusion.

Figure 2- 1 The brain part related to facial expression recognition is shared by several parts.

It is generally believed that the fusiform facial brain region (FFA) will play a role in judging people from their faces, while the superior temporal sulcus (STS) will move when looking at expressions and eyes, and the amygdala will respond to expressions of fear. In addition, the frontal cortex of the eye socket responds to smiling faces and attractive faces. The hippocampus is the part related to remembering faces. (Illustration: Ren Li Limited)

The outside of the brain (temporal lobe) is also an area related to recognizing objects. The face recognition part is located in a very special block on the lateral part of the brain related to the recognition object, and it is also divided into several areas. Although the function of recognizing faces is part of the function of recognizing objects, it has been specialized.

The reason is simple, because recognizing faces requires reading a lot of data and information. Things outside the face, playing cards is playing cards, and oranges are oranges; But the face is different. Whose face is this, what kind of person is this, and what expression is this person now? A face has all kinds of information. Moreover, the face can also express feelings, for example, seeing the smiling face of a good friend will make you happy, and seeing the face of a traitor will make you disgusted, which is also a phenomenon that other objects besides the face will not happen. So when recognizing faces, several parts of the brain will move together.

When judging people from their faces, the fusiform face area (FFA) will move, while when looking at expressions and eyes, the superior temporal sulcus (STS) will move, and the amygdala will respond to the horrible expressions that disturb emotions. In the process of face recognition, the most important superior temporal sulcus is deep in the ear. As mentioned above, it is generally believed that when looking at the face, the activity of the right brain is relatively strong, and if there is an obstacle in this part, face blindness will appear.