New research shows facial expressions are planned by the brain before movement, not automatic emotional reactions.

When a baby smiles at you, it's almost impossible not to smile back. This spontaneous reaction to a facial expression is part ...

Facial expression control starts in a very old part of the nervous system. In the brain stem sits the facial nucleus, which ...

Every time we show facial gestures, it feels effortless, but the brain is quietly coordinating an intricate performance.

You prepared thoroughly for a presentation at work, and now you’re dropping wisdom to a packed room. Much as you expected, your colleagues appear wowed and ...

Researchers found that autistic and non-autistic people move their faces differently when expressing emotions like anger, happiness, and sadness. Autistic participants tended to rely on different ...

Autistic and non-autistic people express emotions differently through their facial movements, according to a new study, which ...

Whether at a birthday party in Brazil, a funeral in Kenya, or protests in Hong Kong, humans all use variations of the same facial expressions in similar social contexts, such as smiles, frowns, ...

I have this little-known superpower: Within microseconds of seeing someone, I can tell exactly what they’re feeling. I can tell if they’re annoyed. Distracted. Depressed. Manic. Grieving. Hiding ...

Lay presentations of research on emotions often make two claims. First, they assert that all humans develop the same set of core emotions. This claim is called the “basic emotion approach” (Ekman, ...

Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Klaus Vedfelt—Getty Images, Tim Robberts—Getty Images, Kelvin Murray—Getty Images, Robert Recker—Getty Images, Howard Kingsnorth—Getty ...