Re:Biologists and dolphins have created a new inter-species ...
by icegreentea on Thursday February 17, 2011 @01:10AM
(#2230001)
Everyone smiles, but for slightly different reasons. North Americans often smile to appear polite, which makes the rest of the world think we're weird (cause forced smiles never reach the eyes).
Spontaneous smiles activate the major cheek muscles (pulling the lips up), as well as the muscles just around the eye. Forced smiles only activate the cheek muscles (it's apparently nearly impossible to consciously activate those eye muscles).
There's also questions of degrees of smiling, as in amount of teeth.
Re:Biologists and dolphins have created a new inter-species ...
by mzl on Thursday February 17, 2011 @01:45AM
(#2230100)
It is not impossible, one just needs to actively learn to use the muscles around the eyes to make real-looking smiles. Takes a few years of sporadically applied effort though.
Spontaneous smiles activate the major cheek muscles (pulling the lips up), as well as the muscles just around the eye. Forced smiles only activate the cheek muscles (it's apparently nearly impossible to consciously activate those eye muscles).
There's also questions of degrees of smiling, as in amount of teeth.