Dynamic facial movements shape how confident speakers appear.
5 affiliations
- 1School of Psychology & Neuroscience, University of Glasgow , Glasgow, UK.
- 2Centre for Language Evolution Studies, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń , Torun, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland.
- 3Department of Cognitive Science, Lund University , Lund, Skåne County, Sweden.
- 4Psychology and Neurocognition Lab, CNRS Université Grenoble Alpes , Saint-Martin-d'Hères, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France.
- 5College of Connected Computing, Vanderbilt University , Nashville, TN, USA.
Abstract
Human communication is inherently multimodal, relying on signals conveyed through speech, vocal tone and facial movements. While gestures and vocal cues are known to influence how speech is understood, the role of facial movements remains poorly specified. Here, we test whether dynamic facial movements shape how spoken responses are interpreted by systematically modulating listener inferences of speaker confidence and doubt. Using a data-driven reverse-correlation approach and a generative model of facial behaviour, we manipulated speakers' upper-face movements while holding verbal content constant. On each trial, participants (n = 44; UK English and Mandarin Chinese speakers) rated the confidence of speakers responding to questions (e.g. 'Would they make a good leader?') on a five-point scale across 1800 trials. We find that opposing facial movements bias these inferences: eye closure and brow raising are associated with confidence, whereas brow lowering and eye tightening are associated with doubt. Signal amplitude further shapes these inferences, primarily by intensifying perceived doubt for doubt-associated movements. These mappings are largely shared between the two cultural groups, indicating common signal-inference relationships alongside differences in the weighting of specific cues. Together, these findings show that facial movements provide graded social signals that systematically shape how spoken responses are interpreted.
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BibTeX
@article{nolle2026dynamic,
title = {{Dynamic facial movements shape how confident speakers appear.}},
author = {Jonas Nölle and Yichen Wu and Pablo Arias-Sarah and Oliver G B Garrod and Philippe G Schyns and Rachael E Jack},
journal = {Proceedings. Biological sciences},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1098/rspb.2026.2044},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901519},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Dynamic facial movements shape how confident speakers appear.
AU - Jonas Nölle
AU - Yichen Wu
AU - Pablo Arias-Sarah
AU - Oliver G B Garrod
AU - Philippe G Schyns
AU - Rachael E Jack
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Proceedings. Biological sciences
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2026.2044
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42901519
AB - Human communication is inherently multimodal, relying on signals conveyed through speech, vocal tone and facial movements. While gestures and vocal cues are known to influence how speech is understood, the role of facial movements remains poorly specified. Here, we test whether dynamic facial movements shape how spoken responses are interpreted by systematically modulating listener inferences of speaker confidence and doubt. Using a data-driven reverse-correlation approach and a generative model of facial behaviour, we manipulated speakers' upper-face movements while holding verbal content constant. On each trial, participants (n = 44; UK English and Mandarin Chinese speakers) rated the confidence of speakers responding to questions (e.g. 'Would they make a good leader?') on a five-point scale across 1800 trials. We find that opposing facial movements bias these inferences: eye closure and brow raising are associated with confidence, whereas brow lowering and eye tightening are associated with doubt. Signal amplitude further shapes these inferences, primarily by intensifying perceived doubt for doubt-associated movements. These mappings are largely shared between the two cultural groups, indicating common signal-inference relationships alongside differences in the weighting of specific cues. Together, these findings show that facial movements provide graded social signals that systematically shape how spoken responses are interpreted.
SN - 0962-8452
SN - 1471-2954
ER -