“Come on, smile, that way you’ll look younger.” Have you ever been told while posing to have your picture taken? It is often part of popular belief, but researchers at the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, in Israel, have just scientifically proven that we are wrong .
In a study recently published by Psychonomic Bulletin and Review , these researchers conclude that when we show our teeth in a smile, others perceive us as if we are older than when the gesture we show is expressionless or surprised .
“The media promotes the idea that smiling makes you look younger,” explains Professor Tzvi Ganel, head of the Visual Perception and Action Laboratory in the Department of Psychology at this Israeli university. “Look at all the smiley faces that appear in skin or tooth care ads. How many of us post smiley faces on social media?” .
The experiments carried out by these researchers with a total of 40 participants – university students – were intended to measure age perception based on facial expressions. In them, they were shown images of people – some with smiling faces, others with neutral expressions and some with looks that denoted surprise – and they were asked to classify them from oldest to youngest age. Interestingly, the smiling faces were considered the oldest , followed by those with neutral expressions, and lastly, the surprised ones, who were considered the youngest.
After the experiment was over, they were asked to recall what their ratings had been, and the volunteers believed that they had identified the smiling faces as younger than the neutral ones. “Ironically, we found that the same person may believe that smiling makes you look younger and yet judge smiling faces as older than neutral,” explains Melvyn Goodale, study co-author and director of the Brain and Mind Institute at Western University, in Canada.
But why at the moment of truth do we put more years on those who are smiling? These scientists believe that it is due to the wrinkles that form around our eyes when we smile. However, a surprised face causes the skin to tighten, so it helps to smooth age-related wrinkles and make the person appear younger.
