Asymmetry in facial expressions as a function of social skills

This study investigated the relationship between social skills and facial asymmetry in facial expressions. Three-dimensional facial landmark data of facial expressions (neutral, happy, and angry) were obtained from Japanese participants (n = 62). Following a facial expression task, each participant completed KiSS-18 (Kikuchi's Scale of Social Skills; Kikuchi, 2007). Using a generalized Procrustes analysis, faces and their mirror-reversed versions were represented as points on a hyperplane. The asymmetry of each individual face was defined as Euclidian distance between the face and its mirror reversed face on this plane. Subtraction of the asymmetry level of a neutral face of each individual from the asymmetry level of a target emotion face was defined as the index of "expression asymmetry" given by a particular emotion. Correlation coefficients of KiSS-18 scores and expression asymmetry scores were computed for both happy and angry expressions. Significant negative correlations between KiSS-18 scores and expression asymmetries were found for both expressions. Results indicate that the symmetry in facial expressions increases with higher level of social skills.