Can you understand facial expressions?

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Can you understand facial expressions?
Yes, I can understand them very well; 18%  18%  [ 11 ]
I can understand the majority of them; 48%  48%  [ 29 ]
I can understand just very few of them; 30%  30%  [ 18 ]
I can't understand them, at all. 3%  3%  [ 2 ]
Total votes : 60

MrStewart
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13 Dec 2012, 12:28 am

Yep, mostly. The basic ones are no problem at all. Things only get tricky when there is subtle interplay between spoken words and slight facial contortions to add meaning or subtext.

So for example:

regular basic smile = easy to interpret
lips curved up on one side only with eyebrows lowered and probably some sarcastic or ironic statement along with it = not so easy for me to interpret



Si_82
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13 Dec 2012, 10:11 am

I can do ok at the tests but, in real-world scenarios, I find that people's feelings and intentions are largely a mystery to my. Some people I can read better - probably because they exaggerate more. But mostly I just see an empty page and try to guess how people feel towards me when we talk and I often become paranoid that people feel negatively. I really cant tell if it is paranoia or if I am possibly picking up on, for example, some annoyance at they way I go on about interests or maybe miss some non-verbal stuff that caused offence for them. Its a bloody minefield but now I have discovered AS, I can begin to understand why I have these problems.


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whirlingmind
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13 Dec 2012, 11:20 am

I do pretty well on the eyes test I think. However, I may not understand faces as well as I think, because in real life it's not the same as looking at static pictures where they are making very obvious versions of the expression. I have always found it hard to understand people's intentions and been surprised at outcomes, so this is what makes me wonder if I'm as good as I think, knowing when people are making fake faces is difficult, and more subtle expressions are probably the worst. If people are only using their eyes to communicate something then I think that would be very difficult, without the obvious facial expression as well. Also, if a particular tone of voice accompanied an expression that would make it much easier to work out what they were meaning. Overall, I'd say there is more conscious effort than an NT might have to make to calculate what people are communicating.


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caer
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13 Dec 2012, 11:22 am

corastorm wrote:
I understand most facial expressions but have trouble recognizing people by their faces.
me too



Jaden
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14 Dec 2012, 1:30 am

I'm kind of an ironic case I guess.

I have a flat affect, so I have no expression most of the time. I can fake it sometimes, but it's not really a natural thing. I can however, tell when someone is displeased (usually) or happy (sometimes). Aside from that I have to kind of guess here and there, but I think I could understand most of them if I payed enough attention.


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howzat
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14 Dec 2012, 9:26 am

I can understand most of the facial expressions however still learning a few more but nearly there though.



nikkiDT
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14 Dec 2012, 9:33 am

btbnnyr wrote:
I know the basics.



Me too.