do you have a flat expression or are you over expressive?

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So i hear quite a lot of ASD peeps dont move their face enough, and then i hear some move it TOO much.
sometimes my face is very flat, i just sorta stare blankly and the only thing moving is my lips....but other times, its very expressive. when im thinking alone, as well, my face moves and i smile to myself, or raise my eyebrows or frown or something...
sometimes ill be talking, and my friend will start laughing! because my expression was so over the top. XD. today in art class, i was staring into space, my friend comes up looks at me, and starts making these scared expressions while laughing. i ask her what's wrong, and apparently i was just sitting there looking absolutely horrified. XD people have accused me f looking pissed when im not, as well.

soo are you wooden or animated? explain please.

Wooden. Like a statue

In a way both. Normally I have a pretty flat expression because Im often just feeling nuetral but if Im actually feeling significant emotions I will show it on my face and I cant hide it. I cant control my facial expressions very well. I cant pretend to be something when Im not. Almost anything I cant even pretend to have a flat face unless I am feeling nuetral.

I don't have many facial expressions so mine is flat. Alot of times facial expressions explain how we feeling or what we thinking at that moment but since I don't have many its hard for people to read me.

Both. Sometimes my face is overexpressive, other times it's blank. Sometimes there's a scowl. When I notice and make an effort to smile people smile back but it's the quick smile that doesn't stick around long. When I talk my face gets over expressive, at times, and there's a lot of expression in my eyes. My eyes are very expressive and I project a lot thru them.

i singup as wooden for sure

Flat. Whit the friends I used to hang out with some years ago we used to joke about how I always had the same expression in pictures.

Over expressive. I'm constantly told I'm a living cartoon character.

I think I'm more like the original poster... when I'm thinking to myself, my face tends to show any emotional content or I'll scowl if something's not clear to me (apparently anyway).
If I'm really paying attention to someone, my face tends to go blank. Just yesterday my therapist was trying to convey to me an abstract concept that I wasn't familiar with and I think I went real blank with very intense eye focus while taking it in... then animated as it clicked and I 'translated' it into my terms.

I do think my emotions tend to display more intensely than your average NT, which may be why they find me a little scary?

IDK...

I am both. And the problem is, I'm never, or hardly ever, aware of what kind of expression I am wearing until it's brought to me attention. The worst remark I ever received on my facial expression came from my daughter. She said I looked like I wanted to pick up a machete and kill everyone. Sounds funny, but I was very upset over that remark. Especially at the thought that my facial expression could project an emotion that I was not feeling (anger) and at a time when I was happy and thoroughly enjoying myself. That remark, and so many others, not so extreme, but remarks indicating that I looked mad, sad, worried, etc., when I wasn't in that frame of mind at all are very troubling to me. I really have become overly self-conscious of my facial expression and try to find a pleasant expression that I can "feel" and "wear" when I am in the company of others. I hate it when people keep asking me "What's wrong?"

I saw a little boy, about 7 years old, in the train station, preparing to board with his younger brother. I couldn't stop looking at his face. He had an expression of being extremely worried, suffering, scared to death - and I somehow strongly identified with him and his expression, as if I knew what was going on in his mind. I wondered if he was actually very happy at that moment but his face wasn't able to show it. And then I wondered about all the people who smiled so easily and so often. Maybe those are the real angry or sorrowful people. It's all very weird. But I still see that kids face and worry about him. Was he really feeling what his face showed? I hope not.

Funny this topic should surface. Only recently I saw about 6 minutes of footage of myself talking, posted on youtube. (Horror of all horrors)

My laptop was going too slow so I did what i usually do (theres a name for it but I cannot recall it right now)and let the interupted footage run almost to the end with the sound off. Then I play it back again without all the breaks in it. I have to say with the sound off I looked very strange indeed. Overly expressive in some parts, then totally blank in others. I was also talking about something I had to think back some 10 years on so my eye's were darting every which way and my eye contact in general didn't seem normal.

Not sure now if I present worse than I thought I did or if I was just being over critical of myself. Or it was strange seeing myself on media for the first time. I'm banking on I did actually look strange. Also sounded not very like I think I do.

Glad there was an ultruistic reason I agreed to this footage being put on the net, otherwise I would be very humiliated right now.

cheers

I saw a videotape of myself being part of a psych project for friend and I was surprised how still I was. Usually the only thing in my face that moves is my mouth unless I'm goofing around describing someone else. Jack Webb in other words.

[img]http:///forwardtoyesterday.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/220px-jack_webb_250.jpg[/img]

I've been told that I have a "flat affect." I don't think this is always the case, though. If I'm with someone I'm very comfortable with, or dealing with something I feel strongly about, then I become more animated.