Does age-dynamic movement accelerate facial age impression? Perception of age from facial movement: Studies of Japanese women

Abstract

We form impressions of others by observing their constant and dynamically-shifting facial expressions during conversation and other daily life activities. However, conventional aging research has mainly considered the changing characteristics of the skin, such as wrinkles and age-spots, within very limited states of static faces. In order to elucidate the range of aging impressions that we make in daily life, it is necessary to consider the effects of facial movement. This study investigated the effects of facial movement on age impressions. An age perception test using Japanese women as face models was employed to verify the effects of the models’ age-dependent facial movements on age impression in 112 participants (all women, aged 20–49 years) as observers. Further, the observers’ gaze was analyzed to identify the facial areas of interests during age perception. The results showed that cheek movement affects age impressions, and that the impressions increase depending on the model’s age. These findings will facilitate the development of new means of provoking a more youthful impression by approaching anti-aging from a different viewpoint of facial movement.