THE human face doesn't lie. We show sadness and happiness through our expressions. But exactly how many emotions can our face make?Scientists used to believe we had six basic facial expressions that tell others how we feel: sad, happy, surprised, fearful, angry and disgusted  . But a new study shows that our faces can do more than we think. Scientists from Ohio State University found out that humans can actually make 21 different facial expressions after studying how people move their facial muscles. The scientists took pictures of 230 volunteers making faces in response to different cues  .These cues included phrases like "you just got some great unexpected news", which produced a "happily surprised" reaction from volunteers. Other cues included "you smell a bad odor  ", which caused "disgusted" faces. In total, around 5,000 pictures were taken of the volunteers. The scientists then studied similarities of these pictures using a computer expression database. _ helped them to define a facial expression. "That tells us that these 21 emotions are expressed in the same way by nearly everyone," said DrAleix Martinez to The Daily Telegraph. For example, to express surprise, 92 percent of volunteers widened   their eyes and opened their mouth. And 99 percent raised their cheeks   and smiled to show being happy. We are not always aware of our facial expressions, which can hold clues to how we really feel. So these results may have a big impact   on medical treatment. If doctors were able to recognize more complex   emotions, it would help doctors treat patients suffering from certain diseases. Scientists used to believe how many basic facial expressions that tell others how we feel?
21 230 92. 6