Body Language of Eye Flash, Eye Pop and Flashbulb Eyes
Cue: Eye Flash, Eye Pop and Flashbulb Eyes
Synonym(s): Flashbulb Eyes, Eye Pop.
Description: The eye flash lasts on average for only 0.75 seconds and is a momentary widening of the eyelids during a conversation. The widening is usually wide enough to reveal the sclera. Sclera is the white area surrounding the iris. The eyebrows usually arch in unison as well to make the eyes appear even larger.
In One Sentence: The eye flash is a signal used to display emotional excitement during expressive conversation.
How To Use it: Pop the eyes whenever you want to add a nonverbal exclamation to spoken words. For example, force your eyes to pop when delivering positive or exciting news to friends or relatives. Women can generally use this expression best as it usually fits in better with women’s overall expressivity. However, men can also add the occasional eye pop to signal sarcasm. When you pop your eyes, think “Oh my God!”
Context: General.
Verbal Translation: “I’m so excited that my eyes are popping open with emotion and excitement.”
Variant: N/A
Cue In Action: a) It had been a while since they had seen each other. When they turned the corner, their eyes popped open with excitement as they took each other into full view. b) He opened his first holiday bonus to see a big fat cheque. His eyes popped open with excitement. c) On the first date, she showed her excitement. She told stories while popping her eyes open.
Meaning and/or Motivation: The eyeflash when given by a speaker, emphasizes specific words being spoken and can serve to change the meaning of a given word or phrase. It normally accompanies adjectives rather than any other parts of speech. Women use it more often them men. The eye pop makes the eyes burst with emotion and is usually done to indicate surprise and positive emotions.
Cue Cluster: Open body language such as palms up, smiling, arms animated and excited while moving with speech.
Body Language Category: Amplifier, Eye Language, Excited body language, Happiness, Open body language.
Resources:
Ariel, Robert and Castel, Alan. Eyes wide open: enhanced pupil dilation when selectively studying important information. Experimental Brain Research, 2014. 232(1):.337-344.
Bijleveld E, Custers R, Aarts H (2009) The unconscious eye opener: pupil size reveals strategic recruitment of resources upon presentation of subliminal reward cues. Psychol Sci 20:1313–1315
Brannigan, Christopher, and David Humphries (1969). “I See What You Mean.” New Scientist (Vol. 42), pp. 406-08.
Duan, Xujun ; Dai, Qian ; Gong, Qiyong ; Chen, Huafu. Neural mechanism of unconscious perception of surprised facial expression. NeuroImage. 2010. 52(1): 401-407.
e Charlesworth, W. R. (1964). Instigation and maintenance of curiosity behavior as a function of surprise versus novel and familiar stimuli. Child Development, 35, 1169–1186.
Ekman, P. & O’Sullivan, M. (1991). Who can catch a liar? American Psychologist. 46, 913-920.
Ekman, Paul, Wallace V. Friesen, and Sylvan S. Tomkins (1971). “Facial Affect Scoring Technique: A First Validity Study.” In Semiotica (Vol. 3), pp. 37-58.
Kapoor, A. ; Qi, Y. ; Picard, R.W. Fully automatic upper facial action recognition
2003 IEEE International SOI Conference. 2003. 195-202.
Lee, Daniel H ; Susskind, Joshua M ; Anderson, Adam K. Social Transmission of the Sensory Benefits of Eye Widening in Fear Expressions. Psychological Science. 2013. 24(6): 957-965.
Ludden, G. D. S., Schifferstein, H. N. J., & Hekkert, P. (2009). Visual–tactual incongruities in products as sources of surprise. Empirical Studies of the Arts, 27, 63–89.
Mondloch, Catherine J. ; Horner, Matthew ; Mian, Jasmine. Wide Eyes and Drooping Arms: Adult-Like Congruency Effects Emerge Early in the Development of Sensitivity to Emotional Faces and Body Postures. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology. 2013. 114(2): 203-216.
Provine, Robert R., Jessica Nave-Blodgett and Marcello O. Cabrera. The Emotional Eye: Red Sclera as a Uniquely Human Cue of Emotion. Ethology. 2013a. 119: 993–998. doi: 10.1111/eth.12144
Provine, Robert R.; Marcello O. Cabrera and Jessica Nave-Blodgett. Red, Yellow, and Super-White Sclera Uniquely Human Cues for Healthiness, Attractiveness, and Age. Human Nature. 2013. 24:126–136. DOI 10.1007/s12110-013-9168-x
Provine, R. R., Cabrera, M. O. and Nave-Blodgett, J. 2013c: Binocular symmetry / asymmetry of scleral redness as a cue for sadness, healthiness, and attractiveness in
humans. Evol. Psychol. 11, 873-884.
Provine, R. R., Cabrera, M. O., Brocato, N. W. and Krosnowski, K. A. 2011: When the whites of the eyes are red: a uniquely human cue. Ethology 117, 1—5.
Reisenzein, R. (2000). Exploring the strength of association between the components of emotion syndromes: the case of surprise. Cognition and Emotion, 14, 1–38.
Reisenzein, R., Bördgen, S., Holtbernd, T., & Matz, D. (2006). Evidence for strong dissociation between emotion and facial displays: the case of surprise. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 91, 295–315.
Reisenzein, R., & Studtmann, M. (2007). On the expression and experience of surprise: no evidence for facial feedback, but evidence for a reverse self-inference effect. Emotion, 7, 612–627.
Scherer, K. R., Zentner, M. R., & Stern, D. (2004). Beyond surprise: the puzzle of infants’ expressive reactions to expectancy violation. Emotion, 4, 389–402.
Schützwohl, Achim ; Reisenzein, Rainer. Facial expressions in response to a highly surprising event exceeding the field of vision: a test of Darwin’s theory of surprise. Evolution and Human Behavior. 2012. 33(6): 657-664.
Tipples, Jason. Wide eyes and an open mouth enhance facial threat. Cognition & Emotion. 2007. 21(3): 535-557.
Navarro, Joe. 2008. What Every BODY is Saying: An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Speed-Reading People. William Morrow Paperbacks.
Parzuchowski, Michal ; Szymkow-Sudziarska, Aleksandra. Well, slap my thigh: expression of surprise facilitates memory of surprising material. Emotion. 2008. 8(3): 430-4.
Vrticka, Pascal ; Lordier, Lara ; Bediou, Benoît ; Sander, David Desteno, David (editor). Human Amygdala Response to Dynamic Facial Expressions of Positive and Negative Surprise. Emotion. 2014. 14(1): 161-169.
Vanhamme, J. (2000). The link between surprise and satisfaction: an exploratory research on how to best measure surprise. Journal of Marketing Management, 16, 565–582.
Walker, Michael ; Trimboli, Carmelina. The expressive function of the eye flash
Journal of Nonverbal Behavior. 1983. 8(1): 3-13.
Walker, M.B. The relative importance of verbal and nonverbal cues in the expression of confidence. Aust. J. Psychol., 1977, 29, 45-57.
Wheldall, Kevin ; Mittler, Peter. Eyebrow-raising, eye widening and visual search nursery school children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry. 1976. 17(1): 57-62.