plosone | A Noh mask worn by expert actors when performing on a Japanese traditional Noh drama is suggested to convey countless different facial expressions according to different angles of head/body orientation. The present study addressed the question of how different facial parts of a
Noh mask, including the eyebrows, the eyes, and the mouth, may
contribute to different emotional expressions. Both experimental
situations of active creation and passive recognition of emotional
facial expressions were introduced.
Methodology/Principal Findings
In
Experiment 1, participants either created happy or sad facial
expressions, or imitated a face that looked up or down, by actively
changing each facial part of a Noh mask image presented on a computer
screen. For an upward tilted mask, the eyebrows and the mouth shared
common features with sad expressions, whereas the eyes with happy
expressions. This contingency tended to be reversed for a downward
tilted mask. Experiment 2 further examined which facial parts of a Noh
mask are crucial in determining emotional expressions. Participants were
exposed to the synthesized Noh mask images with different facial parts
expressing different emotions. Results clearly revealed that
participants primarily used the shape of the mouth in judging emotions.
The facial images having the mouth of an upward/downward tilted Noh mask
strongly tended to be evaluated as sad/happy, respectively.
Conclusions/Significance
The
results suggest that Noh masks express chimeric emotional patterns,
with different facial parts conveying different emotions This appears
consistent with the principles of Noh which highly appreciate subtle and
composite emotional expressions, as well as with the mysterious facial
expressions observed in Western art. It was further demonstrated that
the mouth serves as a diagnostic feature in characterizing the emotional
expressions. This indicates the superiority of biologically-driven
factors over the traditionally formulated performing styles when
evaluating the emotions of the Noh masks.
