The Tel Aviv University study finds that unconscious facial mimicry predicts people’s choices and often occurs before conscious decision‑making. In paired tasks where one person read movie synopses, listeners who more strongly mirrored positive expressions tended to prefer that option, even when told to decide by personal taste. Audio‑only trials produced similar "smile in the voice" responses, indicating that voice interactions can also trigger mimicry. Researchers say these embodied signals act as fast internal cues during preference formation and could inform marketing and autism‑support tools.
Your Face Decides Before You Do: Subtle Mimicry Predicts Choices, Study Finds
Couple smiling at each other. (photo credit: SHUTTERSTOCK)
New research from Tel Aviv University shows that tiny, unconscious facial mimicry can predict people’s choices — sometimes even before they are consciously aware of deciding. The study challenges the idea that facial mimicry is merely a polite social cue or an empathy signal, suggesting instead that these micro‑movements are woven into how preferences form and decisions are made.
Study Design and Methods
Led by doctoral student Liron Amihai in Professor Yaara Yeshurun’s lab, with collaborators Elinor Sharvit, Hila Man and Professor Yael Hanein, the team published the findings in the peer‑reviewed journal Communications Psychology. Participants worked in pairs: one person read two film synopses aloud while the other listened and later reported which film they preferred. Researchers used specialized sensors and software to track subtle facial micro‑movements and measure how strongly listeners mirrored the speaker’s positive expressions.
Key Findings
The investigators found a clear pattern: listeners were more likely to choose the film for which they had most strongly mirrored the reader’s positive expressions. Crucially, this link held even when listeners were explicitly instructed to base their choice on personal taste rather than the reader’s behavior. The strength of mimicry directed at the speaker — not the listener’s facial expressions in isolation — predicted the eventual selection.
Tel Aviv University (credit: Tel Aviv University Spokesperson’s Office)
Facial mimicry between people — not just a person’s facial expression on its own — can predict what someone will prefer in a realistic social interaction, the team reports.
Automatic, Early Influence
The study shows that this mimicry is largely automatic and can occur before deliberate evaluation. The researchers describe the effect as a form of muscular feedback that can subtly nudge preference formation while choices are still emerging.
Audio‑Only Effects
In a second phase, participants heard an actress read the summaries in audio‑only format. Remarkably, listeners still produced facial responses corresponding to a perceived "smile in the voice," and those micro‑expressions again predicted which option they later chose. The authors note that voice‑only settings — phone calls, podcasts or voice agents — can therefore elicit embodied responses that shape preferences.
Implications
The researchers propose that facial mimicry functions as a fast, implicit signal the brain uses during evaluation — an embodied cue that accompanies and helps shape preference formation. Practical applications could include marketing and user‑experience research, where measuring subtle mimicry might reveal consumer reactions without direct questioning. The team is also developing platforms to help children, particularly those with autism, recognize and practice mimicry skills to support social engagement and emotional understanding.
Publication: Communications Psychology. Institution: Tel Aviv University.
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