Now that cancer is cured, world hunger is solved, and all the little corgi puppies have been given good homes, it's time for science to cure B*tchy Resting Face.
BRF is an affliction for people whose relaxed facial expression is one of contempt, hatred or anger.
Sufferers of BRF are often asked:
- What's wrong?
- Who died?
- Why are you in such a bad mood all the time?
Famous practitioners of BRF are rapper Kanye, actors Anna Kendrick, Kristin Stewart and Ray Liotta.
Now, researchers are studying who has it and what they have in common that produces BRF.
The researchers enlisted Noldus's FaceReader, a sophisticated tool engineered to identify specific expressions based on a catalogue of more than 10,000 images of human faces. The software, which can examine faces through a live camera, a photograph or a video clip, maps 500 points on the human face, then analyzes the image and assigns an expression based on eight basic human emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise, disgust, contempt, and "neutral."
To establish a baseline, Rogers and Macbeth first had FaceReader assess a series of genuinely expressionless faces. Those expressions registered about 97 percent neutrality, Macbeth said; the remaining three percent included "little blips of emotion" — a touch of sadness here, a hint of surprise there, but nothing significant. (<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2016/02/02/scientists-have-discovered-the-source-of-your-resting-bitch-face/" target="_blank">Washington Post</a>)
Worried that you might have RBF? Now you can find out for sure. After publishing their results in October, Rogers and Macbeth invited members of the public to submit their own faces for analysis. Guys and gals alike are welcome to email photos of their most "neutral" facial expressions, and FaceReader will tell you if you're actually expressionless — or if you and the Queen have RBF in common.
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[ Watch ]
as actress Anna Kendrick explains WHY she doesn't like her BRF)