The human face has 43 muscles, which can stretch, lift and contort it into dozens of expressions. Is it really so easy to read? Download MP3

Research in the 1960s and 1970s suggested that emotional expressions – smiling when happy, scowling when angry, and so on – were universal. This idea stood unchallenged for a generation.

But a new cohort of psychologists and cognitive scientists are revisiting the data. Many researchers now think that the picture is a lot more complicated, and that facial expressions vary widely between contexts and cultures.

This is an audio version of our feature: Why faces don’t always tell the truth about feelings.

Credit: Koldunov/Getty

Never miss an episode: Subscribe to the Nature Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or your favourite podcast app. Head here for the Nature Podcast RSS feed﻿.