How you walk reveals to others how you are feeling, researchers say

The study found that bigger swings of the arms and legs portrayed more aggression while smaller swings implied fear and sadness. Photograph: Artem Hvozdkov/Getty Images

A long face is not the only sign that someone is down in the dumps. How people walk is revealing too, particularly the swing of the arms and legs, researchers say.

Scientists asked volunteers to guess people’s emotions from video clips of them walking and found that bigger swings portrayed more aggression while smaller swings implied fear and sadness.