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Despite the burgeoning literature using facial electromyography (EMG) to study cognitive and emotional processes, the psychometric properties of facial EMG measurement have received little attention. Two experiments were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of facial EMG as a measure of specific facial actions. In Experiment 1, two recording sites in the brow region were compared for their ability to differentiate facial actions hypothesized to be due to the activation of the corrugator supercilii from facial actions presumed to be due to the activation of proximate muscles (e.g. depressor supercilii, procerus, frontalis, levator labii superioris alaeque nasi, orbicularis oculi), and four sites in the infraorbital triangle were compared for their ability to differentiate facial actions hypothesized to be due to the activation of the zygomaticus major from facial actions presumed to be due the activation of proximate …