The interactions of facial expression, thoughts and emotions have intrigued scientists for more than a century. Facial expressions can not only be a reflection of what you are thinking or feeling, but they also affect your ability to understand written language related to emotions, if a latest study is to be believed; and this apparently can have much significance in the world of cosmetic procedures/surgeries!
The new study reported on people who were treated with botulinum toxin, or Botox. Tiny applications of this powerful nerve poison were used to deactivate muscles in the forehead that cause frowning. Scientists had found that blocking the ability to move the body causes changes in cognition and emotion, but there were always questions.
To test how blocking a frown might affect comprehension of language related to emotions, the patients were asked to read written statements, before and then two weeks after the Botox treatment. The statements had angry, sad or happy emotions. The ability to understand these sentences was gauged. The results showed no change in the time needed to understand the happy sentences. But after Botox treatment, the subjects took more time to read the angry and sad sentences. Although the time difference was small, it was significant.
There is a long-standing idea in psychology, called the facial feedback hypothesis that essentially says – 'when you're smiling, the whole world smiles with you'. Actually, this study suggests the opposite – 'when you're not frowning, the world seems less angry and less sad'. The reason here is, that normally the brain would be sending signals to the periphery to frown, and the extent of the frown would be sent back to the brain. But here, since that loop is disrupted, the intensity of the emotion and of our ability to understand it when embodied in language is disrupted too!
Practically, the study may have profound implications for the cosmetic-surgery. Such an effect could snowball; but the outcome could also be positive. If a person is not picking up sad, angry cues in the environment, it will make them happier. In theoretical terms, the finding supports a psychological hypothesis called "embodied cognition". With some roots in evolutionary theory, the embodied cognition hypothesis suggests that our thought processes, like our emotions, are refined through evolution to support survival and reproduction.
It is quite clear from this latest study, that far from being detached from emotion, language understanding can be hindered when peripheral bodily mechanisms are interrupted.
|
