Botox: blocking emotions and wrinkles?
After being accused of limiting emotions, Botox is back in the news for possibly reducing emotional perception as well. The Botox phenomena of blocking facial expressions could thus have two new surprising side effects.
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Last year Columbia University researchers Joshua Davis and Ann Senghas, showed that the fact of not actually being able to smile when happy reduced the intensity of that happy feeling. It seems that a person who can’t make facial movements (as a result of Botox injections) also feels less emotion.
"With Botox, a person can respond otherwise normally to an emotional event, [such as] a sad movie scene, but will have less movement in the facial muscles that have been injected, and therefore less feedback to the brain about such facial expressivity, “ said Joshua Davis. Further to the link between feeling emotions and Botox, the study also raised the idea that there could be a real link between the ability to smile and the feeling of happiness felt.
Can Botox block emotional understanding?
This year, a new American study took another look at the links between Botox and emotions. Researchers from the University of University of Southern California (USC) and the Duke University compared the reactions of a number of patient groups to faces expressing different emotions. One of the groups had been treated with Botox or Restylane and the other group with a gel that amplifies facial muscle signs (by raising the skin’s resistance to muscle contraction).
"Botox users can't understand the emotions of other people because they're unable to mimic them, " concludes David Neal, USC psychology professor. According to Neal, understanding another person’s expressions occurs through the imitation of their facial expressions. In short, David Neal explains that, " When we mimic, we get a window into another person's inner world." And conversely, “When we can't mimic, that window is a little darker."
This study, which raises yet another problem with the use of Botox also opens the way for new uses for the gel that amplifies muscle signals. This gel could be tested on people who have trouble understanding other’s facial expressions, such as sufferers of Asperger’s Syndrome.
In the meantime, a few pertinent words from Professor Neal… "It's somewhat ironic that people use Botox to function better in social situations," Neal said. "You may look better, but you could suffer because you can't communicate as effectively."
Sources:
- Duke University press release, April 2011
- “Embodied Emotion Perception: Amplifying and Dampening Facial Feedback Modulates Emotion Perception Accuracy,” David T. Neal & Tanya L. Chartrand - Social Psychological and Personality Science April 21, 2011
- "The effects of BOTOX injections on emotional experience", Davis JI et coll., Emotion, Volume 10, Issue 3, June 2010, Pages 433-440
Copyright © 2011 Doctissimo
Posted 03.05.2011
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