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Botox may make you insensitive to others' emotions-study
by Jaspreet Virk - April 24, 2011 - comments
The reason may be that people have to mimic others' facial expressions in order to understand them.
Botox might erase facial wrinkles and make your skin appear fresh and youthful, but it could also dampen your ability to understand emotions of others, warns a new study.
The research published in 'Social Psychology and Personality Science,' states that Botox treatment might paralyze facial muscles and make one less empathetic.
“If muscular signals from the face to the brain are dampened, you’re less able to read emotions,” stated lead researcher David Neal, a psychology professor at the University of Southern California.
Affect of Botox, amplified gel studied
To reach the study findings, Prof. Neal and his colleagues analyzed two groups of subjects.
The first group of 31 women were treated with Botox or Restylane. The other larger group, consisting of 56 women and 39 men, were given a gel which amplifies facial muscles.
Following the treatment, the participants were shown pictures of people on computers and asked to identify emotions.
Findings
Researchers found that subjects treated with Botox had difficulty in reading others emotions compared to amplified gel group.
The research findings are in line with a study published last year by researchers Joshua Davis and Ann Senghas, professors at Barnard College.
“When the facial muscles are dampened, you get worse in emotion perception, and when the facial muscles are amplified, you get better at emotion perception,” stated Prof. Neal.
The reason may be that people have to mimic others' facial expressions in order to understand them.
Research backed by previous study
The research findings are in line with a study published last year by researchers Joshua Davis and Ann Senghas, professors at Barnard College.
The study found that Botox may hinder a person's ability to read others emotions.
“With Botox, a person can respond otherwise normally to an emotional event, e.g. a sad movie scene, but will have less movement in the facial muscles that have been injected, and therefore less feedback about such facial expressivity,” stated Prof. Davis.
Though the two studies havn't come up with a conclusive finding, Prof. Neal recommends that people should consider if “these procedures are having any indirect costs.”