As humans, we use our facial muscles to express various emotions. Those around us use those facial expressions, even the subtle ones, to perceive our emotions.
In the process of perceiving the emotions of another person, we mimic their facial expressions. This is something done without conscious thought and is considered to be important in having and displaying empathy and understanding with others, as well as communication in general.
If this is all something we do without conscious thought or awareness, what happens when someone has Botox injected into the muscles of their forehead and around their eyes, limiting their ability to express and mimic facial expressions?
Furthermore, what might happen if we could somehow exaggerate our ability to express and mimic facial expressions?
This study write-up consists of 2 experiments. In one experiment, they looked at the accuracy of judging positive vs negative facial expressions in 2 groups - a group who had Botox and one who had just dermal fillers which does not impact their ability to move their facial muscles. In the other experiment, a gel was applied to the face of the participants and when it dried, it created a resistance in their skin which inevitably made them increase the usage of their facial muscles.
Botox vs Restylane (dermal filler)
Botox paralyzes the muscles it is injected into, making it so the brain cannot contract the muscle, but also so the muscle is unable to provide sensory feedback to the brain. In essence, the muscle kind of does not exist anymore (the brain needs feedback from your body to know what exists so it can manage it!).
Restylane is a dermal filler which helps to decrease fine lines and does not impact the ability for muscle to contract. This allows the brain to contract the muscle but to also get sensory feedback from the muscle.
Thirty one females participated in the study and they were recruited from clinics, so already receiving the product before the study. Black and white photos were shown to all 31 participants, with everything cropped out of the photo except the eyes and the area around the eyes. The participants were to choose if the expression in the photo was positive or negative, with 36 photos shown.
The results showed that those who had received the Botox injections were significantly less accurate than those who had only received the dermal filler injections. This difference was significant with both positive and negative expressions. It is worth noting that those with Botox injections were still accurate about 70% of the time, however, the difference between those with and those without the Botox injections is still considered statistically significant.
The results of this study may support the idea that if our facial muscles are paralyzed, not allowing us to properly express emotions and not allowing us to mimic the expressions of those arounds us ... results in our inability to accurately know if they are expressing a positive or negative emotion.
Gel Resistance
The study used a special kind of gel that, when it dried, would tighten on the skin of the participants. This gel was applied in the general location of the Botox and dermal filler injections, basically around their eyes.
This group consisted of 95 participants with about half having the gel applied around their eyes, and the other half had it on their non-dominant arm (this was the control group). The experimenters used methods to determine that the gel was not a distraction and was increasing the participant's awareness, as it was intended.
The result of this experiment was that those with the gel around their eyes were more accurate in judging facial expressions of emotion with the additional resistance from the gel. They were a bit more accurate in identifying the positive faces, than they were in identifying the negative faces.
Results
Ultimately, we require the full use of our facial muscles in order to mimic the facial expressions of those we are around. This ability allows us increased emotional understanding, empathy, connection, and communication.
Decreasing this ability to move our facial muscles "appears to have broad functional effects on emotional processing, encompassing both emotional reactivity and emotion perception," which certainly may have an impact in our relationships and life overall.
As Botox in particular becomes more popular and we are able to see more of the long-term impacts of these toxin injections, we are likely to see how they make changes in the brain's ability to process our own emotions but also understand and respond appropriately to the emotions of those around us.
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