The Brain: The Story of You

by David Eagleman

On average, those with Botox were worse at identifying the emotions in the pictures correctly. Why? One hypothesis suggests that the lack of feedback from their facial muscles impaired their ability to read other people. We all know that the less mobile faces of Botox users can make it hard to tell what they’re feeling; the surprise is that those same frozen muscles can make it hard for them to read others. Here’s a way to think about this result: my facial muscles reflect what I’m feeling, and your neural machinery takes advantage of that. When you’re trying to understand what I’m feeling, you try on my facial expression. You don’t mean to do it – it happens rapidly and unconsciously – but that automatic mirroring of my expression gives you a rapid estimate of what I’m likely to be feeling.