Botox deadens emotions
rwac 11 Feb 2010
Botox May Deaden Not Just Nerves, But Emotions, Too
Sure, Botox can banish crows feet, smooth those wrinkles, and lift those frown lines, making the client look more youthful–and somewhat expressionless. But the treatment may have effects that are more than skin deep. A new study suggests that by paralyzing the frown muscles that ordinarily are engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself.
In the now-common cosmetic treatment, a doctor injects botulinum toxin, sold under the brand name Botox, under the skin. The toxin kicks in, temporarily paralyzing facial muscles, smoothing skin out, and making a person look less wrinkly as a result. That paralysis, however, seems to interfere with a known feedback loop, in which smiling adds to your happiness and frowning multiplies your sadness . And tamping down a person’s emotions seems to interfere with the ability to read emotions in others. Says study leader David Havas: “Botox induces a kind of mild, temporary cognitive blindness to information in the world, social information about the emotions of other people”.
http://blogs.discove...t-emotions-too/
How strange. Inhibiting the expression of an emotion affects the emotion itself.
niner 11 Feb 2010
That's fascinating. It actually makes perfect sense, if you think about it, but the part that I find weird is the way it interferes with your ability to read emotion in others. Now that is strange. I would have thought that to be a cognitive process involving mirror neurons. Maybe mirror neurons are wired into our facial proprioception? Animals are pretty amazing, aren't we? Would "anti-botox" be helpful for autistic people?Botox May Deaden Not Just Nerves, But Emotions, Too
Sure, Botox can banish crows feet, smooth those wrinkles, and lift those frown lines, making the client look more youthful–and somewhat expressionless. But the treatment may have effects that are more than skin deep. A new study suggests that by paralyzing the frown muscles that ordinarily are engaged when we feel angry, Botox short-circuits the emotion itself.
In the now-common cosmetic treatment, a doctor injects botulinum toxin, sold under the brand name Botox, under the skin. The toxin kicks in, temporarily paralyzing facial muscles, smoothing skin out, and making a person look less wrinkly as a result. That paralysis, however, seems to interfere with a known feedback loop, in which smiling adds to your happiness and frowning multiplies your sadness . And tamping down a person’s emotions seems to interfere with the ability to read emotions in others. Says study leader David Havas: “Botox induces a kind of mild, temporary cognitive blindness to information in the world, social information about the emotions of other people”.
http://blogs.discove...t-emotions-too/
How strange. Inhibiting the expression of an emotion affects the emotion itself.
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Athanasios 11 Feb 2010
That mind-body connection, with mirror neurons, sure does feel like it is there.Maybe mirror neurons are wired into our facial proprioception?
Sillewater 11 Feb 2010
rwac 11 Feb 2010
How human will an uploaded human be, if all our emotions are directly tied to our physical body.
niner 12 Feb 2010
That's a really good question. Maybe they could be fixed with a software tweak. A little amplification.That brings up a really interesting question.
How human will an uploaded human be, if all our emotions are directly tied to our physical body.
TheFountain 14 Feb 2010
I remember a study in my psychology class about emotions or something. Something about paraplegics having less emotions or something. Its the physical reaction that causes the emotion, not the emotion causing the physical reaction.
Classic behavioural psychology. How stupid. According to this theory, and all it is is a theory, humans are mere puppets controlled by their environment. While I do agree that humans are machines who do have a certain degree of environmental force waged against us I take Ouspenskies view more seriously than that of behavioural psychologists. That is, that we can control every aspect of our personal existence, and even to a large degree, prevent accidents from occuring. Besides I remember reading about how EEG readings occured as a result of thought, I.E as an effect of thought rather than a corresponding physical causation. The actual CAUSE of thought is still a mystery to us.
Delorean 15 Feb 2010
The actual CAUSE of thought is still a mystery to us.
I thought it was just a chain reaction like everything else in the universe?
TheFountain 15 Feb 2010
The actual CAUSE of thought is still a mystery to us.
I thought it was just a chain reaction like everything else in the universe?
We don't know.
platypus 15 Feb 2010
rwac 16 Feb 2010
That's a really good question. Maybe they could be fixed with a software tweak. A little amplification.
That would mean that we would have to understand the working of the brain, as opposed to simply duplicating aspects of it.
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nanostuff 10 Mar 2010
The actual CAUSE of thought is still a mystery to us.
I thought it was just a chain reaction like everything else in the universe?
We don't know.
We know beyond reasonable doubt. Not knowing is exclusive to yourself. Whatever it is you read about EEG is therefore necessarily bullshit or you have mis-interpreted the results.