Facial expressions are also inherited

Each gesture on your face is passed down in the family. A new study on blind people has shown that people do not necessarily spread facial movements through relatives living around.

To understand the natural or growth factors affecting facial expression, Israeli researchers investigated 21 people who were born blind with 30 of their relatives. A total of 51 people were recorded when they were happy, sad, exasperated, focusing their thoughts, listening to a creepy story and answering a difficult question.

Scientists analyzed the three-hour process, paying attention to individual changes on the faces of each person - like lifting an eyebrow, pursing their lips - when they experienced different emotions. Information is loaded into computers to find the order and frequency of these facial movements.

The results show that the blind often have more angry, sad and depressed faces than do strangers.

What a surprising result is that these blind people have never seen relatives, scientist Gili Peleg at Haifa University, Israel, said. It shows that these facial expressions are genetic.

Peleg suggests that genes affect the muscle structure and nerves in the face. This creates biological limitations that create similar facial expressions among people of the same blood.

Peleg also said that the 3 other facial expressions of the blind, such as fun, surprise and disgust, are not much different from those of relatives or strangers. This may be because these emotions are more global and less genetic.

MT