According to a recent article in The New York Times, facial expressions are a crucial part of social interactions that the human brain is able to quickly interpret, even for those who suffer from facial paralysis.
The ability to interpret expressions was thought to be a result of what psychologists refer to as facial mimicry—the idea that during an exchange, people tend to match their levels of emotion to whoever they are with while subtly mimicking their facial expressions, which allows them to feel the emotion through mirrored expressions.
However, studies show that those who have facial paralysis (known as Moebius syndrome) have no problem interpreting other’s expressions, even if they cannot mirror them, which suggests there are other ways the brain can interpret facial expression. Such findings are valuable, because if these other strategies can be taught, they could help people who suffer from afflictions including anxiety and autism.
View Seeking Emotional Clues Without Facial Cues in its entirety.
