Video Shorts: Embodied Cognition Theory and Botox

Your Facial Expression can Trigger Emotion

This short video explains where the most compelling evidence for the theory of Embodied Cognition comes from—Botox studies.

Approximate Video Transcript

Nonverbal behaviour not only reflects the way that you feel (body language, expressions and voice, for example) but it can also trigger emotion.

Some of the most compelling evidence for this theory, Embodied Cognition, comes from Botox studies.

With advancements in neuroscience, we can now look into someone’s brain to see which emotions they are experiencing. So we can look to see how people experience emotion before and after botox.

Botox temporarily paralyses muscles, so if it’s injected between the brows, facial movements associated with these muscles and specific emotions are suppressed. Several emotions use those muscles for facial expression–anger, fear, sadness and surprise. Because of the body-brain feedback loop, those emotions are suppressed if the muscles are paralysed.

And if it’s injected here around the eyes and upper cheeks, you lose the ability to display a genuine smile of happiness, and therefore, your experience of happiness is suppressed.