An international team of scientists from McGill University in Canada and Radboud University in the Netherlands have discovered characteristic facial changes during human mental work.
The study was reported in the journal Cognitive, Affective & Behavioral Neuroscience. To prove their claim, the scientists analyzed how certain facial muscles react when a person thinks about costs and benefits, thinks about complex tasks.
In order to capture this process in practice, the researchers used electrophysiological measurements of transient emotions – states of effect. The main attention was focused on the zygomatic muscle and the muscle that wrinkles the eyebrow.
Thanks to facial electromyography, scientists were able to see how very quickly the activity of these muscle groups appeared, which reflected positive or negative affect in 44 volunteers. At this time, the participants in the experiment were asked to complete a complex arithmetic task, and it was necessary to calculate in their minds.
In the end, it was noticed that the use of mental effort was more associated with activity in the muscle that wrinkled the eyebrow. Thus, brow furrowing indicates a decision-making process that was previously difficult to detect experimentally.
At the same time, when a person completed the task of the possibility of obtaining a larger amount of money, muscle activity decreased. The researchers believe this is due to the juxtaposition of negative feelings associated with mental costs and positive thoughts about possible benefits. Lenta.ru .
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