WHAT do you get if you stick 40 hormonal teenagers with varying levels of social anxiety in an MRI scanner?
As a team of Dutch and Italian researchers have found, you get an interesting case study in emotional arousal.
The outcome was some curious data on how blushing cheeks can give away your emotions, with embarrassment top of the list.
To reach its outcome, researchers made the 40 teens watch pre-recorded videos of themselves and other people singing karaoke, with their brain and cheek temperatures measured at the same time.
As control stimuli, the video session involved watching themselves sing a song, followed by another person of similar singing ability, before the ultimate reality check as a professional singer performed.
Participants tended to blush more when they watched themselves singing, compared to watching others, with the blushing linked to higher activation in the cerebellum and the left paracentral lobe - parts of the brain that control emotional arousal.
Armed with the results, researchers theorised the higher levels of blushing stemmed from a desire to flee but also a want not to give up the social connection karaoke brings.
Charles Darwin said blushing was "the most human of all expressions" and a clear indication of heightened self-awareness - right again, Darwin.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 18 Jul 24
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