By Ian Sample – Science editor, The Guardian | Were scientists to concoct an experiment that was all but guaranteed to unleash full-on, cheek-reddening embarrassment, then filming adolescents singing Let It Go from Frozen and playing back their performance might well do the job.
And so to researchers at the University of Amsterdam who invited dozens of young volunteers into the lab before breaking the news as to what was required. In front of a camera, and without the benefit of a shot or two, they were asked to sing the Arendelle anthem or another choice track, before they and others watched the rendition back from inside a brain scanner.
Through such pre-meditated mortification, and measurements from temperature sensors stuck to the participants’ cheeks, scientists hoped to uncover the signature of blushing in the brain, the neural activity underpinning what Darwin called “the most human of all expressions”.
Psychologists speak of two broad theories when it comes to blushing. The one favored by Darwin proposes that reddening cheeks come on when we consider how we must look to onlookers. The other suspects something simpler is afoot: a more spontaneous response to feeling exposed.
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Read more on this interesting aspect of our lives here:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/article/2024/jul/17/scientists-inflict-karaoke-on-young-volunteers-to-find-out-what-makes-us-blush
[Thanks to Alex Teitz for contributing this article! http://www.femmusic.com]
Scientists Inflict Karaoke on Young Volunteers to Find Out What Makes Us Blush
