A new study by a couple of psychologists has discovered a peculiar relationship between the words we read and the judgments we make.
Francesco Foroni and Gün Semin found that “verbs representing facial expressions of emotion” activate certain facial muscles. When we read the words “to laugh,” for instance, the muscles that allow us to form a smile are activated, while the muscles associated with frowning are not. Turns out these movements in our face can affect how we judge certain things.
When volunteers were subliminally shown verbs representing positive emotions after they watched a series of cartoons, they rated the cartoons as funnier—so long as they were allowed to move their facial muscles naturally. If the researchers prevented the volunteers’ facial muscles from moving in response to the verbs, the words had no effect on how funny they thought the cartoons were.