Blind Athletes Prove Hardwired Expressions

The facial expressions we make are hardwired into our brains rather than learned during life, and researchers showed these similarities by comparing sighted and blind athletes at the 2004 Olympic Games. In that study, they analyzed how competitors reacted in moments of victory and defeat, from spontaneous smiles to controlled neutral faces. The blind athletes, who could not have copied expressions by watching others, showed and controlled their expressions in exactly the same way as sighted athletes.

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