If you can’t tell a smile from a scowl, you’re probably not getting enough sleep. A new UC Berkeley study shows that sleep deprivation dulls our ability to accurately read facial expressions. This deficit can have serious consequences, such as not noticing that a child is sick or in pain, or that a potential mugger…
Read MoreHow Newborn Infants See the People Around Them
For the first time ever, scientists in Sweden and Norway have simulated how our emotional expressions appear to the dewy eyes of a newborn — and their finding may lay to rest a longstanding debate. “We have for many years known that newborn babies have poor eyesight, they do not discriminate colors and that [they]…
Read MoreTraining Boys to Recognize Another’s Fear Reduces Violent Crime
Written by Jessica Hamzelou for New Scientist Magazine Wide eyes and mouth agape – you might think a fearful face is easy to recognize. That doesn’t seem to be the case for people who repeatedly commit antisocial offences. For the first time, training offenders to better read facial expressions has reduced violent crime. The computer-based…
Read MoreDo Apes Laugh When Tickled?
Apes often make weird sounds when they’re tickled, and some researchers now say these pants and hoots truly are related to human laughter. That’s the conclusion of a new study in the journal Current Biology that analyzed the “tickle-induced vocalizations” of infant and juvenile apes as well as human infants.