Researchers directed electric current to activate targeted facial muscles and then asked study participants how they felt
The expression “a smile a day keeps the blues away” may have some credence beyond the realm of greeting card messages. The lingering question of whether a smile or frown lifts or depresses emotion has persisted for decades and is still actively debated.
In the decades since then, the hypothesis has received mixed empirical support. In 1988 researchers in Germany published a study that has come to be known. They divided participants into two groups and asked them to manipulate a pen with their mouth in different ways.
For the new study, Korb and his colleagues turned to electrical stimulation—a method that allowed them to target specific muscles in the face for a specific amount of time. They placed electrodes on 58 participants’ skin and gradually increased the current until it induced a contraction that forced the face into a frown or a smile. Anatomical variability among the participants meant that each one received a slightly different level of current to activate the targeted muscle.
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