Eyes are the windows to understanding the evolution of communication - When frightened our eyes dilate with fear, and when horrified, we squint in disgust. - It has been said that the eyes are the windows to the soul, but they may reveal something else as well: A window to our primeval, evolutionary past. When frightened our eyes dilate with fear, and when horrified, we squint in disgust, traits that may go back further than we think, according to a new paper by Adam Anderson, a neuroscientist at Cornell University. Anderson’s findings suggest that these reactions are the result of adaptive reactions to our surroundings, signals that expand our field of perception when in danger and enabling us to escape from potential predators, reinforcing Charles Darwin’s nineteenth century ideas about the evolution of emotion, and contradicting the popular notion that these ocular movements are merely social signals. In a paper published in the March 2014 issue of Psychological Science, Anderson and his co-authors suggest that the functions of dilation and contraction in the eye could be the origin for our expressive capacities, leading to the expressive function of the entire face; emotions ranging from sadness, to anger, to happiness. “These emotions trigger facial expressions that are very far apart structurally, one with eyes wide open and the other with eyes pinched,” writes Anderson. “The reason for that is to allow the eye to harness the properties of light that are most useful in these situations.” As a result of these reflexes, emotions control our reality, shaping what it is we see before they are revealed to us by light, therefore emotions have a significant impact from the beginning of our vision on what it is we see. Affect and Cognition Laboratory, of which Anderson is an employee, is now studying how the contraction and dilation of the eye accounts for the various forms of nonverbal communication across cultures, based heavily on facial expression. “We are seeking to understand how these expressions have come to communicate emotions to others,” he says, believing that this research might uncover a deeper link to communication between our ancestors, long before languages were spoken. “We know that the eyes can be a powerful basis for reading what people are thinking and feeling, and we might have a partial answer to why that is.” © Science Recorder News. All Rights Reserved.
Posted on: Mon, 24 Mar 2014 17:31:15 +0000
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