Part 1: Look at the images below from a research article looking at the expression of emotions in a blind versus sighted athlete (San Francisco State University. “Facial Expressions Of Emotion Are Innate, Not Learned.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 December 2008) . How can a man from a tribe in New Guinea express emotions the same as ours? How can a blind woman, who has never “seen” an emotion expressed use the same facial expression. Explain your answer using your understanding of the brain.
2. Do you feel your response is changed now after seeing a photo of a newborn copying the facial expressions of a parent? Why or Why not? It looks as if infants must “imitate” expressions in order to learn them. One theory suggests mirror neurons in the infant brain wires us to imitate emotions before we can express the emotion ourselves. If so, how did the blind woman “learn” to express her emotions?