14 DAY TRIAL // A team of Israeli researchers have recently found that facial expressions are very often passed on from parent to child and continue to run in the family through the genes. The team of scientists at the University of Haifa in Israel showed that negative facial expressions such as frowning, anger, disgust etc. are 'inherited' by children from the elder members in their family. The study was conducted on blind subjects who could not have learned any kind of facial expression from first degree relatives, as they could not see the particular way in which their relatives move their eyes, lips, eyebrows etc. when expressing states and feelings.
This is a natural phenomenon and it all lies in the family genes, which are passed on from parents to their offsprings and so on. Even the famous evolutionary biologist Charles Darwin has stated that expressions which can be read on one's face are inherited by his/her descendants, noticing the same 'strange' phenomenon - that blind people display facial expressions kindred with those of their relatives. "The inheritance of most of our expressive actions explains the fact that those born blind display them...equally well with those gifted with sight," pinpointed Charles Darwinin his book entitled 'The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals; and written in 1872.
Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Journal, Israeli researchers from the University of Haifa led by Gili Peleg pointed out: "We have found that facial expressions are typical to families - a kind of facial expression 'signature'. Our next step is to find the exact genes that influence facial expression."
She also rejected suggestions and explanations according to which blind people learn facial expressions from their relative at early ages by touching their parents' faces. Blind offsprings and people in general do not touch the others' faces because it is an impolite action and it is only a 'Hollywood myth', firmly argued blind subjects involved in the study. "Facial expressions are too detailed and intricate to learn that way. Negative emotions are very important in social communication," said Gili Peleg.
Professor Ruth Mace, Evolutionary Anthropologist at the UK University College London commented on the findings of the current study: "We have known that expressing your emotions is something that has been moulded by natural selection for a long time. As a social species, it makes sense for us to be able to read each others' emotions to predict how they are going to behave and how they are going to respond. It is all part of being social and living in groups. Being able to read people's faces is very important and it makes sense that there is a hereditary component."