Your face can give subtle indications that you are sick, depending on the results of a study published in the medical journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. During a series of experiments, participants were able to accurately distinguish between sick and healthy people, simply by looking at their photographs.
To test whether facial signals alone could transmit signs of the disease, researchers at Stockholm University in Sweden gave 22 adults an injection of a common bacteria or a saltwater placebo. Although the bacterial injections didn’t make the volunteers really sick, they tricked their immune system and triggered an inflammatory response. Soon after, those who received the bacteria began to feel sick. About two hours after the injections, the scientists took photos of the volunteers.
All images of sick and healthy people were shown to 62 reviewers who looked at each photo for 5 seconds. Then, they were asked to estimate whether the person photographed looked sick or healthy.
Facial signs to detect the disease
Evaluators identified the vast majority of ill subjects, 13 out of 16, by specific signs such as paler lips and skin, more swollen face, more sagging eyelids, redder eyes and duller skin.
“These results demonstrate that untrained people can identify critically ill individuals simply by observing a photo for a few seconds,” the study authors write. “This supports the notion that humans have the ability to detect signs of disease in an early phase after exposure to infection.”
More studies are needed to understand how humans already use this innate ability to ‘scan for signs of illness’ in their peers, and how this may overlap with emotions such as anxiety, fear, confidence and fear. attraction to others.
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