Our Inability to Not Interpret

Being able to detect and interpret facial expressions and body movements can make or break your understanding of a message someone is trying to communicate to you, and vice versa effect the message you are trying to send out. But how does if effect your communication if you cannot technically see these emotions and behaviors?

A 2009 study shows that those who are blind, not because their eyes aren't functioning but because of brain trauma to the part of the brain that interprets what we see, can unconsciously respond to emotions shown to them. Imagine being able to see but not being able to mentally understand, interpret and respond to images. That is what it is like to be these people.

In this study, described by this article, the "blind" were shown images of happy and upset people on both sides of their faces - shown once on the side of the face that wasn't "blind" then on the other side that was- and the side that was actually interpreted the images faster. This is because these subjects were lacking the component of their brains that sees an image then thinks about what it means before responding. This study showed that being empathetic is innate and subconscious at times, even to those who legally cannot see. Even though the parts of their brains that were in charge of interpreting visuals was damaged to the point of no return, other parts of their brain chipped in to analyze the emotions they were seeing. After analyzing, the subjects' faces twitched in the exact spot distinctly associated with smiling. Therefore, being empathetic and showing emotions back to people is something that is a part of us regardless of brain damage.

To further prove this, when we are first born all we have to understand the world are our senses. We have not yet gathered enough experience to base our actions and thoughts off individual perspective because we are still learning. When babies are shown two faces, one angry and one happy, and then hear a happy tone of voice, they will immediately turn to the face that looks happy.

Therefore, when we communicate with people and they show emotions, purposely or not, we have an internal, unconscious reaction that we cannot help. Minus those with forms of autism or behavioral issues, most people can easily interpret someone's emotions and behaviors without putting too much perspective-and-experience-related thought into it. That is where most communications fail, in my perspective; when we put too much thought into a smile or an angry stare, as if there are hidden meanings. But, at the same time, when someone is hiding something it's even harder for us to fully understand unless we tap into the experience related perspective, because deep inside our minds really want to believe the faces we see before us.