Gaby
To study the neurobiology of blushing, researchers at the University of Amsterdam recruited 40 girls. The team invited boys to take part as well, but none agreed to participate in the experiment focused on blushing.
In the unusual study, the participants were asked to sing karaoke on camera. The researchers offered challenging songs like Mariah Carey’s “All I Want for Christmas Is You,” Adele’s “Hello,” and “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen.
After filming, the researchers had the girls watch recordings of their own performances and those of others. While the participants reviewed the videos, the team scanned their brains using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), which tracks blood flow to measure neural activity. The researchers also measured changes in cheek temperature to gauge how intensely each girl blushed.
To make the situation more awkward, the volunteers were told that strangers would be watching their singing recordings alongside them.
What the Researchers Discovered
The team found that participants blushed more when watching their own performances than when watching others’. The greater the blush, the higher the activity in the cerebellum. That brain region is best known for controlling movement and coordination, but recent work suggests the cerebellum also helps process emotions. Specifically, the researchers saw high activation in the cerebellar area linked to emotional perception (excitement), according to Live Science.
Another brain area that reacted during the singing and blushing was involved in early visual processing. The researchers say this points to a link not only with emotional processing but also with attention circuits that focus on things related to the self. In short, participants blushed more when they were visually confronted with themselves than with others.
But the team found no connection between blushing and activation in higher-level brain areas responsible for complex cognitive tasks, such as reflecting on one’s own thoughts or considering other people’s perspectives.
“Based on this, we concluded that reflecting on the thoughts of others may not be a necessary condition for blushing to occur,” said Milica Nikolic, an assistant professor in the Department of Developmental Psychopathology at the University of Amsterdam. “Blushing may be part of an automatic arousal that you experience when you are exposed to something that relates to you,” she explained.
The team concluded that blushing is likely a spontaneous emotional arousal rather than the result of deep self-analysis or lengthy reflection on how one is perceived by others.
The researchers acknowledged several limitations. For example, they measured blushing only by tracking changes in cheek temperature. Adding other measures, such as facial blood-flow monitoring, could give a more detailed picture of the process.
Going forward, the team plans to study blushing in different scenarios and across other groups. One next step is to see whether the same results appear in younger children who have not yet developed more complex cognitive skills.
The researchers say a deeper understanding of how blushing works could also explain why some people with anxiety disorders develop a fear of blushing. “When we understand the mechanisms of blushing, we can more effectively combat the fear of blushing,” Milica Nikolic said.
The results of the study were published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.
