A popular form of cosmetic surgery is the Botox injection, which paralyzes certain facial muscles. Former American Idol judge Simon Cowell (quoted in Davis, 2008) gets them regularly and says, “Botox is no more unusual than toothpaste…. It works, you do it once a year–who cares?” Well, maybe he should. Some evidence suggests that Botox injections can impair both the experience of emotion (Davis et al., 2010) and the ability to process emotional information (Havas et al., 2010). What phenomenon have you learned about so far that might explain how this could happen?

RICHARD SHOT WELL/INVISION/AP