Do you notice anything strange about the following article from New Scientist?
I'm smiling, so I know you're happy
To fully understand the emotion that a person is experiencing, it may help us to
reach a stage at which we are able to imitate the expressions which we can see on
a person’s face.
So says Luigi Trojano, who works at the Second University of Naples, which is in
Italy, and who has worked with patients who have locked-in syndrome, who are
conscious but unable to move any part of their body except their eyes, which they
use to communicate. He discovered that people who have locked-in syndrome
often fail to identify specific emotions in others.
Trojano's team asked seven people who have locked-in syndrome and 20 controls
who are healthy to view and respond to pictures which show famous actors who
portray six basic emotions, which include happiness or fear. When asked to
identify each emotion, the patients who have locked-in syndrome were wrong 57
per cent of the times at which they viewed fear. They were also more likely than
controls to misidentify anger, sadness and disgust (The Journal of Neuroscience,
DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.6300-09.2010).
Trojano says that the inability to physically imitate facial expressions may be
responsible for the deficits in emotion recognition, which implies that people
subconsciously imitate others to interpret their emotions.
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010
Which relative clauses can be rewritten to improve the text?
I'm smiling, so I know you're happy
To fully understand 1.the emotion that a person is experiencing, it may help us to
reach 2.a stage at which we are able to imitate the 3.expressions which we can
see on a person’s face.
So says Luigi Trojano, 4.who works at the Second University of Naples, 5.which is
in Italy, 6.and who has worked with 7.patients who have locked-in syndrome,
8.who are conscious but unable to move any part of their body except their eyes,
9.which they use to communicate. He discovered that 10.people who have lockedin syndrome often fail to identify specific emotions in others.
Trojano's team asked seven 11.people who have locked-in syndrome and 12.20
controls who are healthy to view and respond to 13.pictures which show famous
14.actors who portray six basic 15.emotions, which include happiness or fear.
When asked to identify each emotion, the 16.patients who have locked-in
syndrome were wrong 57 per cent of the 17.times at which they viewed fear. They
were also more likely than controls to misidentify anger, sadness and disgust (The
Journal of Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.6300-09.2010).
Trojano says that the inability to physically imitate facial expressions may be
responsible for the deficits in emotion 18.recognition, which implies that people
subconsciously imitate others to interpret their emotions.
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010
I'm smiling, so I know you're happy
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13 June 2010
Magazine issue 2764. Subscribe and save
For similar stories, visit the The Human Brain Topic Guide
TO FULLY understand what1 emotion a person is experiencing, it may help to be
able to imitate their facial expressions.
So says Luigi Trojano of the Second University of Naples, Italy, after working with
patients with locked-in syndrome, who2 are conscious but unable to move any part
of their body except their eyes, which3 they use to communicate. He discovered
that such people often fail to identify specific emotions in others4.
Trojano's team asked seven locked-in people and 20 healthy controls to view and
respond to pictures of famous actors portraying 5six basic emotions, such as
happiness or fear. When asked to identify each emotion, the locked-in patients
were wrong 57 per cent of the times they viewed fear6. They were also more likely
than controls to misidentify anger, sadness and disgust (The Journal of
Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1523/jneurosci.6300-09.2010).
Trojano says that the inability to physically imitate facial expressions may be
responsible for the deficits in emotion recognition, implying that people
subconsciously imitate others to interpret their emotions7.
1
Is this a relative clause?
Why is there a comma before WHO?
3
Can we replace WHICH with THAT here?
4
Is the underlined section a relative clause?
5
Why don’t we have WHO before “actors” and “portraying”?
6
Is this underlined section a relative clause?
7
Is this underline section a relative clause?
2
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010
This is the abstract referred to in the New Scientist article (see previous page for reference):
Behavioral/Systems/Cognitive
Impaired Conscious Recognition of Negative Facial
Expressions in Patients with Locked-in Syndrome
Francesca Pistoia,1,2 Massimiliano Conson,3 Luigi Trojano,3 Dario
Grossi,3 Marta Ponari,3Claudio Colonnese,4 Maria L. Pistoia,5 Filippo
Carducci,6 and Marco Sarà1
1
Post Coma and Rehabilitation Care Unit, San Raffaele Cassino, 03043 Cassino,
Italy, 2Department of Internal Medicine and Public Health, University of L'Aquila,
67100 L'Aquila, Italy, 3Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology,
Second University of Naples, 81100 Caserta, Italy, 4Department of Neurological
Sciences, Università La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy, 5Department of Radiology, San
Salvatore Hospital, University of L'Aquila, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy, 6Department of
Human Physiology and Pharmacology, Università La Sapienza, 00185 Rome, Italy
Correspondence should be addressed to Massimiliano Conson or Luigi Trojano,
Neuropsychology Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Second University of
Naples, via Vivaldi 43, 81100 Caserta, Italy.
Email: massimiliano.conson@unina2.it or Email: luigi.trojano@unina2.it
The involvement of facial mimicry in different aspects of human emotional processing
is widely debated. However, little is known about relationships between voluntary
activation of facial musculature and conscious recognition of facial expressions. To
address this issue, we assessed severely motor-disabled patients with complete
paralysis of voluntary facial movements due to lesions of the ventral pons [locked-in
syndrome (LIS)]. Patients were required to recognize others' facial expressions and to
rate their own emotional responses to presentation of affective scenes. LIS patients
were selectively impaired in recognition of negative facial expressions, thus
demonstrating that the voluntary activation of mimicry represents a high-level
simulation mechanism crucially involved in explicit attribution of emotions.
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010
How many relative clauses can you find in the abstract?
The involvement of facial mimicry in different aspects of human emotional
processing is widely debated. However, little is known about relationships
between voluntary activation of facial musculature and conscious recognition
of facial expressions. To address this issue, we assessed severely motordisabled patients with complete paralysis of voluntary facial movements due to
lesions of the ventral pons [locked-in syndrome (LIS)]. Patients were required
to recognize others' facial expressions and to rate their own emotional
responses to presentation of affective scenes. LIS patients were selectively
impaired in recognition of negative facial expressions, thus demonstrating that
the voluntary activation of mimicry represents a high-level simulation
mechanism crucially involved in explicit attribution of emotions.
What linguistic devices does the writer use INSTEAD OF relative clauses?
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010
ACTIVE OR PASSIVE?
The abstract uses a mixture of active and passive verbs? Which are more common?
Does this reflect reading you have done in YOUR field?
Look at each verb phrase and decide why the writer used either the active or passive
voice in each case:
The involvement of facial mimicry in different aspects of human emotional
processing is widely debated. However, little is known about relationships
between voluntary activation of facial musculature and conscious recognition
of facial expressions. To address this issue, we assessed severely motordisabled patients with complete paralysis of voluntary facial movements due to
lesions of the ventral pons [locked-in syndrome (LIS)]. Patients were required
to recognize others' facial expressions and to rate their own emotional
responses to presentation of affective scenes. LIS patients were selectively
impaired in recognition of negative facial expressions, thus demonstrating that
the voluntary activation of mimicry represents a high-level simulation
mechanism crucially involved in explicit attribution of emotions.
MGH / IA 2010
Source, New Scientist (2010), “I’m smiling, so I know you’re happy”. Full text available online at
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20627644.500-im-smiling-so-i-know-youre-happy.html Last
accessed 13 June 2010