Assignment:
Researcher: We examined patients who were receiving injections that temporarily paralyze a facial muscle used in frowning. Both before and after they received these injections, we had the patients silently read sentences with emotional content. After receiving the injections, the patients took more time to understand sentences that would normally elicit frowning, but the time taken to understand other sentences was unaffected. Clearly, non-linguistic factors play a role in language comprehension.
Which one of the following, if true, most supports the researcher's explanation for the finding described above?
- Professional actors are almost always trained to covey emotion by performing certain typical actions in addition to using words.
- Uttering words with negative emotional connotations does not require the use of muscles associated with frowning any more than uttering other words typically does.
- Individuals who spontaneously express the outward signs of an emotion report that their feeling of that emotion is intensified.
- Individuals who receive injections that temporarily paralyze facial muscles often report a decrease in the intensity of the emotions whose expression involves those muscles.
- Individuals who are artificially made to smile process sentences with positive emotional content faster than they process sentences with negative emotional content.