- Teenage girls sang four songs during a karaoke session, which was filmed
- When watching it back, they blushed more at their own videos than others
It’s not too hard to embarrass a teenager.
But a new study may have helped them reach new levels of mortification – as it required them to sing karaoke and then watch the videos back.
As part of research into the origins of blushing, 40 16-20-year-olds first took part in a karaoke session.
Participants sang four songs: ‘Hello’ by Adele, ‘Let it go’ from Frozen, ‘All I want for Christmas is you’ by Mariah Carey and ‘All the things she said’ by tATu.
These songs were chosen because several music experts judged these songs to be very difficult to sing – ensuring that participants would be embarrassed watching themselves singing them.
It’s not too hard to embarrass a teenager. But a new study may have helped them reach new levels of mortification – as it required them to sing karaoke and then watch the videos back (stock image)
As they were shown the videos of themselves and others singing their cheek temperature – an indicator of blushing – and brain activity were measured.
The results revealed that blushing was stronger when participants watched themselves sing.
What’s more, brain activity suggested this was linked to heightened self-awareness, rather than worrying about what others thought of them.
Writing in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B the team, from the University of Amsterdam, said: ‘Darwin proposed that blushing—the reddening of the face owing to heightened self-awareness—is “the most human of all expressions”.
‘Yet, relatively little is known about the underlying mechanisms of blushing.
‘The results showed that blushing is higher when watching oneself versus others sing.
‘These results are in line with recent proposals suggesting that blushing might be triggered by a sudden surge of alertness when socially exposed.’
The study comes shortly after research revealed that getting red in the face might not be a uniquely human trait.
The results revealed that blushing was stronger when participants watched themselves sing (stock image)
But according to scientists in France, hens also turn a shade of rouge during ‘negative situations of high arousal’.
In the study, chickens were either fed a delicious treat of mealworms or captured by one of the researchers while cameras recorded their faces.
The chickens were found to go a little red when they were happy.
However, the scientists found that they got the most colour when they were flustered or agitated.
Chickens have a lot of blood vessels close to the surface of the skin in their faces so the skin becomes bright red when blood flow increases.
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