A new study reports that Botox injections administered to reduce frown lines, may also delay user’s ability to experience negative emotions.

Experts explain that language helps us experience emotions in part by moving our faces.

The study analyzed 40 first-time Botox users. They were evaluated before, and then two weeks after, they underwent the procedure. After receiving Botox injections, it took longer for the frown-impaired participants to process the angry and sad statements. However, the time required to process happy statements did not change much.

Botox is ‘botulinum toxin type A’, which paralyzes the facial muscles which control frowning.

The study supports the ’facial feedback hypothesis’. This is basically the idea that physical expressions like smiling and frowning are keys to signaling our brains to create an emotional response. So if a person is unable to frown, he or she will have a delay in feeling sad or upset.

David Havas, the lead study Author and a psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said, “Botox induces a kind of mild, temporary cognitive blindness to information in the world, social information about the emotions of other people".