Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Klaus Vedfelt—Getty Images, Tim Robberts—Getty Images, Kelvin Murray—Getty Images, Robert Recker—Getty Images, Howard Kingsnorth—Getty ...

When a baby smiles at you, it's almost impossible not to smile back. This spontaneous reaction to a facial expression is part of the back-and-forth that allows us to understand each other's emotions ...

Facial expressions play a fundamental role in social communication. While it is well established that others’ expressions influence our behavior—such as approaching a smiling person or avoiding an ...

[Note: This practice involves our visual system, which for many people is impaired. If this is the case for you, you could adapt my suggestions to focus on the voices of others.] As our ancestors ...