We use to play it as kids

usually in the back seat of the car

on longer-than-we-ever-wanted-trips:

PLAY THE GAME

WHAT    WOULD     YOU     RATHER     BE:

RIch/Poor

Hot/Cold

Get bit by a poison snake/Get bit by a shark

Be Deaf/Be Blind.          .          .

The Game was endless

and it did pass the time.          .          .

The question about the S E N S E S

seemed to always be the hardest.          .          .

even now.          .          .

What’s   most   important   to   you:

To   be   Heard

or   to   be   Seen.          .          .

To  See

or   to   Hear?

Tough decision, huh.       .      .

hopefully one you’ll never have to make,

but maybe S C I E N C E

can help.          .          .

When it comes to understanding how someone truly feels, it may be best to close your eyes and just listen, a new study shows.

Empathy allows people to identify the emotions, thoughts and feelings of others. To do this, people tend to not only focus on the exchange of words, but also a person’s facial expressions and other nonverbal cues.

But a new study from the American Psychological Association suggests that you could be trying to do too much. In fact, relying on a combination of vocal and facial cues may not be the most effective method for understanding the emotions or intentions of others, the study said. [5 Ways Your Emotions Influence Your World (and Vice Versa)]

“Social and biological sciences over the years have demonstrated the profound desire of individuals to connect with others and the array of skills people possess to discern emotions or intentions,” study author Michael Kraus, an assistant professor of organizational behavior at Yale University, said in a statement. “But, in the presence of both will and skill, people often inaccurately perceive others’ emotions.”

The new research found that people who focus solely on listening to another person’s voice — including what the person says and vocal cues such as pitch, cadence, speed and volume — were able to better empathize with that individual.

In the study, the researchers examined how more than 1,800 individuals communicated with others. Some participants were askedto listen but not look at each other, while others were asked to look but not listen. And in some cases, the participants were allowed to both look and listen while communicating with one another.

In addition, some of the participants listened to a recorded interaction between two strangers that was read to them by a computerized voice lacking the usual emotional inflections of human communication.

On average, the study found participants were able to interpret the emotions of their partner more accurately when they just listened to the other person and didn’t focus on facial expressions. Furthermore, listening to the computerized voice proved to be the least effective for accurately recognizing emotion.