Eli5: How do people’s face change colors depending on their emotional state? Blushing vs a golden tone vs a darker tone vs a yellow-green

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Eli5: How do people’s face change colors depending on their emotional state? Blushing vs a golden tone vs a darker tone vs a yellow-green

In: Biology

Anonymous 0 Comments

Besides melanin, the color of our skin depends basically on how much blood is running in the vessels that are closer to the surface. The face has a lot of tiny blood vessels. If your heart rate goes up, more blood gets pumped into these vessels. If a specific signal from your nervous system “tells” these vessels to dilate, more blood will get to them and the skin will change it’s color as a result. The opposite is also true, if your heart slows down, or there is a drop in blood pressure, or the blood is “redirected” to other parts of the body (such as internal organs in case of low body temperature or the leg muscles in case of fight-or-flight response) less blood is present in the skin and your face will take a pale appearance. Our emotions heavily influence these responses.
I’ve never seen living people look golden or green though.