Natasha loves to come out and make fun of me while I play video games, because while I become completely immersed in jumping bandicoots over lava pits, my facial muscles go absolutely haywire. She claims I sit in front of the television with my tongue wagging and my nostrils flared, completely oblivious to the world around me. It’s nice to know that I’m not alone, according to Photgrapher Robbie Cooper’s Immersion video series. The video is a little creepy, if only for the amount of grinning and scowling going on over the soundtrack of gunshots and stabbings. I’m pretty sure kids screw up their faces while playing nonviolent games as well.

The absolute worst part of this involuntary facial contortion is that it’ll happen to me while I’m deeply immersed in my imagination, too – even in public. I’ve caught myself making faces on the bus (mostly surprised eyebrows and grinning) on a couple of still-half-asleep mornings. Luckily I don’t live in that city anymore.