This springs from a current thread in Cafe Society concerning C.S.I. On a recent episode (not so recent, really, but this season), one of the C.S.I.s had to retrive a boxer’s spit bucket from the ring. Another investigator commented on the broad smile plastered across her face while performing such an unseemly task, and she claimed smiling suppressed the gag reflex. Is this true (television science being spotty at best)? If so, how does it work?
I tried searching for an answer myself but Googling “gag reflex” and “smiling” opens up a whole world of weird.