The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample

Human faces convey a range of emotions and psychobiological signals that support social interactions. Multiple factors potentially mediate the facial expressions of emotions across cultures. To further determine the mechanisms underlying human emotion recognition in a complex and ecological environm...

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Main Authors: Bonassi, Andrea, Ghilardi, Tommaso, Gabrieli, Giulio, Truzzi, Anna, Doi, Hirokazu, Borelli, Jessica L., Lepri, Bruno, Shinohara, Kazuyuki, Esposito, Gianluca
Other Authors: School of Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2021
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Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148388
https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/GTRLJJ
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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spelling sg-ntu-dr.10356-1483882023-03-05T15:34:44Z The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample Bonassi, Andrea Ghilardi, Tommaso Gabrieli, Giulio Truzzi, Anna Doi, Hirokazu Borelli, Jessica L. Lepri, Bruno Shinohara, Kazuyuki Esposito, Gianluca School of Social Sciences Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine) Division of Psychology Social and Affective Neuroscience Lab Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion Face Neuroscience Human faces convey a range of emotions and psychobiological signals that support social interactions. Multiple factors potentially mediate the facial expressions of emotions across cultures. To further determine the mechanisms underlying human emotion recognition in a complex and ecological environment, we hypothesized that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures would be influenced by stimuli ethnicity (Japanese, Caucasian) in the context of ambiguous emotional expressions (mid-happy, angry). We assessed the neurophysiological and behavioral responses of neurotypical Japanese adults (N = 27, 13 males) involved in a facial expression recognition task. Results uncover an interaction between universal and culturally-driven mechanisms. No differences in behavioral responses are found between male and female participants, male and female faces, and neutral Japanese versus Caucasian faces. However, Caucasian ambiguous emotional expressions which require more energy-consuming processing, as highlighted by neurophysiological results of the Arousal Index, were judged more accurately than Japanese ones. Additionally, a differential Frontal Asymmetry Index in neuronal activation, the signature of an approach versus avoidance response, is found in male participants according to the gender and emotional valence of the stimuli. Ministry of Education (MOE) Nanyang Technological University Published version This research was supported by grants from the Erasmus + International Credit Mobility to A.B., T.G., and G.G. (2016–2017), the JSPS KAKENHI to H.D. (26461769), the NAP SUG (M4081597, 2015–2021) and the Singapore Ministry of Education ACR Tier 1 (RG149/16 and RT10/19) to G.E. 2021-05-07T01:59:34Z 2021-05-07T01:59:34Z 2021 Journal Article Bonassi, A., Ghilardi, T., Gabrieli, G., Truzzi, A., Doi, H., Borelli, J. L., Lepri, B., Shinohara, K. & Esposito, G. (2021). The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample. Behavioral Sciences, 11(5). https://dx.doi.org/10.3390/bs11050059 2076-328X https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148388 10.3390/bs11050059 5 11 en Behavioral Sciences https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/GTRLJJ © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). application/pdf
institution Nanyang Technological University
building NTU Library
continent Asia
country Singapore
Singapore
content_provider NTU Library
collection DR-NTU
language English
topic Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion
Face
Neuroscience
spellingShingle Social sciences::Psychology::Affection and emotion
Face
Neuroscience
Bonassi, Andrea
Ghilardi, Tommaso
Gabrieli, Giulio
Truzzi, Anna
Doi, Hirokazu
Borelli, Jessica L.
Lepri, Bruno
Shinohara, Kazuyuki
Esposito, Gianluca
The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
description Human faces convey a range of emotions and psychobiological signals that support social interactions. Multiple factors potentially mediate the facial expressions of emotions across cultures. To further determine the mechanisms underlying human emotion recognition in a complex and ecological environment, we hypothesized that both behavioral and neurophysiological measures would be influenced by stimuli ethnicity (Japanese, Caucasian) in the context of ambiguous emotional expressions (mid-happy, angry). We assessed the neurophysiological and behavioral responses of neurotypical Japanese adults (N = 27, 13 males) involved in a facial expression recognition task. Results uncover an interaction between universal and culturally-driven mechanisms. No differences in behavioral responses are found between male and female participants, male and female faces, and neutral Japanese versus Caucasian faces. However, Caucasian ambiguous emotional expressions which require more energy-consuming processing, as highlighted by neurophysiological results of the Arousal Index, were judged more accurately than Japanese ones. Additionally, a differential Frontal Asymmetry Index in neuronal activation, the signature of an approach versus avoidance response, is found in male participants according to the gender and emotional valence of the stimuli.
author2 School of Social Sciences
author_facet School of Social Sciences
Bonassi, Andrea
Ghilardi, Tommaso
Gabrieli, Giulio
Truzzi, Anna
Doi, Hirokazu
Borelli, Jessica L.
Lepri, Bruno
Shinohara, Kazuyuki
Esposito, Gianluca
format Article
author Bonassi, Andrea
Ghilardi, Tommaso
Gabrieli, Giulio
Truzzi, Anna
Doi, Hirokazu
Borelli, Jessica L.
Lepri, Bruno
Shinohara, Kazuyuki
Esposito, Gianluca
author_sort Bonassi, Andrea
title The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
title_short The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
title_full The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
title_fullStr The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
title_full_unstemmed The recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a Japanese sample
title_sort recognition of cross-cultural emotional faces is affected by intensity and ethnicity in a japanese sample
publishDate 2021
url https://hdl.handle.net/10356/148388
https://doi.org/10.21979/N9/GTRLJJ
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