Chen, C. , Messinger, D. S., Chen, C., Yan, H., Duan, Y., Ince, R. A.A. , Garrod, O. G.B., Schyns, P. G. and Jack, R. E. (2024) Cultural facial expressions dynamically convey emotion category and intensity information. Current Biology, 34(1), 213-223.e5. (doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2023.12.001) (PMID:38141619)
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Abstract
Communicating emotional intensity plays a vital ecological role because it provides valuable information about the nature and likelihood of the sender’s behavior.1,2,3 For example, attack often follows signals of intense aggression if receivers fail to retreat.4,5 Humans regularly use facial expressions to communicate such information.6,7,8,9,10,11 Yet how this complex signaling task is achieved remains unknown. We addressed this question using a perception-based, data-driven method to mathematically model the specific facial movements that receivers use to classify the six basic emotions—"happy,” “surprise,” “fear,” “disgust,” “anger,” and “sad”—and judge their intensity in two distinct cultures (East Asian, Western European; total n = 120). In both cultures, receivers expected facial expressions to dynamically represent emotion category and intensity information over time, using a multi-component compositional signaling structure. Specifically, emotion intensifiers peaked earlier or later than emotion classifiers and represented intensity using amplitude variations. Emotion intensifiers are also more similar across emotions than classifiers are, suggesting a latent broad-plus-specific signaling structure. Cross-cultural analysis further revealed similarities and differences in expectations that could impact cross-cultural communication. Specifically, East Asian and Western European receivers have similar expectations about which facial movements represent high intensity for threat-related emotions, such as “anger,” “disgust,” and “fear,” but differ on those that represent low threat emotions, such as happiness and sadness. Together, our results provide new insights into the intricate processes by which facial expressions can achieve complex dynamic signaling tasks by revealing the rich information embedded in facial expressions.
| Item Type: | Articles |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | This work was supported by the Leverhulme Trust (Early Career Fellowship, ECF-2020-401), the University of Glasgow (Lord Kelvin/Adam Smith Fellowship, 201277) and the Chinese Scholarship Council (201306270029) awarded to C.C. (Chaona Chen); the National Science Foundation (2150830) and the National Institute for Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (R01DC018542) awarded to D.S.M.; the Natural Science Foundation of China (62276051) awarded to H.M.Y.; the China Scholarship Council (201606070109) awarded to Y.D.; the Wellcome Trust (214120/Z/18/Z) awarded to R.A.A.I.; the Wellcome Trust (Senior Investigator Award, UK; 107802) and the Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative/Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (USA, UK; 172046-01) awarded to P.G.S.; and the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement FACESYNTAX no. 759796), the British Academy (SG113332 and SG171783), the Economic and Social Research Council (ES/K001973/1 and ES/K00607X/1) and the University of Glasgow (John Robertson Bequest) awarded to R.E.J. |
| Status: | Published |
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Jack, Professor Rachael and Yan, Professor Hongmei and Garrod, Dr Oliver and Schyns, Professor Philippe and Chen, Dr Chaona and Duan, Mr Yaocong and Ince, Dr Robin |
| Authors: | Chen, C., Messinger, D. S., Chen, C., Yan, H., Duan, Y., Ince, R. A.A., Garrod, O. G.B., Schyns, P. G., and Jack, R. E. |
| College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience |
| Journal Name: | Current Biology |
| Publisher: | Elsevier (Cell Press) |
| ISSN: | 0960-9822 |
| ISSN (Online): | 1879-0445 |
| Published Online: | 22 December 2023 |
| Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2023 The Authors |
| First Published: | First published in Current Biology 34(1): 213-223.e5 |
| Publisher Policy: | Reproduced under a Creative Commons License |
| Data DOI: | 10.17605/OSF.IO/3M95W |
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