The perception of facial expressions
A team at Glasgow University in Scotland published research in 2009 in the journal Current Biology on differences in the interpretation of facial expressions by different racial groups [1]. The research suggests that Whites [2] and East Asians differ significantly in their mode of scrutiny of faces and their success in identifying emotions from facial expressions.
Whites concentrate their attention on the eyes and the mouth equally, while East Asians concentrate largely on the eyes. The consequence is that the latter have difficulty in distinguishing expressions which have a similarity around the eyes. Whites, who use two reference areas, are significantly more adept at correctly identifying such expressions. The difference in the mode of scanning faces used by the two groups translates into a difference in the emoticons used by Whites and East Asians. Whites use representations of the mouth for happy and for sad; East Asians use representations of the eyes for happy (^.^) and for sad (;_;).
Whites concentrate their attention on the eyes and the mouth equally, while East Asians concentrate largely on the eyes. The consequence is that the latter have difficulty in distinguishing expressions which have a similarity around the eyes. Whites, who use two reference areas, are significantly more adept at correctly identifying such expressions. The difference in the mode of scanning faces used by the two groups translates into a difference in the emoticons used by Whites and East Asians. Whites use representations of the mouth for happy and for sad; East Asians use representations of the eyes for happy (^.^) and for sad (;_;).
