Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures
IntroductionIt is often assumed that the ability to recognize the emotions of others is reflexive and automatic, driven only by observable facial muscle configurations. However, research suggests that accumulated emotion concept knowledge shapes the way people perceive the emotional meaning of other...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2024-02-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1084059/full |
| _version_ | 1797307047312621568 |
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| author | Joseph Leshin Maleah J. Carter Cameron M. Doyle Kristen A. Lindquist Kristen A. Lindquist |
| author_facet | Joseph Leshin Maleah J. Carter Cameron M. Doyle Kristen A. Lindquist Kristen A. Lindquist |
| author_sort | Joseph Leshin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionIt is often assumed that the ability to recognize the emotions of others is reflexive and automatic, driven only by observable facial muscle configurations. However, research suggests that accumulated emotion concept knowledge shapes the way people perceive the emotional meaning of others’ facial muscle movements. Cultural upbringing can shape an individual’s concept knowledge, such as expectations about which facial muscle configurations convey anger, disgust, or sadness. Additionally, growing evidence suggests that access to emotion category words, such as “anger,” facilitates access to such emotion concept knowledge and in turn facilitates emotion perception.MethodsTo investigate the impact of cultural influence and emotion concept accessibility on emotion perception, participants from two cultural groups (Chinese and White Americans) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning session to assess functional connectivity between brain regions during emotion perception. Across four blocks, participants were primed with either English emotion category words (“anger,” “disgust”) or control text (XXXXXX) before viewing images of White American actors posing facial muscle configurations that are stereotypical of anger and disgust in the United States.ResultsWe found that when primed with “disgust” versus control text prior to seeing disgusted facial expressions, Chinese participants showed a significant decrease in functional connectivity between a region associated with semantic retrieval (the inferior frontal gyrus) and regions associated with semantic processing, visual perception, and social cognition. Priming the word “anger” did not impact functional connectivity for Chinese participants relative to control text, and priming neither “disgust” nor “anger” impacted functional connectivity for White American participants.DiscussionThese findings provide preliminary evidence that emotion concept accessibility differentially impacts perception based on participants’ cultural background. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-08T00:50:42Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-291ee041009a40ce91ee18bb5e385ecb |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-08T00:50:42Z |
| publishDate | 2024-02-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
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| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj.art-291ee041009a40ce91ee18bb5e385ecb2024-02-15T04:23:04ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782024-02-011410.3389/fpsyg.2023.10840591084059Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across culturesJoseph Leshin0Maleah J. Carter1Cameron M. Doyle2Kristen A. Lindquist3Kristen A. Lindquist4Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United StatesDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United StatesDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United StatesDepartment of Psychology and Neuroscience, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United StatesBiomedical Research Imaging Center, School of Medicine, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United StatesIntroductionIt is often assumed that the ability to recognize the emotions of others is reflexive and automatic, driven only by observable facial muscle configurations. However, research suggests that accumulated emotion concept knowledge shapes the way people perceive the emotional meaning of others’ facial muscle movements. Cultural upbringing can shape an individual’s concept knowledge, such as expectations about which facial muscle configurations convey anger, disgust, or sadness. Additionally, growing evidence suggests that access to emotion category words, such as “anger,” facilitates access to such emotion concept knowledge and in turn facilitates emotion perception.MethodsTo investigate the impact of cultural influence and emotion concept accessibility on emotion perception, participants from two cultural groups (Chinese and White Americans) completed a functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning session to assess functional connectivity between brain regions during emotion perception. Across four blocks, participants were primed with either English emotion category words (“anger,” “disgust”) or control text (XXXXXX) before viewing images of White American actors posing facial muscle configurations that are stereotypical of anger and disgust in the United States.ResultsWe found that when primed with “disgust” versus control text prior to seeing disgusted facial expressions, Chinese participants showed a significant decrease in functional connectivity between a region associated with semantic retrieval (the inferior frontal gyrus) and regions associated with semantic processing, visual perception, and social cognition. Priming the word “anger” did not impact functional connectivity for Chinese participants relative to control text, and priming neither “disgust” nor “anger” impacted functional connectivity for White American participants.DiscussionThese findings provide preliminary evidence that emotion concept accessibility differentially impacts perception based on participants’ cultural background.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1084059/fullemotionlanguagecultureconceptsfMRI |
| spellingShingle | Joseph Leshin Maleah J. Carter Cameron M. Doyle Kristen A. Lindquist Kristen A. Lindquist Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures Frontiers in Psychology emotion language culture concepts fMRI |
| title | Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| title_full | Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| title_fullStr | Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| title_full_unstemmed | Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| title_short | Language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| title_sort | language access differentially alters functional connectivity during emotion perception across cultures |
| topic | emotion language culture concepts fMRI |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1084059/full |
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