Source: news.bbc.co.uk
UNITED KINGDOM, August 12, 2009: A new study suggests that people from different cultures read facial expressions differently.
In the research carried out by a team from Glasgow University, East Asian observers found it more difficult to distinguish some facial expressions. The work published in Current Biology journal challenges the idea facial expressions are universally understood.
The researchers say the confusion arises because people from different cultural groups observe different parts of the face when interpreting expression.
East Asians participants tended to focus on the eyes of the other person, while Western subjects took in the whole face, including the eyes and the mouth.
Even the famous emoticons of the internet reflect this. The image for happy in the West is 🙂 while in most of Asia it is (^_^) evoking the slight closing of the eyes when someone laughs. The emoticon for surprise is also evocative of the cultural difference: it is 😮 in the West and (o.o) in the East.