Cross-cultural recognition of basic emotions through nonverbal emotional vocalizations

TLDR

Emotional signals, especially vocal cues, are essential for conveying feelings and warning others, and humans use facial, vocal, and gestural signals to communicate. The study examined whether nonverbal emotional vocalizations, such as screams and laughs, are recognized across two culturally distinct groups. Researchers compared Western participants to individuals from remote, culturally isolated Namibian villages to assess cross‑cultural recognition. Basic emotions’ vocalizations were bidirectionally recognized across cultures, whereas additional emotions were only recognized within cultures, and negative emotions were cross‑culturally recognizable while most positive emotions were culture‑specific.

Abstract

Emotional signals are crucial for sharing important information, with conspecifics, for example, to warn humans of danger. Humans use a range of different cues to communicate to others how they feel, including facial, vocal, and gestural signals. We examined the recognition of nonverbal emotional vocalizations, such as screams and laughs, across two dramatically different cultural groups. Western participants were compared to individuals from remote, culturally isolated Namibian villages. Vocalizations communicating the so-called "basic emotions" (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise) were bidirectionally recognized. In contrast, a set of additional emotions was only recognized within, but not across, cultural boundaries. Our findings indicate that a number of primarily negative emotions have vocalizations that can be recognized across cultures, while most positive emotions are communicated with culture-specific signals.