For centuries, philosophers and scientists have struggled to discover the mysterious origins of human language. A growing body of psychological research may have developed a neurological answer to this question, finding that language is closely intertwined with our abilities to empathize with and understand other people. Not only does recent scholarship suggest that our language…
Read MoreEmotion Recognition and Da Vinci
Is the Mona Lisa smiling? There seems to be little doubt that we can learn a great deal through artwork, and a recent study on Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous Mona Lisa painting can help shed light on our facial expression recognition skills, as well. This painting has long intrigued viewers, presenting an ambiguous facial expression…
Read MoreEmpathy and Facial Expressions
Do you think you’re good at reading other people’s facial expressions? You might be surprised! While facial expressions provide a key insight into the emotions of other individuals, empathy may be even more important for laypeople to understand the emotions of fellow humans. In a new study, Dr. Haotian Zhou from Shanghai Tech University and…
Read MoreReading Those Puppy Dog Eyes
While we have often discussed how universal emotional expressions are, emerging research is expanding this universality even beyond our own species! A recent 2017 study from the University of Helsinki sought to better understand how humans recognize emotions and facial expressions in dogs. The study found that, not only can humans effectively read canine expressions,…
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