Genetic and neuronal basis for facial emotion perception in humans and macaques
The ability to rapidly recognize basic facial emotions (e.g. fear) is crucial for social interactions and adaptive functioning. To date, the origin of facial-emotion-recognition ability remains equivocal. Using a classical twin design in humans, we found a clear dissection of low and high spatial frequencies (LSF and HSF) in facial emotion perception: whereas genetic factors contributed to individual variation in LSF processing, HSF processing is largely shaped by environmental effects. Furthermore, the ability to recognize facial emotions of LSF content genetically correlated with the function of the amygdala. Crucially, single-unit recording of the amygdala in macaques further revealed the dissociation between LSF and HSF processing in facial emotion perception, indicating the existence of an evolutionarily conserved mechanism. This cross-species study enhances insights into the neurobiological dual-route model (subcortical vs. cortical) of emotion perception and illuminates the origin and the functional development of the emotional brain in primates.
Authors
- Ji Dai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2917-2941)
- Jian Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3016-587X)
- Xiqian Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4906-6134)
- Yuan Zhou (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7630-759X)
- Yi Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5746-7301)
- Ruidi Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1664-2927)
- Bo Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4518-6745)
- Li Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2204-5192)
- Yujie Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9932-8502)
Institutions
- Zunyi Medical University (CN)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Chinese Institute for Brain Research (CN)
- Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology (CN)
- University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- National Science Review
- Published
- 2024-10-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae381
- Citations
- 6
- Primary Topic
- Face Recognition and Perception
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.06
Funders
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
- Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- Youth Innovation Promotion Association
- Special Project for Research and Development in Key areas of Guangdong Province
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province