Purpose of the Research Project

Facial and bodily expressions are mediums through which nothing can be hidden; they conspicuously reveal individual histories and allow a person to be read by others. In the current atmosphere of growing globalization, this project aims to bring awareness regarding the unconscious facial and bodily expressions and cultural differences in such expressions. Using psychological, anthropological, and philosophical perspectives, this research aims to reveal differences in facial and bodily expressions across diverse cultures, and to explore the possibilities for developing a cultural understanding through faces and bodies of members.

This study aims to promote the understanding of other people and cultures by bringing unconscious facial and bodily expressions to conscious awareness. Various cultural differences have been explained through such as eye tracking data. By bringing primitive, unconscious facial and bodily expressions to conscious awareness, this study aims to promote the understanding of the communication of various cultures, and the acceptance of heterogeneous people. Considering the cultural and individual variations, our Japanese research group in the East Asian try to clarify the cultural commonalities and differences in Face and Body.

Content of the Research Project

This study aims to use an anthropological (A01) and experimental psychological approach (B01). Studies on implicit and explicit learning process of faces and their development process in cognitive science (behavioral experiments, eye tracking data and physiological responses), and functional brain imaging will be used to investigate the neural bases of these processes. Large-scale data collection will also be conducted to investigate the diversification of facial recognition and bodily expression capacities and strategies (A01 and B01). For A01, research will be conducted using a portable experimental system for cultural anthropological fieldwork. For the comparative phenomenological research on facial and bodily expression (C01), historical and cultural analyses will be used to interpret the use of cosmetics and other behaviors related to facial and bodily expressions.

Expected Research Achievements and Scientific Significance

This project aims to offer a vision of true cultural exchange, adding a philosophical perspective regarding facial expressions and dresses to empirical approaches such as psychology and anthropology. An investigation of the problem of understanding other people and cultures through facial expressions will make substantial contributions to the society. The social meanings of use of cosmetics, dresses, veils, scarves, and masks will also be considered. The research thus aims to contribute broadly to our knowledge about the facial expressions and culture. Based on psychology, anthropology, and philosophy, this research offers a new standpoint from which to understand cultural differences in “facial and bodily expressions” by integrating a variety of frameworks from the fields of humanities and social sciences.