Subtle Expressions Research Articles

Developmental Coordination Disorder Plus Oculomotor and Visuospatial Impairment as Neurodevelopmental Heralds of Psychosis Proneness.

Aiming at preventing transitions to more severe psychopathology and boosted by the availability of operational criteria to identify help-seeking subjects at increased risk for psychosis, research into the early prodromal phases of psychosis is attracting a growing clinical interest. Furthermore, the focus of early detection is gradually shifting from prodromal syndromes to the premorbid period. Although mainly driven by clinical-pragatic aims, such a shift is coherent with the neurodevelopmental hypothesis of schizophrenia that might offer a unifying, developmentally informed conceptual framework for early detection. Psychotic experiences, indeed, while overtly manifested in adolescence/early-adulthood, are often antedated by subtle expressions of biological vulnerability already presenting in the early years of life and indexing a putatively altered neurodevelopmental process. Concretely, unspecific premorbid symptoms that may be present since infancy and childhood may lead to early clinical consultancy in child-adolescent mental health services, which could be considered the primary clinical setting to implement early detection. We herewith present a clinical vignette of a child with severe Developmental Coordination Disorder presenting an Attenuated Psychosis Syndrome. The vignette illustrates the intertwining between possible early neurodevelopmental disorders and clinical psychosis proneness in childhood.

Guest Editorial

Content & FocusIn this editorial, we voice the unspoken and illuminate the subtle expressions of ‘race’ discrimination, in an effort to amend and repair our relationship with ‘race’ within a profession we are immensely proud of and that which forms a part of our identities. As individual practitioners, we desire a shift in our continued professional development and a true recognition of the visible but hidden phenomenon of ‘race’. We long for legitimacy and a lifelong ideal where, although issues may exist, we are able to experience, dissect, learn, and disseminate knowledge. We want counselling psychology to actively partake in the dialogue around race; and be a driving force to carry through advocacy for our clients and for ourselves.

Spontaneous subtle expression detection and recognition based on facial strain

Optical strain is an extension of optical flow that is capable of quantifying subtle changes on faces and representing the minute facial motion intensities at the pixel level. This is computationally essential for the relatively new field of spontaneous micro-expression, where subtle expressions can be technically challenging to pinpoint. In this paper, we present a novel method for detecting and recognizing micro-expressions by utilizing facial optical strain magnitudes to construct optical strain features and optical strain weighted features. The two sets of features are then concatenated to form the resultant feature histogram. Experiments were performed on the CASME II and SMIC databases. We demonstrate on both databases, the usefulness of optical strain information and more importantly, that our best approaches are able to outperform the original baseline results for both detection and recognition tasks. A comparison of the proposed method with other existing spatio-temporal feature extraction approaches is also presented.

POLITINĖS IMPLIKACIJOS LIETUVOS KONCEPTUALIAJAME MENE

This article aims to take a closer look at conceptual art practices as platforms for expressing political attitudes. Conceptual art practices shifted the emphasis of art-making away from static, individual objects towards the presentation of a new relationship in space, time, and context. Moreover, conceptual art represents “institutional critique” in the sense of critically reflecting the art practices within galleries, including the opposition to understanding arts as consumerism. Despite the fact that conceptual art is recognised as one of the most political branches of art, there is a strong relationship between political expressions and local context. There is a wide scientific agreement that local political, social, historical, economic, and cultural conditions are the main factors responsible for political attributes. In the empirical approach evidence of visual similarities between US, West Europe, East Europe, and Latin America, the conceptual practices are explored, but the political, ideological, and social concepts are recognised as radically different. Considering the differences of political interpretations of conceptual art that depend on a particular region and the differences between individual Eastern European countries, Lithuanian case must be analysed in its own terms. However, social and political scientists are still reluctant to show more interest in the political and social field of art practices in Lithuania. This article seeks to identify the types of political implications that are being communicated in the Lithuanian conceptual art and why artists select certain attitudes and attributes at certain times. The framing of the article is designed to emphasize and outline the local specificity and political identity of artistic works that were made in Lithuania. The analysis attempts to situate the term “conceptual art” in Lithuania. Later, it leads to the isolation of four directions of political implications in the realm of Lithuanian conceptual practices. The first direction is related to the criticism of internal politics of the art world. The second one reveals a strong relationship between conceptual art practices and current problems in the public sphere, such as ecology, human rights, and environmental protection. The third direction leads to the legitimization of conceptual practices and critiques of regime, as well as pursuing and proclaiming certain political goals on the local political, social, and cultural stage. And the last one can be defined as institutionalisation and routinisation of conceptual art in Lithuania with the elimination of internal and external elements of political critique. All in all, the aim to problematize the dynamics of political communication in Lithuanian conceptual art can be defined as the main goal of this article. It reveals that artistic practices have the potential to create the subtle expressions of political and social attitudes as well as spaces for political protest in Lithuania.

Effects of micro- and subtle-expression reading skill training in medical students: A randomized trial

Objectiveto investigate the effectiveness of the Micro Expression Training Tool (METT) and the Subtle Expression Training Tool (SETT) to help improve the non-verbal communication skills of medical students. MethodsIn a randomized controlled trial, all participants were randomly allocated to either a training (n=41) or control group (n=41) and were pre-tested before education with METT and SETT at baseline. Then, training students took second tests after a 1-h class about interpreting micro and subtle expressions and control students took the second tests without the class. ResultsMETT pre-test scores were positively related with female gender, agreeableness, whereas SETT pre-test scores were negatively related with age and positively related with female gender. Mean METT score increases of 29.3% and mean SETT score increases of 36.2% were observed after training, whereas the control group achieved only a mean METT score increase of 11.0% at second testing. Increases in both test scores in the training group were significantly higher than in the control group. ConclusionMETT and SETT are effective, simple tools for improving the micro- and subtle-expression reading skills of medical students. Practice implicationsMETT and SETT can be effective for improving the non-verbal communication skills of medical students.

Improved categorization of subtle facial expressions modulates Late Positive Potential

Biases in facial expression recognition can be reduced successfully using feedback-based training tasks. Here we investigate with event-related potentials (ERPs) at which stages of stimulus processing emotion-related modulations are influenced by training. Categorization of subtle facial expressions (morphed from neutral to happy, sad or surprise) was trained with correct-response feedback on each trial. ERPs were recorded before and after training while participants categorized facial expressions without response feedback. Behavioral data demonstrated large improvements in categorization of subtle facial expression which transferred to new face models not used during training. ERPs were modulated by training from 450ms post-stimulus onward, characterized by a more gradual increase in P3b/Late Positive Potential (LPP) amplitude as expression intensity increased. This effect was indistinguishable for faces used for training and for new faces. It was proposed that training elicited a more fine-grained analysis of facial information for all subtle expressions, resulting in improved recognition and enhanced emotional motivational salience (reflected in P3b/LPP amplitude) of faces previously categorized as expressing no emotion.

Recognition of subtle and universal facial expressions in a community-based sample of adults classified with intellectual disability.

Across the USA and UK, schemes now exist to aid the successful integration of adults with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities into general society. One factor that may prove important to the success of such schemes is social competence. Here, understanding the facial expressions of others is critical, as emotion recognition is a prerequisite to empathetic responding and an essential factor in social functioning. Yet research in this area is lacking, especially in community-based samples. We investigated the performance of 13 adults with mild to moderate intellectual disability (ID), relative to 13 age-matched controls, on three tasks of emotion recognition (emotion categorisation; recognition of valence; and recognition of arousal), using a number of 'basic' (angry and happy) and more 'subtle' (compassionate and critical) emotional expressions, as well as the posers face in a default relaxed (i.e. 'neutral') state. Importantly, the sample was drawn from a community-based initiative and was therefore representative of populations' government schemes target. Across emotion recognition tasks, the ID adults, as compared with controls, were significantly impaired when labelling the emotions displayed by the poser as well as recognising the associated 'feelings' conveyed by these faces. This was especially true for the neutral, compassionate and angry facial expressions. For example, ID adults demonstrated deficits in categorising neutral and subtle emotional expressions, as well as assessing the valence of such facial expressions. In addition, ID adults also struggled to assess arousal levels; especially those associated with compassionate and angry faces. Given both basic and subtle emotions are conveyed in a range of daily situations, errors in interpreting such facial expressions and, relatedly, understanding what potential behaviours such expressions signify could contribute to the social difficulties ID adults face. This is important because current initiatives such as 'personalisation' do not appear to have schemes supporting training in this area, and understanding the facial expressions of others is, after all, one of our most important non-verbal social communication tools.

An Open Pilot Study of Training Hostile Interpretation Bias to Treat Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder.

Irritability in disruptive mood dysregulation disorder (DMDD) may be associated with a biased tendency to judge ambiguous facial expressions as angry. We conducted three experiments to explore this bias as a treatment target. We tested: 1) whether youth with DMDD express this bias; 2) whether judgment of ambiguous faces can be altered in healthy youth by training; and 3) whether such training in youth with DMDD is associated with reduced irritability and associated changes in brain function. Participants in all experiments made happy versus angry judgments of faces that varied along a happy to angry continuum. These judgments were used to quantify a "balance point," the facial expression at which a participant's judgment switches from predominantly happy to predominantly angry. We first compared balance points in youth with DMDD (n = 63) versus healthy youth (n = 26). We then conducted a double-blind, randomized controlled trial of active versus sham balance-point training in 19 healthy youth. Finally, we piloted open, active balance-point training in 14 youth with DMDD, with 10 completing an implicit functional MRI (fMRI) face-emotion processing task. Relative to healthy youth, DMDD youth manifested a shifted balance point, expressed as a tendency to classify ambiguous faces as angry rather than happy. In both healthy and DMDD youth, active training is associated with a shift in balance point toward more happy judgments. In DMDD, evidence suggests that active training may be associated with decreased irritability and changes in activation in the lateral orbitofrontal cortex. These results set the stage for further research on computer-based treatment targeting interpretation bias of angry faces in DMDD. Such treatment may decrease irritability and alter neural responses to subtle expressions of happiness and anger.

Giving Peace to Europe: European Geopolitics, Colonial Political Culture, and the Hanoverian Monarchy in British North America, ca. 1740–63

As William Pepperrell, the famed commander of New England’s expedition against Louisbourg, was laid to rest at Kittery Point in 1759, his eulogist praised the departed general for giving peace to Europe. This sermon spoke to an influential yet scarcely studied strand of British North American public discourse, in which colonists meditated upon the workings of the eighteenth-century European state system and the developing role of the British Empire as a great power. During the tumultuous global conflicts from 1739 to 1763, British American geopolitical thinking exerted a profound influence on colonial political culture, fostering support for the Hanoverian monarchy as the “arbiter” of Europe while inspiring commensurate discourses of royalism and colonial British nationalism. However, British Americans participated in this transatlantic debate over British foreign policy on their own terms, fashioning distinctively colonial conceptions of intervention, allegiance, and nationality. These subtle expressions of Americanization, which would come to have a major impact on the imperial crisis after 1763, present a starting point for reconsidering the historical importance of this rich but little-quarried vein of colonial political culture.

Feedback training induces a bias for detecting happiness or fear in facial expressions that generalises to a novel task

Many psychological disorders are characterised by insensitivities or biases in the processing of subtle facial expressions of emotion. Training using expression morph sequences which vary the intensity of expressions may be able to address such deficits. In the current study participants were shown expressions from either happy or fearful intensity morph sequences, and trained to detect the target emotion (e.g., happy in the happy sequence) as being present in low intensity expressions. Training transfer was tested using a six alternative forced choice emotion labelling task with varying intensity expressions, which participants completed before and after training. Training increased false alarms for the target emotion in the transfer task. Hit rate for the target emotion did not increase once adjustment was made for the increase in false alarms. This suggests that training causes a bias for detecting the target emotion which generalises outside of the training task. However it does not increase accuracy for detecting the target emotion. The results are discussed in terms of the training’s utility in addressing different types of emotion processing deficits in psychological disorders.

The Facial Profile.

Facial appearance in our societies is often associated with notions of attractiveness, juvenileness, beauty, success, and so forth. Hence, the role of facial plastic surgery is highly interrelated to a patient's desire to feature many of these positively connoted attributes, which of course, are subject of different cultural perceptions or social trends. To judge about somebody's facial appearance, appropriate quantitative measures as well as methods to obtain and compare individual facial features are required. This special issue on facial profile is intended to provide an overview on how facial characteristics are surgically managed in an interdisciplinary way based on experience, instrumentation, and modern technology to obtain an aesthetic facial appearance with harmonious facial proportions. The facial profile will be discussed within the context of facial aesthetics. Latest concepts for capturing facial morphology in high speed and impressive detail are presented for quantitative analysis of even subtle changes, aging effects, or facial expressions. In addition, the perception of facial profiles is evaluated based on eye tracking technology.

Implicit emotion perception in schizophrenia

Explicit but not implicit facial emotion perception has been shown to be impaired in schizophrenia. In this study, we used newly developed technology in social neuroscience to examine implicit emotion processing. It has been shown that when people look at faces, they automatically infer social traits, and these trait judgments rely heavily on facial features and subtle emotion expressions even with neutral faces. Eighty-one individuals with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder and 62 control subjects completed a computer task with 30 well-characterized neutral faces. They rated each face on 10 trait judgments: attractive, mean, trustworthy, intelligent, dominant, fun, sociable, aggressive, emotionally stable and weird. The degree to which trait ratings were predicted by objectively-measured subtle emotion expressions served as a measure of implicit emotion processing. Explicit emotion recognition was also examined. Trait ratings were significantly predicted by subtle facial emotional expressions in controls and patients. However, impairment in the implicit emotion perception of fear, happiness, anger and surprise was found in patients. Moreover, these deficits were associated with poorer everyday problem-solving skills and were relatively independent of explicit emotion recognition. Implicit emotion processing is impaired in patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Deficits in implicit and explicit emotion perception independently contribute to the patients' poor daily life skills. More research is needed to fully understand the role of implicit and explicit processes in the functional deficits of patients, in order to develop targeted and useful remediation interventions.

Modern prejudice: Subtle, but unconscious? The role of Bias Awareness in Whites' perceptions of personal and others' biases

Three studies introduced the construct of bias awareness and examined its effect on Whites' responses to evidence of personal and others' racial biases. Contemporary theories of prejudice suggest that awareness of personal bias is a critical step in reducing one's prejudice and discrimination. When bias is a cloaked in a way that people do not recognize, they are likely to continue to perpetuate their biased behaviors and unlikely to reduce their negative attitudes. However, when people become aware of their biases, they often adjust their attitudes and behavior to be more egalitarian. The present research investigated (a) individual differences in Whites' awareness of their propensity to express subtly biased behavior against Blacks in interracial contexts (Study 1), (b) the convergent and discriminant validity of a new individual difference measure of bias awareness (Studies 1, 2, and 3), (c) whether this measure uniquely predicts Whites' responses to a difficult race-related context—receiving feedback that they are high in implicit bias from an Implicit Association Test (R-IAT; Study 2), and (d) whether this measure uniquely predicts Whites' perceptions of others' racial bias, particularly subtle expressions (Study 3). Results revealed that the Bias Awareness Scale measures a distinct construct that uniquely predicts Whites' emotional and behavioral responses to information about their own bias, and their ability to detect bias in others.

Orogenic gold mineral systems of the Western Lachlan Orogen (Victoria) and the Hodgkinson Province (Queensland): Crustal metal sources and cryptic zones of regional fluid flow

Orogenic gold mineral systems in the Western Lachlan Orogen (Victoria) and the Hodgkinson Province (Queensland) produced gold provinces characterised by vastly different scales of gold endowment and strongly uneven distribution of gold mineralisation within each province. The volume of hydrous pyrite-bearing rocks undergoing metamorphic devolatilisation during thermo-tectonic events driving orogenic gold mineral systems represents a fundamental first-order constraint on the total gold endowment and its broad spatial distribution, both between and within the provinces. Most of the largest gold deposits in both regions occur in linear, richly-endowed metallogenic zones, oblique to the dominant regional structures and related to deep crustal domain boundaries. These boundaries, with only subtle surface expressions, were the major regional structural controls which promoted focused near-vertical flow of mineralising metamorphic fluids above the outer margins of cratonic blocks in the lower crust. Recognised major faults represented only more local scale and often indirect controls on the focused fluid flow, particularly effective above the deep cratonic block boundaries overlain by relatively thick crustal source rocks.

Saving face? When emotion displays during public apologies mitigate damage to organizational performance

In the wake of corporate transgressions and scandals, how do apologizers’ expressed emotions affect investors’ perceptions of the organization in question? We analyzed the market effects of normative versus deviant facial affect expressed during apologies for corporate wrongdoing. Archival data revealed that the expression of deviant affect was associated with decreased investor confidence in the form of negative stock market returns; adverse financial effects persisted up to three months post-apology. Moreover, this effect was exacerbated when a company representative with greater responsibility within the organization delivered the apology. Experimental data further revealed that third parties interpreted deviant affect (smiling) as a signal of insincerity, which reduced their confidence in these representatives’ organizations. Ultimately, we find that subtle emotion expressions are detected by stakeholders, signal insincerity, and have important consequences for organizations. We suggest that organizations must carefully consider the nonverbal behavior of apologetic representatives in the wake of transgressions.

Some evidence for the nonverbal contagion of racial bias

Four experiments provide evidence for the hypothesis that we can “catch” racial bias from others by merely observing subtle nonverbal cues. Video recordings were made of white participants (with varying levels of racial bias) interacting with a neutral black confederate. Videos contained subtle expressions of positivity or negativity, corresponding to white participants’ levels of bias. Participants randomly assigned to observe the subtle anti-black bias videos (vs. pro-black) formed more negative impressions of the black person (Experiment 1), adopted more negative racial stereotypes (Experiment 2), and demonstrated greater anti-black bias themselves (Experiment 3). Participants only demonstrated increased bias when they knew that a black person was the target (vs. white; Experiment 4). Results suggest that nonverbal expressions of racial bias affect more than simply the actor and target—they affect passive, naïve observers. The good news, however, is that the same is true of pro-black bias. Implications for organizations are discussed.

Early effects of duloxetine on emotion recognition in healthy volunteers.

The serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) duloxetine is an effective treatment for major depression and generalised anxiety disorder. Neuropsychological models of antidepressant drug action suggest therapeutic effects might be mediated by the early correction of maladaptive biases in emotion processing, including the recognition of emotional expressions. Sub-chronic administration of duloxetine (for two weeks) produces adaptive changes in neural circuitry implicated in emotion processing; however, its effects on emotional expression recognition are unknown. Forty healthy participants were randomised to receive either 14 days of duloxetine (60 mg/day, titrated from 30 mg after three days) or matched placebo (with sham titration) in a double-blind, between-groups, repeated-measures design. On day 0 and day 14 participants completed a computerised emotional expression recognition task that measured sensitivity to the six primary emotions. Thirty-eight participants (19 per group) completed their course of tablets and were included in the analysis. Results provide evidence that duloxetine, compared to placebo, may reduce the accurate recognition of sadness. Drug effects were driven by changes in participants’ ability to correctly detect subtle expressions of sadness, with greater change observed in the placebo relative to the duloxetine group. These effects occurred in the absence of changes in mood. Our preliminary findings require replication, but complement recent evidence that sadness recognition is a therapeutic target in major depression, and a mechanism through which SNRIs could resolve negative biases in emotion processing to achieve therapeutic effects.

Military Tactics as Cross-Cultural Public Relations Gesture: Chinese Military Tactics in Tibet as Possible Indicator of Paralleled Chinese Actions Outside of China

This report addresses how the military actions of China exemplify public relations gestures of intention within the realm of armed conflict. In doing so Chinese military tactics used in Tibet are interpreted as gestures of intent that can serve as foundation for speculating on possible paralleled Chinese actions outside of China. The study of cross-cultural relations encompasses a wide range of perspectives and contexts. Cross-cultural relations can occur on multiple levels, from subtle nonverbal expressions within interpersonal encounters to bold military attacks that play out in the international arena. The findings conveyed are presented in a developmental progression whereby the preceding section(s) serve as context and foundation for what is conveyed.

Between Freedom and Determination: Marios Joannou Elia's Music for Guitar

BETWEEN FREEDOM AND DETERMINATION: MARIOS JOANNOU ELIA’S MUSIC FOR GUITAR VERA GRUND ARIOS JOANNOU ELIA CALLS THIRTEEN WORKS of his oeuvre “music for guitar.” Five pieces are for solo instrumentation: In Between (1999), Ontologie Parallel (2001), Soliloquy (2002), Maneuver (2006), and Cursed (2008). The remainder consists of guitar duet (Ontologie Kubik, 2001), quartet (Apophis, 2001/08 and Staubzucker, 2007), or mixed instrumentation containing bowed, brass, and percussion instruments . His works for solo guitar can also be considered as chamber music in the manner of their construction.1 Elia’s style is typified by the use of differentiated sounds not only played in the conventional method but also through prepared instruments . Another characteristic is the complex rhythmical structure. His music is imbued with different timbres, leading to subtle expressions that surprise the listener with their dramatic effects. In this way, together with approaches regarding musical structure and extra-musical meanings, Elia’s music relates to ancient dramatic art-forms. Staubzucker (2007), a virtuoso piece for guitar quartet, uses not only the instrument but also the instrumentalists to simulate M 178 Perspectives of New Music percussion instruments. The composer creates myriad possibilities to provoke specific sounds by using non-usual playing techniques. The complexity of the score demands and challenges its performers to imitate the sounds of 23 percussion instruments. Additionally, the instrumentalists must create sounds with their own voices and bodies by clapping and by flipping or rubbing paper. These unconventional techniques provoke specific sounds, which create theatrical and musical expressivity. It is a piece which, undoubtedly, demands high concentration for its performance. The score hints at the composer’s purpose: “Since the happily failed meeting of Odysseus with the Sirens, all songs have ailed.”2 Powdered sugar (Ger.: Staubzucker) has a sweet taste, which is most often regarded as pleasurable. However, it can also be used in the production of highly explosive mixtures, which can bring catastrophe. Likewise, the Sirens—those beautiful creatures from Greek mythology, who played melodious songs to capture Odysseus—could become extremely dangerous, even fatal. Since the Sirens can be paralleled with powdered sugar in terms of their bipolar meaning (i.e., pleasure versus catastrophe , beauty versus death), the composer was led to give the specific title to the piece. In this guitar quartet, the guitar becomes “ill,” it is almost “destroyed,” for instead of being used in its “traditional” melodious way, it is treated as a percussion instrument. Actually, it is not the destiny of the Greek hero that attracts the composer but the means by which his literary creator, Homer, causes tension. Homer’s technique of using parallel plots, flashbacks, introductions , perspective, and narrator changes is the inspiration for Elia, who declares: “Like powdered sugar (Staubzucker) that can be used for a highly explosive alloy the sound of the guitars bursts like the ‘diseased’ songs from the sirens.”3 The piece was commissioned in memory of Wolfgang Roscher, the late dean of the Mozarteum University, and was premiered in Salzburg ’s Solitär Concert Hall in 2007. It has received over a hundred performances around Europe, South America, and the United States and was described in a review by Classical Guitar Magazine as a piece “the performance of which one is not likely to forget.”4 The Miscelanea Guitar Quartet Salzburg won several international competitions performing Staubzucker in 2008: the Competition for Contemporary Music in Salzburg, the Chamber Music Competition in Thessaloniki, and the International Guitar Competition “Luys Milan” in Valencia. Apophis is also for guitar quartet and references the Egyptian god of darkness and chaos. The constitutive musical device consists of imitations or imitations-in-pretense. Lyric parts using flageolets are disturbed Between Freedom and Determination 179 by violent unison parts. The morbid character of the piece is defined by the emphatic use of the chromatic interval. It commences in a homophonic way with two duets in rhythmic accord. The highest degree of polyphonic part-writing is focused on the middle of the piece, symbolizing the chaos which the ancient Egyptian goddess Apophis represents. Apophis, originally composed for clarinet quartet in 2001, was recommissioned for guitar by the Miscelanea Guitar Quartet and premiered at the Aula Magna Rectorado of the Carlos III...

Cultural differences in recognition of subdued facial expressions of emotions

A relative in-group advantage for recognizing emotional facial expressions presented at full intensity has been documented. The present study examined whether this in-group advantage also existed for the recognition of subdued expressions. American and Chinese participants judged Caucasian and Chinese angry, sad, and happy expressions at subtle, low, and moderate intensity levels. An in-group advantage was found at the low and moderate intensity levels for angry expressions (the effect was partial at moderate intensity), and at the moderate intensity level for sad expressions. But at milder expression intensities, the in-group advantage disappeared, replaced by a main cultural effect in recognition accuracy. American judges were more accurate than Chinese judges in judging both Caucasian and Chinese expressions at the subtle intensity level for angry expressions and at both the subtle and low intensity levels for sad expressions. The present findings suggest that the in-group advantage resides in recognizing expressions of mid-range intensities but diminishes in recognizing milder expressions, and when the in-group advantage stops, cultural differences in sensitivity to very subtle expressions come to fore, at least for negative emotions involving potential threats to social harmony. The present findings suggest that Americans may be better able to detect very subtle facial expressions of sadness and anger, which may have implications for our understanding of cross-cultural differences in emotion.