Context in Emotion Perception

2011/10/01 by Lisa Feldman Barrett, Batja Mesquita, Maria Gendron · 1 citation
Neuroscience · Psychology · #Face Recognition and Perception #Categorization, perception, and language #Multisensory perception and integration #Psychology #Perception #Cognitive psychology #Emotion perception #Context (archaeology) #Face perception #Face (sociological concept) #Cognition #Affective science #Emotion classification #Cognitive science #Linguistics

paper · doi:10.1177/0963721411422522

openalex publication_date 2011/10/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We review recent work demonstrating consistent context effects during emotion perception. Visual scenes, voices, bodies, other faces, cultural orientation, and even words shape how emotion is perceived in a face, calling into question the still-common assumption that the emotional state of a person is written on and can be read from the face like words on a page. Incorporating context during emotion perception appears to be routine, efficient, and, to some degree, automatic. This evidence challenges the standard view of emotion perception represented in psychology texts, in the cognitive neuroscience literature, and in the popular media and points to a necessary change in the basic paradigm used in the scientific study of emotion perception.

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