The role of in-group and out-group emotional face information in affective word recognition

In daily communication, both face-to-face and text-based comprehension depends not only on verbal content but also on nonverbal cues, including emotionally expressive facial signals, that contribute to interpreting the speaker’s intended meaning (Chwilla, 2022; Hinojosa et al., 2017; Hinojosa et al., 2020; Stoianov et al., 2024; Van Berkum, 2018, 2019). Importantly, facial expressions not only convey others’ emotional states but also signal socio-cultural information, such as whether an individual belongs to one’s own group (in-group) or to another group (out-group). Previous studies have shown that facial expression processing and language processing may be influenced by socio-cultural background, with a processing advantage for in-group smiling faces and out-group angry faces (Elfenbein & Ambady, 2002; Hess & Fischer, 2013; Olszanowski et al., 2020; Sulpizio & Navarrete, 2020; Van der Schalk et al., 2011). However, what is less known is how these two types of facial information influence language processing. This research aims to address this interaction. In particular, we investigate whether socio-cultural background (in-group and out-group facial information) modulates emotional facial effects on affective word recognition. To this end, we will conduct an online lexical decision experiment examining priming effects between congruent and incongruent emotional facial expressions and emotional words (i.e., facial expressions and words will be either emotionally congruent–smiling face/joya [jewelry], angry face/basura [trash]–or incongruent–angry face/joya, smiling face/basura), while manipulating the socio-cultural background of the faces (i.e., in-group Caucasian vs. out-group African). This study contributes to addressing the complex question of how multisource information from facial expressions affects cognitive–linguistic processing.