Non-verbal communication through yawning: a cross-cultural comparison

• Project Area: Construction of the Face-Body studies in transcultural conditions
• Project/Area Number: 18H04180
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Research in a proposed research area)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Institution: Tohoku University
• Principal Investigator: Tseng Chiahuei 東北大学, 電気通信研究所, 准教授 (00793811)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2020-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2019)
• Budget Amount: ¥4,290,000 (Direct Cost: ¥3,300,000、Indirect Cost: ¥990,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥2,080,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,600,000、Indirect Cost: ¥480,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000)
• Keywords: Yawning / Facial emotion / Eye movement / cultural differences / Contagious Yawning / Social Cognition / Implicit Communication / Emotional Expression / Cultural Differences / contagious yawning / social communication

Outline of Annual Research Achievements

Yawning is a universal phenomenon, and we tested the social-communication hypothesis of yawning which suggests that yawning is a non-verbal form of communication that synchronizes the behavior of a group.

We approached this topic from two directions: (1) We ask whether yawning expression detection shares the same mechanisms as other facial communicative cues such as emotional expressions; (2) We ask whether in-group experience benefits implicitly-defined concept (e.g. social signals embedded in yawning) conveyed via non-verbal communication.

Our results suggest that (1) yawning expression is processed differently from other facial emotions, and (2) experiences and cultural provides an advantage for in-group understanding of implicitly-defined concept conveyed in body movements.

Research Progress Status

令和元年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Strategy for Future Research Activity

令和元年度が最終年度であるため、記入しない。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] National Taiwan University/Department of Psychology(その他の国・地域 (Taiwan))
• [Int'l Joint Research] National Center for Scientific Research(フランス)
• [Int'l Joint Research] Aalto University, Helsinki, Finland/Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering(フィンランド)
• [Int'l Joint Research] City University of Hong Kong(その他の国・地域 (Hong Kong))
• [Int'l Joint Research] National Taiwan University(その他の国・地域 (Taiwan))
• [Journal Article] MA and togetherness (ittaikan) in the narratives of dancers and spectators: sharing an uncertain space (2021)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H., Cheng, M., Matout, H., Fujita, K., Kitamura, Y., Shioiri, S., Bachrach, A
  • Journal Title: Japanese Psychological Research Volume: in press Issue: 4 Pages: 421-433
  • DOI: 10.1111/jpr.12330
  • NAID: 210000170390
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Perceived “togetherness” and “MA” between two dancers in joint improvisation (2021)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H., Cheng, M., Matout, H., Fujita, K., Kitamura, Y., Shioiri, S., Bachrach, A.
  • Journal Title: Techniques and Culture. Volume: in press
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] ). Interpersonal Communication on the Japanese Concept “MA”. (2020)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H., Wang, Y.T., Shioiri, S.
  • Journal Title: Acoustic Sciences and Technology Volume: 4 Pages: 1-5
  • NAID: 130007782630
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Preverbal infants utilize cross-modal semantic congruency in artificial grammar acquisition. (2018)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C. H., Chow, H. M., Ma, Y. K., & Ding, J.
  • Journal Title: Scientific reports Volume: 8(1) Pages: 12707-12707
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Perceived “togetherness” and “MA” between two dancers in joint improvisation: a cross-cultural study, (2021)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H., Cheng, M., Matout, H., Fujita, K., Kitamura, Y., Shioiri, S., Bachrach, A.
  • Organizer: Vision Science Society
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Cross-cultural Differences in Sensitivity Detection of Yawning Faces (2019)
  • Author(s): Sato, K., Matout, H., Chan, M., Hatori, Y., Kuriki, I., Tseng, C.H., Shioiri, S.
  • Organizer: Asian-Pacific Conference on Vision
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Convolutional Neural Networks for humanlike Image Assessment (2019)
  • Author(s): Mattout, H., Wang, H., Hatori, Y., Sato, Y., Matsubara, K., Wada, Y. Kuriki, I., Tseng, C.H., Shioiri, S.
  • Organizer: Asian-Pacific Conference on Vision
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Specific neural correlates integrate flow and social experience (2019)
  • Author(s): Shehata, M. Cheng, M., Wu, D. Tseng, C.H. Nakauchi, S. Shimoko, S.
  • Organizer: Annual Meeting of Society of Neuroscience
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Interpersonal Implicit Communication on Japanese MA in joint improvisation (2019)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H., Wang, Y. Kostsuba, C., Kashima, S., Shioiri, S.
  • Organizer: Joint Improvisation Meeting
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Implicit Interpersonal Communication in Behavioral and Brain Synchronization (2019)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C.H.
  • Organizer: Bilateral Workshop between Tohoku University and National Tsing Hua University
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited
• [Presentation] Semantic congruency in infant learning (2018)
  • Author(s): Chia-huei Tseng
  • Organizer: The 19th Annual International Multisensory Research Forum
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] The role of familiarity in identify-referential advantage formation (2018)
  • Author(s): Miao Cheng & Chia-huei Tseng
  • Organizer: The 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Vision
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] A new paradigm to study infant sensory integration (2018)
  • Author(s): Tseng, C. H., Chow, H. M., Ma, Y. K., & Ding, J.
  • Organizer: The 14th Asia-Pacific Conference on Vision
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] Interpersonal Communication on the Japanese Concept of "MA" (2018)
  • Author(s): Chia-huei Tseng
  • Organizer: International Symposium on Universal Acoustical Communication 2018
  • Int'l Joint Research / Invited