Symmetries in a standardized set of emotional facial expressions (JACFEE)

Objective: To investigate possible asymmetry in a widely used set of standardized emotional facial expressions (JACFEE, Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expressions of Emotion). Method: Chimeric pictures with either two left (LL) or two right (RR) halves of the emotional face were produced from the original set and presented to healthy subjects who rated their intensity. Results: With the exception of “happiness”, for all other emotions (sadness, disgust, anger, fear and surprise) LL and RR composites were given comparable intensities, speaking for high symmetry in the faces. Conclusions: The JACFEE facial emotion pictures are mostly symmetrical, possibly due to their standardisation procedure when producing the pictures.