Cross-cultural differences in the processing of social and non-social positive emotions: An ERP study

Cultural differences in desirable emotions powerfully impact brain activation and responses to specific stimuli. However, how people from different cultures process emotions in social contexts similarly and differently have not been adequately studied. Therefore, the present study examined cross-cultural differences in emotional processing of positive emotions in social contexts by using event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavior measurements. A total of 29 Chinese and 23 white Caucasians participants were recruited. A 2 (culture) X 2 (stimuli type) ANOVA was employed for both the neuro and behavioral data. The results showed P2 amplitudes were larger for Chinese than for Caucasians in the positive emotion in the social context condition. There were no significant differences in P2 amplitudes when processing positive emotion and neutral stimuli. For Chinese, the amplitudes of LPP 600–1000 of Chinese positive emotion in the social context stimuli were larger than positive emotion stimuli. For Caucasians, there was no significant difference among different stimuli. The higher P2 and LPP 600–1000 amplitudes suggested the salience and significance of positive emotions in social contexts for Chinese. Findings indicated that neural activation occurring during the processing of different positive emotions is moderated by participants’ own cultural background. Further implications were discussed.