Shared Neural Codes for Emotion Recognition in Emoji and Human Faces.

Overview

Authors: Madeline Molly Ely¹, Chloe Kelsey¹, Géza Gergely Ambrus¹

ORCID iDs: Madeline Molly Ely, Chloe Kelsey, Géza Gergely Ambrus

Department of Psychology, Bournemouth University, Dorset, UK

Institutions: Bournemouth University (United Kingdom)

Journal: Psychophysiology, volume 63, issue 3, article e70268

Dates: received 24 December 2025; accepted 16 February 2026; published online 2 March 2026; in print March 2026

Type: Research article · Language: English

License: CC BY

Identifiers: DOI 10.1111/psyp.70268 · PMID 41772918 · PMCID PMC12954366 · OpenAlex W7133311704

Open access: hybrid, a free copy (OpenAlex)

Status: data only

Categories: EEG (modality), human (organism), cognitive (subfield)

Methods: Spectral & time-frequency, Statistics, Machine learning, Preprocessing, fMRI & imaging, Smoothing, state filtering, decompositions

Keywords: electroencephalography, emoji, emotions, face processing, facial expressions, multivariate pattern analysis

MeSH: Emotions*, Facial Expression*, Facial Recognition*, Social Perception*, Adult, Electroencephalography, Female, Humans, Male, Young Adult (* major topic)

Topic: Emotion and Mood Recognition (Experimental and Cognitive Psychology, Psychology), according to OpenAlex

Citations: cited by 1 paper (Europe PMC); 71 references in the paper

Abstract

Facial expressions are critical social signals that support human communication. In digital contexts, emojis serve as a primary surrogate for nonverbal cues such as facial expressions; however, little is known about the extent to which emoji expressions are processed using neural mechanisms similar to those engaged by real human faces. To address this question, we used EEG‐based multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) to examine the neural dynamics of emotional expression processing in real faces and emoji faces. Across two experiments using identical paradigms, independent groups of participants viewed facial expressions (happy, angry, sad, neutral) in real faces (4 female and 4 male identities, n = 24) or emojis (6 platforms, n = 25) while performing a two‐alternative forced‐choice emotion recognition task. Time‐resolved multivariate classification and spatio‐temporal searchlight analyses revealed robust decoding of emotional expressions within and across experiments. Consistent effects emerged early and peaked between 145 and 160 ms over posterior‐occipital and parietal regions. Notably, robust cross‐classification between real and emoji faces demonstrated that face‐like emoji stimuli evoke neural responses comparable to those elicited by real faces, with more sustained effects over right posterior sites. These findings suggest that the brain uses partially overlapping spatio‐temporal codes for naturalistic and symbolic facial expressions, providing new insights into the neural coding of social signals and the representational overlap between natural and artificial emotional expressions.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Code

The paper links to its data, not to its authors' code: see the Data section.

Tracing map

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Data

Datasets cited

osf:4ctnp, at OSF; found in “Data Availability Statement”

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are openly available in OSF at https://osf.io, reference number https://osf.io/4ctnp/.

Reproduced under the paper's license (CC BY), from the paper cited above.

Versions

The history of this record: each version stored by the harvester or made by a correction of its authors or of the maintainers of its code, and what changed in its facts. The texts of the paper (its abstract, its availability statements) are not part of it; versions that changed only those are not listed.

Version 1, 30 September 2026: the first record

Recorded: type, language, journal, volume, issue, pages, dates, 3 authors, 6 keywords, 10 MeSH terms, 68 references.

Cite

This paper

Ely, M. M., Kelsey, C., & Ambrus, G. G. (2026). Shared Neural Codes for Emotion Recognition in Emoji and Human Faces. Psychophysiology, 63(3), e70268. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70268

BibTeX

@article{ely2026shared, author = {Ely, Madeline Molly and Kelsey, Chloe and Ambrus, Géza Gergely}, title = {{Shared Neural Codes for Emotion Recognition in Emoji and Human Faces}}, journal = {Psychophysiology}, year = {2026}, month = mar, volume = {63}, number = {3}, pages = {e70268}, publisher = {Wiley}, issn = {0048-5772}, doi = {10.1111/psyp.70268}, url = {https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70268}, pmid = {41772918}, pmcid = {PMC12954366} }

RIS

TY - JOUR AU - Ely, Madeline Molly AU - Kelsey, Chloe AU - Ambrus, Géza Gergely TI - Shared Neural Codes for Emotion Recognition in Emoji and Human Faces T2 - Psychophysiology J2 - Psychophysiology PY - 2026 DA - 2026/03/01 VL - 63 IS - 3 SP - e70268 SN - 0048-5772 PB - Wiley DO - 10.1111/psyp.70268 UR - https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.70268 LA - en ER -

CSL-JSON

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