Human sickness detection is not dependent on cultural experience
(2021) In Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 288(1954).- Abstract
- Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing risk of contamination. It is unknown, however, if humans can detect cues of sickness in people belonging to communities with whom they have limited or no experience. To test this, we presented Western faces photographed two hours after the experimental induction of an acute immune response to one Western and five non-Western communities, including small-scale hunter-gatherer and large urban-dwelling communities. All communities could detect sick individuals. There were group differences in performance but Western participants, who made inferences about sickness by observing faces from their own community, were not systematically better than all... (More)
- Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing risk of contamination. It is unknown, however, if humans can detect cues of sickness in people belonging to communities with whom they have limited or no experience. To test this, we presented Western faces photographed two hours after the experimental induction of an acute immune response to one Western and five non-Western communities, including small-scale hunter-gatherer and large urban-dwelling communities. All communities could detect sick individuals. There were group differences in performance but Western participants, who made inferences about sickness by observing faces from their own community, were not systematically better than all non-Western participants. At odds with the common belief that sickness detection of an out-group member should be biased to err on the side of caution, the majority of non-Western communities were unbiased. Our results show that subtle cues of a general immune response are recognized across cultures, and may aid in detecting infectious threats. (Less)
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https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/e841d5e8-9e81-4bcd-a798-5961dd65dbe8
- author
- organization
- publishing date
- 2021-07-14
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
- volume
- 288
- issue
- 1954
- article number
- 20210922
- publisher
- Royal Society Publishing
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:34255999
- scopus:85111088655
- ISSN
- 1471-2954
- DOI
- 10.1098/rspb.2021.0922
- project
- Language as key to perceptual diversity: an interdisciplinary approach to the senses
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- e841d5e8-9e81-4bcd-a798-5961dd65dbe8
- date added to LUP
- 2020-04-13 21:20:21
- date last changed
- 2024-02-16 13:12:16
@article{e841d5e8-9e81-4bcd-a798-5961dd65dbe8,
abstract = {{Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing risk of contamination. It is unknown, however, if humans can detect cues of sickness in people belonging to communities with whom they have limited or no experience. To test this, we presented Western faces photographed two hours after the experimental induction of an acute immune response to one Western and five non-Western communities, including small-scale hunter-gatherer and large urban-dwelling communities. All communities could detect sick individuals. There were group differences in performance but Western participants, who made inferences about sickness by observing faces from their own community, were not systematically better than all non-Western participants. At odds with the common belief that sickness detection of an out-group member should be biased to err on the side of caution, the majority of non-Western communities were unbiased. Our results show that subtle cues of a general immune response are recognized across cultures, and may aid in detecting infectious threats.}},
author = {{Arshamian, Artin and Sundelin, Tina and Wnuk, Ewelina and O'Meara, Carolyn and Burenhult, Niclas and Garrido Rodriguez, Gabriela and Lekander, Mats and Olsson, Mats J. and Lasselin, Julie and Axelsson, John and Majid, Asifa}},
issn = {{1471-2954}},
language = {{eng}},
month = {{07}},
number = {{1954}},
publisher = {{Royal Society Publishing}},
series = {{Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}},
title = {{Human sickness detection is not dependent on cultural experience}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2021.0922}},
doi = {{10.1098/rspb.2021.0922}},
volume = {{288}},
year = {{2021}},
}