In digital text communication, real facial emotion expressions are lacking, with emojis serving as substitutes to nonverbally communicate emotions. However, it is widely unknown if emotion expressions in emojis and faces are perceived equivalently. Therefore, two studies were conducted, Study 1 with a German ( N = 811) and Study 2 with a UK sample ( N = 910), investigating emotion-general (Study 1, 2) and emotion-specific (Study 2) differences between as well as age and gender differences in emotion perception in emojis and faces. The emotion-general emotion perception was higher for emojis than faces in the German sample (Study 1), whereas in the UK sample it was reversed; mainly driven by the emotions disgust, fear and surprise (Study 2). Emotion-general age and gender effects differed across face and emoji stimuli (Study 1, 2). Women performed better than men at perceiving emotions in faces, with a skewed reversed U-shaped pattern across the adult lifespan for both genders (Study 1, 2). Similar findings applied to the emotion-general emotion perception in emojis in the UK sample (Study 2). In the German sample, the emotion perception performance for emojis followed a skewed reversed U-curve across the adult lifespan, with a steeper decline in women than men; thus, women were initially better and then worse than men at perceiving emotions in emojis (Study 1). Emotion-specific gender and age effects were found for emojis and faces (Study 2). This suggests that emotion expressions in emojis and faces are not perceived equivalently, providing new insights for improving online communication. • Little is known about whether emojis and faces express emotions equivalently. • Perception of emotions in emojis versus faces differs across and within emotions. • Emotion perception in emojis and in faces show skewed reversed U-shaped age trends. • Women outperform men in perceiving emotions in faces, but effects vary for emojis. • Emotion-specific age and gender effects were found for emoji and face stimuli.
Löchner et al. (Wed,) studied this question.