Human sickness detection is not dependent on cultural experience

• Published in: Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 288; no. 1954; p. 20210922
• Main Authors: Arshamian, Artin, Sundelin, Tina, Wnuk, Ewelina, O'Meara, Carolyn, Burenhult, Niclas, Rodriguez, Gabriela Garrido, Lekander, Mats, Olsson, Mats J., Lasselin, Julie, Axelsson, John, Majid, Asifa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: The Royal Society 14.07.2021
• Subjects: Behaviour; cross-cultural; disease avoidance; facial sickness detection; General Language Studies and Linguistics; Humaniora och konst; Humanities; hunter-gatherer; infectious disease; Jämförande språkvetenskap och allmän lingvistik; Languages and Literature; Medical and Health Sciences; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; out-group; Språk och litteratur
• ISSN: 0962-8452; 1471-2954; 1471-2954
• DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.0922

Animals across phyla can detect early cues of infection in conspecifics, thereby reducing the 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 2 h 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 observed 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.