The way we express our emotions online：from emoticon to emoji

LI Shi-jie LI Chun-dou

Abstract：In online communication，emoticon and emoji have been widely used.Emoticon which is made of punctuation，numbers and letters is a kind of textual information can be used to express personal emotions.Emoji is a simplified and cartoonized facial expression picture，with high-intensity facial clues，easier to identify，can give a more intense emotional experience，and even emoji can also be a certain extent to reflect a person's personality，and emojis society function also has a new meaning.The ambiguity of emojis when we use them，the meaning of the new brain activity model generated from recognition of the emoticon and emoji，the cultural differences of emoji，etc.，these topics are worth exploring.We can research the neural mechanism of emoji in further studies.

Keyword：Emotion；emoticon；emoji

In our daily life，we experience a variety of emotions all the time，happy，sad，angry，fear，etc.In face-to-face communication，most of us express ourselves or judge the emotional state of others through personsfacial expressions.With the emergence and development of the Internet，communicating with others online are more and more popular.At the beginning，it was very difficult to express ones emotion or identify the emotions of others in the textual messages.The appearance of the emoticon solves the problem.Emoticons refer to the shape composed of punctuation，numbers and letters，can be used to express one's emotions and feelings，（such as：-）means smile）.Studies have shown that even though text-based emoticons contain emotional meaning，they are not associated with the amygdala while previous studies using emotional stimuli documented amygdala activation[1].With the development and progress of technology，emoji appeared.Emojis refer to the cartoon-like facial expressions（such as" "）used in online communication such as instant messaging software.These colored facial expression images exaggerate some facial clues on the basis of simplified face，such as eyes and mouth.These images are more real，makes emotions expressed by emojis more obvious and strong.

This paper reviewed the relevant researches on emoticon and emoji，and then provides some ideas for future researches.

1 Researches on emoticon

1.1 Usability

Emoticon is essentially an online communication aids，can be used to express the individual's emotions or to identify the emotional state of others，the process is actually the encoding and decoding process of the language.Studies have shown that the use of emoticon has a greater impact on textual understanding and emotional response than a single use of punctuation or textual information[2，3].In usability，the visual and cognitive features of the icons have a significant effect on icon availability.Early researches focused on the visual characteristics of the icons，such as color，shape，size and spatial organization and other factors.Studies have found that large icons are performing better[4].In recent years，researchers have more research on the cognitive characteristics of icons，such as the specificity，familiarity，complexity，semantic compactness and the relationship between icons.Researchers have investigated the social motivation of using facial expressions in online communication.The results showed that most people use emoticons to express feelings，enhance textual information and show humor[5].In addition，the use in the communication with friends more than with strangers，the use in the positive context is more than in the negative context.There were also researchers investigating the use of emoticon in instant messaging software in the workplace.The results showed that there is a difference in the expression of positive emotions and negative emotions，but there is no gender difference in the use intention[6].The development of the Internet is very surprising，and the emoticon is emerging things.The differences in the use of the emoticon among different ages are also interested the researchers.Researchers have studied the differences in understanding mobile device icons between older users and young users.The results showed that older users are more difficult to identify target icons and explain the meaning of icons than younger users.A research used the icon to represent the phone function，requiring the user to understand the relevant function and determine whether the rendering icon represents their functions as soon as possible[7].The results showed that older users were significantly slower in response than younger users.Similar studies have compared the performance of young users and older users in the correct rate of icons interpreting.The results showed a significant difference between the two groups，and younger users performed better[8].Researchers therefore proposed that the icon design should take into account the age factor.

1.2 Cultural Differences

In cultural differences，researchers have examined whether there are differences in the icons recognition rate in three countries（China，America and Germany）.The results showed that the recognition rate of Chinese subjects is significantly lower than the other two countries[9].The researchers believed that this is mainly caused by the icon used in the experiment，when an icon associated with a culture，the test recognition rate under the cultural background will be higher than other groups.A similar study also examines whether the icons in the mobile environment can be understand in cross-culture.These studies showed that cultural differences do have an impact on the comprehensibility of the icons.

1.3 Cognitive and Psychophysiological Research

In cognition，studies have shown that the emoticons have a certain impact on people's cognition.Walther and D'Addario[4]use 2（Situational：Positive，Negative）×4（Emoticons：Smile，Frown，Blink，Blank）between-group design to study the effects of emoticons on information interpretation.The results showed that the emoticon plays the role of supplementary text information，but can not change the original meaning of the text information.A study using a Psychophysiological approach suggests that the use of the emoticon can lead to higher levels of skin electricity and facial electromyography than textual information，and the use of positive emotions will also increase the Psychophysiological indicators.

2 Researches on emoji

2.1 The Use

Emoji has been used frequently in online communication.Emoji expression picture can replace the text narrative with a certain extent，and improve communication speed.In 2015，the Oxford Dictionary grants an annual vocabulary to an emoji expression-"tear with joy".Emoji not only used frequently in online communication，but also has entered a serious academic field."Impact of Atmospheric Chromatic Effects on Weak Lensing Measurements"，published in the Astrophysical Journal，is the first paper using the emojis.Emoji is a two-dimensional pictogram used to convey the emotions between communicators，and the use of this communication tool has a certain effect on the choice of communication.

2.2 Social Function

In social functions，emojis can take on a new function rather than simply as a carrier of emotional transmission，people can take low-cost to maintain the basic conversation relationship[12].In addition to expressing emotions，we can also gain the information of otherspersonal characters through the use of emojis，which is different with the first impression formed in the face-to-face communication，the latter is subjective，empirical，is unpredictable.With the use of emoji more and more common，people understand the meaning of emoji also more and more uniformly，based on this，emoji usage is also more rich and diverse.A notable example is instead of using traditional rating scales we could move towards utilising emojis rather than the more subjective linguistic increments on a Likert scale.This would be particularly relevant for research with children or those who have difficulty accessing and interpreting language.

2.3 Research Status

However，the study of the emoji is still in its infancy，the existing researches are more focused on the basic role played by eomji in online communication.Some scholars believe that，concerning the role played by emoji in non-verbal behavior is very important，and equally important is the cognitive neural mechanisms exist in the online communication when we use emijis.Interestingly，findings showed activation of both the left and the right inferior frontal gyrus，suggesting differential representation to that of the typical left-hemispherical predominance in verbal tasks.This also means that the processing of the emoticon may have a unique neural mechanism.So is there a unique neural mechanism in the processing of the emoji？This is a question worthy of further study.

3 Further Research

This paper describes links and differences between the emoticon and the emoji，and reviews the researches about them.In further studies，researchers can study these following issues.

First，in further researches，we can start our researches with the processing mechanism and the neural basis.Second，there is an unresolved problem in the daily use of emoji，emojis ambiguity.This problem needs further researches.

Furthermore，the ability to identify emoticon and emoji is not something we are born with，but with the emergence of these new things，we gradually master them through learning.This means that we have a new pattern of brain activity.The meaning of this new pattern also requires further study.

Finally，the researches about emoji in different cultures are also very important.As we all know，the use of emoji is global，that means the recognition of emoji may have no cultural differences，which provides a new way of thinking for our studies.To explore the causes and effects of this phenomenon is very meaningful.

References：

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[2]Walther，J.B.&D;addario，K.P.（2001）.The Impacts of Emoticons on Message Interpretation in Computer- Mediated Communication.Social Science Computer Review， 19（3），324-347.

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作者簡介：

李世杰，男，1992.3，河南鄭州人，漢族，鄭州大學教育學院，碩士研究生在讀，研究方向：認知與學習.

李春豆，女，1993.4，河南焦作人，漢族，鄭州大學教育學院，碩士研究生在讀，單位：鄭州大學教育學院，研究方向：認知與學習。