Neuroskeptic reviews new research which reports that East Asians and Europeans perceive facial expressions differently. Yes, differences do seem to exist, at least within the small sample studied, but there is a great deal of overlap. Of course much of the phenomena of interest are on the margins anyhow. Speaking of which, Genetic and Molecular Basis of Individual Differences in Human Umami Taste Perception:

Population diversities of SNPs in TAS1R1 and TAS1R3 have been reported by Kim et al...Minor allele frequencies of the SNP at 372 in TAS1R1 vary among eight populations; 10% in Cameroonian, 0% in Amerindian (native Americans), 25% in North European, 35% in Japanese, 5% in Russian, 35% in Hungarian, 40% in Chinese and 6% in Pakistani, whereas those at 757 in TAS1R3 showed no obvious difference among populations. These results suggest that there may be differences in umami sensitivity related with TAS1R1-A372T among populations in the world.

Labels: culture, human biodiversity