I've been confounded about this other profound aspect of my psyche- I can't tell if a person is laughing or crying by looking at them.

I get so confused when a person is crying, but at a point it looks like they are laughing! And visa versa. I get so confused that I unappropriately end up laughing at the wrong times which is worse than crying at the laughing times. It so red faced embarrassing!

It scares me! To not be able to pick up emotional cues and assign an actual emotion to it. A distraught person looks like they are hysterically laughing. I have asked so often "are you laughing or crying?" What a stupid question to ask someone in pain, or having a great laugh.

Any idea what this is?

I'm going to post this in different areas so that I get a good variety of replies from every perspective. I'm really concerned about this. Thanx.

[Thunder Bow]

Laughing and crying are related emotions. That is why it is hard to tell them a part.

[avlady]

it happens to me all the time and i always ask are you laughing or crying too. just to be sure some people in my family have faces that look like they're crying when they are laughing.

[JJBX]

Well, I know that people on the autism spectrum can often have a difficult time making sense of emotional displays. There are also Social-Emotional Agnosia, which would basically involve the parts of the brain involved in deciphering the context of social cues (temporal and parietal lobes) not working as they're supposed to. It would really depend on where exactly you fall. If you've had a head injury and found that you could no longer decipher emotional cues, it could be agnosia, for example.

I've had a head injury. I've done tons of: XTC, LSD, crack, coke, meth, pot, liquor, beer, pills, opiates, head banging, face punches, slamming on pavement, falling on face, and pimple picking. Does that count?

[kim_johnson]

There is a saying about people laughing so hard that it hurts. Perhaps... Laughing so hard that they cry.

Most people can't tell.

You tell by way of context. Say... They just got told bad news. Or they just got told a joke. The contextual cues should help you figure it out.

If you can't tell... The appropriate thing is to look... Quizzical. And a little concerned (ambiguous as to whether it is feigned / joking vs real)... And to ask them (in that ambiguous way) 'are you okay'?

Then they can clarify for you whether something is 'so funny' or 'so sad'.