scholarly journals Do nonlinear vocal phenomena signal negative valence or high emotion intensity?

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (12) ◽  
pp. 201306
Author(s):  
Andrey Anikin ◽  
Katarzyna Pisanski ◽  
David Reby
Keyword(s):  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Deterministic Chaos ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
Emotion Intensity ◽  
Perceived Emotion

Nonlinear vocal phenomena (NLPs) are commonly reported in animal calls and, increasingly, in human vocalizations. These perceptually harsh and chaotic voice features function to attract attention and convey urgency, but they may also signal aversive states. To test whether NLPs enhance the perception of negative affect or only signal high arousal, we added subharmonics, sidebands or deterministic chaos to 48 synthetic human nonverbal vocalizations of ambiguous valence: gasps of fright/surprise, moans of pain/pleasure, roars of frustration/achievement and screams of fear/delight. In playback experiments ( N = 900 listeners), we compared their perceived valence and emotion intensity in positive or negative contexts or in the absence of any contextual cues. Primarily, NLPs increased the perceived aversiveness of vocalizations regardless of context. To a smaller extent, they also increased the perceived emotion intensity, particularly when the context was negative or absent. However, NLPs also enhanced the perceived intensity of roars of achievement, indicating that their effects can generalize to positive emotions. In sum, a harsh voice with NLPs strongly tips the balance towards negative emotions when a vocalization is ambiguous, but with sufficiently informative contextual cues, NLPs may be re-evaluated as expressions of intense positive affect, underlining the importance of context in nonverbal communication.

Affective experiences to chords are modulated by mode, meter, tempo, and subjective entrainment

2020 ◽  
pp. 030573562090688
Author(s):  
Carolina Labbé ◽  
Wiebke Trost ◽  
Didier Grandjean
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Afferent Feedback ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Feedback Mechanisms ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Emotion Elicitation ◽  
Fast Tempo ◽  
Major Chord ◽  
Affective Experiences

Mode and tempo are known to influence affective experiences during music listening. While mode (major/minor) is associated with emotional valence (positive/negative), tempo (slow/fast) is associated with emotional arousal (calm/excited). Heart rate (HR) and respiration rate (RR) are also thought to adapt (entrain) to the tempo, leading to emotion elicitation via afferent feedback mechanisms. Here, we tested the influence of mode, tempo, and entrainment on affective experiences by recording HR, RR, and self-reported subjective entrainment and affect measures while participants ( N = 20) listened to major and minor chords embedded in slow and fast isochronous, metrical, and random sequences. Though there was no effect of tempo on HR or RR, both were faster during major and metrically random chord sequences, respectively. Slower HR positively predicted visceral entrainment (VE) ratings, the extent to which one feels one’s internal rhythms changing, and fast tempo positively predicted motor entrainment (ME) ratings, the extent to which one feels like moving. Compared to minor chords, fast major chord sequences induced more feelings of vitality (positive, high arousal), while minor sequences induced more feelings of unease (negative, high, and low arousal). Both ME and VE positively predicted pleasantness ratings and positive emotions, and negatively predicted negative emotions.

scholarly journals Good vibrations: A review of vocal expressions of positive emotions

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roza G. Kamiloğlu ◽  
Agneta H. Fischer ◽  
Disa A. Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotion ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Speech Prosody ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Vocal Expressions

AbstractResearchers examining nonverbal communication of emotions are becoming increasingly interested in differentiations between different positive emotional states like interest, relief, and pride. But despite the importance of the voice in communicating emotion in general and positive emotion in particular, there is to date no systematic review of what characterizes vocal expressions of different positive emotions. Furthermore, integration and synthesis of current findings are lacking. In this review, we comprehensively review studies (N = 108) investigating acoustic features relating to specific positive emotions in speech prosody and nonverbal vocalizations. We find that happy voices are generally loud with considerable variability in loudness, have high and variable pitch, and are high in the first two formant frequencies. When specific positive emotions are directly compared with each other, pitch mean, loudness mean, and speech rate differ across positive emotions, with patterns mapping onto clusters of emotions, so-called emotion families. For instance, pitch is higher for epistemological emotions (amusement, interest, relief), moderate for savouring emotions (contentment and pleasure), and lower for a prosocial emotion (admiration). Some, but not all, of the differences in acoustic patterns also map on to differences in arousal levels. We end by pointing to limitations in extant work and making concrete proposals for future research on positive emotions in the voice.

scholarly journals Arousal modulates the motor interference effect stimulated by pictures of threatening animals

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e10876
Author(s):  
Gai Cao ◽  
Peng Liu
Keyword(s):  
Effect Size ◽  
Interference Effect ◽  
Parietal Lobe ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Motor Preparation ◽  
Arousal Level ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Motor Priming ◽  
Positive And Negative Valence

Previous research related to the motor interference effect from dangerous objects indicated that delayed responses to dangerous objects were associated with more positive parietal P3 amplitudes, suggesting that great attentional resources were allocated to evaluate the level of danger (i.e., negative valence). However, arousal covaried with valence in this research. Together with previous studies in which the P3 amplitude was found to be increased along with a higher arousal level in the parietal lobe, we raised the issue that more positive parietal P3 amplitudes might also be affected by a high arousal level. To clarify whether valence or arousal impacted the motor interference effect, this study used a motor priming paradigm mixed with a Go/NoGo task and manipulated the valence (negative, neutral and positive) and arousal (medium and high) of target stimuli. Analysis of the behavioral results identified a significant motor interference effect (longer reaction times (RTs) in the negative valence condition than in the neutral valence condition) at the medium arousal level and an increased effect size (increment of RT difference) at the high arousal level. The results indicated that negative valence stimuli may interfere with the prime elicited motor preparation more strongly at the high arousal level than at the medium arousal level. The ERP results identified larger centroparietal P3 amplitudes for the negative valence condition than for the neutral valence condition at a high arousal level. However, the inverse result, i.e., lower centroparietal P3 amplitudes for the negative valence condition than for the neutral valence condition, was observed at a medium arousal level. The ERP results further indicated that the effect size of the behavioral motor interference effect increased because subjects are more sensitive to the negative valence stimuli at the high arousal level than at the medium arousal level. Furthermore, the motor interference effect is related to the negative valence rather than emotionality of the target stimuli because different result patterns emerged between the positive and negative valence conditions. Detailed processes underlying the interaction between valence and arousal effects are discussed.

Major Techniques and Interventions

2017 ◽  
pp. 41-72
Author(s):  
Collie W. Conoley ◽  
Michael J. Scheel
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Therapeutic Alliance ◽  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Positive Psychotherapy ◽  
Self Disclosure ◽  
Information Giving ◽  
Self Compassion ◽  
Therapeutic Techniques ◽  
Direct Guidance

This chapter present the techniques and interventions of Goal Focused Positive Psychotherapy (GFPP). Highlighted are the therapist’s intentions to emphasize the client’s strengths and to facilitate the expression of positive emotions, hope, and goals while focusing on the therapeutic alliance. Psychotherapy is not viewed as a set of potent scripted treatments that act upon the client. The therapeutic techniques include nonverbal communication, mirroring, open and closed questions, paraphrase and reflection, challenge, summarizing, empathy, interpretation, self-disclosure, immediacy, information giving, and direct guidance. The interventions include capitalization, self-affirmation, formula-first-session-task, reframing, success-finding, encouragement, visualizing success, miracle question, scaling questions, best-possible-self, count your blessings, self-compassion, and mindfulness. The practitioner is urged to use GFPP’s theoretical model to guide the treatment intentions and use any techniques and interventions that fit with the client and the GFPP model.

Emoticons and non-verbal communications across Arabic, English, and Korean Tweets

2020 ◽  
Vol 69 (8/9) ◽  
pp. 579-595
Author(s):  
Jung Ran Park ◽  
Houda El Mimouni
Keyword(s):  
Nonverbal Communication ◽  
Small Subset ◽  
Contextual Cues ◽  
Communication Mode ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Language Differences ◽  
Media Technologies ◽  
Cultural Boundaries ◽  
Communication Devices ◽  
Language Boundaries

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine how tweeters drawn from three different languages and cultural boundaries manage the lack of contextual cues through an analysis of Arabic, English and Korean tweets. Design/methodology/approach Data for this study is drawn from a corpus of tweets (n = 1,200) streamed using Python through Twitter API. Using the language information, the authors limited the number of tweets to 400 randomly selected tweets from each language, totaling 1,200 tweets. Final coding taxonomy was derived through interactive processes preceded by literature and a preliminary analysis based on a small subset (n = 150) by isolating nonverbal communication devices and emoticons. Findings The results of the study present that there is great commonality across these tweets in terms of strategies and creativity in compensating for the constraints imposed by the tweet platform. The language-specific characteristics are also shown in the form of different usage of devices. Research limitations/implications Emoticon usage indicates that the communication mode influences online social interaction; the restriction of 140 maximum characters seems to engender a frequent usage of emoticons across tweets regardless of language differences. The results of the study bring forth implications into the design of social media technologies that reflect affective aspects of communication and language-/culture-specific traits and characteristics. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, there are no qualitative studies examining paralinguistic nonverbal communication cues in the Twitter platform across language boundaries.

scholarly journals Superior Communication of Positive Emotions Through Nonverbal Vocalisations Compared to Speech Prosody

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roza G. Kamiloğlu ◽  
George Boateng ◽  
Alisa Balabanova ◽  
Chuting Cao ◽  
Disa A. Sauter
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Recognition Performance ◽  
Speech Prosody ◽  
Human Voice ◽  
Nonverbal Vocalizations ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Tone Of Voice ◽  
The Voice ◽  
Acoustic Classification ◽  
Vocal Expressions

AbstractThe human voice communicates emotion through two different types of vocalizations: nonverbal vocalizations (brief non-linguistic sounds like laughs) and speech prosody (tone of voice). Research examining recognizability of emotions from the voice has mostly focused on either nonverbal vocalizations or speech prosody, and included few categories of positive emotions. In two preregistered experiments, we compare human listeners’ (total n = 400) recognition performance for 22 positive emotions from nonverbal vocalizations (n = 880) to that from speech prosody (n = 880). The results show that listeners were more accurate in recognizing most positive emotions from nonverbal vocalizations compared to prosodic expressions. Furthermore, acoustic classification experiments with machine learning models demonstrated that positive emotions are expressed with more distinctive acoustic patterns for nonverbal vocalizations as compared to speech prosody. Overall, the results suggest that vocal expressions of positive emotions are communicated more successfully when expressed as nonverbal vocalizations compared to speech prosody.

scholarly journals Music Hath Charms : Effects of Valence, Arousal, and Absorption on the Regulation of Stress

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gillian M. Sandstrom
Keyword(s):  
White Noise ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Positive Valence ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Better Than

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of valence and arousal dimensions of music on physiological and subjective recovery from stress, and how these effects might be moderated by trait absorption. In Experiment 1, 40 participants experienced stress after being told to prepare a speech, and then listened to peaceful music or white noise. In Experiment 2, 88 participants experienced stress using the same methodology, and then listened to happy, peaceful, sad or agitated music. Music with a positive valence promoted recovery better than music with a negative valence, and low arousal music was more effective than high arousal music. In both experiments, differences in recovery were largely driven by individuals who were high in absorption.

scholarly journals Metacognition and Crossmodal Correspondences Between Auditory Attributes and Saltiness in a Large Sample Study

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Qian Janice Wang ◽  
Steve Keller ◽  
Charles Spence
Keyword(s):  
Crossmodal Correspondences ◽  
Complex Interplay ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Online Study ◽  
Minor Mode ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
Group Response ◽  
Average Confidence ◽  
Regular Rhythm

Abstract Mounting evidence demonstrates that people make surprisingly consistent associations between auditory attributes and a number of the commonly-agreed basic tastes. However, the sonic representation of (association with) saltiness has remained rather elusive. In the present study, a crowd-sourced online study ( participants) was conducted to determine the acoustical/musical attributes that best match saltiness, as well as participants’ confidence levels in their choices. Based on previous literature on crossmodal correspondences involving saltiness, thirteen attributes were selected to cover a variety of temporal, tactile, and emotional associations. The results revealed that saltiness was associated most strongly with a long decay time, high auditory roughness, and a regular rhythm. In terms of emotional associations, saltiness was matched with negative valence, high arousal, and minor mode. Moreover, significantly higher average confidence ratings were observed for those saltiness-matching choices for which there was majority agreement, suggesting that individuals were more confident about their own judgments when it matched with the group response, therefore providing support for the so-called ‘consensuality principle’. Taken together, these results help to uncover the complex interplay of mechanisms behind seemingly surprising crossmodal correspondences between sound attributes and taste.

Emotion and Virality: What Makes Online Content Go Viral?

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 18-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonah Berger ◽  
Katherine L. Milkman
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Experimental Evidence ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Online Communication ◽  
New York Times ◽  
Viral Marketing ◽  
Online Content ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Content

Abstract "Companies are relying more and more on online communication to reach consumers. While some viral campaigns are tremendously successful, others remain far below expectations. But why are certain pieces of online content more viral than others? An analysis conducted on the New York Times’ most-emailed list, along with further experimental evidence, showed that positive content is more viral than negative content. However, the relationship between emotion and social transmission is more complex than valence alone. Virality is driven, in part, by activation and arousal. Content that evokes either high-arousal positive emotions (awe) or negative emotions (anger or anxiety) tends to be more viral. Content that evokes low arousal or deactivating emotions (e.g., sadness) tends to be less viral. These results were also true when examining how surprising, interesting, or practically useful content is (all of which are positively linked to virality), as well as external drivers of attention (e.g., how prominently content is featured). Taking the effect of emotions into account helps to design effective viral marketing campaigns. "

scholarly journals Effects of Emotional Valence and Arousal on Time Perception

2014 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Van Volkinburg ◽  
Peter Balsam
Keyword(s):  
Information Processing ◽  
Emotional Arousal ◽  
Temporal Information ◽  
Arousal Level ◽  
Time Intervals ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
High Arousal ◽  
Negative Valence ◽  
Temporal Information Processing ◽  
Positive And Negative Valence

We examined the influence of emotional arousal and valence on estimating time intervals. A reproduction task was used in which images from the International Affective Picture System served as the stimuli to be timed. Experiment 1 assessed the effects of positive and negative valence at a moderate arousal level and Experiment 2 replicated Experiment 1 with the addition of a high arousal condition. Overestimation increased as a function of arousal during encoding of times regardless of valence. For images presented during reproduction, overestimation occurred at the moderate arousal level for positive and negative valence but underestimation occurred in the negative valence high arousal condition. The overestimation of time intervals produced by emotional arousal during encoding and during reproduction suggests that emotional stimuli affect temporal information processing in a qualitatively different way during different phases of temporal information processing.

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