Emotional expressivity in singing. Assessing physiological and acoustic indicators of two opera singers' voice characteristics.

In an earlier study, we analyzed how audio signals obtained from three professional opera singers varied when they sang one octave wide eight-tone scales in ten different emotional colors. The results showed systematic variations in voice source and long-term-average spectrum (LTAS) parameters associated with major emotion "families". For two of the singers, subglottal pressure (PSub) also was recorded, thus allowing analysis of an additional main physiological voice control parameter, glottal resistance (defined as the ratio between PSub and glottal flow), and related to glottal adduction. In the present study, we analyze voice source and LTAS parameters derived from the audio signal and their correlation with Psub and glottal resistance. The measured parameters showed a systematic relationship with the four emotion families observed in our previous study. They also varied systematically with values of the ten emotions along the valence, power, and arousal dimensions; valence showed a significant correlation with the ratio between acoustic voice source energy and subglottal pressure, while Power varied significantly with sound level and two measures related to the spectral dominance of the lowest spectrum partial. the fundamental.

Emotion processes and perceptual control of action choice.

This editorial introduces an invited article by Andreas Eder on a new perceptual control theory of action choice, based on the comparison of real and simulated interoceptive signals generated by action alternatives. Eder extends the cognitive action-control framework, postulating a bi-directional connection between outcomes and actions by introducing "emotional feelings", defined as valued interoceptive signals from the body. An invited commentary by Agnes Moors compares this theory with her own goal-directed theory of action control. While agreeing on the central role of a control cycle and the goal-directed nature of emotional actions, Moors disagrees on the content of the representations involved in the control cycle and the nature of the feelings involved. A second commentary by Bob Bramson and Karin Roelofs discusses the issues of the distinction between perception control vs. action control, the need for biologically plausible implementation alternatives, and potential implications for psychopathology and clinical intervention. Finally, the potential relevance of predictive coding theory and the role of appraisal processes in emotion generation with respect to their bearing on action comparison and choice are discussed.

Emotion regulation via reappraisal - mechanisms and strategies.

Emotion regulation, and in particular cognitive reappraisal. Gross has been booming in theory development and empirical research for the last two decades. A large number of publications have demonstrated the importance of these mechanisms for understanding and promoting well-being and mental health. It is thus timely for Cognition and Emotion to examine the current state of theory in this domain. The resultant invited article, authored by Uusberg, A., Ford, Uusberg, H., and Gross, aims to expand the scope of reappraisal theory by extending their recent reAppraisal model by suggesting different forms of goal commitment and situation construals. Their suggestions are commented on by Kashdan and Goodman from a purpose in life perspective, Ehring, and Woud from a clinical psychopathology perspective. In this editorial, I briefly discuss the lack of specification of the goal construct, which is central to the reappraisal model. Moreover, I point to recent evidence showing that problems may arise because of appraisal biases, in the case of individuals prone to inappropriate evaluations of situations. I suggest that future work in this domain could benefit from increased interaction between theorists and researchers working on appraisal and reappraisal processes.

Learned helplessness revisited: biased evaluation of goals and action potential are major risk factors for emotional disturbance.

The present theory section deals with learned helplessness produced by pervasive experiences of failure or negative events, leading to decreased motivation and risk for depression. In their target article, Boddez, van Dessel, and de Houwer apply this concept to different forms of psychological suffering and propose a goal-directed mechanism -generalisation over similar goals. Duda and Joormann define goal similarity by action-outcome contingencies and highlight individual differences in attribution styles. Brandstätter proposes incentive classes as the organising principle for goal similarity and explores outcomes such as deterioration of cognitive ability. Mikulincer and Lifshin focus on differences between goals and introduce the notion of motivated helplessness, serving as an anxiety buffer in uncontrollable life settings. Finally, potential contributions from emotion science are outlined, in particular individual differences and biases in appraising goals and coping potential likely to produce negative emotion dispositions. In conclusion, the need to elaborate a more comprehensive theoretical framework for helplessness that can guide empirical studies using multifactorial and longitudinal designs is emphasised. Given the strong increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression worldwide, better understanding of predispositions and eliciting factors is needed for early diagnosis and the development of intervention programmes to reduce psychological suffering.

The mystery of emotional mimicry: multiple functions and processing levels in expression imitation.

Mimicry of appearance or of facial, vocal, or gestural expressions emerges frequently among members of different species. When such mimicry directly relates to affective aspects of an interaction, researchers talk about "emotional mimicry". Emotional mimicry has been amply documented but its functionality is still debated. Why and when do people mimic the expressions of others, who benefits, the mimicker or the mimicked, and how do they benefit? Which processes underlie emotional mimicry? Is it completely automatic and unconscious or can it be deliberate and conscious? The current Theory Section addresses these questions from different theoretical perspectives. The invited article by Hess and Fischer focused on the role of mimicry in social regulation and social bonding. The invited comment by Krets and Akyüz highlights information gathering and prediction in social interaction. The invited comment by Bernhold and Giles emphasizes vocal communication and its role in interpersonal accommodation. In this editorial, I propose the different theoretical perspectives may be integrated by assuming a multilevel appraisal and response generation mechanism. I also suggest that emotional mimicry research may be broadened by including social learning, vocal imitation, interspecies comparisons, and affective computing approaches.

Appraisal Bias and Emotion Dispositions Are Risk Factors for Depression and Generalized Anxiety: Empirical Evidence.

Appraisal theory of emotion predicts that appraisal biases may generate stable emotion dispositions, which can ultimately lead to affective disorders. One example is the habitual underestimation of one's potential to cope with adverse events, which favors frequent experiences of sadness and worry and therefore increases the risk for development of depression and generalized anxiety disorders. To examine the relationships between these variables as potential risk factors, in Study 1, we used appraisal and emotion questions in the Swiss Household Panel (SHP), a nationwide representative sample, and analyzed data for N = 4,859 participants in one annual survey wave (Wave 14, SHP 2012) via theory-based hierarchical regressions. Path analysis of the nomological network linking frequent experiences of depression and anxiety to the emotion dispositions of sadness and worry, and measures of perceived coping potential (appraisal bias) supports the theoretical predictions and further identifies the effects of important background variables such as personality, motivation, and life events. Discriminant analysis shows that these predictors allow correct classification of close to 70% of the participants with elevated risk. In Study 2, we used established validated instruments to assess the risk for depression and anxiety disorders, as well as a recently validated scenario method to assess appraisal bias and emotion disposition in a survey with N = 152 students. The results correspond to the theoretical predictions and largely confirm the findings with the household survey. The results of both studies demonstrate the utility of using current emotion theory to provide new vistas for research on risk factors for affective disorders and to inform the development of appropriate interventions to reduce the level of risk.

Assessing Emotional Intelligence Abilities, Acquiescent and Extreme Responding in Situational Judgment Tests Using Principal Component Metrics.

Principal Component Metrics is a novel theoretically-based and data-driven methodology that enables the evaluation of the internal structure at item level of maximum emotional intelligence tests. This method disentangles interindividual differences in emotional ability from acquiescent and extreme responding. Principal Component Metrics are applied to existing (Mayer-Salovey-Caruso Emotional Intelligence Test) and assembled (specifically, the Situational Test of Emotion Understanding, the Situational Test of Emotion Management, and the Geneva Emotion Recognition Test) emotional intelligence test batteries in an analysis of three samples (total N = 2,303 participants). In undertaking these analyses important aspects of the nomological network of emotional intelligence, acquiescent, and extreme responding are investigated. The current study adds a central piece of empirical validity evidence to the emotional intelligence domain. In the three different samples, theoretically predicted internal structures at item level were found using raw item scores. The validity of the indicators for emotional intelligence, acquiescent, and extreme responding was confirmed by their relationships across emotional intelligence tests and by their nomological networks. The current findings contribute to evaluating the efficacy of the emotional intelligence construct as well as the validity evidence surrounding the instruments that are currently designed for its assessment, in the process opening new perspectives for analyzing existing and constructing new emotional intelligence tests.

Theories in cognition & emotion - social functions of emotion.

It is widely recognised that emotions have important social functions, particularly with respect to the interaction between individual needs and preferences and socio-cultural norms and values. So far, however, a general theoretical framework has been missing for the social functions of emotion. In this issue of the special theory section of Cognition & Emotion, an invited article by Keltner et al. proposes an expanded version of social functionalist theory entitled "How emotions, relationships, and culture constitute each other", which attempts to remedy this situation. Two invited commentaries, by Manstead and Von Scheve, welcome this attempt but enumerate issues in need of further elaboration, such as the interaction between relational needs and cultural norms, the necessity to consider situational context and cultural differences, and a more stringent specification of "functionality". The remainder of the current introductory article briefly outlines some areas in need of attention from social emotion theories, such as the effect of social and technological change on the elicitation and regulation of emotions. Here, earlier work is cited that evokes the danger of a potential waning of shame and guilt feelings due to changing values, norms, and self-ideals (for example, the growing importance of self-related values such as freedom and the weakening of prosocial values such as the responsibility for the common good). Another problem is group polarisation leading to negative emotions such as hate and potential violence taken together, the contributions to this theory section highlight the importance of creating a comprehensive theoretical framework for studying the social functions of emotions.

Theory convergence in emotion science is timely and realistic.

Over the last century, emotion research has been beset by the problem of major disagreements with respect to the definition of the phenomenon and an abundance of different theories. Arguably, these divergences have had adverse effects on theory development, on the theoretical foundations of empirical research, and on knowledge accumulation in the study of emotion. Similar problems have been encountered in other areas of behavioural science. Increasingly, there have been calls to work towards some form of theory integration. In contrast, here an effort is made to show that a reasonable degree of theory convergence in the area of emotion science can be attained by adopting a design feature-based working definition of emotion and highlighting the basic agreement on the components of the dynamic emotion process. The aim is to invite constructive discussion on communalities and divergences between different theories and foster the development of more complementary theoretical frameworks to guide future empirical research.

Emotions, social coordination, and the danger of affective polarisation.

Smooth social interaction requires interindividual coordination. This Theory Section addresses the nature of the processes involved and the potential dangers of malfunctioning coordination. In her invited article, Butler provides a general overview of the processes involved, including interpersonal synchronisation, and advocates a dynamic systems framework for further research. In their commentary, Carré and Cornejo concur in principle but highlight the importance of the meaning attributed to the spontaneous expressive movements in naturally occurring interactions and the nature of the respective social situations. Suhay, in her commentary from a political science perspective, highlights the need for synergy based on social coordination for successful democratic governing. In commenting on the problem of political polarisation because of malfunctioning social coordination, introduced by Butler, Suhay adds the important role played by social identity and emotion. Of particular importance are affective reactions based on "evaluative biases" in favour of information that bolsters one's views and rejection of information that challenges them. I conclude this editorial by referring to recent data on affective polarisation, pleading for more multidisciplinary research on the phenomenon, and arguing for a more substantial contribution from the cognitive and emotion sciences. In particular, I outline the "predictive coding" framework and the potential contributions from emotion science.

Linear and non-linear relationships among the dimensions representing the cognitive structure of emotion.

While dimensional models play a key role in emotion psychology, no consensus has been reached about their number and nature. The current study sheds a new light on this central issue by examining linear and non-linear relationships among the dimensions in the cognitive emotion structure. The meaning of 80 emotion terms was evaluated on 68 features representing appraisals, action tendencies, bodily reactions, expressions, and subjective experiences by 213 English-speaking US, 156 French-speaking Swiss, and 194 Indonesian-speaking Indonesian students. In a two-dimensional valence and arousal representation, neither linear nor non-linear relationships were observed. In a four-dimensional valence, power, arousal, and novelty representation, both linear (e.g. a positive relationship between valence and power) and non-linear (e.g. a strong positive correlation between valence and power found only for positively valenced emotion terms) relationships were observed. Joy- and sadness-related emotion terms where about as well represented by the two- than by the four-dimensional representation. However, especially anger- and surprise-related terms were only adequately represented by the four-dimensional representation. These findings were generalisable across the three languages. Even though a two-dimensional structure fits the data well in general, four dimensions are needed to sufficiently represent the cognitive structure of the whole gamut of human emotions.

Investigating individual differences in emotion recognition ability using the ERAM test.

Individuals vary in emotion recognition ability (ERA), but the causes and correlates of this variability are not well understood. Previous studies have largely focused on unimodal facial or vocal expressions and a small number of emotion categories, which may not reflect how emotions are expressed in everyday interactions. We investigated individual differences in ERA using a brief test containing dynamic multimodal (facial and vocal) expressions of 5 positive and 7 negative emotions (the ERAM test). Study 1 (N = 593) showed that ERA was positively correlated with emotional understanding, empathy, and openness, and negatively correlated with alexithymia. Women also had higher ERA than men. Study 2 was conducted online and replicated the recognition rates from Study 1 (which was conducted in lab) in a different sample (N = 106). Study 2 also showed that participants who had higher ERA were more accurate in their meta-cognitive judgments about their own accuracy. Recognition rates for visual, auditory, and audio-visual expressions were substantially correlated in both studies. Results provide further clues about the underlying structure of ERA and its links to broader affective processes. The ERAM test can be used for both lab and online research, and is freely available for academic research.

Dimensions and Clusters of Aesthetic Emotions: A Semantic Profile Analysis.

Aesthetic emotions are elicited by different sensory impressions generated by music, visual arts, literature, theater, film, or nature scenes. Recently, the AESTHEMOS scale has been developed to facilitate the empirical assessment of such emotions. In this article we report a semantic profile analysis of aesthetic emotion terms that had been used for the development of this scale, using the GRID approach. This method consists of obtaining ratings of emotion terms on a set of meaning facets (features) which represent five components of the emotion process (appraisal, bodily reactions, action tendencies, expression, and feelings). The aims here were (a) to determine the dimensionality of the GRID features when applied to aesthetic emotions and compare it to published results for emotion terms in general, and (b) to examine the internal organization of the domain of aesthetic emotion terms in order to identify salient clusters of these items based on the similarity of their feature profiles on the GRID. Exploratory Principal Component Analyses suggest a four-dimensional structure of the semantic space consisting of valence, power, arousal, and novelty, converging with earlier GRID studies on large sets of standard emotion terms. Using cluster analyses, 15 clusters of aesthetic emotion terms with similar GRID feature profiles were identified, revealing the internal organization of the aesthetic emotion terms domain and meaningful subgroups of aesthetic emotions. While replication for further languages is required, these findings provide a solid basis for further research and methodological development in the realm of aesthetic emotions.

Analyzing Emotion Expression in Singing via Flow Glottograms, Long-Term-Average Spectra, and Expert Listener Evaluation.

BACKGROUND: Acoustic aspects of emotional expressivity in speech have been analyzed extensively during recent decades. Emotional coloring is an important if not the most important property of sung performance, and therefore strictly controlled. Hence, emotional expressivity in singing may promote a deeper insight into vocal signaling of emotions. Furthermore, physiological voice source parameters can be assumed to facilitate the understanding of acoustical characteristics. METHOD: Three highly experienced professional male singers sang scales on the vowel /ae/ or /a/ in 10 emotional colors (Neutral, Sadness, Tender, Calm, Joy, Contempt, Fear, Pride, Love, Arousal, and Anger). Sixteen voice experts classified the scales in a forced-choice listening test, and the result was compared with long-term-average spectrum (LTAS) parameters and with voice source parameters, derived from flow glottograms (FLOGG) that were obtained from inverse filtering the audio signal. RESULTS: On the basis of component analysis, the emotions could be grouped into four "families", Anger-Contempt, Joy-Love-Pride, Calm-Tender-Neutral and Sad-Fear. Recognition of the intended emotion families by listeners reached accuracy levels far beyond chance level. For the LTAS and FLOGG parameters, vocal loudness had a paramount influence on all. Also after partialing out this factor, some significant correlations were found between FLOGG and LTAS parameters. These parameters could be sorted into groups that were associated with the emotion families. CONCLUSIONS: (i) Both LTAS and FLOGG parameters varied significantly with the enactment intentions of the singers. (ii) Some aspects of the voice source are reflected in LTAS parameters. (iii) LTAS parameters affect listener judgment of the enacted emotions and the accuracy of the intended emotional coloring.

Evidence for the existence of emotion dispositions and the effects of appraisal bias.

The concept of emotion disposition is proposed as an important dimension of individual differences. It refers to a stable tendency to experience certain emotions more or less frequently or intensely for similar classes of situations or events in daily experience than the majority of other people. In contrast to classic "trait affect" traditions, the theoretical framework described here proposes a specific mechanism based on the notion of appraisal bias, that is, the evaluation of events or situations in biased, often unrealistic, fashion. The bias toward internal versus external causal attribution is a classic example. It is suggested that such biases can affect virtually all appraisal criteria (e.g., novelty/expectedness, (un)pleasantness, goal conduciveness/obstruction, causation, control, power, and norm compliance), creating a disposition to experience specific emotions more frequently. In some cases, this process may lead to the development of affective disorders. Two studies are herein reported: (a) administering an emotion disposition assessment instrument to several thousand adults in personnel assessment contexts (N = 3,012), demonstrating the existence and intensity of emotion dispositions and identifying potential individual difference correlates; and (b) using an updated version of the instrument in a representative survey panel study (N = 190), assessing both emotion dispositions and appraisal biases, allowing analysis of their relationships (in addition to examining the effect of correlates). The results confirm the viability of the underlying theoretical assumptions as well as of the scenario method used for the assessment and provide leads for further research, particularly in the areas of emotional competence and affective disorders. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating appraisal-driven facial expression and inference in emotion communication.

Theory and research on emotion expression, both on production and recognition, has been dominated by a categorical emotion approach suggesting that discrete emotions are elicited and expressed via prototypical facial muscle configurations that can then be recognized by observers, presumably via template matching. This tradition is increasingly challenged by alternative theoretical approaches. In particular, appraisal theorists have suggested that specific elements of facial expressions are directly produced by the result of certain appraisals and have made detailed predictions about the facial patterns to be expected for these appraisal configurations. This approach has been extended to emotion perception, with theorists claiming that observers first infer individual appraisals and only then make categorical emotion judgments from the estimated appraisal patterns, using semantic inference rules. Here we report two studies that empirically examine the two central hypotheses proposed by this theoretical position: (a) that specific appraisals produce predicted patterns of facial muscle expressions and (b) that observers can infer a person's appraisals of ongoing events from the predicted facial expression configurations. The results show that (a) professional actors use many of the predicted facial action unit patterns to enact, in a realistic scenario setting, appraisal outcomes specified by experimental design, and (b) observers systematically infer specific appraisals from ecologically valid video recordings of marketing research participants as they view TV commercials (selected according to the likelihood of eliciting specific appraisals). The patterns of facial action units identified in these studies correspond largely to prior predictions and encourage further research on appraisal-driven expression and inference. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Temporal Unfolding of Micro-valences in Facial Expression Evoked by Visual, Auditory, and Olfactory Stimuli.

Appraisal theories suggest that valence appraisal should be differentiated into micro-valences, such as intrinsic pleasantness and goal-/need-related appraisals. In contrast to a macro-valence approach, this dissociation explains, among other things, the emergence of mixed or blended emotions. Here, we extend earlier research that showed that these valence types can be empirically dissociated. We examine the timing and the response patterns of these two micro-valences via measuring facial muscle activity changes (electromyography, EMG) over the brow and the cheek regions. In addition, we explore the effects of the sensory stimulus modality (vision, audition, and olfaction) on these patterns. The two micro-valences were manipulated in a social judgment task: first, intrinsic un/pleasantness (IP) was manipulated by exposing participants to appropriate stimuli presented in different sensory domains followed by a goal conduciveness/obstruction (GC) manipulation consisting of feedback on participants' judgments that were congruent or incongruent with their task-related goal. The results show significantly different EMG responses and timing patterns for both types of micro-valence, confirming the prediction that they are independent, consecutive parts of the appraisal process. Moreover, the lack of interaction effects with the sensory stimulus modality suggests high generalizability of the underlying appraisal mechanisms across different perception channels.

Are concepts of achievement-related emotions universal across cultures? A semantic profiling approach.

Verifying that conceptualisations of emotions are consistent across languages and cultures is a critical precondition for meaningful cross-cultural research on emotional experience. For achievement-related emotions tied to successes or failures, such evidence is virtually non-existent. To address this gap, we compared Canadian, German, Colombian, and Chinese university students' (NTotal = 126) perceptions of affective, cognitive, motivational, physiological, and expressive characteristics of 16 achievement-related emotions using a psycholinguistic tool for profiling emotion concepts (Achievement Emotions CoreGRID). Cross-cultural similarity of emotion concepts quantified through double-entry intraclass correlations was generally high, and highest for their affective, cognitive, and motivational components. However, results also point to cultural variation, particularly for physiological and expressive components. Variation in perceived physiological characteristics was most pronounced for boredom, and for comparisons of Canada, Germany, and Colombia with China. Implications for theoretical propositions of universality of emotion concepts and future research on achievement-related emotions are discussed.

Dynamic Facial Expression of Emotion and Observer Inference.

Research on facial emotion expression has mostly focused on emotion recognition, assuming that a small number of discrete emotions is elicited and expressed via prototypical facial muscle configurations as captured in still photographs. These are expected to be recognized by observers, presumably via template matching. In contrast, appraisal theories of emotion propose a more dynamic approach, suggesting that specific elements of facial expressions are directly produced by the result of certain appraisals and predicting the facial patterns to be expected for certain appraisal configurations. This approach has recently been extended to emotion perception, claiming that observers first infer individual appraisals and only then make categorical emotion judgments based on the estimated appraisal patterns, using inference rules. Here, we report two related studies to empirically investigate the facial action unit configurations that are used by actors to convey specific emotions in short affect bursts and to examine to what extent observers can infer a person's emotions from the predicted facial expression configurations. The results show that (1) professional actors use many of the predicted facial action unit patterns to enact systematically specified appraisal outcomes in a realistic scenario setting, and (2) naïve observers infer the respective emotions based on highly similar facial movement configurations with a degree of accuracy comparable to earlier research findings. Based on estimates of underlying appraisal criteria for the different emotions we conclude that the patterns of facial action units identified in this research correspond largely to prior predictions and encourage further research on appraisal-driven expression and inference.

Studying appraisal-driven emotion processes: taking stock and moving to the future.

Appraisal theories of emotion, and particularly the Component Process Model, have claimed over the past three decades that the different components of the emotion process (action tendencies, physiological reactions, expressions, and feeling experiences) are essentially driven by the results of multi-level cognitive appraisals and that the feeling component constitutes a central integration and representation of these processes. Given the complexity of the proposed architecture of emotion generation, comprehensive experimental tests of these predictions are difficult to perform and thus evidence has been slow to appear. Complementing earlier work on self-reported appraisal, a massive amount of empirical results from studies with experimental designs based on appraisal manipulation, using electroencephalographic and electromyographic measures, now confirms many of the theoretical predictions with respect to the effect of different appraisal checks, their interactions, and their exact timing. A major issue for future research is the nature of the coherence or synchronisation of the appraisal-driven components in the unfolding emotion process. It is suggested that interdisciplinary multi-team research will be needed to face the theoretical and methodological challenges of experimentally investigating the dynamics of the emotion process.