Nonverbal Content Research Articles

Barriers to Care for Antenatal Depression

Barriers to Care for Antenatal Depression

Global Imagery in Online Advertisements

A WELL-DESIGNED ONLINE advertisement is essential for effective communication with potential customers and contributes to successful e-commerce. However, creating online sales messages that appeal to a broad range of cultures can pose unique challenges (Tsotra, Janson, & Cecez-Kecmanovic, 2004). Internet ads must offer both a globally appealing and a culture-specific message that in turn “enables localization of marketing communication” (Luna, Peracchio, & de Juan, 2002, p. 399). These authors also suggest that “cultural congruity” is essential for effective Internet Web sites. Thus, the inclusion of verbal and nonverbal content that is congruent with a range of cultures allows for ad elements that will be successful both locally and globally. In order to examine cultural congruity in various cultures, we conducted consumer interviews of individuals of six nationalities about their reactions to two online Internet advertisements to reveal how the underlying meanings of ad elements vary from culture to culture.

Modality and domain specific components in auditory and visual working memory tasks

In the tripartite model of working memory (WM) it is postulated that a unique part system-the visuo-spatial sketchpad (VSSP)-processes non-verbal content. Due to behavioral and neurophysiological findings, the VSSP was later subdivided into visual object and visual spatial processing, the former representing objects' appearance and the latter spatial information. This distinction is well supported. However, a challenge to this model is the question how spatial information from non-visual sensory modalities, for example the auditory one, is processed. Only a few studies so far have directly compared visual and auditory spatial WM. They suggest that the distinction of two processing domains--one for object and one for spatial information--also holds true for auditory WM, but that only a part of the processes is modality specific. We propose that processing in the object domain (the item's appearance) is modality specific, while spatial WM as well as object-location binding relies on modality general processes.

Audiovisual integration of emotional signals in voice and face: An event-related fMRI study

In a natural environment, non-verbal emotional communication is multimodal (i.e. speech melody, facial expression) and multifaceted concerning the variety of expressed emotions. Understanding these communicative signals and integrating them into a common percept is paramount to successful social behaviour. While many previous studies have focused on the neurobiology of emotional communication in the auditory or visual modality alone, far less is known about multimodal integration of auditory and visual non-verbal emotional information. The present study investigated this process using event-related fMRI. Behavioural data revealed that audiovisual presentation of non-verbal emotional information resulted in a significant increase in correctly classified stimuli when compared with visual and auditory stimulation. This behavioural gain was paralleled by enhanced activation in bilateral posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG) and right thalamus, when contrasting audiovisual to auditory and visual conditions. Further, a characteristic of these brain regions, substantiating their role in the emotional integration process, is a linear relationship between the gain in classification accuracy and the strength of the BOLD response during the bimodal condition. Additionally, enhanced effective connectivity between audiovisual integration areas and associative auditory and visual cortices was observed during audiovisual stimulation, offering further insight into the neural process accomplishing multimodal integration. Finally, we were able to document an enhanced sensitivity of the putative integration sites to stimuli with emotional non-verbal content as compared to neutral stimuli.

The Sociocultural Reality of the Asian Immigrant Elderly

SUMMARY This article discusses how traditional social group work practice, with its conscious use of group activity and its non-verbal content, can serve as a culturally compatible service model to benefit the Asian American immigrant elderly. The goals and nature of group work practice are examined in the context of addressing the demands of this population's sociocultural reality. Cultural-specific constructs of psychological well-being and forms of emotion expression are examined to support this premise. A case illustration is used to supplement the discussion.

Group Work with Seniors Who Have Alzheimer's or Dementia in a Social Adult Day Program

ABSTRACT Social workers have a common misconception that group work concepts are not applicable when working with people who have Alzheimer's Disease or other related dementia. This paper will explore how concepts that are central to group work are beneficial to practice with these populations. The concepts to be examined are: (a) stages of group development; (b) non-verbal content; (c) communication patterns; and (d) group norms.

A Primer of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for the Borderline Patient

FRANK E. YEOMANS, JOHN F. CLARKIN, AND OTTO F. KERNBERG: A Primer of Transference-Focused Psychotherapy for the Borderline Patient. Jason Aronson, Northvale, NJ, 2000, 283 pp. $50.00, ISBN: 0-7657-0355-6. The authors offer a treatment guide for, what they call, transference-focused psychotherapy for borderline patients. In the format of 79 questions and answers they provide details about all aspects of this type of psychotherapy. Background information regarding diagnostic issues is included, and illuminating clinical examples are continually provided. The book is succinct, clearly written, and quite easy to understand. The content is similar to a previously published book by Kernberg, Seltzer, and Koenigsberg (Psycho-dynamic Psychotherapy of Borderline Patients. Basic Books, New York, 1989). Transference-focused psychotherapy is a form of analytically oriented psycho-therapy, centrally focused on the transference, and based on an underlying object relations model, written about previously by Kernberg (Object Relations Theory and Clinical Psychoanalysis. Jason Aronson, New York, 1976). It emphasizes the frame of psychotherapy, contract setting, and a somewhat classical psychoanalytic model. Transference-focused psychotherapy is advocated for only certain borderline patients, basically those that are higher functioning, although this is not explicitly stated. More supportive techniques are advocated for the more difficult borderline individuals. The format is twice- (and occasionally three-times) a-week psychotherapy, sitting up, for several years. There is an introductory phase in which two to three sessions are used to establish an accurate diagnostic impression, followed by two or more sessions for discussion of the treatment contract. The rigorous contract emphasizes the patient's responsibilities, including the need for honest communication and for keeping the therapist informed about life events. Emphasis on the contract is thought to help protect the therapist's ability to think and reflect, and to provide a safe therapeutic environment. It allows for a baseline, to return to whenever there is any deviation. The contract is individualized in accordance with the particular patient's problems, especially those related to potential destructive acting out. Recommendations about how to deal with a variety of potential problems are detailed. Regarding the therapy itself, therapists are advised to focus their attention first on the material that carries the most affect. They should work from surface to depth, addressing defense before that which is defended against, but not neglecting to address the latter. Attention should be paid to both verbal and nonverbal content, in addition to the countertransference. A hierarchy of priorities is presented, with overt threats to the individual and to the therapy having priority over other issues. Regarding technique, the interpretive process, including clarification, confrontation, and interpretation per se, is emphasized. There should be a systematic analysis of primitive defenses, as they enter the transference. Technical neutrality is maintained as much as possible, and countertransference is continually monitored and used to help with the interpretive process. Interpretations should be made in detail and with conviction. Relevance, clarity, depth, and speed of the interpretations must always be considered. One of the core problems in the borderline patient is the difficulty in integrating good and bad self representations and object representations. Thus the patient uses splitting and other related primitive defenses, has not attained libidinal object constancy, and does not have a consolidated integrated identity. One of the goals of transference-focused psychotherapy is to convert splitting and related primitive defenses to higher-level defenses, thus enhancing patients' ability to experience themselves and others as coherent, integrated, and realistically perceived individuals. …

Paradoxes inside and outside language

We consider the question of whether paradoxes are essentially verbal. It is argued that paradoxes have an essentially verbal component, but that there is a special class of paradoxes, such as the “impossible triangle”, which are not wholly verbal, but partly perceptual as well. Along the way, attention is paid to explicating the idea of non-verbal content.

Aging and the effects of facial and prosodic cues on emotional intensity ratings and memory reconstructions.

Young (M = 23 years) and older (M = 77 years) adults' interpretation and memory for the emotional content of spoken discourse was examined in an experiment using short, videotaped scenes of two young actresses talking to each other about emotionally-laden events. Emotional nonverbal information (prosody or facial expressions) was conveyed at the end of each scene at low, medium, and high intensities. Nonverbal information indicating anger, happiness, or fear, conflicted with the verbal information. Older adults' ability to differentiate levels of emotional intensity was not as strong (for happiness and anger) compared to younger adults. An incidental memory task revealed that older adults, more often than younger adults, reconstruct what people state verbally to coincide with the meaning of the nonverbal content, if the nonverbal content is conveyed through facial expressions. A second experiment with older participants showed that the high level of memory reconstructions favoring the nonverbal interpretation was maintained when the ages of the participants and actresses were matched, and when the nonverbal content was conveyed both through prosody and facial expressions.

A avaliação de um programa de treinamento da empatia com universitários

Este estudo avaliou a eficácia de um Programa de Treinamento da Empatia (PTE) no desenvolvimento do comportamento empático de estudantes universitários. Foram designados, randomicamente, dez sujeitos (três do sexo masculino e sete do sexo feminino) para o grupo experimental e sete sujeitos (quatro do sexo masculino e três do sexo feminino) para o grupo controle. Os sujeitos foram filmados em situações de jogos de papéis, antes e depois do treinamento, com follow up de 30 dias. Os conteúdos verbal e não-verbal de seus comportamentos foram avaliados por seis juizes previamente treinados e cegos para ambos os grupos. O PTE foi realizado em 11 encontros de duas horas. Os testes t de Student e Mann-Whitney revelaram mudança significativa entre os sujeitos experimentais em relação aos sujeitos controle, na comunicação verbal e em quatro dos 12 aspectos da comunicação não-verbal.

The Persuasive Effects of Verbal and Nonverbal Information in a Context of Value Relevance

These studies investigated how the verbal and nonverbal content of a message affected value-based attitudes. Participants viewed a speaker who advocated a policy change at their own university (high-personal-relevance condition) or another university (low-personal-relevance condition) on an issue relevant to participants' values. Verbal content of the message (strong or weak arguments) and nonverbal behavior of the speaker (negative or natural) were varied. A negative delivery led to impressions of the speaker as less likable, assured, and expert, but it had no effect on attitudes. Increasing personal relevance led to more negative attitudes, but argument strength affected the attitudes and thoughts of both low- and high-personal-relevance participants. Results suggested that for a value-relevant topic, lowering personal relevance did not reduce extensive processing of verbal content.

Regional training in AIDS prevention for health and behavioural science leaders in North-Eastern Brazil

This article reports results of a World AIDS Foundation-funded training programme in North-Eastern Brazil. Training objectives were: (1) to increase the effectiveness of existing medical and behavioural HIV-related services; (2) to prepare professionals to implement and evaluate social skills-based AIDS prevention programmes incorporating metacontingency systems; (3) to prepare professionals to disseminate training content in North-Eastern Brazil; and (4) to promote local involvement in regional AIDS programme planning. Fifty-eight health and behavioural sciences leaders from 5 North-Eastern Brazilian states represented a variety of institutions actually or potentially involved in AIDS prevention. Training activities focused on programme planning and evaluation and social skills training. Written pre- and post-test data indicate that all participants had a basic understanding of AIDS transmission at baseline. Significant knowledge increases (p < 0.01) resulted in all domains trained except for programme evaluation. For the two social skills evaluated (Condom Use Negotiation and Social Skills Trainer), significant improvements (p < 0.01) resulted in verbal and non-verbal content, assertiveness and anxiety, with the exception of near-significant levels (p < 0.10) achieved for assertiveness and anxiety on the 'Trainer' skill. Participants cofacilitated follow-up trainings in their respective states. These trainings demonstrated a successful model for technology transfer. More focused training is needed in programme design and evaluation methods.

Political Television Advertising in Western Democracies: A Comparison of Campaign Broadcasts in the United States, Germany, and France

This study describes and compares political broadcasts by candidates and parties in recent national elections in Germany (1990), the United States (1988), and France (1988). Comparisons encompass verbal content, nonverbal content, and television production techniques of advertisements. Issue content dominated French ads and often American ads as well; German spots were more likely to concentrate on party and candidate images. French broadcasts were also more likely to use logical appeals, whereas American and German ads relied on emotional appeals. The study also compares the particular issues stressed and the formats and presentation techniques of the ads, finding remarkable similarities in strategies used by incumbents and challengers across all three countries. Despite the differences in the cultural and political systems of the three countries, many aspects of the advertising are similar. This suggests that there are definite shared cultural and political values that give rise to similar electoral str...

Énonciation et non-verbal : aspects de la cohésion linguistique dans un récit oral poitevin

Léonard Jean-Léo and Maria-Beatriz Pinheiro - Enunciation and non-verbal aspects of linguistic cohesion in an oral narrative from the Poitou region. The aim of this research is to propose a model for the linguistic analysis of an oral narrative, by confronting enunciation, syntaxe and the non-verbal in a short stretch of viedo material (2mn 26s). Performance is considered live in the complexity of its make-up, from the point of view of creative processes, staging, and the cohesiveness of the narrative. A grid for analysis concentrates on the periodisation (recentering), and the body movements linked to the narrative and the argument (head and hand movements, imitations or quotations), allowing us to approach nonverbal content in direct relation to the text . Through an analysis of a corpus hardly two-and-a-half minutes long, the authors attempt to describe the complexity and the diversity of the processes involved and the signs/ signals thrown out in face-to-face communication by that vital hot-rod, the human being.

Die totstandkoming van oorreding as 'n taalhandeling in Afrikaanse reklametaal

SUMMARY In this article an advertisement is analysed to determine how the speech acts in the advertisement are encoded. The purpose is to determine how persuasion is achieved and in which way a cognitive and affective appeal is made to the receiver. These two factors form part of the sender's macrostrategy to persuade the receiver. The verbal and non-verbal contents of the advertisement are therefore investigated, as both aspects contribute to the overall success of the communication process. Visual material such as the advertisement, tables in which the various speech acts are shown, communication models and figures relating to the persuasion strategy, are also included.

Zur Biologie der menschlichen Lautkommunikation

In this paper the analysis of the human acoustic communication channel is presented as a potentially bio-anthropological subject of interest. After a crude survey concerning some important aspects of speech and expressive behaviour a hypothesis is outlined saying that the verbal and the nonverbal content of the speech signal are not just transferred side by side; rather there exist close interconnections between the linguistic and the expressive structures, which is shown regarding the speech melody; the 'cultural' language code makes use of a predominantly 'non-cultural' code of vocalisations for the purpose of linguistic disambiguation and speeding up the communication process. The complementarity of these two codes, their principal independence of each other as well as their different cerebral representation contribute to the high efficiency of speech as a communication tool.

Communicating Affect: The Role of Verbal and Nonverbal Content

The role of nonverbal signals in communicating affect is not well understood. Recent research has both emphasised and played down the importance of the nonverbal signals relative to what is said. A careful examination of the evidence shows that the data in favour of and against nonverbal dominance come from two different empirical approaches. It is argued that both approaches are methodologically unsound. A new approach to the question is developed based on the assumption that the communication channel which maintains the affective tone of the interaction is the primary channel by which affect is being communicated. The affective tone of the interaction can be established by examining the communicational context for any given message. This assumption allows mixed messages, in which the verbal and nonverbal channels are conveying opposed affective tones, to be analysed for channel dominance. Sixteen segments from interviews televised live were examined. In twelve of the sixteen segments the nonverbal channels carried the affective tone. A detailed analysis of subject explanations for the remaining four segments revealed that affective messages are sometimes complex combinations of cues in which the roles of the verbal and nonverbal channels are interwoven to communicate several messages simultaneously.

Nonverbal recognition and recency discrimination deficits in Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease.

In a study of verbal temporal ordering, patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) were impaired in making judgements of the relative recency of serially-presented words but were normal in word recognition; by contrast, patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) were impaired on both verbal tasks (Sagar et al., 1985, 1988b). The present study used a nonverbal analogue of the verbal temporal ordering task to examine whether the deficit in recency discrimination of the PD patients transcended material-specific bounds or was specific to verbal material. The nonverbal task was administered to the patients with PD, patients with AD and normal control subjects studied with the verbal task. The results showed that the retention functions for the recognition of verbal and nonverbal material differed qualitatively from each other and this difference was present in all three subject groups. For verbal and nonverbal recency discrimination and verbal content recognition, performance declined with increasing retention intervals; for nonverbal content recognition, however, performance was essentially unchanging across retention intervals. As on the verbal test, recency discrimination on the nonverbal test was impaired in both patient groups. In contrast to the results with the verbal task, both groups were impaired on content recognition. The patterns of impairment, however, differed between the two patient groups in a parallel way to those of the verbal task: performance of the AD group was impaired at the longest retention intervals but not at the shortest intervals, whereas the performance of the PD group was impaired at the shortest but not at the longest intervals. This deficit in nonverbal short-term recognition memory was present even in PD patients who scored within the normal range on a quantitative test of dementia. These results show that deficits in recency discrimination and short-term memory processing in PD extend to nonverbal as well as verbal material and imply bilateral frontal lobe dysfunction in the genesis of these deficits.

Groups for the Development of Friendship

Qualitatively summarizing a longer piece of research also based on quantitative methods, the author analyzes small group, videotaped discussions of friendship in which graduate and undergraduate students participated. Through these sessions the therapeutic and educational values of discussion groups on "closest friendship" are evaluated. In these groups the peak experience coincided with the discussion of the possibility for true friendships between men and women. To illustrate the verbal and nonverbal content of this phase, a section of the transcripts is recorded. The potential and limitations of groups for the development offriendship are elaborated in terms of the functions and the constraints placed on them in particular sociocultural contexts.

Nonverbal and verbal content behaviors in the prediction of interviewer effectiveness.

Nonverbal and verbal content behaviors in the prediction of interviewer effectiveness.