Emotion Perception Research Articles

Brain Emotion Perception Inspired EEG Emotion Recognition With Deep Reinforcement Learning.

Inspired by the well-known Papez circuit theory and neuroscience knowledge of reinforcement learning, a double dueling deep Q network (DQN) is built incorporating the electroencephalogram (EEG) signals of the frontal lobe as prior information, which is named frontal lobe double dueling DQN (FLD3QN). The framework of FLD3QN is constructed in accord with the brain emotion mechanism which takes the frontal lobe and the thalamus as the core, in which the part of the Papez circuit is simulated by the bifrontal lobe residual convolution neural network (BiFRCNN). Moreover, a step penalty factor is designed to constrain the number of mistakes of the agent. The ablation studies results on the public EEG emotion dataset DEAP verified the important roles of the frontal lobe and the Papez circuit in modeling the procedure of learning rewards during the perception of emotions, with a great increase in the average accuracies by 25.24% and 23.31% in valence and arousal dimensions.

Emotional changes and outcomes in psychotherapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This systematic review and meta-analysis summarize current knowledge on emotional change processes and mechanisms and their relationship with outcomes in psychotherapy. We reviewed the main change processes and mechanisms in the literature and conducted meta-analyses of process/mechanism-outcome associations whenever methodologically feasible. A total of 121 studies, based on 92 unique samples, met criteria for inclusion. Of these, 85 studies could be subjected to meta-analysis. The emotional change processes and mechanisms most robustly related to improvement were fear habituation across sessions in exposure-based treatment of anxiety disorders (r = .38), experiencing in psychotherapy for depression (r = .44), and emotion regulation in psychotherapies for patients with various anxiety disorders (r = .37). Common methodological problems were that studies often did not ascertain representative estimates of the processes under investigation, determine if changes in processes and mechanisms temporally preceded outcomes, disentangle effects at the within- and between-client levels, or assess contributions of therapists and clients to a given process. The present study has identified a number of emotional processes and mechanisms associated with outcome in psychotherapy, most notably fear habituation, emotion regulation, and experiencing. A common denominator between these appears to be the habitual reorganization of maladaptive emotional perception. We view this as a central pan-theoretical change mechanism, the essence of which appears to be increased differentiation between external triggers and one's own affective responses, which facilitates tolerance for affective arousals and leads to improved capacity for adaptive meaning-making in emotion-eliciting situations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Investigating associations between climate change anxiety and mental health impact on vulnerable populations: A qualitative analysis.

Climate anxiety has a negative impact on the mental health and psychological wellbeing of the vulnerable population. The goal is to assess many factors that affect mental health and psychological wellbeing, as well as how climate change affects mental health in Pakistan's vulnerable population. This study provides evidence-based insights on the long- and medium-term impacts of extreme weather events on mental health. We conducted semi-structured interviews with a sample of 72 students aged 10-16 years, employing an exploratory qualitative design. The resulting process identified themes and questions for future research on climate change and its psychological effects on children's mental health. As a result, positive emotions embedded in children's climate strategic actions in parent and community contexts helped to mitigate children's perceptions of negative emotions (such as climate anxiety, phobias, fear, sleep disorders, depression, sadness, and substance abuse). Climate change's effects can have a significant impact on mental health. We will be discussing effective strategies to address the expected mental health issues among children caused by climate change. The discussion paper offers a set of recommendations for addressing the mental health impacts of climate change, including improving mental health support systems, integrating climate change education into services, and developing targeted interventions for vulnerable populations.

An Audiovisual Correlation Matching Method Based on Fine-Grained Emotion and Feature Fusion.

Most existing intelligent editing tools for music and video rely on the cross-modal matching technology of the affective consistency or the similarity of feature representations. However, these methods are not fully applicable to complex audiovisual matching scenarios, resulting in low matching accuracy and suboptimal audience perceptual effects due to ambiguous matching rules and associated factors. To address these limitations, this paper focuses on both the similarity and integration of affective distribution for the artistic audiovisual works of movie and television video and music. Based on the rich emotional perception elements, we propose a hybrid matching model based on feature canonical correlation analysis (CCA) and fine-grained affective similarity. The model refines KCCA fusion features by analyzing both matched and unmatched music-video pairs. Subsequently, the model employs XGBoost to predict relevance and to compute similarity by considering fine-grained affective semantic distance as well as affective factor distance. Ultimately, the matching prediction values are obtained through weight allocation. Experimental results on a self-built dataset demonstrate that the proposed affective matching model balances feature parameters and affective semantic cognitions, yielding relatively high prediction accuracy and better subjective experience of audiovisual association. This paper is crucial for exploring the affective association mechanisms of audiovisual objects from a sensory perspective and improving related intelligent tools, thereby offering a novel technical approach to retrieval and matching in music-video editing.

Is emotion perception altered by gaze direction, gender appearance, and gender identity of the perceived face?

The purpose of the present study was to examine how gaze and emotion processing may change due to differences in gender appearance and gender identity of the perceived face. We manipulated gender appearance (male or female), gender identity (cisgender or transgender), gaze direction (direct or averted), and expressed emotions (anger, fear, or neutral) of face models in an emotion rating task. We replicate several previous findings, including a direct gaze advantage, an emotion effect, and an interaction between gaze direction and expressed emotion. In line with previous findings on the influence of facial morphology for face processing, we found that male faces were more quickly and intensely perceived for displays of anger, while female faces were more quickly and intensely perceived for displays of fear. Of key interest, gender identity influenced face perception for different emotion expressions and gaze directions for ratings and reaction times in a variety of ways. For example, transgender male faces were seen as angrier and less fearful than cisgender male faces, while the opposite effect occurred for female faces. These results suggest that face perception is systematically shaped by morphological differences as well as more abstract social constructs related to gender identity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Analysis of Color and Artistic Conception in Painting Art

The charm of painting, as a bright pearl in the treasure house of culture, lies in its visual language constructed through colors and lines, which conveys the artist’s unique perception of life and profound emotions. Color, as the most intuitive and expressive language in painting, is not only a simple reproduction of material colors but also a projection of the artist’s inner world. Artistic conception, as a core concept in traditional Chinese painting theory, refers to the emotional atmosphere and spiritual mood embedded in paintings. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the interaction between color and mood in painting art, to analyze the techniques of using color in different painting styles and their influence on the creation of mood, and to provide new perspectives and methods for the creation of paintings.

The Impact of Social Media and Emotional Intelligence on Investment Decision: A Fuzzy Set Delphi Study Among Investors in Thailand's Stock Market

The economic condition of Thailand and the rate of return observed on the stock exchange of Thailand (SET) surpasses the profits generated through savings. This has resulted in SET gaining popularity among individuals seeking a substantial rate of return. Understanding the elements investors consider when investing in Thailand's stock exchange is crucial due to its increasing popularity. This research utilizes a second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) method to examine the impact of social media and emotional intelligence on investors' investment decisions in Thailand's stock market. The research method employed a combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Step 1 involved qualitative research utilizing the e-fuzzy set Delphi technique, which entailed sending an online questionnaire to 19 experts. The questionnaire included both open-ended and closed-ended questions on a 7-point scale. Step 2 involved conducting quantitative research using simple random sampling. To gather information from investors in SET, 600 investors were surveyed. It was found that emotional intelligence, social media, risk perception, and financial literacy influence investors’ investment decisions in SET, respectively. This research will provide new insights into the impact of social media and emotional intelligence on investors' decision-making in Thailand's stock market.

The relationship between risk perceptions and negative emotions in the COVID-19: a meta-analysis.

COVID-19, as a significant public health issue, has had a major impact on the mental health of people worldwide. Research shows a significant positive correlation between individuals' risk perception levels and negative emotions during the outbreak of COVID-19. However, some studies also suggest that the relationship between the two is not significant. Therefore, we will conduct a meta-analysis to explore the relationship between risk perception and negative emotions from cultural, temporal, and individual psychological perspectives. Searches were conducted in the Web of Science, Pub Med, Google Scholar, PsycINFO, Scopus, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases, focusing on publications from January 2020 onwards, specifically targeting studies examining the relationship between risk perception and negative emotion during COVID-19. A total of 58 papers with 85 effect sizes were meta-analyzed using Comprehensive Meta-Analysis 3.0 software, with a combined sample of 83,948 individuals. Risk perception of COVID-19 showed a moderate positive correlation with negative emotions (r = 0.211, 95%CI [0.18, 0.24]). There was no moderating effect of tight-loose cultures on the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions. However, the epidemic period, gender ratio, and measurement methods did have moderating effects on the relationship between risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions. In future research, we can further develop theories related to the risk perception of COVID-19 and negative emotions, and based on these, formulate interventions to promote people's mental health.

How Teachers' Emotional Leadership Influences College Students' Learning Engagement.

Teachers' emotional leadership plays a crucial role in influencing college students' learning engagement. This study, grounded in Affective Events Theory, surveyed 1034 Chinese college students (649 females and 385 males) to examine their perceptions of teachers' emotional leadership, achievement emotions, emotional susceptibility, and learning engagement. The findings reveal that teachers' emotional leadership has a significant positive impact on college students' learning engagement. Specifically, college students' achievement emotions mediate the relationship between teachers' emotional leadership and their learning engagement. Additionally, college students' emotional susceptibility moderates the relationship between teachers' emotional leadership and their achievement emotions; however, it does not moderate the impact of teachers' emotional leadership on learning engagement through achievement emotions. This study validates the application of Affective Events Theory in the educational field, deepens the understanding of the mechanism and boundary conditions of emotional leadership's impact on learning engagement, and offers insights for enhancing college students' learning engagement.

Emotion perception through the nose: how olfactory emotional cues modulate the perception of neutral facial expressions in affective disorders

Humans can decode emotional states from the body odors of the conspecifics and this type of emotional communication is particularly relevant in conditions in which social interactions are impaired, as in depression and social anxiety. The present study aimed to explore how body odors collected in happiness and fearful conditions modulate the subjective ratings, the psychophysiological response and the neural processing of neutral faces in individuals with depressive symptoms, social anxiety symptoms, and healthy controls (N = 22 per group). To this aim, electrocardiogram (ECG) and HD-EEG were recorded continuously. Heart Rate Variability (HRV) was extracted from the ECG as a measure of vagal tone, event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related spectral perturbations (ERPSs) were extracted from the EEG. The results revealed that the HRV increased during the fear and happiness body odors conditions compared to clean air, but no group differences emerged. For ERPs data, repeated measure ANOVA did not show any significant effects. However, the ERPSs analyses revealed a late increase in delta power and a reduced beta power both at an early and a late stage of stimulus processing in response to the neutral faces presented with the emotional body odors, regardless of the presence of depressive or social anxiety symptoms. The current research offers new insights, demonstrating that emotional chemosignals serve as potent environmental cues. This represents a substantial advancement in comprehending the impact of emotional chemosignals in both individuals with and without affective disorders.

From inspiration to restoration: Moral elevation as a catalyst for improving intergroup relations in contexts of conflict.

Existing research examining the creation of positive and prosocial interpersonal relations has established moral elevation as an approach-oriented emotion to be associated with a range of positive and prosocial outcomes. In this article and with the goal to identify emotional mechanism for improving intergroup relations in contexts of conflict, we examined the effects of moral elevation on enhancing intergroup relations. Across four experimental studies (Ns = 1,131), conducted in four understudied countries directly affected or threatened by intergroup conflict, we demonstrated that induced moral elevation elicits important cognitive and emotional shifts toward adversarial groups, resulting in improved intergroup relations. Specifically, we show that inducing moral elevation through stories of outgroup moral exemplars (individuals who have risked their life to save the life of an outgroup member) enhanced perceptions of intergroup moral similarity and positive emotions toward the outgroup, consequently fostering greater approach and prosocial intergroup behaviors. This pattern proved consistent across four distinct contexts: nonconflict (Sweden), ongoing conflict (Pakistan), protracted conflict (Serbia), and postconflict (Bosnia and Herzegovina). This article advances existing theory on positive emotions by identifying a novel emotional mechanism conducive to improving intergroup relations in contexts of conflict and extends the impact of learning about exemplary moral behaviors performed by relevant others. Ultimately, this article underscores the relevance of moral elevation in mitigating intergroup conflicts using intergroup interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Measuring prime ministerial brands: Exploring Needham’s framework for assessing the UK’s Boris Johnson and the Greek Kyriakos Mitsotakis

Using political branding as an analytical lens can help explain the emotional connections and evaluative perceptions citizens have regarding political parties and their leaders. Measuring what makes a successful brand is best usually conducted with the benefit of hindsight, we can explain why a brand was a success or a failure based on public opinion data and attribute this to events. However, our research seeks to test the extent that analysis of strategic communication can offer opportunities to predict outcomes. We explore the communication of two prime ministerial brands who, due to their similarities and differences, offer an opportunity to assess the extent that the dimensions of a successful brand are universal. We employ Needham’s framework, developed to demonstrate why the brand of UK prime minister Tony Blair (1997–2008) proved so popular. We find that the dimensions of a successful brand are present in the strategic communication of both premiers. However, we find that the nature of some brands may make them appropriate for campaigning, but not for governance in challenging times. We argue that political brands need to be consistent, but once in government must be adaptable for the changing conditions and develop an appropriate style to accommodate the challenges facing a prime minister in the 21st century.

Individual differences in interoception and autistic traits share altered facial emotion perception, but not recognition per se

While alterations in both physiological responses to others’ emotions as well as interoceptive abilities have been identified in autism, their relevance in altered emotion recognition is largely unknown. We here examined the role of interoceptive ability, facial mimicry, and autistic traits in facial emotion processing in non-autistic individuals. In an online Experiment 1, participants (N = 99) performed a facial emotion recognition task, including ratings of perceived emotional intensity and confidence in emotion recognition, and reported on trait interoceptive accuracy, interoceptive sensibility and autistic traits. In a follow-up lab Experiment 2 involving 100 participants, we replicated the online experiment and additionally investigated the relationship between facial mimicry (measured through electromyography), cardiac interoceptive accuracy (evaluated using a heartbeat discrimination task), and autistic traits in relation to emotion processing. Across experiments, neither interoception measures nor facial mimicry accounted for a reduced recognition of specific expressions with higher autistic traits. Higher trait interoceptive accuracy was rather associated with more confidence in correct recognition of some expressions, as well as with higher ratings of their perceived emotional intensity. Exploratory analyses indicated that those higher intensity ratings might result from a stronger integration of instant facial muscle activations, which seem to be less integrated in intensity ratings with higher autistic traits. Future studies should test whether facial muscle activity, and physiological signals in general, are correspondingly less predictive of perceiving emotionality in others in individuals on the autism spectrum, and whether training interoceptive abilities might facilitate the interpretation of emotional expressions.

The Effect of Face Masks and Sunglasses on Emotion Perception over Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The Effect of Face Masks and Sunglasses on Emotion Perception over Two Years of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emotional concepts shape the perceptual representation of body expressions.

Emotion perception interacts with how we think and speak, including our concept of emotions. Body expression is an important way of emotion communication, but it is unknown whether and how its perception is modulated by conceptual knowledge. In this study, we employed representational similarity analysis and conducted three experiments combining semantic similarity, mouse-tracking task, and one-back behavioral task with electroencephalography and functional magnetic resonance imaging techniques, the results of which show that conceptual knowledge predicted the perceptual representation of body expressions. Further, this prediction effect occurred at approximately 170 ms post-stimulus. The neural encoding of body expressions in the fusiform gyrus and lingual gyrus was impacted by emotion concept knowledge. Taken together, our results indicate that conceptual knowledge of emotion categories shapes the configural representation of body expressions in the ventral visual cortex, which offers compelling evidence for the constructed emotion theory.

A preliminary investigation of worry, cortical amyloid burden, and stressor-evoked brain and cardiovascular reactivity in older adults

Worry is a transdiagnostic symptom common to many neurocognitive disorders of aging, including early stages of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Severe worry is associated with amyloid burden in cognitively intact older adults, yet the mechanisms underlying this association are not well understood. We hypothesize that this relationship involves altered brain and cardiovascular reactivity to acute stressors, a brain-body phenotype that also increases risk for cardiovascular disease. Twenty cognitively normal older adults (age 60 to 80) with varying levels of worry severity underwent positron emission tomography using Pittsburgh Compound-B and functional magnetic resonance imaging. We examined associations of worry severity and amyloid burden with cardiovascular reactivity, brain activation, and brain connectivity using a cognitive stressor task. Worry severity was not associated with global amyloid burden, but was associated with greater resting levels of cardiovascular physiology and lower systolic blood pressure reactivity. Worry severity also was associated with altered stressor-evoked activation and effective connectivity in brain circuits implicated in stress processing, emotion perception, and physiological regulation. These associations showed small to medium effect sizes. These preliminary findings introduce key components of a model that may link severe worry to ADRD risk via stressor-evoked brain-body interactions.

Chinese EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Positive Emotionality and Emotion Regulation Strategies: A Qualitative Study

Chinese EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Positive Emotionality and Emotion Regulation Strategies: A Qualitative Study

Clinical Accommodations for Children With Co-Occurring Developmental Language Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

Purpose: Developmental language disorder (DLD) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are two of the most prevalent disorders in school-age children and are likely to be co-occurring. However, speech-language pathologists (SLPs) may receive limited training regarding strategies for capitalizing on strengths and accommodating the needs of children with ADHD relating to challenges in attention, working memory, behavioral inhibition, and self-regulation in the clinical setting. Therefore, in this tutorial, we describe how the cognitive profile of children with DLD and ADHD may present in the therapy room and review strategies for adapting therapeutic approaches to fit the needs of children with ADHD neurotypes. Method: This tutorial includes a review of research related to linguistic, cognitive, and behavioral differences in children with co-occurring DLD and ADHD. Strategies for accommodations in the therapy room are discussed, and we present a case study to demonstrate how these accommodations can be implemented. Conclusions: SLPs can enhance the effectiveness of therapy for children with co-occurring DLD and ADHD with an awareness of the struggles that children with DLD and ADHD experience in the therapy room. Providing these children with the appropriate accommodations can alleviate difficulties due to neurodivergent traits related to working memory, sustaining and shifting attention, social–emotional perception, behavioral inhibition, and self-regulation that occur along with linguistic difficulties.

Does internet addiction affect the level of emotional intelligence among nursing students? A cross-sectional study

AimTo examine the effect of internet addiction on emotional intelligence among nursing students. Internet addiction, especially among nursing students, is an ongoing and urgent issue globally. Despite studies acknowledging its negative effects, the specific impact on the emotional intelligence of college students is not completely explored and needs more investigation.DesignA correlational cross-sectional descriptive study.MethodsParticipants included 180 nursing students from Mansoura University, Egypt. They completed the Socio-demographic sheet, Internet Addiction Test, and Schutte Self-Report Emotional Intelligence. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and regression analysis were conducted to analyze the data.ResultsNursing students experience a moderate level of internet addiction and a neutral level of emotional intelligence. A significant negative relationship was established between internet addiction among students and their emotional intelligence (r = − 0.53, p < 0.001) and its four facets: perception of emotion, managing own emotions, managing others’ emotions, and utilization of emotion. Regression analysis showed that internet addiction had a negative effect on emotional intelligence among nursing students (β = − 0.553, p < 0.001) and explained 30.5% of the variance of emotional intelligence among nursing students.ConclusionsThe study findings suggest that internet addiction negatively impacts the emotional intelligence of nursing students, which is crucial for effective interpersonal relations and professional competence in nursing.ImplicationsThe study underscores the need for educational programs to raise awareness about the hazards of excessive internet use and to promote activities that mitigate internet addiction.

Meta-analysis of Face Perception in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: Evidence for Differential Impairment in Emotion Face Perception.

Schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) are associated with face perception impairments. It is unclear whether impairments are equal across aspects of face perception or larger-indicating a differential impairment-for perceiving emotions relative to other characteristics (eg, identity, age). While many studies have attempted to compare emotion and non-emotion face perception in SSD, they have varied in design and produced conflicting findings. Additionally, prior meta-analyses on this topic were not designed to disentangle differential emotion impairments from broader impairments in face perception or cognition. We hypothesize that SSD-related impairments are larger for emotion than non-emotion face perception, but study characteristics moderate this differential impairment. We meta-analyzed 313 effect sizes from 104 articles to investigate if SSD-related impairments are significantly greater for emotion than non-emotion face perception. We tested whether key study characteristics moderated these impairments, including SSD severity, sample intelligence matching, task difficulty, and task memory dependency. We found significantly greater impairments for emotion (Cohen's d = 0.74) than non-emotion face perception (d = 0.55) in SSD relative to control samples, regardless of SSD severity, intelligence matching, or task difficulty. Importantly, this effect was obscured when non-emotion tasks used a memory-dependent design. This is the first meta-analysis to demonstrate a differential emotion impairment in SSD that cannot be explained by broader impairments in face perception or cognition. The findings also underscore the critical role of task matching in studies of face perception impairments; to prevent confounding influences from memory-dependent task designs.