Best Prosody for News: A Psychophysiological Study Comparing a Broadcast to a Narrative Speaking Style

2021 ◽  
pp. 009365022110593
Author(s):  
Emma Rodero ◽  
Lucía Cores-Sarría
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Speech Rate ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Psychophysiological Study ◽  
Physiological Approach ◽  
Speaking Style ◽  
Time Evaluation

Studies in different languages have identified a broadcast speaking style, a particular manner that broadcasters have of reading news. This speaking style is characterized by an emphatic intonation with a fast speech rate easily recognizable by listeners. Some authors have stated that messages in this style are not positively perceived by listeners, as it is repetitive and regular, but there is no empirical data to support this conclusion, nor has the style been analyzed with physiological measures. The physiological approach has some advantages, such as a more objective assessment and real-time evaluation. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the effectiveness, adequacy, and physiological response of this broadcast style compared to a narrative pattern. We combined self-report with physiological measures. Fifty-six participants listened to six news pieces in both styles and with two voices, male and female. They had to rate the effectiveness and adequacy of the news while we measured their physiological responses (heart rate and electrodermal activity). The results showed that news conveyed through the broadcast style elicited less cognitive resource allocation and emotional arousal than the narrative pattern, but there were no significant differences in self-report evaluations.

scholarly journals Singing and music making: physiological responses across early to later stages of dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Nina Walker ◽  
Sebastian J. Crutch ◽  
Julian West ◽  
Fergal W. Jones ◽  
Emilie V. Brotherhood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Interactive Music ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Observational Measures ◽  
People With Dementia

Background: Music based interventions have been found to improve the wellbeing of people living with dementia. More recently there has been interest in physiological measures to provide additional information about how music and singing impact this population. Methods: This multiple-case study design explored physiological responses (heart rate-HR, electrodermal activity-EDA, movement, and skin temperature-ST) of nine people with mild-to-moderate dementia during a singing group, and six people in the later stages of dementia during an interactive music group. The interactive music group was also video recorded to provide information about engagement. Data were analysed using simulation modelling analysis.             Results: The singing group showed an increase in EDA (p < 0.01 for 8/9 participants) and HR (p < 0.01 for 5/9 participants) as the session began. HR (p < 0.0001 for 5/9 participants) and ST (p < 0.0001 for 6/9 participants) increased during faster paced songs. EDA (p < 0.01 all), movement (p < 0.01 for 8/9 participants) and engagement were higher during an interactive music group compared to a control session (music listening). EDA (p < 0.0001 for 14/18 participants) and ST (p < 0.001 for 10/18 participants) increased and in contrast to the responses during singing, HR decreased as the sessions began (p < 0.002 for 9/18 participants). EDA was higher during slower music (p < 0.0001 for 13/18 participants), however this was less consistent in more interactive sessions than the control. There were no consistent changes in HR and movement responses during different styles of music.   Conclusions: Physiological measures may provide valuable information about the experiences of people with dementia participating in arts and other activities, particularly for those with verbal communication difficulties. Future research should consider using physiological measures with video-analysis and observational measures to explore further how engagement in specific activities, wellbeing and physiology interact.

Psychophysiology in Political Decision Making Research

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew V. Hibbing ◽  
Melissa N. Baker ◽  
Kathryn A. Herzog
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Communication ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
The Body ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Eccrine Glands ◽  
Campaign Messages ◽  
External Stimuli

Since the early 2010s, political science has seen a rise in the use of physiological measures in order to inform theories about decision-making in politics. A commonly used physiological measure is skin conductance (electrodermal activity). Skin conductance measures the changes in levels of sweat in the eccrine glands, usually on the fingertips, in order to help inform how the body responds to stimuli. These changes result from the sympathetic nervous system (popularly known as the fight or flight system) responding to external stimuli. Due to the nature of physiological responses, skin conductance is especially useful when researchers hope to have good temporal resolution and make causal claims about a type of stimulus eliciting physiological arousal in individuals. Researchers interested in areas that involve emotion or general affect (e.g., campaign messages, political communication and advertising, information processing, and general political psychology) may be especially interested in integrating skin conductance into their methodological toolbox. Skin conductance is a particularly useful tool since its implicit and unconscious nature means that it avoids some of the pitfalls that can accompany self-report measures (e.g., social desirability bias and inability to accurately remember and report emotions). Future decision-making research will benefit from pairing traditional self-report measures with physiological measures such as skin conductance.

Evaluation of the uncanny valley hypothesis based on declared emotional response and psychophysiological reaction

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dawid Ratajczyk ◽  
Marcin Jukiewicz ◽  
Pawel Lupkowski
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Response ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Time Measurement ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Questionnaire Response ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Background Context

Abstract The uncanny valley (UV) hypothesis suggests that the observation of almost human-like characters causes an increase of discomfort. We conducted a study using self-report questionnaire, response time measurement, and electrodermal activity (EDA) evaluation. In the study, 12 computer-generated characters (robots, androids, animated, and human characters) were presented to 33 people (17 women) to (1) test the effect of a background context on the perception of characters, (2) establish whether there is a relation between declared feelings and physiological arousal, and (3) detect the valley of the presented stimuli. The findings provide support for reverse relation between human-likeness and the arousal (EDA). Furthermore, a positive correlation between EDA and human-likeness appraisal reaction time upholds one of the most common explanations of the UV – the categorization ambiguity. The absence of the significant relationship between declared comfort and EDA advocates the necessity of physiological measures for UV studies.

Behavioral Presence Test in Threatening Virtual Environments

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 268-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eric Malbos ◽  
Ronald M. Rapee ◽  
Manolya Kavakli
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Overt Behavior ◽  
Additional Equipment ◽  
Future Work

Presence, the impression of being existent in artificially created places, is an important factor for achieving maximum experience in virtual environments (VEs) and hence in their use for experiments or therapy. To date, most clinical studies have used self-report questionnaires or physiological measures to appraise the degree of presence. Some studies that have tested behavioral scales have used a single VE, required additional equipment, or did not test psychometric properties during immersion in the VR. The current study described and tested an operationalized, easy-to-use scale of presence, the Behavior Presence Test in Threatening VEs (BPTT), through the observation of overt behavior exhibited by a sample of 40 participants during immersion in five different threatening virtual situations. The BPTT was compared with standard subjective and physiological measures of presence and anxiety. The VEs resulted in clear increases in anxiety and arousal. Most importantly, findings demonstrated the consistency, reliability and validity of the BPTT. Video game experience did not seem to have any impact on presence or on participants' behavior. The test is a step forward in creating an objective assessment of presence during the virtual reality experience and without the need for additional equipment. Future work should focus on developing broader tests suitable for use in any threatening or nonthreatening VEs.

scholarly journals Comparing Explicit and Implicit Measures for Assessing Cross-Cultural Food Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daisuke Kaneko ◽  
Ivo Stuldreher ◽  
Anne J. C. Reuten ◽  
Alexander Toet ◽  
Jan B. F. van Erp ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Context ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Cross Cultural ◽  
Response Style ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Extreme Response ◽  
Food Image ◽  
Food Experience ◽  
Food Images

The present study investigated the potential of implicit physiological measures to provide objective measures of affective food experience in contrast to explicit self-report ratings in a cross-cultural context. Dutch and Thai participants viewed 120 food images portraying universal food image categories (regular and molded food) and cultural food image categories (typically Dutch and Thai food). The universal food images were taken as ground truth high and low valence stimuli, where we assumed no genuine difference in affective experience between nationalities. In contrast, for the cultural food images, we did expect a genuine difference between nationalities. Participants were asked to rate valence, arousal and liking of each food image. In addition, heart rate (HR) and phasic electrodermal activity (EDA) responses to the images were recorded. Typically Asian and Western response biases were found for explicit ratings of regular and molded food with an extreme response style for Dutch, and a middle response style for Thai participants. However, such bias was not observed in HR. For cultural food image categories, HR showed the hypothesized interaction between participant nationality and food image category, reflecting the expected genuine difference between nationalities in affective food experience. Besides presenting participants with images, we also asked participants to taste typically Thai and Dutch drinks. Similar to images, a significant interaction between participant nationality and cultural food category was found for HR. An interaction was also found for sip size, while this was not seen in explicit measures. We attribute this to differences in the moment that these measures were taken. In this study, phasic EDA did not appear to be a sensitive measure of affective food experience, possibly since stimuli mostly differed in valence rather than arousal. To conclude, our study constitutes an example where cultural bias negatively affected the accuracy of self-reports, and only the implicit physiological measures followed the prior expectations of genuine food experience, indicating the potential of these measures to study cross-cultural food experience.

scholarly journals Singing and music making: physiological responses across early to later stages of dementia

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 150
Author(s):  
Nina Walker ◽  
Sebastian J. Crutch ◽  
Julian West ◽  
Fergal W. Jones ◽  
Emilie V. Brotherhood ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Simulation Modelling ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Music Listening ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Interactive Music ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Observational Measures ◽  
People With Dementia

Background: Music based interventions have been found to improve the wellbeing of people living with dementia. More recently there has been interest in physiological measures to provide additional information about how music and singing impact this population. Methods: This multiple-case study design explored physiological responses (heart rate-HR, electrodermal activity-EDA, movement, and skin temperature-ST) of nine people with mild-to-moderate dementia during a singing group, and six people in the later stages of dementia during an interactive music group. The interactive music group was also video recorded to provide information about engagement. Data were analysed using simulation modelling analysis.             Results: The singing group showed an increase in EDA (p < 0.01 for 8/9 participants) and HR (p < 0.01 for 5/9 participants) as the session began. HR (p < 0.0001 for 5/9 participants) and ST (p < 0.0001 for 6/9 participants) increased during faster paced songs. EDA (p < 0.01 all), movement (p < 0.01 for 8/9 participants) and engagement were higher during an interactive music group compared to a control session (music listening). EDA (p < 0.0001 for 14/18 participants) and ST (p < 0.001 for 10/18 participants) increased and in contrast to the responses during singing, HR decreased as the sessions began (p < 0.002 for 9/18 participants). EDA was higher during slower music (p < 0.0001 for 13/18 participants), however this was less consistent in more interactive sessions than the control. There were no consistent changes in HR and movement responses during different styles of music.   Conclusions: Physiological measures may provide valuable information about the experiences of people with dementia participating in arts and other activities, particularly for those with verbal communication difficulties. Future research should consider using physiological measures with video-analysis and observational measures to explore further how engagement in specific activities, wellbeing and physiology interact.

scholarly journals The Utility of Physiological Measures in Assessing the Empathic Skills of Incarcerated Violent Offenders

2021 ◽  
pp. 0306624X2199405
Author(s):  
Julie Palix ◽  
Ahmad Abu-Akel ◽  
Valérie Moulin ◽  
Milena Abbiati ◽  
Jacques Gasser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Violent Offenders ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Practical Significance ◽  
Reactivity Index ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Important Indicator ◽  
Forensic Research ◽  
Violent Behaviors ◽  
Psychometric Measures ◽  
Positive Correlations

Since lack of empathy is an important indicator of violent behaviors, researchers need consistent and valid measures. This study evaluated the practical significance of a potential physiological correlate of empathy compared to a traditional self-report questionnaire in 18 male violent offenders and 21 general population controls. Empathy skills were assessed with the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) questionnaire. Heart-Rate Variability (HRV) was assessed with an electrocardiogram. The RMSSD (Root Mean Square of the Successive beat-to-beat Differences), an HRV index implicated in social cognition, was calculated. There were no group differences in IRI scores. However, RMSSD was lower in the offender group. Positive correlations between RMSSD and IRI subscales were found for controls only. We conclude that psychometric measures of empathy do not discriminate incarcerated violent offenders, and that the incorporation of psychophysiological measures, such as HRV, could be an avenue for forensic research on empathy to establish translatable evidence-based information.

Physiological and Metabolic Responses to Exercise on Treadmill, Elliptical Trainer, and Stepper: Practical Implications for Training

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Andrew N. Bosch ◽  
Kirsten C. Flanagan ◽  
Maaike M. Eken ◽  
Adrian Withers ◽  
Jana Burger ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Energy Expenditure ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Maximal Oxygen Consumption ◽  
Metabolic Responses ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Fuel Utilization ◽  
Trained Runners ◽  
Practical Implications

Elliptical trainers and steppers are proposed as useful exercise modalities in the rehabilitation of injured runners due to the reduced stress on muscles and joints when compared to running. This study compared the physiological responses to submaximal running (treadmill) with exercise on the elliptical trainer and stepper devices at three submaximal but identical workloads. Authors had 18 trained runners (male/female: N = 9/9, age: mean ± SD = 23 ± 3 years) complete randomized maximal oxygen consumption tests on all three modalities. Submaximal tests of 3 min were performed at 60%, 70%, and 80% of peak workload individually established for each modality. Breath-by-breath oxygen consumption, heart rate, fuel utilization, and energy expenditure were determined. The value of maximal oxygen consumption was not different between treadmill, elliptical, and stepper (49.3 ± 5.3, 48.0 ± 6.6, and 46.7 ± 6.2 ml·min−1·kg−1, respectively). Both physiological measures (oxygen consumption and heart rate) as well as carbohydrate and fat oxidation differed significantly between the different exercise intensities (60%, 70%, and 80%) but did not differ between the treadmill, elliptical trainer, and stepper. Therefore, the elliptical trainer and stepper are suitable substitutes for running during periods when a reduced running load is required, such as during rehabilitation from running-induced injury.

Patient self-reporting of tolerability using PRO-CTCAE: A randomized double-blind placebo controlled phase II trial comparing gemcitabine in combination with adavosertib or placebo in women with platinum resistant epithelial ovarian cancer.

2021 ◽  
Vol 39 (15_suppl) ◽  
pp. 5541-5541
Author(s):  
Ainhoa Madariaga ◽  
Sandra A. Mitchell ◽  
Tyler Pittman ◽  
Lisa Wang ◽  
Valerie Bowering ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ovarian Cancer ◽  
Abdominal Pain ◽  
Objective Assessment ◽  
Area Under The Curve ◽  
Recurrent Ovarian Cancer ◽  
Median Number ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
Patient Reported ◽  
Fatigue Severity

5541 Background: A 4 month improvement in OS was demonstrated when Wee1 inhibitor adavosertib (Ad) and gemcitabine (G; arm A) was compared to G and placebo (P; arm B) in a phase 2 trial in recurrent ovarian cancer (NCT02151292). The patient reported outcome version of the CTCAE (PRO-CTCAE) was used to capture self-report of the frequency, severity and/or interference (scored 0-4; higher scores indicating worse symptomatic adverse events [syAEs]). Methods: Ad/P was given orally on D1-2, D8-9, D15-16 with G D1, D8, D15 in a 28-day cycle. English speaking pts in 2 centres completed PRO-CTCAE items electronically in clinic at baseline, D1 and D15 of each cycle and off treatment. An exploratory objective was to characterize syAEs in the first 3 months of therapy. We calculated 12-week area under the curve (AUC12w) as a measure of syAE over time and incremental AUC12w (iAUC12w) for adjustment to baseline syAEs and compared arms A and B using an independent samples t-test. We assessed proportion of scores 3-4 at 6 time-points and compared them using Fisher’s Exact Test at each survey. Results: 51 pts were enrolled and completed ≥1 survey, 47 were evaluable for primary outcome (arm A: 28, B: 19). ECOG status was ≤1 in 44/47 pts. Median number of cycles of therapy were 5 (1-16) in arm A, and 2 (1-16) in B. Survey completion rates were high (arm A 93%, B 95%). Mean AUC12w fatigue severity (A 152 [standard error 9] vs B 112 [10]; p = 0.005) and interference (A 144 [11] vs 98 [15]; p = 0.018), diarrhea frequency (A 70 [12] vs B 33 [9]; p = 0.014), mucositis (A 23 [6] vs B 6 [3]; p = 0.012) and difficulty swallowing severity (A 10 [3] vs B 2 [2]; p = 0.023) were higher in arm A (any grade). There were no statistically significant between-arm differences in abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting and anxiety. The iAUC12w was significantly higher in arm A vs B for difficulty swallowing severity (A 10.1 [3] vs B -2.7 [4.7]; p = 0.02), mucositis severity (A 19.9 [6.6] vs B -3.1 [6.9]; p = 0.02) and fatigue severity (A 35.2 [8.2] vs B -3.1 [9.8]; p = 0.005). Proportions with high scores (3-4) were only significantly higher at C1D15 for fatigue severity in arm A (A 55% vs B 19%, p = 0.044). No significant differences were seen in other 3-4 scores per survey time. Conclusions: This is the first study evaluating pts self-reported toxicity with adavosertib in a randomized setting, allowing pts self-evaluation of toxicity in the context of improved PFS and OS. Greater fatigue, diarrhea, mucositis and difficulty swallowing were experienced by pts receiving adavosertib and gemcitabine, but score 3-4 reached significance on C1D15 fatigue only. No significant differences were detected in syAE profile for nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, bloating and anxiety. This approach allows objective assessment of pts perception of toxicity with complex therapy. Clinical trial information: NCT02151292.

scholarly journals Multimodal prediction of trait emotional intelligence–Through affective changes measured using non-contact based physiological measures

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (7) ◽  
pp. e0254335
Author(s):  
Vrinda Prajapati ◽  
Rajlakshmi Guha ◽  
Aurobinda Routray
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Intelligence ◽  
Psychological Functioning ◽  
Mental Health Problems ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Autonomic Response ◽  
Response Patterns ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Trait Emotional Intelligence ◽  
High Stake ◽  
Fmcw Radar

Inability to efficiently deal with emotionally laden situations, often leads to poor interpersonal interactions. This adversely affects the individual’s psychological functioning. A higher trait emotional intelligence (EI) is not only associated with psychological wellbeing, educational attainment, and job-related success, but also with willingness to seek professional and non-professional help for personal-emotional problems, depression and suicidal ideation. Thus, it is important to identify low (EI) individuals who are more prone to mental health problems than their high EI counterparts, and give them the appropriate EI training, which will aid in preventing the onset of various mood related disorders. Since people may be unaware of their level of EI/emotional skills or may tend to fake responses in self-report questionnaires in high stake situations, a system that assesses EI using physiological measures can prove affective. We present a multimodal method for detecting the level of trait Emotional intelligence using non-contact based autonomic sensors. To our knowledge, this is the first work to predict emotional intelligence level from physiological/autonomic (cardiac and respiratory) response patterns to emotions. Trait EI of 50 users was measured using Schutte Self Report Emotional Intelligence Test (SSEIT) along with their cardiovascular and respiratory data, which was recorded using FMCW radar sensor both at baseline and while viewing affective movie clips. We first examine relationships between users’ Trait EI scores and autonomic response and reactivity to the clips. Our analysis suggests a significant relationship between EI and autonomic response and reactivity. We finally attempt binary EI level detection using linear SVM. We also attempt to classify each sub factor of EI, namely–perception of emotion, managing own emotions, managing other’s emotions, and utilization of emotions. The proposed method achieves an EI classification accuracy of 84%, while accuracies ranging from 58 to 76% is achieved for recognition of the sub factors. This is the first step towards identifying EI of an individual purely through physiological responses. Limitation and future directions are discussed.

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