scholarly journals Vocal Synchrony of Robots Boosts Positive Affective Empathy

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 2502
Author(s):  
Shogo Nishimura ◽  
Takuya Nakamura ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Masayuki Kanbara ◽  
Yuichiro Fujimoto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Affective Empathy ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Subjective Responses ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Vocal Prosody ◽  
Conductance Level

Robots that can talk with humans play increasingly important roles in society. However, current conversation robots remain unskilled at eliciting empathic feelings in humans. To address this problem, we used a robot that speaks in a voice synchronized with human vocal prosody. We conducted an experiment in which human participants held positive conversations with the robot by reading scenarios under conditions with and without vocal synchronization. We assessed seven subjective responses related to affective empathy (e.g., emotional connection) and measured the physiological emotional responses using facial electromyography from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles as well as the skin conductance level. The subjective ratings consistently revealed heightened empathic responses to the robot in the synchronization condition compared with that under the de-synchronizing condition. The physiological signals showed that more positive and stronger emotional arousal responses to the robot with synchronization. These findings suggest that robots that are able to vocally synchronize with humans can elicit empathic emotional responses.

scholarly journals Pleasant Stroke Touch on Human Back by a Human and a Robot

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomoki Ishikura ◽  
Yuki Kitamura ◽  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Jun Takamatsu ◽  
Akishige Yuguchi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Social Interactions ◽  
Skin Conductance Response ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Emotional Reactions ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Medium Speed ◽  
Human Participants ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Reduced Activity

Abstract Pleasant touching is an important aspect of social interactions that is widely used as a caregiving technique. To address problems resulting from a lack of available human caregivers, previous research has attempted to develop robots that can perform this kind of pleasant touch. However, it remains unclear whether robots can provide such a pleasant touch in a manner similar to humans. To investigate this issue, we compared the effect of the speed of gentle strokes on the back between human and robot agents on the emotional responses of human participants (n = 28). A robot or a human stroked on the participants’ back at slow and medium speeds (i.e., 2.6 and 8.5 cm/s). Participants’ subjective (valence and arousal ratings) and physiological (facial electromyography (EMG) recorded from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles, and skin conductance response) emotional reactions were measured. The subjective ratings demonstrated that the medium speed was more pleasant and arousing than the slow speed for both human and robot strokes. The corrugator supercilii EMG showed that the medium speed resulted in reduced activity in response to both human and robot strokes. These results demonstrate similar speed-dependent modulations of stroke on subjective and physiological positive emotional responses across human and robot agents and suggest that robots can provide a pleasant touch similar to that of humans.

scholarly journals Assessment of threat and negativity bias in virtual reality

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Baker ◽  
Ralph Pawling ◽  
Stephen Fairclough
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Negativity Bias ◽  
Risk Averse ◽  
Potential Threat ◽  
Emotion Induction ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Movement Data ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
High Threat ◽  
Conductance Level

Abstract Negativity bias, i.e., tendency to respond strongly to negative stimuli, can be captured via behavioural and psychophysiological responses to potential threat. A virtual environment (VE) was created at room-scale wherein participants traversed a grid of ice blocks placed 200 m above the ground. Threat was manipulated by increasing the probability of encountering ice blocks that disintegrated and led to a virtual fall. Participants interacted with the ice blocks via sensors placed on their feet. Thirty-four people were recruited for the study, who were divided into High (HN) and Low (LN) Neuroticism groups. Movement data were recorded alongside skin conductance level and facial electromyography from the corrugator supercilii and zygomaticus major. Risk-averse behaviours, such as standing on ‘safe’ blocks and testing blocks prior to movement, increased when threat was highest. HN individuals exhibited more risk-averse behaviour than the LN group, especially in the presence of high threat. In addition, activation of the corrugator muscle was higher for HN individuals in the period following a movement to an ice block. These findings are discussed with respect to the use of room-scale VE as a protocol for emotion induction and measuring trait differences in negativity bias within VR.

scholarly journals It’s not over yet: The impact of worry on emotional recovery

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 204380872092994
Author(s):  
Jayne Morriss ◽  
Nicolò Biagi ◽  
Carien M. van Reekum
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Time Course ◽  
Emotional Reactivity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Emotional Pictures ◽  
Emotional Recovery ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Conductance Level

Emotional reactivity and recovery are crucial for maintaining well-being. It remains unknown, however, to what extent emotion modulates the time course of recovery assessed using a simple categorization task and how this varies based on individual differences in worry. To address these questions, 35 participants viewed emotional pictures, followed by abstract greeble targets, which were to be categorized. Greebles were presented between 100 ms and 4,000 ms after picture offset. Physiological measures including skin conductance level and the corrugator supercilii were recorded and served as indicators of responsivity to emotional pictures. Measures of reaction time (RT) and accuracy scores were taken as indicators of the impact of emotion on facilitation or interference to the greeble target. Effects of interference and facilitation were observed up to 4,000 ms after emotional pictures on RT and accuracy scores. High worry was associated with greater (1) corrugator supercilii and skin conductance level to negative versus positive and neutral pictures and (2) interference from emotional pictures on accuracy scores. Overall, these findings suggest that subsequent processing is still impacted up to 4,000 ms after the offset of emotional pictures, particularly for negative events in individuals with high worry.

Gender Differences in Psychophysiological Responses to Disgust

2008 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 65-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sonja Rohrmann ◽  
Henrik Hopp ◽  
Markus Quirin
Keyword(s):  
Gender Stereotypes ◽  
Electrodermal Activity ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Immunoglobulin A ◽  
Subjective Responses ◽  
Film Clips ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Secretory Immunoglobulin ◽  
Conductance Level

Several studies have revealed that women report stronger feelings of disgust than men ( Gross & Levenson, 1995 ; Schienle, Schäfer, Stark, Walter, & Vaitl, 2005 ). However, the extent to which this gender difference also influences physiological disgust responses remains an open question. In Experiment 1, 54 female and 41 male participants were exposed to slides of different disgust-content. In Experiment 2, 47 women and 53 men watched two film clips showing hygiene-related or food-related disgust stimuli, respectively. Differences between males and females in reported and physiological disgust responses (heart rate, electrodermal activity, salivary cortisol, secretory immunoglobulin A) were tested by analysis of variance. Replicating previous studies, women reported stronger feelings of disgust than men across all disgust inductions. Additionally, in Study 1, women showed a higher increase in skin conductance level than men. In conclusion, gender moderates subjective responses to disgust, whereas physiological disgust responses are only marginally moderated by gender. Gender stereotypes as an explanation for the results are discussed.

scholarly journals Facial EMG Correlates of Subjective Hedonic Responses During Food Consumption

Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 1174 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wataru Sato ◽  
Kazusa Minemoto ◽  
Akira Ikegami ◽  
Makoto Nakauma ◽  
Takahiro Funami ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Food Consumption ◽  
Emg Activity ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Subjective Ratings ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Facial Emg ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Hedonic Experience ◽  
Valence And Arousal ◽  
Liking Rating

An exploration of physiological correlates of subjective hedonic responses while eating food has practical and theoretical significance. Previous psychophysiological studies have suggested that some physiological measures, including facial electromyography (EMG), may correspond to hedonic responses while viewing food images or drinking liquids. However, whether consuming solid food could produce such subjective–physiological concordance remains untested. To investigate this issue, we assessed participants’ subjective ratings of liking, wanting, valence, and arousal while they consumed gel-type food stimuli of various flavors and textures. We additionally measured their physiological signals, including facial EMG from the corrugator supercilii. The results showed that liking, wanting, and valence ratings were negatively correlated with corrugator supercilii EMG activity. Only the liking rating maintained a negative association with corrugator supercilii activity when the other ratings were partialed out. These data suggest that the subjective hedonic experience, specifically the liking state, during food consumption can be objectively assessed using facial EMG signals and may be influenced by such somatic signals.

scholarly journals Reading About Us and Them: Moral but no Minimal Group Effects on Language-Induced Emotion

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Björn 't Hart ◽  
Marijn Struiksma ◽  
Anton van Boxtel ◽  
Jos J. A. van Berkum
Keyword(s):  
Muscle Activity ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Full Understanding ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Good Person ◽  
Facial Electromyography ◽  
Minimal Group ◽  
Social Standards ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
New Evidence

Many of our everyday emotional responses are triggered by language, and a full understanding of how people use language therefore also requires an analysis of how words elicit emotion as they are heard or read. We report a facial electromyography experiment in which we recorded corrugator supercilii, or “frowning muscle”, activity to assess how readers processed emotion-describing language in moral and minimal in/outgroup contexts. Participants read sentence-initial phrases like “Mark is angry” or “Mark is happy” after descriptions that defined the character at hand as a good person, a bad person, a member of a minimal ingroup, or a member of a minimal outgroup (realizing the latter two by classifying participants as personality “type P” and having them read about characters of “type P” or “type O”). As in our earlier work, moral group status of the character clearly modulated how readers responded to descriptions of character emotions, with more frowning to “Mark is angry” than to “Mark is happy” when the character had previously been described as morally good, but not when the character had been described as morally bad. Minimal group status, however, did not matter to how the critical phrases were processed, with more frowning to “Mark is angry” than to “Mark is happy” across the board. Our morality-based findings are compatible with a model in which readers use their emotion systems to simultaneously simulate a character’s emotion and evaluate that emotion against their own social standards. The minimal-group result does not contradict this model, but also does not provide new evidence for it.

scholarly journals Analysis of Skin Conductance Level for Cognitional and Emotional Responses associated with Unexpected Situation during Driving

2010 ◽  
Vol 29 (6) ◽  
pp. 869-874 ◽  
Author(s):  
Su-Jeong Lee ◽  
Jae-Woong Yang ◽  
Ji-Hye Kim ◽  
Mi-Hyun Choi ◽  
Kyung-Ryoul Mun ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Conductance Level

Effects of Provocation on Emotions and Aggression: An Experimental Study with Aggressive Children

2006 ◽  
Vol 65 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christina Stadler ◽  
Sonja Rohrmann ◽  
Sibylle Steuber ◽  
Fritz Poustka
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Physiological Measures ◽  
Competitive Reaction ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Conduct Disordered ◽  
Physiological Variables ◽  
Aggressive Children ◽  
Conductance Level

In this study, the effects of an experimental-induced provocation on emotions and aggression were examined in 34 aggressive conduct-disordered children using a competitive reaction time paradigm. Two experimental conditions were created, an increasing provocation and a low constant provocation condition. Self-rated anger was assessed directly after provocation on a 5-point-visual scale. In addition, negative and positive emotions as well as physiological measures (heart rate and skin conductance level) were measured at baseline and after provocation. Results revealed that participants’ aggressive behaviour and subjective emotions differed as a function of the opponent’s level of provocation. Concerning physiological parameters, no significant differences were found between the experimental conditions. These results suggest that affective, but not physiological variables characterize reactive aggression in conduct-disordered children.

The Effect of Searching Versus Surfing on Cognitive and Emotional Responses to Online News

2009 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 49-59 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin Wise ◽  
Hyo Jung Kim ◽  
Jeesum Kim
Keyword(s):  
Heart Rate ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Online News ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Mixed Design ◽  
Information Need ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Rate Acceleration

A mixed-design experiment was conducted to explore differences between searching and surfing on cognitive and emotional responses to online news. Ninety-two participants read three unpleasant news stories from a website. Half of the participants acquired their stories by searching, meaning they had a previous information need in mind. The other half of the participants acquired their stories by surfing, with no previous information need in mind. Heart rate, skin conductance, and corrugator activation were collected as measures of resource allocation, motivational activation, and unpleasantness, respectively, while participants read each story. Self-report valence and recognition accuracy were also measured. Stories acquired by searching elicited greater heart rate acceleration, skin conductance level, and corrugator activation during reading. These stories were rated as more unpleasant, and their details were recognized more accurately than similar stories that were acquired by surfing. Implications of these results for understanding how people process online media are discussed.

Emotional processing and the autonomic nervous system: a comprehensive meta-analytic investigation

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Silva Moreira ◽  
Pedro Chaves ◽  
Nuno Dias ◽  
Patrício Costa ◽  
Pedro Rocha Almeida
Keyword(s):  
Nervous System ◽  
Autonomic Nervous System ◽  
Skin Conductance ◽  
Emotional Processing ◽  
Skin Conductance Level ◽  
The Body ◽  
Analytic Investigation ◽  
Physiological Basis ◽  
Autonomic Nervous ◽  
Conductance Level

Background: The search for autonomic correlates of emotional processing has been a matter of interest for the scientific community with the goal of identifying the physiological basis of emotion. Despite an extensive state-of-the-art exploring the correlates of emotion, there is no absolute consensus regarding how the body processes an affective state.Objectives: In this work, we aimed to aggregate the literature of psychophysiological studies in the context of emotional induction. Methods: For this purpose, we conducted a systematic review of the literature and a meta-analytic investigation, comparing different measures from the electrodermal, cardiovascular, respiratory and facial systems across emotional categories/dimensions. Two-hundred and ninety-one studies met the inclusion criteria and were quantitatively pooled in random-effects meta-analytic modelling. Results: Heart rate and skin conductance level were the most reported psychophysiological measures. Overall, there was a negligible differentiation between emotional categories with respect to the pooled estimates. Of note, considerable amount of between-studies’ heterogeneity was found in the meta-analytic aggregation. Self-reported ratings of emotional arousal were found to be associated with specific autonomic-nervous system (ANS) indices, particularly with the variation of the skin conductance level. Conclusions: Despite this clear association, there is still a considerable amount of unexplained variability that raises the need for more fine-grained analysis to be implemented in future research in this field.

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