scholarly journals The Interpretation of E-Motions in Faces and Bodies Derived from Static Artworks by Individuals with High Functioning Autistic Spectrum

Vision ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 17
Author(s):  
Maria Elisa Della-Torre ◽  
Daniele Zavagno ◽  
Rossana Actis-Grosso
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Likert Scale ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Dynamic Component ◽  
Specific Emotion ◽  
Similar Range

E-motions are defined as those affective states the expressions of which—conveyed either by static faces or body posture—embody a dynamic component and, consequently, convey a higher sense of dynamicity than other emotional expressions. An experiment is presented, aimed at testing whether e-motions are perceived as such also by individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), which have been associated with impairments in emotion recognition and in motion perception. To this aim we replicate with ASD individuals a study, originally conducted with typically developed individuals (TDs), in which we showed to both ASD and TD participants 14 bodiless heads and 14 headless bodies taken from eleven static artworks and four drawings. The Experiment was divided into two sessions. In Session 1 participants were asked to freely associate each stimulus to an emotion or an affective state (Task 1, option A); if they were unable to find a specific emotion, the experimenter showed them a list of eight possible emotions (words) and asked them to choose one from such list, that best described the affective state portrayed in the image (Task 1, option B). After their choice, they were asked to rate the intensity of the perceived emotion on a seven point Likert scale (Task 2). In Session 2 participants were requested to evaluate the degree of dynamicity conveyed by each stimulus on a 7 point Likert scale. Results showed that ASDs and TDs shared a similar range of verbal expressions defining emotions; however, ASDs (i) showed an impairment in the ability to spontaneously assign an emotion to a headless body, and (ii) they more frequently used terms denoting negative emotions (for both faces and bodies) as compared to neutral emotions, which in turn were more frequently used by TDs. No difference emerged between the two groups for positive emotions, with happiness being the emotion better recognized in both faces and in bodies. Although overall there are no significant differences between the two groups with respect to the emotions assigned to the images and the degree of perceived dynamicity, the interaction Artwork x Group showed that for some images ASDs assigned a different value than TDs to perceived dynamicity. Moreover, two images were interpreted by ASDs as conveying completely different emotions than those perceived by TDs. Results are discussed in light of the ability of ASDs to resolve ambiguity, and of possible different cognitive styles characterizing the aesthetical/emotional experience.

scholarly journals Affective State Assistant for Helping Users with Cognition Disabilities Using Neural Networks

Electronics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1843
Author(s):  
Luis Muñoz-Saavedra ◽  
Francisco Luna-Perejón ◽  
Javier Civit-Masot ◽  
Lourdes Miró-Amarante ◽  
Anton Civit ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Affective State ◽  
Cognitive Disorders ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Verbal Communication ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Discrete Wavelet ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Physiological Signal ◽  
Additional Information

Non-verbal communication is essential in the communication process. This means that its lack can cause misinterpretations of the message that the sender tries to transmit to the receiver. With the rise of video calls, it seems that this problem has been partially solved. However, people with cognitive disorders such as those with some kind of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) are unable to interpret non-verbal communication neither live nor by video call. This work analyzes the relationship between some physiological measures (EEG, ECG, and GSR) and the affective state of the user. To do that, some public datasets are evaluated and used for a multiple Deep Learning (DL) system. Each physiological signal is pre-processed using a feature extraction process after a frequency study with the Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), and those coefficients are used as inputs for a single DL classifier focused on that signal. These multiple classifiers (one for each signal) are evaluated independently and their outputs are combined in order to optimize the results and obtain additional information about the most reliable signals for classifying the affective states into three levels: low, middle, and high. The full system is carefully detailed and tested, obtaining promising results (more than 95% accuracy) that demonstrate its viability.

scholarly journals Evaluation of miRNA as Biomarkers of Emotional Valence in Pigs

Animals ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 2054
Author(s):  
Laura Marsh ◽  
Mark R. Hutchinson ◽  
Clive McLaughlan ◽  
Stefan T. Musolino ◽  
Michelle L. Hebart ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Emotional States ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Production Environment ◽  
Large White ◽  
Judgment Bias ◽  
Positive Affective State ◽  
The Brain

The ability to assess the welfare of animals is dependent on our ability to accurately determine their emotional (affective) state, with particular emphasis being placed on the identification of positive emotions. The challenge remains that current physiological and behavioral indices are either unable to distinguish between positive and negative emotional states, or they are simply not suitable for a production environment. Therefore, the development of novel measures of animal emotion is a necessity. Here we investigated the efficacy of microRNA (miRNA) in the brain and blood as biomarkers of emotional state in the pig. Female Large White × Landrace pigs (n = 24) were selected at weaning and trained to perform a judgment bias test (JBT), before being exposed for 5 weeks to either enriched (n = 12) or barren housing (n = 12) conditions. Pigs were tested on the JBT once prior to treatment, and immediately following treatment. MiRNA and neurotransmitters were analyzed in blood and brain tissue after euthanasia. Treatment had no effect on the outcomes of the JBT. There was also no effect of treatment on miRNA expression in blood or the brain (FDR p > 0.05). However, pigs exposed to enriched housing had elevated dopamine within the striatum compared to pigs in barren housing (p = 0.02). The results imply that either (a) miRNAs are not likely to be valid biomarkers of a positive affective state, at least under the type of conditions employed in this study, or (b) that the study design used to modify affective state was not able to create differential affective states, and therefore establish the validity of miRNA as biomarkers.

scholarly journals The Emotional Experience behind Sexually Offending in Context

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 242-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Leclerc ◽  
Marie Rosenkrantz Lindegaard
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Offenders ◽  
Emotional Experience ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Self Report ◽  
Bivariate Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Sexual Crime ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Crime Event

Objectives: The current study focused on the role of affective states in adult sexual offending. We look at the prevalence of a range of affective states throughout sexual crime events. We break down the crime event into three stages—immediately before, during, and after the offense. We examine transitions of affective states—stage by stage—but also across victims. Finally, we investigate the impact of situational factors on affective states. Method: The sample consisted of a total of 553 adult males who had been convicted of a sexual offense. Self-report data on sexual crime events were collected from these offenders. Apart from descriptive and bivariate analysis, “affective state-switching patterns” are investigated through transition matrices. Results: Findings show large variations in affective states before, during, and after the offense but show little variation across victims. Alcohol usage and offender–victim relationship were related to affective states of offenders. Conclusions: We conclude that the found association between affective states and decision-making of sexual offenders calls for more research on within crime event variations especially, and future research should focus on causal mechanisms related to affective states.

scholarly journals Assessing Affective State in Laboratory Rodents to Promote Animal Welfare—What Is the Progress in Applied Refinement Research?

Animals ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (12) ◽  
pp. 1026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paulin Jirkof ◽  
Juliane Rudeck ◽  
Lars Lewejohann
Keyword(s):  
Animal Welfare ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Laboratory Animals ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Laboratory Rodents ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Potential ◽  
Negative Affective States

An animal’s capacity to suffer is a prerequisite for any animal welfare concern, and the minimization of suffering is a key aim of refinement research. In contrast to the traditional focus on avoiding or reducing negative welfare states, modern animal welfare concepts highlight the importance of promoting positive welfare states in laboratory animals. Reliable assessments of affective states, as well as the knowledge of how to elicit positive affective states, are central to this concept. Important achievements have been made to assess pain and other negative affective states in animals in the last decades, but it is only recently that the neurobiology of positive emotions in humans and animals has been gaining more interest. Thereby, the need for promotion of positive affective states for laboratory animals is gaining more acceptance, and methods allowing the assessment of affective states in animals have been increasingly introduced. In this overview article, we present common and emerging methods to assess affective states in laboratory rodents. We focus on the implementation of these methods into applied refinement research to identify achieved progress as well as the future potential of these tools to improve animal welfare in animal-based research.

scholarly journals Subjective Rank of the Competition as a Factor Differentiating Between the Affective States of Swimmers and Their Sport Performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aleksandra Samełko ◽  
Monika Guszkowska ◽  
Anna Kuk
Keyword(s):  
Regression Analysis ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Mood State ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Sport Performance ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Stress Scale ◽  
Sports Events ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeThe aim of the study was to establish the differences in affective states of swimmers depending on the subjective rank of the competition and the relationship between affective states and performance in sports competitions of low, medium and high subjectively perceived rank.MethodsThe respondents (n = 31) aged from 15 to 23 years (18.1 ± 2.397) were studied using the psychological questionnaires Perceived Stress Scale (PSS-10), Profile of Mood State (POMS), and Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS) during sports events. 362 measurements using POMS and 232 measurements using PANAS before the starts were collected. The significance of intergroup differences was determined using the Kruskal-Wallis test. A stepwise regression analysis was used to determine the emotional predictors of sports results.ResultsSubjective rank of sports competition differentiated significantly anger (chi2 = 6.826; p = 0.033), confusion (chi2 = 11.345; p = 0.003), depression (chi2 = 10.2; p = 0.006), fatigue (chi2 = 49.394; p ≤ 0.001), vigour (chi2 = 11.345; p ≤ 0.001), positive emotions (chi2 = 51.233; p ≤ 0.001), and negative emotions (chi2 = 11.552; p = 0.003). Regression analysis showed the influence of mood states and positive emotions on the sports result.ConclusionThe swimmers’ affective state changed depending on the subjective rank of the competition. Depression and positive emotional state made it possible to predict the result in medium- and high-rank competition.

scholarly journals Is your mood more contagious if you are likeable? The role of liking in the social induction of affect

2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 413-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Wróbel ◽  
Klara Królewiak
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Expression ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
The Social

Abstract In the present study, we explored the role of liking in the social induction of affect. Dispositional likeability was manipulated by written reports describing a sender as a likeable or dislikeable character. Afterwards participants watched short videos presenting the sender displaying happy or sad emotional expressions. We expected that exposure to the likeable sender would lead to reactions concordant with his emotional expression (assimilation), whereas exposure to the dislikeable sender would result in discordant reactions (contrast). The results indicated that dispositional likeability influenced the social induction of affect when the sender expressed positive emotions. Moreover, liking mediated the effects of the happy sender’s dispositional likeability on participants’ affective state. Exposure to the sad sender, however, led to assimilation regardless of the sender’s dispositional likeability.

scholarly journals Towards estimating affective states in Virtual Reality based on behavioral data

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valentin Holzwarth ◽  
Johannes Schneider ◽  
Joshua Handali ◽  
Joy Gisler ◽  
Christian Hirt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Adaptive Systems ◽  
User Study ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Head Movements ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Physical Demand ◽  
Perceived Performance ◽  
Sequential Administration ◽  
Better Than

AbstractInferring users’ perceptions of Virtual Environments (VEs) is essential for Virtual Reality (VR) research. Traditionally, this is achieved through assessing users’ affective states before and after being exposed to a VE, based on standardized, self-assessment questionnaires. The main disadvantage of questionnaires is their sequential administration, i.e., a user’s affective state is measured asynchronously to its generation within the VE. A synchronous measurement of users’ affective states would be highly favorable, e.g., in the context of adaptive systems. Drawing from nonverbal behavior research, we argue that behavioral measures could be a powerful approach to assess users’ affective states in VR. In this paper, we contribute by providing methods and measures evaluated in a user study involving 42 participants to assess a users’ affective states by measuring head movements during VR exposure. We show that head yaw significantly correlates with presence, mental and physical demand, perceived performance, and system usability. We also exploit the identified relationships for two practical tasks that are based on head yaw: (1) predicting a user’s affective state, and (2) detecting manipulated questionnaire answers, i.e., answers that are possibly non-truthful. We found that affective states can be predicted significantly better than a naive estimate for mental demand, physical demand, perceived performance, and usability. Further, manipulated or non-truthful answers can also be estimated significantly better than by a naive approach. These findings mark an initial step in the development of novel methods to assess user perception of VEs.

scholarly journals Play, Playfulness, and Self-Efficacy: Parental Experiences with Children on the Autism Spectrum

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rosa Román-Oyola ◽  
Verónica Figueroa-Feliciano ◽  
Yoliannie Torres-Martínez ◽  
Jorge Torres-Vélez ◽  
Keyshla Encarnación-Pizarro ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Internal Control ◽  
Self Efficacy ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Phenomenological Study ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Occupational Therapists ◽  
Comparison Method ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Parental Experiences ◽  
Coaching Strategies

Background. Play serves as an essential medium for parent-child interaction; however, engaging children with ASD through play can be a challenge for parents.Purpose. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the perspectives of parents with children on the autism spectrum regarding play experiences and self-efficacy during play encounters.Method. Semistructured interviews were administered to 8 parents of children 3–7 years of age with ASD. The analysis was guided by the constant comparison method.Findings. Parental narratives denoted playful experiences reflecting components of Skard and Bundy’s model of playfulness. The facilitation of framing and suspension of reality were generally more challenging than facilitating intrinsic motivation and internal control. Participants associated self-efficacy during play with their perceived ability to interact with their child and with positive emotions experienced during play. Fathers generally derived a greater sense of self-efficacy from play encounters than mothers, and this was explained by differences in fathers’ and mothers’ motivations for playing. Mothers were motivated to play for outcome-oriented reasons (e.g., promote the child’s progress) whereas fathers’ motivations depicted greater emotional emphasis, reflecting a better match between motivation and perceived indicators of efficacy during play.Conclusion. The results suggest that a good match between motivation for playing and perceived indicators of efficacy during play is important for a parental sense of self-efficacy. Occupational therapists should utilize coaching strategies to increase parents’ understanding of play and playfulness and how they can affect a sense of parental self-efficacy.

Effects of familiarization on odor hedonic responses and food choices in children with autism spectrum disorders

Autism ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (6) ◽  
pp. 1460-1471 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Claude Luisier ◽  
Genevieve Petitpierre ◽  
Annick Clerc Bérod ◽  
David Garcia-Burgos ◽  
Moustafa Bensafi
Keyword(s):  
Autism Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Time Window ◽  
Children With Autism ◽  
Food Choices ◽  
Autism Spectrum ◽  
Spectrum Disorder ◽  
Food Education ◽  
Food Odors ◽  
Specific Increase

This study assessed whether olfactory familiarization can render food odors more pleasant, and consequently food more attractive, to children with autism spectrum disorder. Participants were first presented with a series of food odors (session 1). Then, they were familiarized on four occasions (time window: 5 weeks) with one of the two most neutral odors (the other neutral odor was used as control) (session 2). In session 3, participants smelled the entire series of odors again. Both verbal and facial responses were compared from session 1 to session 3. After session 3, the children were presented with two identical foods (one containing the familiarized odor and one the control odor) and were asked to choose between these foods. Results revealed (1) a specific increase in positive emotions for the familiarized odor and (2) that 68% of the children chose the food associated with the “familiarized odor” (children who chose the “familiarized odor” food exhibited significantly more sensory particularities). These findings suggest that it is possible to modulate olfactory emotions and expand the dietary repertoire of children with autism spectrum disorder. Application of this paradigm may enable innovative prospects for food education in autism.

scholarly journals Effects of Classroom Activities on Affective State—A Comparison of Third and Fifth Graders

2016 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Fartoukh ◽  
Lucile Chanquoy
Keyword(s):  
Academic Performance ◽  
Educational Psychology ◽  
Grade Level ◽  
Fifth Graders ◽  
Affective State ◽  
Third Graders ◽  
Cognitive Resources ◽  
Affective States ◽  
Classroom Activities ◽  
School Day

<p>We analysed the influence of classroom activities on children’s affective states. Children perform many different activities in the course of an ordinary school day, some of which may trigger changes in their affective state and thus in the availability of their cognitive resources and their degree of motivation. To observe the effects of two such activities (listening to a text and performing a dictation) on affective state, according to grade, we asked 39 third graders and 40 fifth graders to specify their affective state at several points in the day. Results showed that this state varied from one activity to another, and was also dependent on grade level. Third graders differed from fifth graders in the feelings elicited by the activities. The possible implications of these findings for the field of educational psychology and children’s academic performance are discussed.</p>

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