Emotion Recognition Using Electroencephalography Signals of Older People for Reminiscence Therapy

Objective: Numerous communication support systems based on reminiscence therapy have been developed. However, when using communication support systems, the emotional assessment of older people is generally conducted using verbal feedback or questionnaires. The purpose of this study is to investigate the feasibility of using Electroencephalography (EEG) signals for automatic emotion recognition during RT for older people.Participants: Eleven older people (mean 71.25, SD 4.66) and seven young people (mean 22.4, SD 1.51) participated in the experiment.Methods: Old public photographs were used as material for reminiscence therapy. The EEG signals of the older people were collected while the older people and young people were talking about the contents of the photos. Since emotions change slowly and responses are characterized by delayed effects in EEG, the depth models LSTM and Bi-LSTM were selected to extract complex emotional features from EEG signals for automatic recognition of emotions.Results: The EEG data of 8 channels were inputted into the LSTM and Bi-LSTM models to classify positive and negative emotions. The recognition highest accuracy rate of the two models were 90.8% and 95.8% respectively. The four-channel EEG data based Bi-LSTM also reached 94.4%.Conclusion: Since the Bi-LSTM model could tap into the influence of “past” and “future” emotional states on the current emotional state in the EEG signal, we found that it can help improve the ability to recognize positive and negative emotions in older people. In particular, it is feasible to use EEG signals without the necessity of multimodal physiological signals for emotion recognition in the communication support systems for reminiscence therapy when using this model.

ROLA CZYNNIKÓW AFEKTYWNYCH NA PRZYKŁADZIE STREFY KOMFORTU NA ZDALNYCH ZAJĘCIACH JĘZYKOWYCH

Affective factors are one of the two types of individual factors that influence success in the process of foreign language learning. They consist of personality traits, as well as positive and negative emotions. This emotional dichotomy is also reflected in the popular concept of comfort zone. The aim of this paper is to define the comfort zone in the context of distance learning language classes and to check if and how it is possible to implement this model in research in the field of glottodidactics. The results of empirical research on the perception and experience of the comfort zone during synchronous distance learning classes by philology students are presented and analyzed in order to draw conclusions on the impact of positive and negative emotions on the process and effects of the language distance learning.

How Challenge Demands Have Offsetting Effects on Job Performance: Through the Positive and Negative Emotions

By combining the broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001) and the transactional theory of stress (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984), this study examines how challenge demands (i.e., task complexity and time pressure) have dual effects on employees’ job performance through the mediating effects of positive and negative emotions. We collected data from 414 employees from three firms located in China, including two hi-tech firms and one financial firm. The results indicated that challenge demands (i.e., task complexity and time pressure) have an overall positive effect on employees’ job performance (i.e., task performance and contextual performance) by offsetting positive indirect effects with negative indirect effects. The theoretical and practical implications are also discussed.

From Day to Day to Year to Year: Developmental Antecedents and Outcomes of Changes in Emotion

Research shows that emotions play an important role in successful aging. However, less is known about how day-to-day fluctuations and multi-year changes in positive and negative emotions are implicated in adaptive development. Thus, the present studies address the developmental antecedents and outcomes of micro- and macro-longitudinal changes in different positive and negative emotions. Blöchl, Oertzen, and Kunzmann use 12-year data from the Health and Retirement Study to examine whether socioeconomic resources influence trajectories of positive emotion and physical functioning and their interrelations. Hamm, Wrosch, Barlow, and Kunzmann investigate psychosocial and health-related resources that predict two-year stability and change in adaptive and maladaptive daily patterns of calmness, excitement, sadness, and anger. Pauly et al. examine the extent to which health status moderates the association between daily fluctuations in seven affective states and corresponding changes in stress-related cortisol secretion. Turner, Mogle, Hill, Bhargava, and Rabin study how positive and negative emotions experienced in response to daily challenges (memory lapses) mediate the association between age-related challenges and life satisfaction in a coordinated analysis of two datasets. Finally, Barlow addresses the extent to which variations in daily experiences of positive and negative emotions exhibit age-differential associations with daily satisfaction with life (i.e., emotion globalizing). This symposium thus integrates new research on emotional aging and contributes to a deeper understanding of how adaptive development shapes and is shaped by day-to-day fluctuations and long-term changes in different emotions.

Predictors of Positive and Negative Emotions Experienced by Poles during the Second Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic

The objective of the research was to specify the predictors of positive and negative emotions experienced by Poles during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The researchers used the following standardized measurement tools: emotions (PANAS), mood (UMACL), satisfaction with life (SWLS), optimism (LOT-R), and coping with stress (CISS). They also used a questionnaire to collect sociodemographic information and data concerning COVID-19 infections. In total, 595 participants (80.50% women) aged 18–75 participated in the research. It was concluded that the predictors of positive emotions included a task-oriented coping style, level of satisfaction with life, being a man, hedonic tone in the description of mood, and being an employed student. The negative predictors of positive emotions included emotion-oriented coping and the level of energetic arousal in the description of mood. The predictors of negative emotions were tense arousal in the description of mood, emotion-oriented coping, being over 60 years of age, and changes in respondents’ standard of living. The negative predictors of negative emotions included living in a medium-sized town or in a village. The research conclusions encourage us to pay special attention to possible at-risk groups threatened with mental health disorders and to factors that protect people against negative psychological consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Consumer Sustainable Shopping Practices for Small Business during COVID-19

The purpose of this study was to understand the factors that attract consumers to small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic to assist with small businesses. Factors of interest included emotional (positive and negative) and cognitive experiences (resilience, optimism) during the pandemic and demographic characteristics (gender, generation, education, income, and employment status). Using a convenience survey sample in U.S. (N = 315), this study found that positive and negative emotions, active resilience, and demographic characteristics (generation, education, income, and employment status) can explain consumer shopping frequency and number of services used with small businesses during a pandemic. Small businesses may seek to trigger active resilience and emotions (negative and positive) in their marketing/advertising avenues to attract consumers’ sustainable consumption practices and may consider pivoting to attract particular consumer segments that are more likely to lend favorable actions toward sustainable consumption.

Facial and Bodily Expressions of Emotional Engagement

Users' emotional engagement in a task is important for performance and motivation. Non-intrusive, computerized process measures of engagement have the potential to provide fine-grained access to underlying affective states and processes. Thus, the current work brings together subjective measures (questionnaires) and objective process measures (facial expressions and head movements) of emotions to examine users' emotional engagement with respect to the absence or presence of game-elements. In particular, we randomly assigned 156 adult participants to either a spatial working memory task with or without game elements present, while their faces and head movements were recorded with a webcam during task execution. Positive and negative emotions were assessed before the task and twice during task execution using conventional questionnaires. We additionally examined whether perceived subjective effort, assumed to inherit a substantial affective component, manifests at a bodily expressive level alongside positive and negative emotions. Importantly, we explored the relationship between subjective and objective measures of emotions across the two tasks versions. We found a series of action units and head movements associated with the subjective experience of emotions as well as to subjective effort. Impacted by game elements, these associations often fit intuitively or lined up with findings from literature. As did a linear increase of blink (action unit 45) intensity relate to participants performing the task without game elements, presumably indicating disengagement in the more tedious task variant. On other occasions, associations between subjective and objective measures seemed indiscriminative or even contraindicated. Additionally, facial and bodily reactions and the resulting subjective-objective correspondences were rather consistent within, but not between the two task versions. Our work therefore both gains detailed access to automated emotion recognition and promotes its feasibility within research of game elements while highlighting the individuality and context dependency of emotional expressions.