Body expressions influence recognition of emotions in the face and voice.
- 1 August 2007
- journal article
- Published by American Psychological Association (APA) in Emotion
- Vol. 7 (3), 487-494
- https://doi.org/10.1037/1528-3542.7.3.487
Abstract
The most familiar emotional signals consist of faces, voices, and whole-body expressions, but so far research on emotions expressed by the whole body is sparse. The authors investigated recognition of whole-body expressions of emotion in three experiments. In the first experiment, participants performed a body expression-matching task. Results indicate good recognition of all emotions, with fear being the hardest to recognize. In the second experiment, two alternative forced choice categorizations of the facial expression of a compound face-body stimulus were strongly influenced by the bodily expression. This effect was a function of the ambiguity of the facial expression. In the third experiment, recognition of emotional tone of voice was similarly influenced by task irrelevant emotional body expressions. Taken to.-ether, the findings illustrate the importance of emotional whole-body expressions in communication either when viewed on their own or, as is often the case in realistic circumstances, in combination with facial expressions and emotional voices.status: publisheKeywords
Funding Information
- HFSP
- Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek
- European Commission