This study was designed to test three competing hypotheses (impaired configural processing; impaired Theory of Mind; atypical amygdala functioning) to explain the basic facial expression recognition profile of adults with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In Experiment 1 the Ekman and Friesen (1976) series were presented upright and inverted. Individuals with ASD were significantly less accurate than controls at recognising upright facial expressions of fear, sadness and disgust and their pattern of errors suggested some configural processing difficulties. Impaired recognition of inverted (...) facial expressions suggested some additional difficulties processing the facial features. Unexpectedly, the clinical group misidentified fear as anger. In Experiment 2 feature processing of facial expressions was investigated by presenting stimuli in a piecemeal fashion, starting with either just the eyes or the mouth. Individuals with ASD were impaired at recognising fear from the eyes and disgust from the mouth; they also confused fearful eyes as being angry. The findings are discussed in terms of the three competing hypotheses tested. (shrink)

ABSTRACTJudgments of emotional stimuli’s valence and arousal can differ based on the perceiver’s age. With most of the existing literature on age-related changes in such ratings based on perception...

This study explored a dimensional approach to vocal expression of emotion. Actors vocally portrayed emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness) with weak and strong emotion intensity. Listeners (30 university students and 6 speech experts) rated each portrayal on four emotion dimensions (activation, valence, potency, emotion intensity). The portrayals were also acoustically analysed with respect to 20 vocal cues (e.g., speech rate, voice intensity, fundamental frequency, spectral energy distribution). The results showed that: (a) there were distinct patterns of ratings of activation, (...) valence, and potency for the different emotions; (b) all four emotion dimensions were correlated with several vocal cues; (c) listeners' ratings could be successfully predicted from the vocal cues for all dimensions except valence; and (d) the intensity dimension was positively correlated with the activation dimension in the listeners' ratings. (shrink)

The present study examined the relationship between vital exhaustion, Cloninger's temperament dimensions, and state affects during experimentally induced stress among participants aged 22–37 years. Larsen and Diener's circumplex model of affect was used to structure the self-reported affects. Temperament was measured by the Temperament and Character Inventory. Feelings of exhaustion were assessed by the Maastricht Questionnaire. Stressors used were an aversive startle task, an appetitive mental arithmetic task, and an aversive choice-deadline reaction time task. The results showed that the level (...) of vital exhaustion among healthy persons is related to unpleasant state affects other than state fatigue. Temperament also modified the relationship between vital exhaustion and affects. In addition, vital exhaustion was related to a tendency to behavioural inhibition (harm avoidance). Our findings suggest that temperament is related to feelings of exhaustion and is likely to predispose to negative affectivity when accompanied by exhaustion. (shrink)