The Influence of Body Movements on Children’s Perception of Music with an Ambiguous Expressive Character

PubMed Central

Maes, Pieter-Jan; Leman, Marc

2013-01-01

The theory of embodied music cognition states that the perception and cognition of music is firmly, although not exclusively, linked to action patterns associated with that music. In this regard, the focus lies mostly on how music promotes certain action tendencies (i.e., dance, entrainment, etc.). Only recently, studies have started to devote attention to the reciprocal effects that people’s body movements may exert on how people perceive certain aspects of music and sound (e.g., pitch, meter, musical preference, etc.). The present study positions itself in this line of research. The central research question is whether expressive body movements, which are systematically paired with music, can modulate children’s perception of musical expressiveness. We present a behavioral experiment in which different groups of children (7–8 years, N = 46) either repetitively performed a happy or a sad choreography in response to expressively ambiguous music or merely listened to that music. The results of our study show indeed that children’s perception of musical expressiveness is modulated in accordance with the expressive character of the dance choreography performed to the music. This finding supports theories that claim a strong connection between action and perception, although further research is needed to uncover the details of this connection. PMID:23358805

Emotion perception, but not affect perception, is impaired with semantic memory loss.

PubMed

Lindquist, Kristen A; Gendron, Maria; Barrett, Lisa Feldman; Dickerson, Bradford C

2014-04-01

For decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have hypothesized that the ability to perceive emotions on others' faces is inborn, prelinguistic, and universal. Concept knowledge about emotion has been assumed to be epiphenomenal to emotion perception. In this article, we report findings from 3 patients with semantic dementia that cannot be explained by this "basic emotion" view. These patients, who have substantial deficits in semantic processing abilities, spontaneously perceived pleasant and unpleasant expressions on faces, but not discrete emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, or sadness, even in a task that did not require the use of emotion words. Our findings support the hypothesis that discrete emotion concept knowledge helps transform perceptions of affect (positively or negatively valenced facial expressions) into perceptions of discrete emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, and sadness. These findings have important consequences for understanding the processes supporting emotion perception.

Emotion perception, but not affect perception, is impaired with semantic memory loss

PubMed Central

Lindquist, Kristen A.; Gendron, Maria; Feldman Barrett, Lisa; Dickerson, Bradford C.

2014-01-01

For decades, psychologists and neuroscientists have hypothesized that the ability to perceive emotions on others’ faces is inborn, pre-linguistic, and universal. Concept knowledge about emotion has been assumed to be epiphenomenal to emotion perception. In this paper, we report findings from three patients with semantic dementia that cannot be explained by this “basic emotion” view. These patients, who have substantial deficits in semantic processing abilities, spontaneously perceived pleasant and unpleasant expressions on faces, but not discrete emotions such as anger, disgust, fear, or sadness, even in a task that did not require the use of emotion words. Our findings support the hypothesis that discrete emotion concept knowledge helps transform perceptions of affect (positively or negatively valenced facial expressions) into perceptions of discrete emotions such as anger, disgust, fear and sadness. These findings have important consequences for understanding the processes supporting emotion perception. PMID:24512242

Community perceptions and attitudes on malaria case management and the role of community health workers.

PubMed

Owek, Collins J; Oluoch, Elizabeth; Wachira, Juddy; Estambale, Benson; Afrane, Yaw A

2017-07-04

Community Case Management of malaria (CCMm) is one of the new approaches adopted by the World Health Organization for malaria endemic countries to reduce the burden of malaria for vulnerable populations. It is based on the evidence that well-trained and supervised community health workers (CHWs) can provide prompt and adequate treatment to fever cases within 24 h to help reduce morbidity and mortality associated with malaria among under-five children. The perception and attitudes of the community members on the CHWs' role is of greater importance for acceptance of their services. The aim of the study was to assess community's perception and attitude towards CCMm and on CHWs who undertake it. This study was conducted in five districts in western Kenya where Community Case Management was being undertaken. This was a qualitative cross-sectional study in which in-depth interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with mothers of under-five children and key stakeholders. Overall, there were more positive expressions of perceptions and attitudes of the community members towards the CCMm programme and the role of CHWs. The positive perceptions included among others; recognition and appreciation of services of CHWs, bringing health services to close proximity to the community, avoiding long queues in the health facilities, provision of health education that encourages good health practices, and promotion of positive health-seeking behaviour from within the communities. This programme is not without challenges as some of the negative perceptions expressed by the community members included the fact that some clinicians doubt the capacity of CHWs on dispensing drugs in the community, some CHWs do not keep client's secrets and mistrust of CHWs due to conflicting information by government. It was evident that the community had more positive perceptions and attitudes towards the role of CHWs in CCMm than negative ones. There should however, be deliberate efforts towards sustaining the positive aspects and addressing the negative concerns raised by the community and the health care practitioners.

An FMRI Study of Olfactory Cues to Perception of Conspecific Stress

DTIC Science & Technology

2010-04-01

modulate recognition of fear in ambiguous facial expressions. Psychol Sci 20: 177-183. 23. Pause BM, Ohrt A, Prehn A, Ferstl R (2004) Positive...emotional priming of facial affect perception in females is diminished by chemosensory anxiety signals. Chem Senses 29: 797-805. 24. Prehn A, Ohrt A

The Expression of Depressive Symptomatology in Korean American Undergraduates: Sex and Generational Differences

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Castellanos, Jeanett; Gloria, Alberta M.; Kim, Sara Cho; Park, Yong S.

2014-01-01

This study examined the influence of acculturation and perception of the university environment on the depressive symptomatology of 228 Korean American undergraduates, with a focus on sex and generational differences. Perceptions of the university environment and perceived barriers were positive predictors of depressive symptomatology in…

How distinct is the coding of face identity and expression? Evidence for some common dimensions in face space.

PubMed

Rhodes, Gillian; Pond, Stephen; Burton, Nichola; Kloth, Nadine; Jeffery, Linda; Bell, Jason; Ewing, Louise; Calder, Andrew J; Palermo, Romina

2015-09-01

Traditional models of face perception emphasize distinct routes for processing face identity and expression. These models have been highly influential in guiding neural and behavioural research on the mechanisms of face perception. However, it is becoming clear that specialised brain areas for coding identity and expression may respond to both attributes and that identity and expression perception can interact. Here we use perceptual aftereffects to demonstrate the existence of dimensions in perceptual face space that code both identity and expression, further challenging the traditional view. Specifically, we find a significant positive association between face identity aftereffects and expression aftereffects, which dissociates from other face (gaze) and non-face (tilt) aftereffects. Importantly, individual variation in the adaptive calibration of these common dimensions significantly predicts ability to recognize both identity and expression. These results highlight the role of common dimensions in our ability to recognize identity and expression, and show why the high-level visual processing of these attributes is not entirely distinct. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Facial expression perception correlates with verbal working memory function in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Hagiya, Kumiko; Sumiyoshi, Tomiki; Kanie, Ayako; Pu, Shenghong; Kaneko, Koichi; Mogami, Tamiko; Oshima, Sachie; Niwa, Shin-ichi; Inagaki, Akiko; Ikebuchi, Emi; Kikuchi, Akiko; Yamasaki, Syudo; Iwata, Kazuhiko; Nakagome, Kazuyuki

2015-12-01

Facial emotion perception is considered to provide a measure of social cognition. Numerous studies have examined the perception of emotion in patients with schizophrenia, and the majority has reported impaired ability to recognize facial emotion perception. We aimed to investigate the correlation between facial expression recognition and other domains of social cognition and neurocognition in Japanese patients with schizophrenia. Participants were 52 patients with schizophrenia and 53 normal controls with no history of psychiatric diseases. All participants completed the Hinting Task and the Social Cognition Screening Questionnaire. The Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia was administered only to the patients. Facial emotion perception measured by the Facial Emotion Selection Test (FEST) was compared between the patients and normal controls. Patients performed significantly worse on the FEST compared to normal control subjects. The FEST total score was significantly positively correlated with scores of the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia attention subscale, Hinting Task, Social Cognition Screening Questionnaire Verbal Working Memory and Metacognition subscales. Stepwise multiple regression analysis revealed that verbal working memory function was positively related to the facial emotion perception ability in patients with schizophrenia. These results point to the concept that facial emotion perception and some types of working memory use common cognitive resources. Our findings may provide implications for cognitive rehabilitation and related interventions in schizophrenia. © 2015 The Authors. Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences © 2015 Japanese Society of Psychiatry and Neurology.

Workload, Job Satisfaction and Perceptions of Role Preparation of Principal Educational Psychologists in England.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Male, Dawn B.; Male, Trevor

2003-01-01

Describes the results of a study which investigated workload, job satisfaction and perceptions of role preparation of Principal Educational Psychologists (PEPs) in England. Results indicated that PEPs have a generally positive attitude to the profession and express overall job satisfaction. Despite the overall satisfaction, PEPs found the job…

Emotion perception across cultures: the role of cognitive mechanisms

PubMed Central

Engelmann, Jan B.; Pogosyan, Marianna

2012-01-01

Despite consistently documented cultural differences in the perception of facial expressions of emotion, the role of culture in shaping cognitive mechanisms that are central to emotion perception has received relatively little attention in past research. We review recent developments in cross-cultural psychology that provide particular insights into the modulatory role of culture on cognitive mechanisms involved in interpretations of facial expressions of emotion through two distinct routes: display rules and cognitive styles. Investigations of emotion intensity perception have demonstrated that facial expressions with varying levels of intensity of positive affect are perceived and categorized differently across cultures. Specifically, recent findings indicating significant levels of differentiation between intensity levels of facial expressions among American participants, as well as deviations from clear categorization of high and low intensity expressions among Japanese and Russian participants, suggest that display rules shape mental representations of emotions, such as intensity levels of emotion prototypes. Furthermore, a series of recent studies using eye tracking as a proxy for overt attention during face perception have identified culture-specific cognitive styles, such as the propensity to attend to very specific features of the face. Together, these results suggest a cascade of cultural influences on cognitive mechanisms involved in interpretations of facial expressions of emotion, whereby cultures impart specific behavioral practices that shape the way individuals process information from the environment. These cultural influences lead to differences in cognitive styles due to culture-specific attentional biases and emotion prototypes, which partially account for the gradient of cultural agreements and disagreements obtained in past investigations of emotion perception. PMID:23486743

Emotion perception across cultures: the role of cognitive mechanisms.

PubMed

Engelmann, Jan B; Pogosyan, Marianna

2013-01-01

Despite consistently documented cultural differences in the perception of facial expressions of emotion, the role of culture in shaping cognitive mechanisms that are central to emotion perception has received relatively little attention in past research. We review recent developments in cross-cultural psychology that provide particular insights into the modulatory role of culture on cognitive mechanisms involved in interpretations of facial expressions of emotion through two distinct routes: display rules and cognitive styles. Investigations of emotion intensity perception have demonstrated that facial expressions with varying levels of intensity of positive affect are perceived and categorized differently across cultures. Specifically, recent findings indicating significant levels of differentiation between intensity levels of facial expressions among American participants, as well as deviations from clear categorization of high and low intensity expressions among Japanese and Russian participants, suggest that display rules shape mental representations of emotions, such as intensity levels of emotion prototypes. Furthermore, a series of recent studies using eye tracking as a proxy for overt attention during face perception have identified culture-specific cognitive styles, such as the propensity to attend to very specific features of the face. Together, these results suggest a cascade of cultural influences on cognitive mechanisms involved in interpretations of facial expressions of emotion, whereby cultures impart specific behavioral practices that shape the way individuals process information from the environment. These cultural influences lead to differences in cognitive styles due to culture-specific attentional biases and emotion prototypes, which partially account for the gradient of cultural agreements and disagreements obtained in past investigations of emotion perception.

Laughter exaggerates happy and sad faces depending on visual context

PubMed Central

Sherman, Aleksandra; Sweeny, Timothy D.; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2012-01-01

Laughter is an auditory stimulus that powerfully conveys positive emotion. We investigated how laughter influenced visual perception of facial expressions. We simultaneously presented laughter with a happy, neutral, or sad schematic face. The emotional face was briefly presented either alone or among a crowd of neutral faces. We used a matching method to determine how laughter influenced the perceived intensity of happy, neutral, and sad expressions. For a single face, laughter increased the perceived intensity of a happy expression. Surprisingly, for a crowd of faces laughter produced an opposite effect, increasing the perceived intensity of a sad expression in a crowd. A follow-up experiment revealed that this contrast effect may have occurred because laughter made the neutral distracter faces appear slightly happy, thereby making the deviant sad expression stand out in contrast. A control experiment ruled out semantic mediation of the laughter effects. Our demonstration of the strong context dependence of laughter effects on facial expression perception encourages a re-examination of the previously demonstrated effects of prosody, speech content, and mood on face perception, as they may similarly be context dependent. PMID:22215467

Relationship between organizational justice and organizational safety climate: do fairness perceptions influence employee safety behaviour?

PubMed

Gyekye, Seth Ayim; Haybatollahi, Mohammad

2014-01-01

This study investigated the relationships between organizational justice, organizational safety climate, job satisfaction, safety compliance and accident frequency. Ghanaian industrial workers participated in the study (N = 320). Safety climate and justice perceptions were assessed with Hayes, Parender, Smecko, et al.'s (1998) and Blader and Tyler's (2003) scales respectively. A median split was performed to dichotomize participants into 2 categories: workers with positive and workers with negative justice perceptions. Confirmatory factors analysis confirmed the 5-factor structure of the safety scale. Regression analyses and t tests indicated that workers with positive fairness perceptions had constructive perspectives regarding workplace safety, expressed greater job satisfaction, were more compliant with safety policies and registered lower accident rates. These findings provide evidence that the perceived level of fairness in an organization is closely associated with workplace safety perception and other organizational factors which are important for safety. The implications for safety research are discussed.

Enhanced Visual Short-Term Memory for Angry Faces

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jackson, Margaret C.; Wu, Chia-Yun; Linden, David E. J.; Raymond, Jane E.

2009-01-01

Although some views of face perception posit independent processing of face identity and expression, recent studies suggest interactive processing of these 2 domains. The authors examined expression-identity interactions in visual short-term memory (VSTM) by assessing recognition performance in a VSTM task in which face identity was relevant and…

Public Perceptions Regarding Use of Virtual Reality in Health Care: A Social Media Content Analysis Using Facebook

PubMed Central

Park, Hannah J; Cunningham, Maria Elena; Fouladian, Joshua Eleazar; Chen, Michelle; Spiegel, Brennan Mason Ross

2017-01-01

Background Virtual reality (VR) technology provides an immersive environment that enables users to have modified experiences of reality. VR is increasingly used to manage patients with pain, disability, obesity, neurologic dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. However, public opinion regarding the use of VR in health care has not been explored. Understanding public opinion of VR is critical to ensuring effective implementation of this emerging technology. Objective This study aimed to examine public opinion about health care VR using social listening, a method that allows for the exploration of unfiltered views of topics discussed on social media and online forums. Methods In March 2016, NBC News produced a video depicting the use of VR for patient care. The video was repackaged by NowThis, a social media news website, and distributed on Facebook by Upworthy, a news aggregator, yielding 4.3 million views and 2401 comments. We used Microsoft Excel Power Query and ATLAS.ti software (version 7.5, Scientific Software Development) to analyze the comments using content analysis and categorized the comments around first-, second-, and third-order concepts. We determined self-identified gender from the user’s Facebook page and performed sentiment analysis of the language to analyze whether the perception of VR differed by gender using a Pearson’s chi-square test. Results Out of the 1614 analyzable comments, 1021 (63.26%) were attributed to female Facebook users, 572 (35.44%) to male users, and 21 (1.30%) to users of unknown gender. There were 1197 comments coded as expressing a positive perception about VR (74.16%), 251 coded as expressing a negative perception and/or concern (15.56%), and 560 coded as neutral (34.70%). Informants identified 20 use cases for VR in health care, including the use of VR for pain and stress reduction; bed-bound individuals; women during labor; and patients undergoing chemotherapy, dialysis, radiation, or imaging procedures. Negative comments expressed concerns about radiation, infection risk, motion sickness, and the ubiquity of and overall dependence on technology. There was a statistically significant association between the language valence of the Facebook post and the gender of the Facebook user; men were more likely to post negative perceptions about the use of VR for health care, whereas women were more likely to post positive perceptions (P<.001). Conclusions Most informants expressed positive perceptions about the use of VR in a wide range of health care settings. However, many expressed concerns that should be acknowledged and addressed as health care VR continues to evolve. Our results provide guidance in determining where further research on the use of VR in patient care is needed, and offer a formal opportunity for public opinion to shape the VR research agenda. PMID:29258975

Laughter exaggerates happy and sad faces depending on visual context.

PubMed

Sherman, Aleksandra; Sweeny, Timothy D; Grabowecky, Marcia; Suzuki, Satoru

2012-04-01

Laughter is an auditory stimulus that powerfully conveys positive emotion. We investigated how laughter influenced the visual perception of facial expressions. We presented a sound clip of laughter simultaneously with a happy, a neutral, or a sad schematic face. The emotional face was briefly presented either alone or among a crowd of neutral faces. We used a matching method to determine how laughter influenced the perceived intensity of the happy, neutral, and sad expressions. For a single face, laughter increased the perceived intensity of a happy expression. Surprisingly, for a crowd of faces, laughter produced an opposite effect, increasing the perceived intensity of a sad expression in a crowd. A follow-up experiment revealed that this contrast effect may have occurred because laughter made the neutral distractor faces appear slightly happy, thereby making the deviant sad expression stand out in contrast. A control experiment ruled out semantic mediation of the laughter effects. Our demonstration of the strong context dependence of laughter effects on facial expression perception encourages a reexamination of the previously demonstrated effects of prosody, speech content, and mood on face perception, as they may be similarly context dependent.

Maternal Attachment Representation and Neurophysiological Processing during the Perception of Infants’ Emotional Expressions

PubMed Central

Leyh, Rainer; Heinisch, Christine; Behringer, Johanna; Reiner, Iris; Spangler, Gottfried

2016-01-01

The perception of infant emotions is an integral part of sensitive caregiving within the mother-child relationship, a maternal ability which develops in mothers during their own attachment history. In this study we address the association between maternal attachment representation and brain activity underlying the perception of infant emotions. Event related potentials (ERPs) of 32 primiparous mothers were assessed during a three stimulus oddball task presenting negative, positive and neutral emotion expressions of infants as target, deviant or standard stimuli. Attachment representation was assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview during pregnancy. Securely attached mothers recognized emotions of infants more accurately than insecurely attached mothers. ERPs yielded amplified N170 amplitudes for insecure mothers when focusing on negative infant emotions. Secure mothers showed enlarged P3 amplitudes to target emotion expressions of infants compared to insecure mothers, especially within conditions with frequent negative infant emotions. In these conditions, P3 latencies were prolonged in insecure mothers. In summary, maternal attachment representation was found associated with brain activity during the perception of infant emotions. This further clarifies psychological mechanisms contributing to maternal sensitivity. PMID:26862743

Maternal Attachment Representation and Neurophysiological Processing during the Perception of Infants' Emotional Expressions.

PubMed

Leyh, Rainer; Heinisch, Christine; Behringer, Johanna; Reiner, Iris; Spangler, Gottfried

2016-01-01

The perception of infant emotions is an integral part of sensitive caregiving within the mother-child relationship, a maternal ability which develops in mothers during their own attachment history. In this study we address the association between maternal attachment representation and brain activity underlying the perception of infant emotions. Event related potentials (ERPs) of 32 primiparous mothers were assessed during a three stimulus oddball task presenting negative, positive and neutral emotion expressions of infants as target, deviant or standard stimuli. Attachment representation was assessed with the Adult Attachment Interview during pregnancy. Securely attached mothers recognized emotions of infants more accurately than insecurely attached mothers. ERPs yielded amplified N170 amplitudes for insecure mothers when focusing on negative infant emotions. Secure mothers showed enlarged P3 amplitudes to target emotion expressions of infants compared to insecure mothers, especially within conditions with frequent negative infant emotions. In these conditions, P3 latencies were prolonged in insecure mothers. In summary, maternal attachment representation was found associated with brain activity during the perception of infant emotions. This further clarifies psychological mechanisms contributing to maternal sensitivity.

Assessing medical students' perceptions of patient safety: the medical student safety attitudes and professionalism survey.

PubMed

Liao, Joshua M; Etchegaray, Jason M; Williams, S Tyler; Berger, David H; Bell, Sigall K; Thomas, Eric J

2014-02-01

To develop and test the psychometric properties of a survey to measure students' perceptions about patient safety as observed on clinical rotations. In 2012, the authors surveyed 367 graduating fourth-year medical students at three U.S. MD-granting medical schools. They assessed the survey's reliability and construct and concurrent validity. They examined correlations between students' perceptions of organizational cultural factors, organizational patient safety measures, and students' intended safety behaviors. They also calculated percent positive scores for cultural factors. Two hundred twenty-eight students (62%) responded. Analyses identified five cultural factors (teamwork culture, safety culture, error disclosure culture, experiences with professionalism, and comfort expressing professional concerns) that had construct validity, concurrent validity, and good reliability (Cronbach alphas > 0.70). Across schools, percent positive scores for safety culture ranged from 28% (95% confidence interval [CI], 13%-43%) to 64% (30%-98%), while those for teamwork culture ranged from 47% (32%-62%) to 74% (66%-81%). They were low for error disclosure culture (range: 10% [0%-20%] to 27% [20%-35%]), experiences with professionalism (range: 7% [0%-15%] to 23% [16%-30%]), and comfort expressing professional concerns (range: 17% [5%-29%] to 38% [8%-69%]). Each cultural factor correlated positively with perceptions of overall patient safety as observed in clinical rotations (r = 0.37-0.69, P < .05) and at least one safety behavioral intent item. This study provided initial evidence for the survey's reliability and validity and illustrated its applicability for determining whether students' clinical experiences exemplify positive patient safety environments.

Are event-related potentials to dynamic facial expressions of emotion related to individual differences in the accuracy of processing facial expressions and identity?

PubMed

Recio, Guillermo; Wilhelm, Oliver; Sommer, Werner; Hildebrandt, Andrea

2017-04-01

Despite a wealth of knowledge about the neural mechanisms behind emotional facial expression processing, little is known about how they relate to individual differences in social cognition abilities. We studied individual differences in the event-related potentials (ERPs) elicited by dynamic facial expressions. First, we assessed the latent structure of the ERPs, reflecting structural face processing in the N170, and the allocation of processing resources and reflexive attention to emotionally salient stimuli, in the early posterior negativity (EPN) and the late positive complex (LPC). Then we estimated brain-behavior relationships between the ERP factors and behavioral indicators of facial identity and emotion-processing abilities. Structural models revealed that the participants who formed faster structural representations of neutral faces (i.e., shorter N170 latencies) performed better at face perception (r = -.51) and memory (r = -.42). The N170 amplitude was not related to individual differences in face cognition or emotion processing. The latent EPN factor correlated with emotion perception (r = .47) and memory (r = .32), and also with face perception abilities (r = .41). Interestingly, the latent factor representing the difference in EPN amplitudes between the two neutral control conditions (chewing and blinking movements) also correlated with emotion perception (r = .51), highlighting the importance of tracking facial changes in the perception of emotional facial expressions. The LPC factor for negative expressions correlated with the memory for emotional facial expressions. The links revealed between the latency and strength of activations of brain systems and individual differences in processing socio-emotional information provide new insights into the brain mechanisms involved in social communication.

Interpreting infant emotional expressions: Parenthood has differential effects on men and women.

PubMed

Parsons, Christine E; Young, Katherine S; Jegindoe Elmholdt, Else-Marie; Stein, Alan; Kringelbach, Morten L

2017-03-01

Interpreting and responding to an infant's emotional cues is a fundamental parenting skill. Responsivity to infant cues is frequently disrupted in depression, impacting negatively on child outcomes, which underscores its importance. It is widely assumed that women, and in particular mothers, show greater attunement to infants than do men. However, empirical evidence for sex and parental status effects, particularly in relation to perception of infant emotion, has been lacking. In this study, men and women with and without young infants were asked to rate valence in a range of infant facial expressions, on a scale of very positive to very negative. Results suggested complex interaction effects between parental status, sex, and the facial expression being rated. Mothers provided more positive ratings of the happy expressions and more extreme ratings of the intense emotion expressions than fathers, but non-mothers and non-fathers did not. Low-level depressive symptoms were also found to correlate with more negative ratings of negative infant facial expressions across the entire sample. Overall, these results suggest that parental status might have differential effects on men and women's appraisal of infant cues. Differences between fathers' and mothers' perceptions of infant emotion might be of interest in understanding variance in interaction styles, such as proportion of time spent in play.

A Heavy Heart: The Association between Weight and Emotional Words.

PubMed

Zhao, Xueru; He, Xianyou; Zhang, Wei

2016-01-01

People often express emotion in language using weight (e.g., a heavy heart, light-hearted, light humor, or heavy-handed), but the question remains whether these expressions of emotion are rooted in the body. Six experiments used a priming paradigm to explore the metaphoric relation between weight perception and emotional words. Experiments 1 and 2 investigated the influence of weight perception on judgments of emotional words and the influence of emotional words on judgments of weight, respectively. A significant difference between the consistent condition (e.g., lightness corresponds to positive words and heaviness corresponds to negative words) and the inconsistent condition (e.g., lightness corresponds to negative words and heaviness corresponds to positive words) was found in Experiment 1 but not in Experiment 2. Experiments 3, 4, and 5 were conducted to exclude potential confounds. Experiment 6 was a repeated-measures study that was conducted to verify the weight-emotion effect. The study confirmed that weight perception affected judgments of emotional words. The results contribute to the growing literature on conceptual metaphor theory and embodied cognition theory.

Tuning to the Positive: Age-Related Differences in Subjective Perception of Facial Emotion

PubMed Central

Picardo, Rochelle; Baron, Andrew S.; Anderson, Adam K.; Todd, Rebecca M.

2016-01-01

Facial expressions aid social transactions and serve as socialization tools, with smiles signaling approval and reward, and angry faces signaling disapproval and punishment. The present study examined whether the subjective experience of positive vs. negative facial expressions differs between children and adults. Specifically, we examined age-related differences in biases toward happy and angry facial expressions. Young children (5–7 years) and young adults (18–29 years) rated the intensity of happy and angry expressions as well as levels of experienced arousal. Results showed that young children—but not young adults—rated happy facial expressions as both more intense and arousing than angry faces. This finding, which we replicated in two independent samples, was not due to differences in the ability to identify facial expressions, and suggests that children are more tuned to information in positive expressions. Together these studies provide evidence that children see unambiguous adult emotional expressions through rose-colored glasses, and suggest that what is emotionally relevant can shift with development. PMID:26734940

Perceiving emotions in neutral faces: expression processing is biased by affective person knowledge.

PubMed

Suess, Franziska; Rabovsky, Milena; Abdel Rahman, Rasha

2015-04-01

According to a widely held view, basic emotions such as happiness or anger are reflected in facial expressions that are invariant and uniquely defined by specific facial muscle movements. Accordingly, expression perception should not be vulnerable to influences outside the face. Here, we test this assumption by manipulating the emotional valence of biographical knowledge associated with individual persons. Faces of well-known and initially unfamiliar persons displaying neutral expressions were associated with socially relevant negative, positive or comparatively neutral biographical information. The expressions of faces associated with negative information were classified as more negative than faces associated with neutral information. Event-related brain potential modulations in the early posterior negativity, a component taken to reflect early sensory processing of affective stimuli such as emotional facial expressions, suggest that negative affective knowledge can bias the perception of faces with neutral expressions toward subjectively displaying negative emotions. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Preschool Teachers' Financial Well-Being and Work Time Supports: Associations with Children's Emotional Expressions and Behaviors in Classrooms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

King, Elizabeth K.; Johnson, Amy V.; Cassidy, Deborah J.; Wang, Yudan C.; Lower, Joanna K.; Kintner-Duffy, Victoria L.

2016-01-01

The current study examined associations among teachers' financial well-being, including teachers' wages and their perceptions of their ability to pay for basic expenses, and teachers' work time supports, including teachers' paid planning time, vacation days, and sick days, and children's positive emotional expressions and behaviors in preschool…

Using Social Media to Characterize Public Sentiment Toward Medical Interventions Commonly Used for Cancer Screening: An Observational Study

PubMed Central

Metwally, Omar; Blumberg, Seth; Ladabaum, Uri

2017-01-01

Background Although cancer screening reduces morbidity and mortality, millions of people worldwide remain unscreened. Social media provide a unique platform to understand public sentiment toward tools that are commonly used for cancer screening. Objective The objective of our study was to examine public sentiment toward colonoscopy, mammography, and Pap smear and how this sentiment spreads by analyzing discourse on Twitter. Methods In this observational study, we classified 32,847 tweets (online postings on Twitter) related to colonoscopy, mammography, or Pap smears using a naive Bayes algorithm as containing positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. Additionally, we characterized the spread of sentiment on Twitter using an established model to study contagion. Results Colonoscopy-related tweets were more likely to express negative than positive sentiment (negative to positive ratio 1.65, 95% CI 1.51-1.80, P<.001), in contrast to the more positive sentiment expressed regarding mammography (negative to positive ratio 0.43, 95% CI 0.39-0.47, P<.001). The proportions of negative versus positive tweets about Pap smear were not significantly different (negative to positive ratio 0.95, 95% CI 0.87-1.04, P=.18). Positive and negative tweets tended to share lexical features across screening modalities. Positive tweets expressed resonance with the benefits of early detection. Fear and pain were the principal lexical features seen in negative tweets. Negative sentiment for colonoscopy and mammography spread more than positive sentiment; no correlation with sentiment and spread was seen for Pap smear. Conclusions Analysis of social media data provides a unique, quantitative framework to better understand the public’s perception of medical interventions that are commonly used for cancer screening. Given the growing use of social media, public health interventions to improve cancer screening should use the health perceptions of the population as expressed in social network postings about tests that are frequently used for cancer screening, as well as other people they may influence with such postings. PMID:28592395

Expressing pride: Effects on perceived agency, communality, and stereotype-based gender disparities.

PubMed

Brosi, Prisca; Spörrle, Matthias; Welpe, Isabell M; Heilman, Madeline E

2016-09-01

Two experimental studies were conducted to investigate how the expression of pride shapes agency-related and communality-related judgments, and how those judgments differ when the pride expresser is a man or a woman. Results indicated that the expression of pride (as compared to the expression of happiness) had positive effects on perceptions of agency and inferences about task-oriented leadership competence, and negative effects on perceptions of communality and inferences about people-oriented leadership competence. Pride expression also elevated ascriptions of interpersonal hostility. For agency-related judgments and ascriptions of interpersonal hostility, these effects were consistently stronger when the pride expresser was a woman than a man. Moreover, the expression of pride was found to affect disparities in judgments about men and women, eliminating the stereotype-consistent differences that were evident when happiness was expressed. With a display of pride women were not seen as any more deficient in agency-related attributes and competencies, nor were they seen as any more exceptional in communality-related attributes and competencies, than were men. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Activation and manipulation of host responses by a Gram-positive bacterium

PubMed Central

Balaji, Vasudevan

2008-01-01

The interaction between tomato plants and Clavibacter michiganensis subsp. michiganensis (Cmm) represents a model pathosystem to study the interplay between the virulence determinants of a Gram-positive bacterium and the attempt of a crop plant to counteract pathogen invasion. To investigate plant responses activated during this compatible interaction, we recently analyzed gene expression profiles of tomato stems infected with Cmm. This analysis revealed activation of basal defense responses that are typically observed upon plant perception of pathogen-associated molecular patterns. In addition, Cmm infection upregulated the expression of host genes related to ethylene synthesis and response. Further analysis of tomato plants impaired in ethylene perception and production demonstrated an important role for ethylene in the development of disease symptoms. Here we discuss possible molecular strategies used by the plant to recognize Cmm infection and possible mechanisms employed by the pathogen to interfere with the activation of plant defense responses and promote disease. PMID:19704516

Optimal faces for gender and expression: a new technique for measuring dynamic templates used in face perception.

PubMed

Poirier, Frédéric J A M; Faubert, Jocelyn

2012-06-22

Facial expressions are important for human communications. Face perception studies often measure the impact of major degradation (e.g., noise, inversion, short presentations, masking, alterations) on natural expression recognition performance. Here, we introduce a novel face perception technique using rich and undegraded stimuli. Participants modified faces to create optimal representations of given expressions. Using sliders, participants adjusted 53 face components (including 37 dynamic) including head, eye, eyebrows, mouth, and nose shape and position. Data was collected from six participants and 10 conditions (six emotions + pain + gender + neutral). Some expressions had unique features (e.g., frown for anger, upward-curved mouth for happiness), whereas others had shared features (e.g., open eyes and mouth for surprise and fear). Happiness was different from other emotions. Surprise was different from other emotions except fear. Weighted sum morphing provides acceptable stimuli for gender-neutral and dynamic stimuli. Many features were correlated, including (1) head size with internal feature sizes as related to gender, (2) internal feature scaling, and (3) eyebrow height and eye openness as related to surprise and fear. These findings demonstrate the method's validity for measuring the optimal facial expressions, which we argue is a more direct measure of their internal representations.

Public Perceptions Regarding Use of Virtual Reality in Health Care: A Social Media Content Analysis Using Facebook.

PubMed

Keller, Michelle Sophie; Park, Hannah J; Cunningham, Maria Elena; Fouladian, Joshua Eleazar; Chen, Michelle; Spiegel, Brennan Mason Ross

2017-12-19

Virtual reality (VR) technology provides an immersive environment that enables users to have modified experiences of reality. VR is increasingly used to manage patients with pain, disability, obesity, neurologic dysfunction, anxiety, and depression. However, public opinion regarding the use of VR in health care has not been explored. Understanding public opinion of VR is critical to ensuring effective implementation of this emerging technology. This study aimed to examine public opinion about health care VR using social listening, a method that allows for the exploration of unfiltered views of topics discussed on social media and online forums. In March 2016, NBC News produced a video depicting the use of VR for patient care. The video was repackaged by NowThis, a social media news website, and distributed on Facebook by Upworthy, a news aggregator, yielding 4.3 million views and 2401 comments. We used Microsoft Excel Power Query and ATLAS.ti software (version 7.5, Scientific Software Development) to analyze the comments using content analysis and categorized the comments around first-, second-, and third-order concepts. We determined self-identified gender from the user's Facebook page and performed sentiment analysis of the language to analyze whether the perception of VR differed by gender using a Pearson's chi-square test. Out of the 1614 analyzable comments, 1021 (63.26%) were attributed to female Facebook users, 572 (35.44%) to male users, and 21 (1.30%) to users of unknown gender. There were 1197 comments coded as expressing a positive perception about VR (74.16%), 251 coded as expressing a negative perception and/or concern (15.56%), and 560 coded as neutral (34.70%). Informants identified 20 use cases for VR in health care, including the use of VR for pain and stress reduction; bed-bound individuals; women during labor; and patients undergoing chemotherapy, dialysis, radiation, or imaging procedures. Negative comments expressed concerns about radiation, infection risk, motion sickness, and the ubiquity of and overall dependence on technology. There was a statistically significant association between the language valence of the Facebook post and the gender of the Facebook user; men were more likely to post negative perceptions about the use of VR for health care, whereas women were more likely to post positive perceptions (P<.001). Most informants expressed positive perceptions about the use of VR in a wide range of health care settings. However, many expressed concerns that should be acknowledged and addressed as health care VR continues to evolve. Our results provide guidance in determining where further research on the use of VR in patient care is needed, and offer a formal opportunity for public opinion to shape the VR research agenda. ©Michelle Sophie Keller, Hannah J Park, Maria Elena Cunningham, Joshua Eleazar Fouladian, Michelle Chen, Brennan Mason Ross Spiegel. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 19.12.2017.

Aberrant patterns of visual facial information usage in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Clark, Cameron M; Gosselin, Frédéric; Goghari, Vina M

2013-05-01

Deficits in facial emotion perception have been linked to poorer functional outcome in schizophrenia. However, the relationship between abnormal emotion perception and functional outcome remains poorly understood. To better understand the nature of facial emotion perception deficits in schizophrenia, we used the Bubbles Facial Emotion Perception Task to identify differences in usage of visual facial information in schizophrenia patients (n = 20) and controls (n = 20), when differentiating between angry and neutral facial expressions. As hypothesized, schizophrenia patients required more facial information than controls to accurately differentiate between angry and neutral facial expressions, and they relied on different facial features and spatial frequencies to differentiate these facial expressions. Specifically, schizophrenia patients underutilized the eye regions, overutilized the nose and mouth regions, and virtually ignored information presented at the lowest levels of spatial frequency. In addition, a post hoc one-tailed t test revealed a positive relationship of moderate strength between the degree of divergence from "normal" visual facial information usage in the eye region and lower overall social functioning. These findings provide direct support for aberrant patterns of visual facial information usage in schizophrenia in differentiating between socially salient emotional states. © 2013 American Psychological Association

Women's perceptions of the quality of emergency obstetric care in a referral hospital in rural Tanzania.

PubMed

Stal, Karen Berit; Pallangyo, Pedro; van Elteren, Marianne; van den Akker, Thomas; van Roosmalen, Jos; Nyamtema, Angelo

2015-07-01

To assess perceptions of the quality of obstetric care of women who delivered in a rural Tanzanian referral hospital. A descriptive-exploratory qualitative study, using semistructured in-depth interviews and participatory observation. Nineteen recently delivered women and 3 health workers were interviewed. Although most women held positive views about the care they received in hospital, several participants expressed major concerns about negative attitudes of healthcare workers. Lack of medical communication given by care providers constituted a major complaint. A more positive attitude by health workers and the provision of adequate medical information may promote a more positive hospital experience of women in need of obstetric care and enhance attendance. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Educators' perceptions and attitudes toward school counseling and student personnel services: A cultural perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

McPhee, Sidney A.

1985-12-01

This study was designed to survey and compare attitudes and perceptions toward school counseling and student personnel programs as held by educators in the Caribbean. The subjects in the study comprised 275 teachers and administrators employed in public and private junior and senior high schools in Nassau, Bahamas. The statistical tests used to analyze the data were the Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance and the Friedman two-way analysis for repeated measures. The findings indicate that administrators at all levels expressed significantly more favorable attitudes and perceptions toward counseling and student personnel programs in the schools than teachers. Teachers in the study expressed the following: (a) serious concern regarding the competency of practicing counselors in their schools; (b) a need for clarification of their role and function in the guidance process and a clarification of the counselor's role; and (c) minimum acceptable standards should be established for school counseling positions.

Positive interactions between irrawaddy dolphins and artisanal fishers in the Chilika Lagoon of eastern India are driven by ecology, socioeconomics, and culture.

PubMed

D'Lima, Coralie; Marsh, Helene; Hamann, Mark; Sinha, Anindya; Arthur, Rohan

2014-09-01

In human-dominated landscapes, interactions and perceptions towards wildlife are influenced by multidimensional drivers. Understanding these drivers could prove useful for wildlife conservation. We surveyed the attitudes and perceptions of fishers towards threatened Irrawaddy dolphins (Orcaella brevirostris) at Chilika Lagoon India. To validate the drivers of fisher perceptions, we : (1) observed dolphin foraging behavior at stake nets, and (2) compared catch per unit effort (CPUE) and catch income of fishers from stake nets in the presence and absence of foraging dolphins. We found that fishers were mostly positive towards dolphins, believing that dolphins augmented their fish catch and using culture to express their perceptions. Foraging dolphins were observed spending half their time at stake nets and were associated with significantly higher catch income and CPUE of mullet (Liza sp.), a locally preferred food fish species. Wildlife conservation efforts should use the multidimensional drivers of human-wildlife interactions to involve local stakeholders in management.

Early and late temporo-spatial effects of contextual interference during perception of facial affect.

PubMed

Frühholz, Sascha; Fehr, Thorsten; Herrmann, Manfred

2009-10-01

Contextual features during recognition of facial affect are assumed to modulate the temporal course of emotional face processing. Here, we simultaneously presented colored backgrounds during valence categorizations of facial expressions. Subjects incidentally learned to perceive negative, neutral and positive expressions within a specific colored context. Subsequently, subjects made fast valence judgments while presented with the same face-color-combinations as in the first run (congruent trials) or with different face-color-combinations (incongruent trials). Incongruent trials induced significantly increased response latencies and significantly decreased performance accuracy. Contextual incongruent information during processing of neutral expressions modulated the P1 and the early posterior negativity (EPN) both localized in occipito-temporal areas. Contextual congruent information during emotional face perception revealed an emotion-related modulation of the P1 for positive expressions and of the N170 and the EPN for negative expressions. Highest amplitude of the N170 was found for negative expressions in a negatively associated context and the N170 amplitude varied with the amount of overall negative information. Incongruent trials with negative expressions elicited a parietal negativity which was localized to superior parietal cortex and which most likely represents a posterior manifestation of the N450 as an indicator of conflict processing. A sustained activation of the late LPP over parietal cortex for all incongruent trials might reflect enhanced engagement with facial expression during task conditions of contextual interference. In conclusion, whereas early components seem to be sensitive to the emotional valence of facial expression in specific contexts, late components seem to subserve interference resolution during emotional face processing.

Medical Students’ Perception of Their Educational Environment

PubMed Central

Pai, Preethi G; Menezes, Vishma; Srikanth; Subramanian, Atreya M.; Shenoy, Jnaneshwara P.

2014-01-01

Background: Students’ perception of the environment within which they study has shown to have a significant impact on their behavior, academic progress and sense of well-being. This study was undertaken to evaluate the students’ perception of their learning environment in an Indian medical school following traditional curricula and to study differences, if any, between the students according to the stages of medical education, i.e., the pre-clinical and clinical stages. Methodology: In the present study, the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) inventory was administered to undergraduate medical students of first (n = 227), third (n = 175), fifth (n = 171) and seventh (n = 123) semesters. Scores obtained were expressed as mean ± Standard Deviation (SD) and analyzed using one-way ANOVA and Dunnett’s test. P-value < 0.05 was considered as significant. Results: The mean DREEM score for our medical school was 123/200.The first-year students were found to be more satisfied with learning environment (indicated by their higher DREEM score) compared to other semester students. Progressive decline in scores with each successive semester was observed. Evaluating the sub-domains of perception, the registrars in all semesters had a more positive perception of learning (Average mean score: 29.44), their perception of course organizers moved in the right direction (Average mean score: 26.86), their academic self-perception was more on the positive side (Average mean score: 20.14), they had a more positive perception of atmosphere (Average mean score: 29.07) and their social self-perception could be graded as not too bad (Average mean score: 17.02). Conclusion: The present study revealed that all the groups of students perceived their learning environment positively. However, a few problematic areas of learning environment were perceived such as: students were stressed more often; they felt that the course organizers were authoritarian and emphasized factual learning. Implementing more problem-based learning, student counseling and workshops on teaching-learning for educators might enable us to remedy and enrich our learning environment. PMID:24596737

Emotions facilitate the communication of ambiguous group memberships.

PubMed

Tskhay, Konstantin O; Rule, Nicholas O

2015-12-01

It is well known that emotions intersect with obvious social categories (e.g., race), influencing both how targets are categorized and the emotions that are read from their faces. Here, we examined the influence of emotional expression on the perception of less obvious group memberships for which, in the absence of obvious and stable physical markers, emotion may serve as a major avenue for group categorization and identification. Specifically, we examined whether emotions are embedded in the mental representations of sexual orientation and political affiliation, and whether people may use emotional expressions to communicate these group memberships to others. Using reverse correlation methods, we found that mental representations of gay and liberal faces were characterized by more positive facial expressions than mental representations of straight and conservative faces (Study 1). Furthermore, participants were evaluated as expressing more positive emotions when enacting self-defined "gay" and "liberal" versus "straight" and "conservative" facial expressions in the lab (Study 2). In addition, neutral faces morphed with happiness were perceived as more gay than when morphed with anger, and when compared to unmorphed controls (Study 3). Finally, we found that affect facilitated perceptions of sexual orientation and political affiliation in naturalistic settings (Study 4). Together, these studies suggest that emotion is a defining characteristic of person construal that people tend to use both when signaling their group memberships and when receiving those signals to categorize others. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Using Social Media to Characterize Public Sentiment Toward Medical Interventions Commonly Used for Cancer Screening: An Observational Study.

PubMed

Metwally, Omar; Blumberg, Seth; Ladabaum, Uri; Sinha, Sidhartha R

2017-06-07

Although cancer screening reduces morbidity and mortality, millions of people worldwide remain unscreened. Social media provide a unique platform to understand public sentiment toward tools that are commonly used for cancer screening. The objective of our study was to examine public sentiment toward colonoscopy, mammography, and Pap smear and how this sentiment spreads by analyzing discourse on Twitter. In this observational study, we classified 32,847 tweets (online postings on Twitter) related to colonoscopy, mammography, or Pap smears using a naive Bayes algorithm as containing positive, negative, or neutral sentiment. Additionally, we characterized the spread of sentiment on Twitter using an established model to study contagion. Colonoscopy-related tweets were more likely to express negative than positive sentiment (negative to positive ratio 1.65, 95% CI 1.51-1.80, P<.001), in contrast to the more positive sentiment expressed regarding mammography (negative to positive ratio 0.43, 95% CI 0.39-0.47, P<.001). The proportions of negative versus positive tweets about Pap smear were not significantly different (negative to positive ratio 0.95, 95% CI 0.87-1.04, P=.18). Positive and negative tweets tended to share lexical features across screening modalities. Positive tweets expressed resonance with the benefits of early detection. Fear and pain were the principal lexical features seen in negative tweets. Negative sentiment for colonoscopy and mammography spread more than positive sentiment; no correlation with sentiment and spread was seen for Pap smear. Analysis of social media data provides a unique, quantitative framework to better understand the public's perception of medical interventions that are commonly used for cancer screening. Given the growing use of social media, public health interventions to improve cancer screening should use the health perceptions of the population as expressed in social network postings about tests that are frequently used for cancer screening, as well as other people they may influence with such postings. ©Omar Metwally, Seth Blumberg, Uri Ladabaum, Sidhartha R. Sinha. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 07.06.2017.

Emotional memory and perception in temporal lobectomy patients with amygdala damage.

PubMed

Brierley, B; Medford, N; Shaw, P; David, A S

2004-04-01

The human amygdala is implicated in the formation of emotional memories and the perception of emotional stimuli--particularly fear--across various modalities. To discern the extent to which these functions are related. 28 patients who had anterior temporal lobectomy (13 left and 15 right) for intractable epilepsy were recruited. Structural magnetic resonance imaging showed that three of them had atrophy of their remaining amygdala. All participants were given tests of affect perception from facial and vocal expressions and of emotional memory, using a standard narrative test and a novel test of word recognition. The results were standardised against matched healthy controls. Performance on all emotion tasks in patients with unilateral lobectomy ranged from unimpaired to moderately impaired. Perception of emotions in faces and voices was (with exceptions) significantly positively correlated, indicating multimodal emotional processing. However, there was no correlation between the subjects' performance on tests of emotional memory and perception. Several subjects showed strong emotional memory enhancement but poor fear perception. Patients with bilateral amygdala damage had greater impairment, particularly on the narrative test of emotional memory, one showing superior fear recognition but absent memory enhancement. Bilateral amygdala damage is particularly disruptive of emotional memory processes in comparison with unilateral temporal lobectomy. On a cognitive level, the pattern of results implies that perception of emotional expressions and emotional memory are supported by separate processing systems or streams.

Designing and Evaluating an Interprofessional Experiential Course Series Involving Medical and Pharmacy Students

PubMed Central

Dueñas, Gladys G.; Zanoni, Aileen; Grover, Anisha B.

2016-01-01

Objective. To prepare first-year and second-year pharmacy and medical students to build effective collaborative health care teams by participating in an interprofessional experiential 6-semester course series. Design. An interprofessional experiential course series was designed using a variety of teaching methods to achieve both interprofessional and experiential learning outcomes. A standardized objective behavioral assessment was developed to measure team performance of interprofessional communication and teamwork. In addition, student perceptions were measured using a validated instrument. Assessment. A majority of teams demonstrated appropriate competence with respect to interprofessional communication and teamwork. Additionally, a majority of students expressed positive perceptions of interprofessional collaboration with respect to teamwork, roles and responsibilities, and patient outcomes. Conclusion. An interprofessional experiential course series can be successfully implemented to achieve both interprofessional and experiential learning outcomes. Highly collaborative teams and positive student perceptions provide evidence of achievement of interprofessional education learning outcomes. PMID:27402988

Cross-Cultural Differences in the Processing of Non-Verbal Affective Vocalizations by Japanese and Canadian Listeners

PubMed Central

Koeda, Michihiko; Belin, Pascal; Hama, Tomoko; Masuda, Tadashi; Matsuura, Masato; Okubo, Yoshiro

2013-01-01

The Montreal Affective Voices (MAVs) consist of a database of non-verbal affect bursts portrayed by Canadian actors, and high recognitions accuracies were observed in Canadian listeners. Whether listeners from other cultures would be as accurate is unclear. We tested for cross-cultural differences in perception of the MAVs: Japanese listeners were asked to rate the MAVs on several affective dimensions and ratings were compared to those obtained by Canadian listeners. Significant Group × Emotion interactions were observed for ratings of Intensity, Valence, and Arousal. Whereas Intensity and Valence ratings did not differ across cultural groups for sad and happy vocalizations, they were significantly less intense and less negative in Japanese listeners for angry, disgusted, and fearful vocalizations. Similarly, pleased vocalizations were rated as less intense and less positive by Japanese listeners. These results demonstrate important cross-cultural differences in affective perception not just of non-verbal vocalizations expressing positive affect (Sauter et al., 2010), but also of vocalizations expressing basic negative emotions. PMID:23516137

Cross-cultural differences in the processing of non-verbal affective vocalizations by Japanese and canadian listeners.

PubMed

Koeda, Michihiko; Belin, Pascal; Hama, Tomoko; Masuda, Tadashi; Matsuura, Masato; Okubo, Yoshiro

2013-01-01

The Montreal Affective Voices (MAVs) consist of a database of non-verbal affect bursts portrayed by Canadian actors, and high recognitions accuracies were observed in Canadian listeners. Whether listeners from other cultures would be as accurate is unclear. We tested for cross-cultural differences in perception of the MAVs: Japanese listeners were asked to rate the MAVs on several affective dimensions and ratings were compared to those obtained by Canadian listeners. Significant Group × Emotion interactions were observed for ratings of Intensity, Valence, and Arousal. Whereas Intensity and Valence ratings did not differ across cultural groups for sad and happy vocalizations, they were significantly less intense and less negative in Japanese listeners for angry, disgusted, and fearful vocalizations. Similarly, pleased vocalizations were rated as less intense and less positive by Japanese listeners. These results demonstrate important cross-cultural differences in affective perception not just of non-verbal vocalizations expressing positive affect (Sauter et al., 2010), but also of vocalizations expressing basic negative emotions.

Second Language Ability and Emotional Prosody Perception

PubMed Central

Bhatara, Anjali; Laukka, Petri; Boll-Avetisyan, Natalie; Granjon, Lionel; Anger Elfenbein, Hillary; Bänziger, Tanja

2016-01-01

The present study examines the effect of language experience on vocal emotion perception in a second language. Native speakers of French with varying levels of self-reported English ability were asked to identify emotions from vocal expressions produced by American actors in a forced-choice task, and to rate their pleasantness, power, alertness and intensity on continuous scales. Stimuli included emotionally expressive English speech (emotional prosody) and non-linguistic vocalizations (affect bursts), and a baseline condition with Swiss-French pseudo-speech. Results revealed effects of English ability on the recognition of emotions in English speech but not in non-linguistic vocalizations. Specifically, higher English ability was associated with less accurate identification of positive emotions, but not with the interpretation of negative emotions. Moreover, higher English ability was associated with lower ratings of pleasantness and power, again only for emotional prosody. This suggests that second language skills may sometimes interfere with emotion recognition from speech prosody, particularly for positive emotions. PMID:27253326

Looking down: the influence of contempt and compassion on emergent leadership categorizations.

PubMed

Melwani, Shimul; Mueller, Jennifer S; Overbeck, Jennifer R

2012-11-01

By integrating the literatures on implicit leadership and the social functions of discrete emotions, we develop and test a theoretical model of emotion expression and leadership categorizations. Specifically, we examine the influence of 2 socio-comparative emotions-compassion and contempt-on assessments of leadership made both in 1st impression contexts and over time. To demonstrate both internal and external validity, Studies 1a and 1b provide laboratory and field evidence to show that expressing the discrete emotions of contempt and compassion positively relates to perceptions that an individual is a leader. Study 2 tests the mechanism explaining these associations. Specifically, we show that in a leadership emergence context, contempt and compassion both positively relate to perceptions that the expresser is a leader because each provides cues matching the implicit theory that leaders have higher intelligence. Our findings add to a growing body of literature focused on identifying the processes through which leaders emerge in groups, showing that emotions are an important input to this process. We discuss the implications of our findings and how they might guide future research efforts. (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved.

Hemispheric specialization and the perception of emotion: evidence from right-handers and from inverted and non-inverted left-handers.

PubMed

Reuter-Lorenz, P A; Givis, R P; Moscovitch, M

1983-01-01

Right-handers and inverted and non-inverted left-handers viewed emotional expressions in one hemifield and, simultaneously, a neutral expression of the same poser in the other hemifield. Subjects were required to identify the side containing the affective face. Happy faces with open (i.e. salient) and closed mouth smiles and sad faces were used as stimuli. For right-handers and inverters reaction time was faster to right hemifield presentations for happy faces and to left hemifield presentations for sad faces. Non-inverters showed the reverse pattern. The saliency of the happy expressions had no effect on the magnitude and direction of asymmetry for any group. The data support the hypothesis of differential hemispheric specialization for positive and negative emotion and demonstrate opposite patterns of asymmetry in affect perception for inverted and non-inverted left-handers.

The Invisible Barrier to Integrating Computer Technology in Education

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aflalo, Ester

2014-01-01

The article explores contradictions in teachers' perceptions regarding the place of computer technologies in education. The research population included 47 teachers who have incorporated computers in the classroom for several years. The teachers expressed positive attitudes regarding the decisive importance of computer technologies in furthering…

Young Children's Attitudes and Perceptions of Older Adults.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burke, Judith Lee

1981-01-01

Studied the responses of children aged four to seven to photographs of older adults. Results indicated age discrimination was highly accurate by age six. Most expressed positive views of activities shared with grandparents but identified older adults in general as sad, lonely, and not busy. (Author/JAC)

[The role of experience in the neurology of facial expression of emotions].

PubMed

Gordillo, Fernando; Pérez, Miguel A; Arana, José M; Mestas, Lilia; López, Rafael M

2015-04-01

Facial expression of emotion has an important social function that facilitates interaction between people. This process has a neurological basis, which is not isolated from the context, or the experience of the interaction between people in that context. Yet, to date, the impact that experience has on the perception of emotions is not completely understood. To discuss the role of experience in the recognition of facial expression of emotions and to analyze the biases towards emotional perception. The maturation of the structures that support the ability to recognize emotion goes through a sensitive period during adolescence, where experience may have greater impact on emotional recognition. Experiences of abuse, neglect, war, and stress generate a bias towards expressions of anger and sadness. Similarly, positive experiences generate a bias towards the expression of happiness. Only when people are able to use the facial expression of emotions as a channel for understanding an expression, will they be able to interact appropriately with their environment. This environment, in turn, will lead to experiences that modulate this capacity. Therefore, it is a self-regulatory process that can be directed through the implementation of intervention programs on emotional aspects.

Family expressiveness relates to happy emotion matching among 9-month-old infants.

PubMed

Ogren, Marissa; Burling, Joseph M; Johnson, Scott P

2018-06-07

Perceiving and understanding the emotions of those around us is an imperative skill to develop early in life. An infant's family environment provides most of their emotional exemplars in early development. However, the relation between the early development of emotion perception and family expressiveness remains understudied. To investigate this potential link to early emotion perception development, we examined 38 infants at 9 months of age. We assessed infants' ability to match emotions across facial and vocal modalities using an intermodal matching paradigm for angry-neutral, happy-neutral, and sad-neutral pairings. We also attained family expressiveness information via parent report. Our results indicate a significant positive relation between emotion matching and family expressiveness specific to the happy-neutral condition. However, we found no evidence for emotion matching for the infants as a group in any of the three conditions. These results suggest that family expressiveness does relate to emotion matching for the earliest developing emotional category among 9-month-old infants and that emotion matching with multiple emotions at this age is a challenging task. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Dispositional malevolence and impression formation: Dark Tetrad associations with accuracy and positivity in first impressions.

PubMed

Rogers, Katherine H; Le, Marina T; Buckels, Erin E; Kim, Mikayla; Biesanz, Jeremy C

2018-02-19

The Dark Tetrad traits (subclinical psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and everyday sadism) have interpersonal consequences. At present, however, how these traits are associated with the accuracy and positivity of first impressions is not well understood. The present article addresses three primary questions. First, to what extent are perceiver levels of Dark Tetrad traits associated with differing levels of perceptive accuracy? Second, to what extent are target levels of Dark Tetrad traits associated with differing levels of expressive accuracy? Finally, to what extent can Dark Tetrad traits be differentiated when examining perceptions of and by others? In a round-robin design, undergraduate participants (N = 412) in small groups engaged in brief, naturalistic, unstructured dyadic interactions before providing impressions of their partner. Dark Tetrad traits were associated with being viewed and viewing others less distinctively accurately and more negatively. Interpersonal perceptions that included an individual scoring highly on one of the Dark Tetrad traits differed in important ways from interactions among individuals with more benevolent personalities. Notably, despite the similarities between the Dark Tetrad, traits had unique associations with interpersonal perceptions. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Embracing the Black English Vernacular: Response to Koch and Gross.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Burnett, Myra N.; Burlew, Randi; Hudson, Glenetta

1997-01-01

Reviews the findings of L. Koch and A. Gross (1997) and suggests that the positive perceptions of black children toward Black English reflect the dominant linguistic standard within their peer groups. Retention of the Black English vernacular is advocated because it is an expressively rich form of communication. (SLD)

Differential Effects of Counselor Self-Referent Responses and Counselor Status.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCarthy, Patricia R.

Research has suggested that self-involving responses, i.e., direct present expressions of a counselor's feelings about client statements, are highly effective counselor behaviors, while self-disclosure responses, i.e., references to personal experiences of the counselor, are moderately effective in eliciting positive client perceptions of and…

Gender differences in emotion experience perception under different facial muscle manipulations.

PubMed

Wang, Yufeng; Zhang, Dongjun; Zou, Feng; Li, Hao; Luo, Yanyan; Zhang, Meng; Liu, Yijun

2016-04-01

According to embodied emotion theory, facial manipulations should modulate and initiate particular emotions. However, whether there are gender differences in emotion experience perception under different facial muscle manipulations is not clear. Therefore, we conducted two behavioral experiments to examine gender differences in emotional perception in response to facial expressions (sad, neutral, and happy) under three conditions: (1) holding a pen using only the teeth (HPT), which facilitates the muscles typically associated with smiling; (2) holding a pen using only the lips (HPL), which inhibits the muscles typically associated with smiling; and (3) a control condition--hold no pen (HNP). We found that HPT made the emotional feelings more positive, and that the change degree of female's ratings of sad facial expressions between conditions (HPL to HPT) was larger than males'. These results suggested cognition can be affected by the interaction of the stimuli and the body, especially the female. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional Labor in the Dual Role of Teaching and Coaching.

PubMed

Lee, Ye Hoon; Chelladurai, Packianathan; Kang, Chanho

2017-01-01

This study investigated the emotional labor involved in two forms of sport services-teaching and coaching-as perceived by high school teacher-coaches regarding required emotional displays and the use of emotional labor strategies. A total of 403 high school teacher-coaches from 47 states in the United States completed the online questionnaires measuring their perceptions of required emotional displays and their uses of emotional labor strategies in the two occupational roles. Results showed that there was no significant difference in the perception of positive emotional displays as required among participants. However, participants perceived that the expressions of friendliness and cheerfulness were more required in teaching than in coaching. On the other side, negative emotional displays were perceived to be more required in coaching than in teaching. That is, expressing upset, disappointment, anger, unhappiness, and frustration were perceived differently among participants. Also, participants utilized more surface acting when teaching and employed more genuine expression when coaching. The findings of this study highlight that differences do exist in the perception of required emotional displays and the utilization of emotional labor strategies in the two roles of teaching and coaching. These results were discussed in light of the task and group differences between teaching and coaching.

A note on age differences in mood-congruent vs. mood-incongruent emotion processing in faces

PubMed Central

Voelkle, Manuel C.; Ebner, Natalie C.; Lindenberger, Ulman; Riediger, Michaela

2014-01-01

This article addresses four interrelated research questions: (1) Does experienced mood affect emotion perception in faces and is this perception mood-congruent or mood-incongruent?(2) Are there age-group differences in the interplay between experienced mood and emotion perception? (3) Does emotion perception in faces change as a function of the temporal sequence of study sessions and stimuli presentation, and (4) does emotion perception in faces serve a mood-regulatory function? One hundred fifty-four adults of three different age groups (younger: 20–31 years; middle-aged: 44–55 years; older adults: 70–81 years) were asked to provide multidimensional emotion ratings of a total of 1026 face pictures of younger, middle-aged, and older men and women, each displaying six different prototypical (primary) emotional expressions. By analyzing the likelihood of ascribing an additional emotional expression to a face whose primary emotion had been correctly recognized, the multidimensional rating approach permits the study of emotion perception while controlling for emotion recognition. Following up on previous research on mood responses to recurring unpleasant situations using the same dataset (Voelkle et al., 2013), crossed random effects analyses supported a mood-congruent relationship between experienced mood and perceived emotions in faces. In particular older adults were more likely to perceive happiness in faces when being in a positive mood and less likely to do so when being in a negative mood. This did not apply to younger adults. Temporal sequence of study sessions and stimuli presentation had a strong effect on the likelihood of ascribing an additional emotional expression. In contrast to previous findings, however, there was neither evidence for a change from mood-congruent to mood-incongruent responses over time nor evidence for a mood-regulatory effect. PMID:25018740

A note on age differences in mood-congruent vs. mood-incongruent emotion processing in faces.

PubMed

Voelkle, Manuel C; Ebner, Natalie C; Lindenberger, Ulman; Riediger, Michaela

2014-01-01

(1) Does experienced mood affect emotion perception in faces and is this perception mood-congruent or mood-incongruent?(2) Are there age-group differences in the interplay between experienced mood and emotion perception? (3) Does emotion perception in faces change as a function of the temporal sequence of study sessions and stimuli presentation, and (4) does emotion perception in faces serve a mood-regulatory function? One hundred fifty-four adults of three different age groups (younger: 20-31 years; middle-aged: 44-55 years; older adults: 70-81 years) were asked to provide multidimensional emotion ratings of a total of 1026 face pictures of younger, middle-aged, and older men and women, each displaying six different prototypical (primary) emotional expressions. By analyzing the likelihood of ascribing an additional emotional expression to a face whose primary emotion had been correctly recognized, the multidimensional rating approach permits the study of emotion perception while controlling for emotion recognition. Following up on previous research on mood responses to recurring unpleasant situations using the same dataset (Voelkle et al., 2013), crossed random effects analyses supported a mood-congruent relationship between experienced mood and perceived emotions in faces. In particular older adults were more likely to perceive happiness in faces when being in a positive mood and less likely to do so when being in a negative mood. This did not apply to younger adults. Temporal sequence of study sessions and stimuli presentation had a strong effect on the likelihood of ascribing an additional emotional expression. In contrast to previous findings, however, there was neither evidence for a change from mood-congruent to mood-incongruent responses over time nor evidence for a mood-regulatory effect.

Cognitive Processing and the Functional Matching Effect in Persuasion: The Mediating Role of Subjective Perceptions of Message Quality

PubMed

Lavine; Snyder

1996-11-01

In two experiments, we examined the hypothesis that subjective perceptions of message quality mediate the functional matching effect in persuasion. In Experiment 1, participants whose attitudes and behaviors serve primarily a value-expressive function (i.e., low self-monitors) or a social-adjustive function (i.e., high self-monitors) were exposed to persuasive messages that contained value-expressive, social-adjustive, or both types of arguments in favor of voting. Functionally-relevant messages (i.e., the social-adjustive message for high self-monitors and the value-expressive message for low self-monitors) produced enhanced perceptions of message quality and persuasiveness, more positive attitudes, and more message-related behavior than functionally nonrelevant messages. Functionally mixed messages were generally more effective than messages containing only functionally nonrelevant arguments, but less effective than messages containing only functionally relevant arguments. Path analyses indicated that the influence of functional relevance on attitudes and behavior was significantly mediated by subjective perceptions of the quality of the message. In Experiment 2, we exposed participants to a functionally relevant or nonrelevant voting appeal five days before a presidential election. Results replicated those of Experiment 1; functionally relevant messages produced more favorable attitudes, and this effect was mediated by enhanced perceptions of message quality. Finally, postmessage attitudes exerted a significant influence on whether participants voted in the election, and this effect was mediated by voting intentions. Discussion focuses on the subjective nature of message evaluation and on the cognitive processes underlying the functional matching effect in persuasion.

Beyond pleasure and pain: Facial expression ambiguity in adults and children during intense situations.

PubMed

Wenzler, Sofia; Levine, Sarah; van Dick, Rolf; Oertel-Knöchel, Viola; Aviezer, Hillel

2016-09-01

According to psychological models as well as common intuition, intense positive and negative situations evoke highly distinct emotional expressions. Nevertheless, recent work has shown that when judging isolated faces, the affective valence of winning and losing professional tennis players is hard to differentiate. However, expressions produced by professional athletes during publicly broadcasted sports events may be strategically controlled. To shed light on this matter we examined if ordinary people's spontaneous facial expressions evoked during highly intense situations are diagnostic for the situational valence. In Experiment 1 we compared reactions with highly intense positive situations (surprise soldier reunions) versus highly intense negative situations (terror attacks). In Experiment 2, we turned to children and compared facial reactions with highly positive situations (e.g., a child receiving a surprise trip to Disneyland) versus highly negative situations (e.g., a child discovering her parents ate up all her Halloween candy). The results demonstrate that facial expressions of both adults and children are often not diagnostic for the valence of the situation. These findings demonstrate the ambiguity of extreme facial expressions and highlight the importance of context in everyday emotion perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Are non-native plants perceived to be more risky? Factors influencing horticulturists' risk perceptions of ornamental plant species.

PubMed

Humair, Franziska; Kueffer, Christoph; Siegrist, Michael

2014-01-01

Horticultural trade is recognized as an important vector in promoting the introduction and dispersal of harmful non-native plant species. Understanding horticulturists' perceptions of biotic invasions is therefore important for effective species risk management. We conducted a large-scale survey among horticulturists in Switzerland (N = 625) to reveal horticulturists' risk and benefit perceptions from ornamental plant species, their attitudes towards the regulation of non-native species, as well as the factors decisive for environmental risk perceptions and horticulturists' willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior. Our results suggest that perceived familiarity with a plant species had a mitigating effect on risk perceptions, while perceptions of risk increased if a species was perceived to be non-native. However, perceptions of the non-native origin of ornamental plant species were often not congruent with scientific classifications. Horticulturists displayed positive attitudes towards mandatory trade regulations, particularly towards those targeted against known invasive species. Participants also expressed their willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior. Yet, positive effects of risk perceptions on the willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior were counteracted by perceptions of benefits from selling non-native ornamental species. Our results indicate that the prevalent practice in risk communication to emphasize the non-native origin of invasive species can be ineffective, especially in the case of species of high importance to local industries and people. This is because familiarity with these plants can reduce risk perceptions and be in conflict with scientific concepts of non-nativeness. In these cases, it might be more effective to focus communication on well-documented environmental impacts of harmful species.

Are Non-Native Plants Perceived to Be More Risky? Factors Influencing Horticulturists' Risk Perceptions of Ornamental Plant Species

PubMed Central

Humair, Franziska; Kueffer, Christoph; Siegrist, Michael

2014-01-01

Horticultural trade is recognized as an important vector in promoting the introduction and dispersal of harmful non-native plant species. Understanding horticulturists' perceptions of biotic invasions is therefore important for effective species risk management. We conducted a large-scale survey among horticulturists in Switzerland (N = 625) to reveal horticulturists' risk and benefit perceptions from ornamental plant species, their attitudes towards the regulation of non-native species, as well as the factors decisive for environmental risk perceptions and horticulturists' willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior. Our results suggest that perceived familiarity with a plant species had a mitigating effect on risk perceptions, while perceptions of risk increased if a species was perceived to be non-native. However, perceptions of the non-native origin of ornamental plant species were often not congruent with scientific classifications. Horticulturists displayed positive attitudes towards mandatory trade regulations, particularly towards those targeted against known invasive species. Participants also expressed their willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior. Yet, positive effects of risk perceptions on the willingness to engage in risk mitigation behavior were counteracted by perceptions of benefits from selling non-native ornamental species. Our results indicate that the prevalent practice in risk communication to emphasize the non-native origin of invasive species can be ineffective, especially in the case of species of high importance to local industries and people. This is because familiarity with these plants can reduce risk perceptions and be in conflict with scientific concepts of non-nativeness. In these cases, it might be more effective to focus communication on well-documented environmental impacts of harmful species. PMID:25003195

Nonstandard Maternal Work Schedules: Implications for African American Children's Early Language Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Odom, Erika C.; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne; Crouter, Ann C.

2013-01-01

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children's expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24…

Race and Raceness: A Theoretical Perspective of the Black American Experience.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wade, Jacqueline E.

1987-01-01

Gives a theoretical perspective of the multidimensional nature of Black-race/White-race consciousness. American perceptions of race are expressed in White race centeredness. Blacks face the dilemma of adhering to two sets of values: a positive valuation of their race and a necessity of passing in White society. (PS)

Differential effects of object-based attention on evoked potentials to fearful and disgusted faces.

PubMed

Santos, Isabel M; Iglesias, Jaime; Olivares, Ela I; Young, Andrew W

2008-04-01

Event-related potentials (ERPs) were used to investigate the role of attention on the processing of facial expressions of fear and disgust. Stimuli consisted of overlapping pictures of a face and a house. Participants had to monitor repetitions of faces or houses, in separate blocks of trials, so that object-based attention was manipulated while spatial attention was kept constant. Faces varied in expression and could be either fearful or neutral (in the fear condition) or disgusted or neutral (in the disgust condition). When attending to faces, participants were required to signal repetitions of the same person, with the facial expressions being completely irrelevant to the task. Different effects of selective attention and different patterns of brain activity were observed for faces with fear and disgust expressions. Results indicated that the perception of fear from faces is gated by selective attention at early latencies, whereas a sustained positivity for fearful faces compared to neutral faces emerged around 160ms at central-parietal sites, independent of selective attention. In the case of disgust, ERP differences began only around 160ms after stimulus onset, and only after 480ms was the perception of disgust modulated by attention allocation. Results are interpreted in terms of different neural mechanisms for the perception of fear and disgust and related to the functional significance of these two emotions for the survival of the organism.

Auditory Emotion Word Primes Influence Emotional Face Categorization in Children and Adults, but Not Vice Versa.

PubMed

Vesker, Michael; Bahn, Daniela; Kauschke, Christina; Tschense, Monika; Degé, Franziska; Schwarzer, Gudrun

2018-01-01

In order to assess how the perception of audible speech and facial expressions influence one another for the perception of emotions, and how this influence might change over the course of development, we conducted two cross-modal priming experiments with three age groups of children (6-, 9-, and 12-years old), as well as college-aged adults. In Experiment 1, 74 children and 24 adult participants were tasked with categorizing photographs of emotional faces as positive or negative as quickly as possible after being primed with emotion words presented via audio in valence-congruent and valence-incongruent trials. In Experiment 2, 67 children and 24 adult participants carried out a similar categorization task, but with faces acting as visual primes, and emotion words acting as auditory targets. The results of Experiment 1 showed that participants made more errors when categorizing positive faces primed by negative words versus positive words, and that 6-year-old children are particularly sensitive to positive word primes, giving faster correct responses regardless of target valence. Meanwhile, the results of Experiment 2 did not show any congruency effects for priming by facial expressions. Thus, audible emotion words seem to exert an influence on the emotional categorization of faces, while faces do not seem to influence the categorization of emotion words in a significant way.

The social functions of the emotion of gratitude via expression.

PubMed

Algoe, Sara B; Fredrickson, Barbara L; Gable, Shelly L

2013-08-01

Recent theory posits that the emotion of gratitude uniquely functions to build a high-quality relationship between a grateful person and the target of his or her gratitude, that is, the person who performed a kind action (Algoe et al., 2008). Therefore, gratitude is a prime candidate for testing the dyadic question of whether one person's grateful emotion has consequences for the other half of the relational unit, the person who is the target of that gratitude. The current study tests the critical hypothesis that being the target of gratitude forecasts one's relational growth with the person who expresses gratitude. The study employed a novel behavioral task in which members of romantic relationships expressed gratitude to one another in a laboratory paradigm. As predicted, the target's greater perceptions of the expresser's responsiveness after the interaction significantly predicted improvements in relationship quality over 6 months. These effects were independent from perceptions of responsiveness following two other types of relationally important and emotionally evocative social interactions in the lab, suggesting the unique weight that gratitude carries in cultivating social bonds. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

[Perception of emotional intonation of noisy speech signal with different acoustic parameters by adults of different age and gender].

PubMed

Dmitrieva, E S; Gel'man, V Ia

2011-01-01

The listener-distinctive features of recognition of different emotional intonations (positive, negative and neutral) of male and female speakers in the presence or absence of background noise were studied in 49 adults aged 20-79 years. In all the listeners noise produced the most pronounced decrease in recognition accuracy for positive emotional intonation ("joy") as compared to other intonations, whereas it did not influence the recognition accuracy of "anger" in 65-79-year-old listeners. The higher emotion recognition rates of a noisy signal were observed for speech emotional intonations expressed by female speakers. Acoustic characteristics of noisy and clear speech signals underlying perception of speech emotional prosody were found for adult listeners of different age and gender.

Emotion perception and empathy: An individual differences test of relations.

PubMed

Olderbak, Sally; Wilhelm, Oliver

2017-10-01

Numerous theories posit a positive relation between perceiving emotion expressed in the face of a stranger (emotion perception) and feeling or cognitively understanding the emotion of that person (affective and cognitive empathy, respectively). However, when relating individual differences in emotion perception with individual differences in affective or cognitive empathy, effect sizes are contradictory, but often not significantly different from zero. Based on 4 studies (study ns range from 97 to 486 persons; n total = 958) that differ from one another on many design and sample characteristics, applying advanced modeling techniques to control for measurement error, we estimate relations between affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and emotion perception. Relations are tested separately for each of the 6 basic emotions (an emotion-specific model) as well as across all emotions (an emotion-general model). Reflecting the literature, effect sizes and statistical significance with an emotion-general model vary across the individual studies (rs range from -.001 to .24 for emotion perception with affective empathy and -.01 to .39 for emotion perception with cognitive empathy), with a meta-analysis of these results indicating emotion perception is weakly related with affective (r = .13, p = .003) and cognitive empathy (r = .13, p = .05). Relations are not strengthened in an emotion-specific model. We argue that the weak effect sizes and inconsistency across studies reflects a neglected distinction of measurement approach-specifically, empathy is assessed as typical behavior and emotion perception is assessed as maximal effort-and conclude with considerations regarding the measurement of each construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain.

PubMed

Ballotta, Daniela; Lui, Fausta; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Nichelli, Paolo Frigio; Benuzzi, Francesca

2018-01-01

According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a) whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b) the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirty healthy volunteers took part in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a temporal production task and a concurrent gender discrimination task, while viewing faces of unknown people with either pain-related or neutral expressions. Behavioural data showed temporal underestimation (i.e., longer produced intervals) during implicit pain expression processing; this was accompanied by increased activity of right middle temporal gyrus, a region known to be active during the perception of emotional and painful faces. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analyses showed that: 1) the activity of middle temporal gyrus was positively related to that of areas previously reported to play a role in timing: left primary motor cortex, middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, right anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum and basal ganglia; 2) the functional connectivity of supplementary motor area with several frontal regions, anterior cingulate cortex and right angular gyrus was correlated to the produced interval during painful expression processing. Our data support the hypothesis that observing emotional expressions distorts subjective time perception through the interaction of the neural network subserving processing of facial expressions with the brain network involved in timing. Within this frame, middle temporal gyrus appears to be the key region of the interplay between the two neural systems.

Putting the "You" in "Thank You": Examining Other-Praising Behavior as the Active Relational Ingredient in Expressed Gratitude.

PubMed

Algoe, Sara B; Kurtz, Laura E; Hilaire, Nicole M

2016-09-01

Although positive emotions as a class can build interpersonal resources, recent evidence suggests a unique and direct role for gratitude. In the current research, we shine the spotlight on what happens between a grateful person and the benefactor to illuminate what can build a bridge between them. Specifically, we draw on work calling gratitude an "other-praising" emotion. In an original study and a conceptual replication that included two independent samples, couples had video-recorded conversations in which one member expressed gratitude to the other ( n = 370). Expresser's other-praising behavior was robustly positively associated with the benefactor's postinteraction perception of expresser responsiveness, personal good feelings in general, and felt loving in particular. Several practical and theoretical alternative explanations are ruled out. By clarifying the specific behavioral and subjective psychological mechanisms through which expressed gratitude promotes relationships, this work advances affective and relationship science, two domains that cut across disciplines within psychology.

Physicians' communication and perceptions of patients: is it how they look, how they talk, or is it just the doctor?

PubMed

Street, Richard L; Gordon, Howard; Haidet, Paul

2007-08-01

Although physicians' communication style and perceptions affect outcomes, few studies have examined how these perceptions relate to the way physicians communicate with patients. Moreover, while any number of factors may affect the communication process, few studies have analyzed these effects collectively in order to identify the most powerful influences on physician communication and perceptions. Adopting an ecological approach, this investigation examined: (a) the relationships of physicians' patient-centered communication (informative, supportive, partnership-building) and affect (positive, contentious) on their perceptions of the patient, and (b) the degree to which communication and perceptions were affected by the physicians' characteristics, patients' demographic characteristics, physician-patient concordance, and the patient's communication. Physicians (N=29) and patients (N=207) from 10 outpatient settings in the United States participated in the study. From audio-recordings of these visits, coders rated the physicians' communication and affect as well as the patients' participation and affect. Doctors were more patient-centered with patients they perceived as better communicators, more satisfied, and more likely to adhere. Physicians displayed more patient-centered communication and more favorably perceived patients who expressed positive affect, were more involved, and who were less contentious. Physicians were more contentious with black patients, whom they also perceived as less effective communicators and less satisfied. Finally, physicians who reported a patient-centered orientation to the doctor-patient relationship also were more patient-centered in their communication. The results suggest that reciprocity and mutual influence have a strong effect on these interactions in that more positive (or negative) communication from one participant leads to similar responses from the other. Physicians' encounters with black patients revealed communicative difficulties that may lower quality of care for these patients.

Increased positive versus negative affective perception and memory in healthy volunteers following selective serotonin and norepinephrine reuptake inhibition.

PubMed

Harmer, Catherine J; Shelley, Nicholas C; Cowen, Philip J; Goodwin, Guy M

2004-07-01

Antidepressants that inhibit the reuptake of serotonin (SSRIs) or norepinephrine (SNRIs) are effective in the treatment of disorders such as depression and anxiety. Cognitive psychological theories emphasize the importance of correcting negative biases of information processing in the nonpharmacological treatment of these disorders, but it is not known whether antidepressant drugs can directly modulate the neural processing of affective information. The present study therefore assessed the actions of repeated antidepressant administration on perception and memory for positive and negative emotional information in healthy volunteers. Forty-two male and female volunteers were randomly assigned to 7 days of double-blind intervention with the SSRI citalopram (20 mg/day), the SNRI reboxetine (8 mg/day), or placebo. On the final day, facial expression recognition, emotion-potentiated startle response, and memory for affect-laden words were assessed. Questionnaires monitoring mood, hostility, and anxiety were given before and after treatment. In the facial expression recognition task, citalopram and reboxetine reduced the identification of the negative facial expressions of anger and fear. Citalopram also abolished the increased startle response found in the context of negative affective images. Both antidepressants increased the relative recall of positive (versus negative) emotional material. These changes in emotional processing occurred in the absence of significant differences in ratings of mood and anxiety. However, reboxetine decreased subjective ratings of hostility and elevated energy. Short-term administration of two different antidepressant types had similar effects on emotion-related tasks in healthy volunteers, reducing the processing of negative relative to positive emotional material. Such effects of antidepressants may ameliorate the negative biases in information processing that characterize mood and anxiety disorders. They also suggest a mechanism of action potentially compatible with cognitive theories of anxiety and depression.

Reciprocal effects between dominance and anger: A systematic review.

PubMed

Cabral, João Carlos Centurion; Tavares, Patrice de Souza; de Almeida, Rosa Maria Martins

2016-12-01

Dominance and high status are directly associated with perception of angry expressions. However, studies that have sought to empirically assess the causal mechanisms between these construct are still relatively scarce. Moreover, several variables can influence and be influenced by both anger and dominance, increasing the complexity of synthesizing the findings related to the association between these agonistic behaviors. We conducted a systematic review in five electronic databases. A total of 207 potentially relevant publications were identified and screened. Of those, 20 articles were found eligible for detailed review, with 26 empirical studies. All reviewed studies reported an association between dominance and anger. Social status and dominance have a direct effect on the perception of anger. In turn, the perception of anger has a consistent effect on attributions of dominance for those who express this emotion. There are mutual effects between dominance and anger, which, if recurring and positively feedback-regulated, at least in perceptual terms, can lead to the establishment and maintenance of dominance hierarchies in social groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Factors that Influence Body Image Representations of Black Muslim Women

PubMed Central

2008-01-01

Research on the body image perceptions of black women is limited. Although previous body image studies have explored the intersection between race and gender, the influence of religion has been neglected. Guided by a grounded theory framework, the focus of this investigation, conducted in Upstate New York, USA, was to examine the role of race and religion in the body image perceptions of 22 African-American Sunni Muslim women. Analysis of individual interviews revealed that, in contrast to using standard medical guidelines, participants’ views about their bodies were largely based on positive images of an earlier body size/shape, social and family expectations and contexts, cultural norms and values, and spirituality and religious beliefs. Although the body image perceptions of black Muslim women were similar to those expressed in previous body image studies with black women, participants expressed the importance of highlighting the spiritual versus physical self by adhering to religious guidelines regarding proper dress and appearance. These findings suggest that religion, race, and gender are all important factors to be considered when conducting body image studies with black women. PMID:18384923

When in doubt, ask the audience: potential users' perceptions of Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy for chronic pain.

PubMed

Schneider, Luke H; Hadjistavropoulos, Heather D

2014-01-01

Although research has demonstrated that Internet-delivered cognitive behavioural therapy (ICBT) for chronic pain helps with adjustment to pain, it remains unclear how this treatment option would initially be perceived by individuals with chronic pain. To explore initial perceptions of ICBT and to examine variables that correlate with an expressed interest in ICBT as a treatment option among individuals with chronic pain. A total of 129 individuals with chronic pain completed a survey assessing perceptions of ICBT and individual difference variables that could be correlated with expressed interest in ICBT (eg, demographic characteristics, pain, computer self-efficacy). Results showed that most participants perceived ICBT as a potentially valuable service with multiple benefits. Being female, having greater pain severity and interference, and having greater computer self-efficacy and lower computer anxiety were positively correlated with interest in receiving ICBT. Combined with previous research on treatment efficacy of ICBT for chronic pain, the results should serve to stimulate further research on integrating ICBT within existing health care services.

Drug effects on responses to emotional facial expressions: recent findings.

PubMed

Miller, Melissa A; Bershad, Anya K; de Wit, Harriet

2015-09-01

Many psychoactive drugs increase social behavior and enhance social interactions, which may, in turn, increase their attractiveness to users. Although the psychological mechanisms by which drugs affect social behavior are not fully understood, there is some evidence that drugs alter the perception of emotions in others. Drugs can affect the ability to detect, attend to, and respond to emotional facial expressions, which in turn may influence their use in social settings. Either increased reactivity to positive expressions or decreased response to negative expressions may facilitate social interaction. This article reviews evidence that psychoactive drugs alter the processing of emotional facial expressions using subjective, behavioral, and physiological measures. The findings lay the groundwork for better understanding how drugs alter social processing and social behavior more generally.

Advantage and choice: social relationships and staff assistance in assisted living.

PubMed

Burge, Stephanie; Street, Debra

2010-05-01

OBJECTIVES. To understand how "cumulative inequality" (CI), expressed as individual advantage and choice, and "external social supports" contribute to the quality of social relationships and perceptions of staff assistance for older individuals in different assisted living (AL) settings. Data are from 429 cognitively intact AL residents aged 60 years and older interviewed for the Florida Study of Assisted Living. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses show how individual advantage and choice and external social networks influence respondents' social relationships and staff assistance in AL. Controlling for resident and facility characteristics, being able to pay privately enhances resident satisfaction with staff assistance and having control over the move to AL is positively associated with perceptions of staff relationships and assistance. Maintaining contact with pre-AL friends predicts quality of coresident relationships, as does family contact. Regular contact with family buffers some of the disadvantages associated with CI for perceptions of staff relationships but not perceptions of staff assistance. Discussion. Individual advantage and choice influence the quality of staff relationships and assistance for AL residents but matter little for coresident relationships. External social relationships buffer some of the risks associated with CI for perceptions of staff relationships but not perceived quality of staff assistance. Findings highlight outcomes associated with CI, including predictable risks that disadvantaged elders face in particular types of AL settings, differential advantages others enjoy that influence positive perceptions of staff relationships and staff assistance, and the enduring importance of supportive social relationships.

Differences in Expressivity Based on Attractiveness: Target or Perceiver Effects?

PubMed

Rennels, Jennifer L; Kayl, Andrea J

2015-09-01

A significant association exists between adults' expressivity and facial attractiveness, but it is unclear whether the association is linear or significant only at the extremes of attractiveness. It is also unclear whether attractive persons actually display more positive expressivity than unattractive persons (target effects) or whether high and low attractiveness influences expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects). Experiment 1 demonstrated adult ratings of attractiveness were predictive of expressivity valence only for high and low attractive females and medium attractive males. Experiment 2 showed that low attractive females actually display more negative expressivity than medium and high attractive females, but there were no target effects for males. Also, attractiveness influenced expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects) for both females and males. Our findings demonstrate that low attractive females are at a particular disadvantage during social interactions due to their low attractiveness, actual displays of negative expressivity, and perceptions of their negative expressivity.

Differences in Expressivity Based on Attractiveness: Target or Perceiver Effects?

PubMed Central

Rennels, Jennifer L.; Kayl, Andrea J.

2015-01-01

A significant association exists between adults’ expressivity and facial attractiveness, but it is unclear whether the association is linear or significant only at the extremes of attractiveness. It is also unclear whether attractive persons actually display more positive expressivity than unattractive persons (target effects) or whether high and low attractiveness influences expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects). Experiment 1 demonstrated adult ratings of attractiveness were predictive of expressivity valence only for high and low attractive females and medium attractive males. Experiment 2 showed that low attractive females actually display more negative expressivity than medium and high attractive females, but there were no target effects for males. Also, attractiveness influenced expressivity valence judgments (perceiver effects) for both females and males. Our findings demonstrate that low attractive females are at a particular disadvantage during social interactions due to their low attractiveness, actual displays of negative expressivity, and perceptions of their negative expressivity. PMID:26366010

Following the time course of face gender and expression processing: a task-dependent ERP study.

PubMed

Valdés-Conroy, Berenice; Aguado, Luis; Fernández-Cahill, María; Romero-Ferreiro, Verónica; Diéguez-Risco, Teresa

2014-05-01

The effects of task demands and the interaction between gender and expression in face perception were studied using event-related potentials (ERPs). Participants performed three different tasks with male and female faces that were emotionally inexpressive or that showed happy or angry expressions. In two of the tasks (gender and expression categorization) facial properties were task-relevant while in a third task (symbol discrimination) facial information was irrelevant. Effects of expression were observed on the visual P100 component under all task conditions, suggesting the operation of an automatic process that is not influenced by task demands. The earliest interaction between expression and gender was observed later in the face-sensitive N170 component. This component showed differential modulations by specific combinations of gender and expression (e.g., angry male vs. angry female faces). Main effects of expression and task were observed in a later occipito-temporal component peaking around 230 ms post-stimulus onset (EPN or early posterior negativity). Less positive amplitudes in the presence of angry faces and during performance of the gender and expression tasks were observed. Finally, task demands also modulated a positive component peaking around 400 ms (LPC, or late positive complex) that showed enhanced amplitude for the gender task. The pattern of results obtained here adds new evidence about the sequence of operations involved in face processing and the interaction of facial properties (gender and expression) in response to different task demands. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Bodily action penetrates affective perception

PubMed Central

Rigutti, Sara; Gerbino, Walter

2016-01-01

Fantoni & Gerbino (2014) showed that subtle postural shifts associated with reaching can have a strong hedonic impact and affect how actors experience facial expressions of emotion. Using a novel Motor Action Mood Induction Procedure (MAMIP), they found consistent congruency effects in participants who performed a facial emotion identification task after a sequence of visually-guided reaches: a face perceived as neutral in a baseline condition appeared slightly happy after comfortable actions and slightly angry after uncomfortable actions. However, skeptics about the penetrability of perception (Zeimbekis & Raftopoulos, 2015) would consider such evidence insufficient to demonstrate that observer’s internal states induced by action comfort/discomfort affect perception in a top-down fashion. The action-modulated mood might have produced a back-end memory effect capable of affecting post-perceptual and decision processing, but not front-end perception. Here, we present evidence that performing a facial emotion detection (not identification) task after MAMIP exhibits systematic mood-congruent sensitivity changes, rather than response bias changes attributable to cognitive set shifts; i.e., we show that observer’s internal states induced by bodily action can modulate affective perception. The detection threshold for happiness was lower after fifty comfortable than uncomfortable reaches; while the detection threshold for anger was lower after fifty uncomfortable than comfortable reaches. Action valence induced an overall sensitivity improvement in detecting subtle variations of congruent facial expressions (happiness after positive comfortable actions, anger after negative uncomfortable actions), in the absence of significant response bias shifts. Notably, both comfortable and uncomfortable reaches impact sensitivity in an approximately symmetric way relative to a baseline inaction condition. All of these constitute compelling evidence of a genuine top-down effect on perception: specifically, facial expressions of emotion are penetrable by action-induced mood. Affective priming by action valence is a candidate mechanism for the influence of observer’s internal states on properties experienced as phenomenally objective and yet loaded with meaning. PMID:26893964

Afterimage induced neural activity during emotional face perception.

PubMed

Cheal, Jenna L; Heisz, Jennifer J; Walsh, Jennifer A; Shedden, Judith M; Rutherford, M D

2014-02-26

The N170 response differs when positive versus negative facial expressions are viewed. This neural response could be associated with the perception of emotions, or some feature of the stimulus. We used an aftereffect paradigm to clarify. Consistent with previous reports of emotional aftereffects, a neutral face was more likely to be described as happy following a sad face adaptation, and more likely to be described as sad following a happy face adaptation. In addition, similar to previous observations with actual emotional faces, we found differences in the latency of the N170 elicited by the neutral face following sad versus happy face adaptation, demonstrating that the emotion-specific effect on the N170 emerges even when emotion expressions are perceptually different but physically identical. The re-entry of emotional information from other brain regions may be driving the emotional aftereffects and the N170 latency differences. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Affective valence signals agency within and between individuals.

PubMed

Chang, Yen-Ping; Algoe, Sara B; Chen, Lung Hung

2017-03-01

Affective valence is a core component of all emotional experiences. Building on recent evidence and theory, we reason that valence informs individuals about their agency-the mental capability of doing and intending. Expressed affect may also lead to perceptions of agency by others. Supporting the hypothesis that valence influences self- and other-perception of agency, across 5 studies, we showed that participants perceived more agency in themselves in positive versus neutral and negative personal (Study 1) and interpersonal (Study 2) events. Participants also perceived more agency in fictional characters showing positive versus negative affect, regardless of how acceptable the characters' behavior was (Studies 3 and 4). Finally, we had participants personify 24 specific emotions across the valence dimension, and found that the more positive and less negative an emotion was, the more agency participants ascribed to the "person" (Study 5). We discuss the results in terms of how valence may help with human self- and social regulation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Putting the “You” in “Thank You”

PubMed Central

Kurtz, Laura E.; Hilaire, Nicole M.

2016-01-01

Although positive emotions as a class can build interpersonal resources, recent evidence suggests a unique and direct role for gratitude. In the current research, we shine the spotlight on what happens between a grateful person and the benefactor to illuminate what can build a bridge between them. Specifically, we draw on work calling gratitude an “other-praising” emotion. In an original study and a conceptual replication that included two independent samples, couples had video-recorded conversations in which one member expressed gratitude to the other (n = 370). Expresser’s other-praising behavior was robustly positively associated with the benefactor’s postinteraction perception of expresser responsiveness, personal good feelings in general, and felt loving in particular. Several practical and theoretical alternative explanations are ruled out. By clarifying the specific behavioral and subjective psychological mechanisms through which expressed gratitude promotes relationships, this work advances affective and relationship science, two domains that cut across disciplines within psychology. PMID:27570582

In good company? Perception of movement synchrony of a non-anthropomorphic robot.

PubMed

Lehmann, Hagen; Saez-Pons, Joan; Syrdal, Dag Sverre; Dautenhahn, Kerstin

2015-01-01

Recent technological developments like cheap sensors and the decreasing costs of computational power have brought the possibility of robotic home companions within reach. In order to be accepted it is vital for these robots to be able to participate meaningfully in social interactions with their users and to make them feel comfortable during these interactions. In this study we investigated how people respond to a situation where a companion robot is watching its user. Specifically, we tested the effect of robotic behaviours that are synchronised with the actions of a human. We evaluated the effects of these behaviours on the robot's likeability and perceived intelligence using an online video survey. The robot used was Care-O-bot3, a non-anthropomorphic robot with a limited range of expressive motions. We found that even minimal, positively synchronised movements during an object-oriented task were interpreted by participants as engagement and created a positive disposition towards the robot. However, even negatively synchronised movements of the robot led to more positive perceptions of the robot, as compared to a robot that does not move at all. The results emphasise a) the powerful role that robot movements in general can have on participants' perception of the robot, and b) that synchronisation of body movements can be a powerful means to enhance the positive attitude towards a non-anthropomorphic robot.

In Good Company? Perception of Movement Synchrony of a Non-Anthropomorphic Robot

PubMed Central

Lehmann, Hagen; Saez-Pons, Joan; Syrdal, Dag Sverre; Dautenhahn, Kerstin

2015-01-01

Recent technological developments like cheap sensors and the decreasing costs of computational power have brought the possibility of robotic home companions within reach. In order to be accepted it is vital for these robots to be able to participate meaningfully in social interactions with their users and to make them feel comfortable during these interactions. In this study we investigated how people respond to a situation where a companion robot is watching its user. Specifically, we tested the effect of robotic behaviours that are synchronised with the actions of a human. We evaluated the effects of these behaviours on the robot’s likeability and perceived intelligence using an online video survey. The robot used was Care-O-bot3, a non-anthropomorphic robot with a limited range of expressive motions. We found that even minimal, positively synchronised movements during an object-oriented task were interpreted by participants as engagement and created a positive disposition towards the robot. However, even negatively synchronised movements of the robot led to more positive perceptions of the robot, as compared to a robot that does not move at all. The results emphasise a) the powerful role that robot movements in general can have on participants’ perception of the robot, and b) that synchronisation of body movements can be a powerful means to enhance the positive attitude towards a non-anthropomorphic robot. PMID:26001025

Motion interactive video games in home training for children with cerebral palsy: parents' perceptions.

PubMed

Sandlund, Marlene; Dock, Katarina; Häger, Charlotte K; Waterworth, Eva Lindh

2012-01-01

To explore parents' perceptions of using low-cost motion interactive video games as home training for their children with mild/moderate cerebral palsy. Semi-structured interviews were carried out with parents from 15 families after participation in an intervention where motion interactive games were used daily in home training for their child. A qualitative content analysis approach was applied. The parents' perception of the training was very positive. They expressed the view that motion interactive video games may promote positive experiences of physical training in rehabilitation, where the social aspects of gaming were especially valued. Further, the parents experienced less need to take on coaching while gaming stimulated independent training. However, there was a desire for more controlled and individualized games to better challenge the specific rehabilitative need of each child. Low-cost motion interactive games may provide increased motivation and social interaction to home training and promote independent training with reduced coaching efforts for the parents. In future designs of interactive games for rehabilitation purposes, it is important to preserve the motivational and social features of games while optimizing the individualized physical exercise.

Failure Mode and Effects Analysis: views of hospital staff in the UK.

PubMed

Shebl, Nada; Franklin, Bryony; Barber, Nick; Burnett, Susan; Parand, Anam

2012-01-01

To explore health care professionals' experiences and perceptions of Failure Mode and Effects Analysis (FMEA), a team-based, prospective risk analysis technique. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 operational leads (20 pharmacists, one nurse) in medicines management teams of hospitals participating in a national quality improvement programme. Interviews were transcribed, coded and emergent themes identified using framework analysis. Themes identified included perceptions and experiences of participants with FMEA, validity and reliability issues, and FMEA's use in practice. FMEA was considered to be a structured but subjective process that helps health care professionals get together to identify high risk areas of care. Both positive and negative opinions were expressed, with the majority of interviewees expressing positive views towards FMEA in relation to its structured nature and the use of a multidisciplinary team. Other participants criticised FMEA for being subjective and lacking validity. Most likely to restrict its widespread use were its time consuming nature and its perceived lack of validity and reliability. FMEA is a subjective but systematic tool that helps identify high risk areas, but its time consuming nature, difficulty with the scores and perceived lack of validity and reliability may limit its widespread use.

Children's Representations of Facial Expression and Identity: Identity-Contingent Expression Aftereffects

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vida, Mark D.; Mondloch, Catherine J.

2009-01-01

This investigation used adaptation aftereffects to examine developmental changes in the perception of facial expressions. Previous studies have shown that adults' perceptions of ambiguous facial expressions are biased following adaptation to intense expressions. These expression aftereffects are strong when the adapting and probe expressions share…

Knowing who's boss: implicit perceptions of status from the nonverbal expression of pride.

PubMed

Shariff, Azim F; Tracy, Jessica L

2009-10-01

Evolutionary theory suggests that the universal recognition of nonverbal expressions of emotions functions to enhance fitness. Specifically, emotion expressions may send survival-relevant messages to other social group members, who have the capacity to automatically interpret these signals. In the present research, we used 3 different implicit association methodologies to test whether the nonverbal expression of pride sends a functional, automatically perceived signal about a social group member's increased social status. Results suggest that the pride expression strongly signals high status, and this association cannot be accounted for by positive valence or artifacts of the expression such as expanded size due to outstretched arms. These findings suggest that the pride expression may function to uniquely communicate the high status of those who show it. Discussion focuses on the implications of these findings for social functions of emotion expressions and the automatic communication of status.

Drug effects on responses to emotional facial expressions: recent findings

PubMed Central

Miller, Melissa A.; Bershad, Anya K.; de Wit, Harriet

2016-01-01

Many psychoactive drugs increase social behavior and enhance social interactions, which may, in turn, increase their attractiveness to users. Although the psychological mechanisms by which drugs affect social behavior are not fully understood, there is some evidence that drugs alter the perception of emotions in others. Drugs can affect the ability to detect, attend to, and respond to emotional facial expressions, which in turn may influence their use in social settings. Either increased reactivity to positive expressions or decreased response to negative expressions may facilitate social interaction. This article reviews evidence that psychoactive drugs alter the processing of emotional facial expressions using subjective, behavioral, and physiological measures. The findings lay the groundwork for better understanding how drugs alter social processing and social behavior more generally. PMID:26226144

Competition Field Perceptions of Table-tennis Athletes and their Performance

PubMed Central

Liu, Ying-Chieh; Wang, Ming-Yueh; Hsu, Chi-Yueh

2018-01-01

Abstract The distinction between positive and negative perceptions is fundamental in perception models. The purpose of this study was to investigate the correlation between field perceptions of table tennis players and the outcome (net result) during the matches in a competition. Experimental data were collected from 10 elite table tennis players and analysed. The results addressed the following three competition field perceptions: (1) before the service, the player’s positive perceptions had significant effect on the positive outcome (winning rate) of that service; (2) the perception after the net result of the previous service increased the positive outcome of the next service, and (3) the player’s positive/negative perception during the matches affected the win/loss outcome of that competition. In conclusion, the player’s positive perceptions enhanced their winning rate during table tennis competitions. Therefore, during the training program, coaches need to develop positive perceptions and strengthen the psychological quality of table tennis players. PMID:29599876

Greater perceptual sensitivity to happy facial expression.

PubMed

Maher, Stephen; Ekstrom, Tor; Chen, Yue

2014-01-01

Perception of subtle facial expressions is essential for social functioning; yet it is unclear if human perceptual sensitivities differ in detecting varying types of facial emotions. Evidence diverges as to whether salient negative versus positive emotions (such as sadness versus happiness) are preferentially processed. Here, we measured perceptual thresholds for the detection of four types of emotion in faces--happiness, fear, anger, and sadness--using psychophysical methods. We also evaluated the association of the perceptual performances with facial morphological changes between neutral and respective emotion types. Human observers were highly sensitive to happiness compared with the other emotional expressions. Further, this heightened perceptual sensitivity to happy expressions can be attributed largely to the emotion-induced morphological change of a particular facial feature (end-lip raise).

On the context dependence of emotion displays: Perceptions of gold medalists' expressions of pride.

PubMed

van Osch, Yvette; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Breugelmans, Seger M

2016-11-01

In spite of various claims for cross-cultural differences in the experience of pride, studies on the expression of pride have revealed few cross-cultural differences. Five studies using archival data from Olympic and national championships do show cross-cultural differences in the expression of pride and other positive emotions in pride-eliciting contexts, contingent on the social context of the expression, notably the in-group or out-group status of the audience. Chinese gold medalists were perceived to express less pride than American medalists when outperforming in-group competitors; when outperforming out-group members, however, no or smaller cross-cultural differences were observed. These findings are important because they indicate that cultural norms about emotion expression may be activated only in situations in which they serve a function in coordinating people's behaviour.

Children’s spontaneous emotional expressions while receiving (un)wanted prizes in the presence of peers

PubMed Central

Visser, Mandy; Krahmer, Emiel; Swerts, Marc

2015-01-01

Although current emotion theories emphasize the importance of contextual factors for emotional expressive behavior, developmental studies that examine such factors are currently thin on the ground. In this research, we studied the course of emotional expressions of 8- and 11-year-old children after winning a (large) first prize or a (substantially smaller) consolation prize, while playing a game competing against the computer or a physically co-present peer. We analyzed their emotional reactions by conducting two perception tests in which participants rated children’s level of happiness. Results showed that co-presence positively affected children’s happiness only when receiving the first prize. Moreover, for children who were in the presence of a peer, we found that eye contact affected children’s expressions of happiness, but that the effect was different for different age groups: 8-year-old children were negatively affected, and 11-year-old children positively. Overall, we can conclude that as children grow older and their social awareness increases, the presence of a peer affects their non-verbal expressions, regardless of their appreciation of their prize. PMID:26441776

Positive health practices and temporal perspective in low-income adults.

PubMed

Thompson, Cheryl W; Fitzpatrick, Joyce J

2008-07-01

The purpose of this study was to describe health-promoting behaviours and temporal perspective in low-income adults. Positive health practices represent a broad range of health-promoting behaviours. The ability to adopt positive health practices may be influenced by many factors, one of which is temporal perspective, the perceived relationship between past, present and future times. This exploratory study was conducted in a south central Pennsylvania community with a convenience sample of individuals who were eligible for a subsidized low-income housing programme. Positive health practices were measured using the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire. Temporal perspective was measured with the Circles Test. The sample consisted of 75 subjects, 61 women (81%) and 14 men (19%). Positive health practices were relatively high (mean = 70 out of a possible score of 96). Forty three per cent of the subjects expressed future temporal dominance and 80% of the subjects in this study expressed non-continuous temporal relatedness. Health-promoting behaviours in this low-income sample were similar to those reported in other samples in middle-class adult samples. The percentage of subjects who expressed future dominance was similar to findings in other samples. The percentage of subjects who expressed non-continuous temporal relatedness was different from findings reported in other samples, suggesting that perception of the relationship of past, present and future times is different in this low-income sample compared with other samples. The temporal relatedness findings suggest that low-income individuals may not believe that adopting positive health practices will influence future health.

[Development of spatial orientation during pilot training].

PubMed

Ivanov, V V; Vorob'ev, O A; Snipkov, Iu Iu

1988-01-01

The problem of spatial orientation of pilots flying high-altitude aircraft is in the focus of present-day aviation medicine because of a growing number of accidents in the air. One of the productive lines of research is to study spatial orientation in terms of active formation and maintenance of its imagery in a complex environment. However investigators usually emphasize the role of visual (instrumental) information in the image construction, almost ignoring the sensorimotor component of spatial orientation. The theoretical analysis of the process of spatial orientation has facilitated the development of the concept assuming that the pattern of space perception changes with growing professional experience. The concept is based on an active approach to the essence, emergence, formation and variation in the pattern of sensory perception of space in man's consciousness. This concept asserts that as pilot's professional expertise increases, the pattern of spatial orientation becomes geocentric because a new system of spatial perception evolves which is a result of the development of a new (instrumental) type of motor activity in space. This finds expression in the fact that perception of spatial position inflight occurs when man has to resolve a new motor task--movement along a complex trajectory in the three-dimensional space onboard a flying vehicle. The meaningful structure of this problem which is to be implemented through controlling movements of the pilot acts as a factor that forms this new system of perception. All this underlies the arrangement of meaningful collection of instrumental data and detection of noninstrumental signals in the comprehensive perception of changes in the spatial position of a flying vehicle.

The emotional body and time perception.

PubMed

Droit-Volet, Sylvie; Gil, Sandrine

2016-01-01

We examined the effects of emotional bodily expressions on the perception of time. Participants were shown bodily expressions of fear, happiness and sadness in a temporal bisection task featuring different stimulus duration ranges. Stimulus durations were judged to be longer for bodily expressions of fear than for those of sadness, whereas no significant difference was observed between sad and happy postures. In addition, the magnitude of the lengthening effect of fearful versus sad postures increased with duration range. These results suggest that the perception of fearful bodily expressions increases the level of arousal which, in turn, speeds up the internal clock system underlying the representation of time. The effect of bodily expressions on time perception is thus consistent with findings for other highly arousing emotional stimuli, such as emotional facial expressions.

Power, gender stereotypes and perceptions of heterosexual couples.

PubMed

Smoreda, Z

1995-12-01

This paper examines the relation between power attributed to members of heterosexual couples and the perception of their personalities in terms of gender stereotyped traits. Three-hundred and fifty adults, native French subjects (women and men) participated in the study. They attributed daily family tasks and decisions to the target persons; then, they described them on the Bem Sex-Role Inventory. The results indicated strong correlations between observers' representations of power distribution in the couple and the gender related personality descriptions of the couple. The attribution of 'instrumental' traits increased (and 'expressive' traits decreased) according to the degree of power assigned to the target person of either sex. On the 'instrumentality' dimension, accentuation of perceptions of people in gender role inconsistent positions was also observed. The simultaneous influences of general gender stereotypes and specific relations between the gender roles in dyads on the perception of individuals are discussed. It is proposed that social relations of dominance provide a model for the construction of gender stereotypes and their contextual applications.

Understanding the perceptions of children battling cancer about self and others through drawing.

PubMed

Sadruddin, Munir Moosa; Hameed-Ur-Rehman, M

2013-07-01

Childhood cancer is a stressful experience and may cause a change in the child's perception of himself/ herself, the family and the world around him/ her. This study sought to (a) explore the self-perception of children; and (b) examine the relation of children with others. The total population of the study consisted of all the children, undergoing cancer treatment at Children Cancer Hospital, located in Karachi. The participants were asked to draw a drawing on self and others. Through qualitative approach (phenomenology), themes and sub-themes were derived. Using purposive sampling, the total sample size drawn for this study was 78 children aged 7-12, receiving treatment for cancer (1st stage) at the Children Cancer Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan. The drawings of the children were categorized into facial expressions, self images and family ties. Within each category, there were sub-categories. Under facial expressions, the common emotions reflected were sadness, seriousness, anger; and pain. The self-image pictures uniformly reflected low self-esteem, especially focusing on hair loss, missing body parts. Under the category of family ties, most of the children's drawings reflected their isolation or emotional detachment from or abandonment by their family members. The study concludes that the self- image of most of the participants is deteriorated and they are socially isolated. Social and moral support can bring positive emotional development and helps to correct their self-perception.

The influence of context on distinct facial expressions of disgust.

PubMed

Reschke, Peter J; Walle, Eric A; Knothe, Jennifer M; Lopez, Lukas D

2018-06-11

Face perception is susceptible to contextual influence and perceived physical similarities between emotion cues. However, studies often use structurally homogeneous facial expressions, making it difficult to explore how within-emotion variability in facial configuration affects emotion perception. This study examined the influence of context on the emotional perception of categorically identical, yet physically distinct, facial expressions of disgust. Participants categorized two perceptually distinct disgust facial expressions, "closed" (i.e., scrunched nose, closed mouth) and "open" (i.e., scrunched nose, open mouth, protruding tongue), that were embedded in contexts comprising emotion postures and scenes. Results demonstrated that the effect of nonfacial elements was significantly stronger for "open" disgust facial expressions than "closed" disgust facial expressions. These findings provide support that physical similarity within discrete categories of facial expressions is mutable and plays an important role in affective face perception. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Details for Manuscript Number SSM-D-06-01956R1 “Physicians” Communication and Perceptions of Patients: Is it How They Look, How They Talk, or is it Just the Doctor?”

PubMed Central

Street, Richard L.; Gordon, Howard; Haidet, Paul

2010-01-01

Although physicians’ communication style and perceptions affect outcomes, few studies have examined how these perceptions relate to the way physicians communicate with patients. Moreover, while any number of factors may affect the communication process, few studies have analyzed these effects collectively in order to identify the most powerful influences on physician communication and perceptions. Adopting an ecological approach, this investigation examined: (a) the relationships of physicians’ patient-centered communication (informative, supportive, partnership-building) and affect (positive, contentious) on their perceptions of the patient, and (b) the degree to which communication and perceptions were affected by the physicians’ characteristics, patients’ demographic characteristics, physician-patient concordance, and the patient’s communication. Physicians (N = 29) and patients (N = 207) from 10 outpatient settings in the United States participated in the study. From audio-recordings of these visits, coders rated the physicians’ communication and affect as well as the patients’ participation and affect. Doctors were more patient-centered with patients they perceived as better communicators, more satisfied, and more likely to adhere. Physicians displayed more patient-centered communication and more favorably perceived patients who expressed positive affect, were more involved, and who were less contentious. Physicians were more contentious with black patients, whom they also perceived as less effective communicators and less satisfied. Finally, physicians who reported a patient-centered orientation to the doctor-patient relationship also were more patient-centered in their communication. The results suggest that reciprocity and mutual influence have a strong effect on these interactions in that more positive (or negative) communication from one participant leads to similar responses from the other. Physicians’ encounters with black patients revealed communicative difficulties that may lower quality of care for these patients. PMID:17462801

Factors Affecting Parent-Child Relationships One Year After Positive Newborn Screening for Cystic Fibrosis or Congenital Hypothyroidism

PubMed Central

Tluczek, Audrey; Clark, Roseanne; McKechnie, Anne Chevalier; Brown, Roger L.

2014-01-01

Objective Examine factors that mediate parent-infant relationships 12 months after positive newborn screening (NBS). Method We examined effects of infant diagnosis, parents’ perceptions of child vulnerability and child attachment, parental depression and anxiety on parent-infant feeding interactions for 131 mothers and 118 fathers of 131 infants whose NBS and diagnostics confirmed cystic fibrosis (CF, n=23), congenital hypothyroidism (CH, n=35), CF carrier status (CF-C, n=38), or healthy, normal NBS (H, n=35). Results Separate composite indicator structural equation models for mothers and fathers showed neonatal diagnosis was not associated with increased anxiety or depression. In comparison to the H group, CF group parents reported higher perceptions of child vulnerability (p< 0.001, p=0.002); and CF-C group fathers viewed their children as more attached (p=0.021). High maternal perception of child vulnerability was associated with low perceptions of child attachment (p=0.001) which was associated with task-oriented feeding behavior (p=0.016, p=0.029). Parental task-oriented feeding behavior was associated with less positive (p< 0.001, p< 0.001) and more negative interactions (p< 0.001, p= 0.001) with their infants. High paternal perception of child vulnerability was associated with negative parent interactions (p< 0.001). High parental affective involvement and verbalization was associated with high infant affective expressiveness, communicative skills, and social responsiveness (mothers’ p< 0.001, fathers’ p< 0.001). High parental negative affect and/or inconsistent and intrusive behavior was associated with infant dysregulation and irritability (mothers’ p< 0.001, fathers’ p< 0.001). Conclusion The severity of conditions identified through NBS can affect parents’ perceptions of their child’s vulnerability and attachment. Infant feeding problems in the context of chronic health conditions, like CF, could represent signs of more deeply rooted concerns regarding the parent-child relationship that merit additional clinical evaluation. PMID:25493463

Perceiving emotional expressions in others: Activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses of explicit evaluation, passive perception and incidental perception of emotions.

PubMed

Dricu, Mihai; Frühholz, Sascha

2016-12-01

We conducted a series of activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta-analyses to determine the commonalities and distinctions between separate levels of emotion perception, namely incidental perception, passive perception, and explicit evaluation of emotional expressions. Pooling together more than 180 neuroimaging experiments using facial, vocal or body expressions, our results are threefold. First, explicitly evaluating the emotions of others recruits brain regions associated with the sensory processing of expressions, such as the inferior occipital gyrus, middle fusiform gyrus and the superior temporal gyrus, and brain regions involved in low-level and high-level mindreading, namely the posterior superior temporal sulcus, the inferior frontal cortex and dorsomedial frontal cortex. Second, we show that only the sensory regions were also consistently active during the passive perception of emotional expressions. Third, we show that the brain regions involved in mindreading were active during the explicit evaluation of both facial and vocal expressions. We discuss these results in light of the existing literature and conclude by proposing a cognitive model for perceiving and evaluating the emotions of others. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facial EMG responses to emotional expressions are related to emotion perception ability.

PubMed

Künecke, Janina; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Recio, Guillermo; Sommer, Werner; Wilhelm, Oliver

2014-01-01

Although most people can identify facial expressions of emotions well, they still differ in this ability. According to embodied simulation theories understanding emotions of others is fostered by involuntarily mimicking the perceived expressions, causing a "reactivation" of the corresponding mental state. Some studies suggest automatic facial mimicry during expression viewing; however, findings on the relationship between mimicry and emotion perception abilities are equivocal. The present study investigated individual differences in emotion perception and its relationship to facial muscle responses - recorded with electromyogram (EMG)--in response to emotional facial expressions. N° = °269 participants completed multiple tasks measuring face and emotion perception. EMG recordings were taken from a subsample (N° = °110) in an independent emotion classification task of short videos displaying six emotions. Confirmatory factor analyses of the m. corrugator supercilii in response to angry, happy, sad, and neutral expressions showed that individual differences in corrugator activity can be separated into a general response to all faces and an emotion-related response. Structural equation modeling revealed a substantial relationship between the emotion-related response and emotion perception ability, providing evidence for the role of facial muscle activation in emotion perception from an individual differences perspective.

Facial EMG Responses to Emotional Expressions Are Related to Emotion Perception Ability

PubMed Central

Künecke, Janina; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Recio, Guillermo; Sommer, Werner; Wilhelm, Oliver

2014-01-01

Although most people can identify facial expressions of emotions well, they still differ in this ability. According to embodied simulation theories understanding emotions of others is fostered by involuntarily mimicking the perceived expressions, causing a “reactivation” of the corresponding mental state. Some studies suggest automatic facial mimicry during expression viewing; however, findings on the relationship between mimicry and emotion perception abilities are equivocal. The present study investigated individual differences in emotion perception and its relationship to facial muscle responses - recorded with electromyogram (EMG) - in response to emotional facial expressions. N° = °269 participants completed multiple tasks measuring face and emotion perception. EMG recordings were taken from a subsample (N° = °110) in an independent emotion classification task of short videos displaying six emotions. Confirmatory factor analyses of the m. corrugator supercilii in response to angry, happy, sad, and neutral expressions showed that individual differences in corrugator activity can be separated into a general response to all faces and an emotion-related response. Structural equation modeling revealed a substantial relationship between the emotion-related response and emotion perception ability, providing evidence for the role of facial muscle activation in emotion perception from an individual differences perspective. PMID:24489647

Human Empathy, Personality and Experience Affect the Emotion Ratings of Dog and Human Facial Expressions.

PubMed

Kujala, Miiamaaria V; Somppi, Sanni; Jokela, Markus; Vainio, Outi; Parkkonen, Lauri

2017-01-01

Facial expressions are important for humans in communicating emotions to the conspecifics and enhancing interpersonal understanding. Many muscles producing facial expressions in humans are also found in domestic dogs, but little is known about how humans perceive dog facial expressions, and which psychological factors influence people's perceptions. Here, we asked 34 observers to rate the valence, arousal, and the six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear, and anger/aggressiveness) from images of human and dog faces with Pleasant, Neutral and Threatening expressions. We investigated how the subjects' personality (the Big Five Inventory), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and experience of dog behavior affect the ratings of dog and human faces. Ratings of both species followed similar general patterns: human subjects classified dog facial expressions from pleasant to threatening very similarly to human facial expressions. Subjects with higher emotional empathy evaluated Threatening faces of both species as more negative in valence and higher in anger/aggressiveness. More empathetic subjects also rated the happiness of Pleasant humans but not dogs higher, and they were quicker in their valence judgments of Pleasant human, Threatening human and Threatening dog faces. Experience with dogs correlated positively with ratings of Pleasant and Neutral dog faces. Personality also had a minor effect on the ratings of Pleasant and Neutral faces in both species. The results imply that humans perceive human and dog facial expression in a similar manner, and the perception of both species is influenced by psychological factors of the evaluators. Especially empathy affects both the speed and intensity of rating dogs' emotional facial expressions.

Human Empathy, Personality and Experience Affect the Emotion Ratings of Dog and Human Facial Expressions

PubMed Central

Kujala, Miiamaaria V.; Somppi, Sanni; Jokela, Markus; Vainio, Outi; Parkkonen, Lauri

2017-01-01

Facial expressions are important for humans in communicating emotions to the conspecifics and enhancing interpersonal understanding. Many muscles producing facial expressions in humans are also found in domestic dogs, but little is known about how humans perceive dog facial expressions, and which psychological factors influence people’s perceptions. Here, we asked 34 observers to rate the valence, arousal, and the six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear, and anger/aggressiveness) from images of human and dog faces with Pleasant, Neutral and Threatening expressions. We investigated how the subjects’ personality (the Big Five Inventory), empathy (Interpersonal Reactivity Index) and experience of dog behavior affect the ratings of dog and human faces. Ratings of both species followed similar general patterns: human subjects classified dog facial expressions from pleasant to threatening very similarly to human facial expressions. Subjects with higher emotional empathy evaluated Threatening faces of both species as more negative in valence and higher in anger/aggressiveness. More empathetic subjects also rated the happiness of Pleasant humans but not dogs higher, and they were quicker in their valence judgments of Pleasant human, Threatening human and Threatening dog faces. Experience with dogs correlated positively with ratings of Pleasant and Neutral dog faces. Personality also had a minor effect on the ratings of Pleasant and Neutral faces in both species. The results imply that humans perceive human and dog facial expression in a similar manner, and the perception of both species is influenced by psychological factors of the evaluators. Especially empathy affects both the speed and intensity of rating dogs’ emotional facial expressions. PMID:28114335

Are Happy Faces Attractive? The Roles of Early vs. Late Processing

PubMed Central

Sun, Delin; Chan, Chetwyn C. H.; Fan, Jintu; Wu, Yi; Lee, Tatia M. C.

2015-01-01

Facial attractiveness is closely related to romantic love. To understand if the neural underpinnings of perceived facial attractiveness and facial expression are similar constructs, we recorded neural signals using an event-related potential (ERP) methodology for 20 participants who were viewing faces with varied attractiveness and expressions. We found that attractiveness and expression were reflected by two early components, P2-lateral (P2l) and P2-medial (P2m), respectively; their interaction effect was reflected by LPP, a late component. The findings suggested that facial attractiveness and expression are first processed in parallel for discrimination between stimuli. After the initial processing, more attentional resources are allocated to the faces with the most positive or most negative valence in both the attractiveness and expression dimensions. The findings contribute to the theoretical model of face perception. PMID:26648885

Women with intellectual disabilities talk about their perceptions of sex.

PubMed

Bernert, D J; Ogletree, R J

2013-03-01

Sexuality is learned through sexual socialisation that women with intellectual disabilities (IDs) understand and express. Rules of sexual engagement for these women can include barriers for their socialisation, intimate partner selection, and sexual expression. These rules can become more limiting when coupled with rules of femininity that encourage sexual restraint for women. This ethnography explored how women with IDs perceived their sexuality and how sexuality functioned in their lives. Sources of data included 48 multiple and in-depth interviews and observations with 14 women. This article specifically describes how the women constructed 'sex' and how they described experiencing sex as two of their multiple expressions of sexuality in this study. Most of the women had very limited and exclusively heterosexual sexual experiences, and the majority of women reported practicing abstinence. Criteria they identified for sex included having protected sex, marital and monogamous sex for the purpose of procreation or parenting, and having feelings for a sexual partner. Most held negative perceptions of sex they attributed to fear of the first act, fear of experiencing negative consequences, physiological concerns about the act, and perceived or actual lack of pleasure.   Although the women displayed some sense of self-determinism in their sexual behaviour, negative perceptions of sex resulted in self-imposed abstinence predicated by fear of intercourse, intimacy, or outcome. Central to their sexuality education then is increasing self-efficacy perceptions and performance of safer sex practices to prevent negative sexual consequence. Sexuality education from a positive perspective that enhances their sexual self-determinism and encourages sexual health is recommended. © 2012 The Author. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research © 2012 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Infants and adults have similar regional functional brain organization for the perception of emotions.

PubMed

Rotem-Kohavi, N; Oberlander, T F; Virji-Babul, N

2017-05-22

An infant's ability to perceive emotional facial expressions is critical for developing social skills. Infants are tuned to faces from early in life, however the functional organization of the brain that supports the processing of emotional faces in infants is still not well understood. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) brain responses in 8-10 month old infants and adults and applied graph theory analysis on the functional connections to compare the network organization at the global and the regional levels underlying the perception of negative and positive dynamic facial expressions (happiness and sadness). We first show that processing of dynamic emotional faces occurs across multiple brain regions in both infants and adults. Across all brain regions, at the global level, network density was higher in the infant group in comparison with adults suggesting that the overall brain organization in relation to emotion perception is still immature in infancy. In contrast, at the regional levels, the functional characteristics of the frontal and parietal nodes were similar between infants and adults, suggesting that functional regional specialization for emotion perception is already established at this age. In addition, in both groups the occipital, parietal and temporal nodes appear to have the strongest influence on information flow within the network. These results suggest that while the global organization for the emotion perception of sad and happy emotions is still under development, the basic functional network organization at the regional level is already in place early in infancy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Project PAVE (Personality And Vision Experimentation): role of personal and interpersonal resilience in the perception of emotional facial expression

PubMed Central

Tanzer, Michal; Shahar, Golan; Avidan, Galia

2014-01-01

The aim of the proposed theoretical model is to illuminate personal and interpersonal resilience by drawing from the field of emotional face perception. We suggest that perception/recognition of emotional facial expressions serves as a central link between subjective, self-related processes and the social context. Emotional face perception constitutes a salient social cue underlying interpersonal communication and behavior. Because problems in communication and interpersonal behavior underlie most, if not all, forms of psychopathology, it follows that perception/recognition of emotional facial expressions impacts psychopathology. The ability to accurately interpret one’s facial expression is crucial in subsequently deciding on an appropriate course of action. However, perception in general, and of emotional facial expressions in particular, is highly influenced by individuals’ personality and the self-concept. Herein we briefly outline well-established theories of personal and interpersonal resilience and link them to the neuro-cognitive basis of face perception. We then describe the findings of our ongoing program of research linking two well-established resilience factors, general self-efficacy (GSE) and perceived social support (PSS), with face perception. We conclude by pointing out avenues for future research focusing on possible genetic markers and patterns of brain connectivity associated with the proposed model. Implications of our integrative model to psychotherapy are discussed. PMID:25165439

Categorical Perception of Affective and Linguistic Facial Expressions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

McCullough, Stephen; Emmorey, Karen

2009-01-01

Two experiments investigated categorical perception (CP) effects for affective facial expressions and linguistic facial expressions from American Sign Language (ASL) for Deaf native signers and hearing non-signers. Facial expressions were presented in isolation (Experiment 1) or in an ASL verb context (Experiment 2). Participants performed ABX…

A Virtual Joy-Stick Study of Emotional Responses and Social Motivation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Kim, Kwanguk; Rosenthal, M. Zachary; Gwaltney, Mary; Jarrold, William; Hatt, Naomi; McIntyre, Nancy; Swain, Lindsay; Solomon, Marjorie

2017-01-01

A new virtual reality task was employed which uses preference for interpersonal distance to social stimuli to examine social motivation and emotion perception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Nineteen high function children with higher functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) and 23 age, gender, and IQ matched children with typical development (TD) used a joy stick to position themselves closer or further from virtual avatars while attempting to identify six emotions expressed by the avatars, happiness, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise that were expressed at different levels of intensity. The results indicated that children with HFASD displayed significantly less approach behavior to the positive happy expression than did children with TD, who displayed increases in approach behavior to higher intensities of happy expressions. Alternatively, all groups tended to withdraw from negative emotions to the same extent and there were no diagnostic group differences in accuracy of recognition of any of the six emotions. This pattern of results is consistent with theory that suggests that some children with HFASD display atypical social-approach motivation, or sensitivity to the positive reward value of positive social–emotional events. Conversely, there was little evidence that a tendency to withdraw from social–emotional stimuli, or a failure to process social emotional stimuli, was a component of social behavior task performance in this sample of children with HFASD. PMID:24435405

A Virtual Joy-Stick Study of Emotional Responses and Social Motivation in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder.

PubMed

Kim, Kwanguk; Rosenthal, M Zachary; Gwaltney, Mary; Jarrold, William; Hatt, Naomi; McIntyre, Nancy; Swain, Lindsay; Solomon, Marjorie; Mundy, Peter

2015-12-01

A new virtual reality task was employed which uses preference for interpersonal distance to social stimuli to examine social motivation and emotion perception in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Nineteen high function children with higher functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder (HFASD) and 23 age, gender, and IQ matched children with typical development (TD) used a joy stick to position themselves closer or further from virtual avatars while attempting to identify six emotions expressed by the avatars, happiness, fear, anger, disgust, sadness, and surprise that were expressed at different levels of intensity. The results indicated that children with HFASD displayed significantly less approach behavior to the positive happy expression than did children with TD, who displayed increases in approach behavior to higher intensities of happy expressions. Alternatively, all groups tended to withdraw from negative emotions to the same extent and there were no diagnostic group differences in accuracy of recognition of any of the six emotions. This pattern of results is consistent with theory that suggests that some children with HFASD display atypical social-approach motivation, or sensitivity to the positive reward value of positive social-emotional events. Conversely, there was little evidence that a tendency to withdraw from social-emotional stimuli, or a failure to process social emotional stimuli, was a component of social behavior task performance in this sample of children with HFASD.

Teachers' perceptions of the benefits and the challenges of integrating educational robots into primary/elementary curricula

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Khanlari, Ahmad

2016-05-01

Twenty-first century education systems should create an environment wherein students encounter critical learning components (such as problem-solving, teamwork, and communication skills) and embrace lifelong learning. A review of literature demonstrates that new technologies, in general, and robotics, in particular, are well suited for this aim. This study aims to contribute to the literature by studying teachers' perceptions of the effects of using robotics on students' lifelong learning skills. This study also seeks to better understand teachers' perceptions of the barriers of using robotics and the support they need. Eleven primary/elementary teachers from Newfoundland and Labrador English Schools District participated in this study. The results of this study revealed that robotics is perceived by teachers to have positive effects on students' lifelong learning skills. Furthermore, the participants indicated a number of barriers to integrate robotics into their teaching activities and expressed the support they need.

Public knowledge and perceptions of black-tailed prairie dogs

USGS Publications Warehouse

Lamb, B.L.; Cline, K.

2003-01-01

Black-tailed prairie dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus) historically occupied an 11-state region of the United States. We surveyed 1,900 residents (response rate 56%) of this region to understand citizen knowledge and perceptions about prairie dogs and their management. Those who have direct experience - e.g., those who live very close to prairie dog colonies or know the location of the nearest colony - have higher levels of knowledge. A significantly higher level of knowledge was documented among those who were politically active when compared with the general public. Those who found environmental issues difficult to understand were associated with lower knowledge. People with direct experience were likely to hold negative views, whereas those holding environmentalist values were likely to express positive attitudes toward the species. Although those with higher education reported more knowledge, there was no link between a person's level of knowledge and perceptions of prairie dog management.

Nonstandard Maternal Work Schedules: Implications for African American Children’s Early Language Outcomes

PubMed Central

Odom, Erika C.; Vernon-Feagans, Lynne; Crouter, Ann C.

2012-01-01

In this study, observed maternal positive engagement and perception of work-family spillover were examined as mediators of the association between maternal nonstandard work schedules and children’s expressive language outcomes in 231 African American families living in rural households. Mothers reported their work schedules when their child was 24 months of age and children’s expressive language development was assessed during a picture book task at 24 months and with a standardized assessment at 36 months. After controlling for family demographics, child, and maternal characteristics, maternal employment in nonstandard schedules at the 24 month timepoint was associated with lower expressive language ability among African American children concurrently and at 36 months of age. Importantly, the negative association between nonstandard schedules and children’s expressive language ability at 24 months of age was mediated by maternal positive engagement and negative work-family spillover, while at 36 months of age, the association was mediated only by negative work-family spillover. These findings suggest complex links between mothers’ work environments and African American children’s developmental outcomes. PMID:23459591

What do beginning students, in a rurally focused medical course, think about rural practice?

PubMed

Young, Louise; Lindsay, Daniel B; Ray, Robin A

2016-12-07

Medical schools may select students for their attitudes towards rural medical practice, yet the rural-urban disparity in availability of medical practitioners and services has not diminished in recent times despite government initiatives and increasing numbers being trained for a career in medicine. One medical school, with a focus on rural and remote medicine, aims to select students with positive perceptions for rural medical practice. A research project collected data on the perceptions of these medical students in the first week of their medical studies. Students completed a low stakes essay on the life and work of a rural doctor. Initially, this formed part of a literacy assessment to determine any students requiring remediation. All students were asked if they would consent to their essay being reviewed for a research project. Data was obtained from those students who consented and handed their essays in for review. The 103 student essays underwent thematic analysis and sentences were coded into three main themes of rural lifestyle, doctor role and rural practice. Second level themes were further elicited and results were quantified according to whether they were positive or negative. Positive themes included rural lifestyle, doctor role, views of doctor, impact on community, broader work and skills knowledge, and better relationships with community and patients. Negative themes included doctor's health, pressure on doctor, family problems, greater workload, privacy and confidentiality issues, cultural issues, isolation, limited resources and financial impacts. Quantitisation of this data was used to transform essay sentences into a numerical form which allowed statistical analysis and comparison of perceptions using Z tests. No significant differences on the number of positive and negative responses for rural lifestyle and rural practice were found. The rural doctor role had a significantly more positive than negative views. Significant differences were found for positive views of the rural doctor role and negative views of rural practice. Participants from a capital city background reported a significantly higher percentage of responses related to negative views of rural practice than their regional and rural counterparts. Students from capital city areas had significantly more negative views about the rural doctor role, especially related to workload, limited resources and isolation than students from rural and regional areas. Students entering medical school already have both positive and negative views about the life and work of a rural doctor. Those students from capital city areas have significantly more negative views despite being selected to enter a medical course with a rural focus based on their expressed rural perceptions. Further work is required to refine selection criteria and the year level experiences and learning opportunities which may positively influence student perceptions about rural medical practice to overcome early negative perceptions at the beginning of medical school.

Emotional voice and emotional body postures influence each other independently of visual awareness.

PubMed

Stienen, Bernard M C; Tanaka, Akihiro; de Gelder, Beatrice

2011-01-01

Multisensory integration may occur independently of visual attention as previously shown with compound face-voice stimuli. We investigated in two experiments whether the perception of whole body expressions and the perception of voices influence each other when observers are not aware of seeing the bodily expression. In the first experiment participants categorized masked happy and angry bodily expressions while ignoring congruent or incongruent emotional voices. The onset between target and mask varied from -50 to +133 ms. Results show that the congruency between the emotion in the voice and the bodily expressions influences audiovisual perception independently of the visibility of the stimuli. In the second experiment participants categorized the emotional voices combined with masked bodily expressions as fearful or happy. This experiment showed that bodily expressions presented outside visual awareness still influence prosody perception. Our experiments show that audiovisual integration between bodily expressions and affective prosody can take place outside and independent of visual awareness.

Advising Consultations: Spectral Images of Faculty Power.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kramer, Howard C.

A perception of "faculty power" frequently expressed during consultant/consultee interactions is analyzed, and approaches to dealing with the perception and also meeting the consultation objectives are suggested. This commonly expressed perception is that faculty hold untested strength that should not be bothered, challenged, or antagonized. In a…

Listener Perception of Expressivity in Collaborative Performances Containing Expressive and Unexpressive Playing by the Pianist

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Geringer, John M.; Sasanfar, Justine K.

2013-01-01

Listener perception of musical expression in collaborative performance was explored in this study. Performances of two duos (a violinist and pianist, and a vocalist and pianist) were recorded. The level of expressivity of the violinist and vocalist remained stylistically appropriate during pieces; however, the pianist alternated between very…

Perceptions of affectionate communication among people with unfavorable and favorable attitudes toward homosexuality.

PubMed

Brantley-Hill, Stacia M; Brinthaupt, Thomas M

2014-01-01

People are sometimes hesitant to communicate affection if it might be misinterpreted by the intended receiver or an audience. We hypothesized that anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes might negatively affect the perceived appropriateness of expressing affection. One hundred and twenty male and female undergraduates with either very high or very low levels of anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes participated in the study. They rated the appropriateness of expressing affection toward same- and other-sex targets in a set of 2 (public or private setting) × 3 (positive, neutral, or negative valence) scenarios. Results supported a "generalized inhibition" effect, with high levels of anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes associated with a reluctance to express affection regardless of target, setting, valence, or current relationship status. Implications for research on affectionate expression and anti-gay/-lesbian attitudes are presented.

Representational momentum in dynamic facial expressions is modulated by the level of expressed pain: Amplitude and direction effects.

PubMed

Prigent, Elise; Amorim, Michel-Ange; de Oliveira, Armando Mónica

2018-01-01

Humans have developed a specific capacity to rapidly perceive and anticipate other people's facial expressions so as to get an immediate impression of their emotional state of mind. We carried out two experiments to examine the perceptual and memory dynamics of facial expressions of pain. In the first experiment, we investigated how people estimate other people's levels of pain based on the perception of various dynamic facial expressions; these differ both in terms of the amount and intensity of activated action units. A second experiment used a representational momentum (RM) paradigm to study the emotional anticipation (memory bias) elicited by the same facial expressions of pain studied in Experiment 1. Our results highlighted the relationship between the level of perceived pain (in Experiment 1) and the direction and magnitude of memory bias (in Experiment 2): When perceived pain increases, the memory bias tends to be reduced (if positive) and ultimately becomes negative. Dynamic facial expressions of pain may reenact an "immediate perceptual history" in the perceiver before leading to an emotional anticipation of the agent's upcoming state. Thus, a subtle facial expression of pain (i.e., a low contraction around the eyes) that leads to a significant positive anticipation can be considered an adaptive process-one through which we can swiftly and involuntarily detect other people's pain.

Neural correlates of the perception of dynamic versus static facial expressions of emotion.

PubMed

Kessler, Henrik; Doyen-Waldecker, Cornelia; Hofer, Christian; Hoffmann, Holger; Traue, Harald C; Abler, Birgit

2011-04-20

This study investigated brain areas involved in the perception of dynamic facial expressions of emotion. A group of 30 healthy subjects was measured with fMRI when passively viewing prototypical facial expressions of fear, disgust, sadness and happiness. Using morphing techniques, all faces were displayed as still images and also dynamically as a film clip with the expressions evolving from neutral to emotional. Irrespective of a specific emotion, dynamic stimuli selectively activated bilateral superior temporal sulcus, visual area V5, fusiform gyrus, thalamus and other frontal and parietal areas. Interaction effects of emotion and mode of presentation (static/dynamic) were only found for the expression of happiness, where static faces evoked greater activity in the medial prefrontal cortex. Our results confirm previous findings on neural correlates of the perception of dynamic facial expressions and are in line with studies showing the importance of the superior temporal sulcus and V5 in the perception of biological motion. Differential activation in the fusiform gyrus for dynamic stimuli stands in contrast to classical models of face perception but is coherent with new findings arguing for a more general role of the fusiform gyrus in the processing of socially relevant stimuli.

Visual aspects of perception of multimedia messages on the web through the "eye tracker" method.

PubMed

Svilicić, Niksa

2010-09-01

Since the dawn of civilisation visual communication played a role in everyday life. In the early times there were simply shaped drawings of animals, pictograms explaining hunting tactics or strategies of attacking the enemies. Through evolution visual expression becomes an important component of communication process on several levels, from the existential and economic level to the artistic level. However, there was always a question of the level of user reception of such visual information in the medium transmitting the information. Does physical positioning of information in the medium contribute to the efficiency of the message? Do the same rules of content positioning apply for traditional (offline) and online media (Internet)? Rapid development of information technology and Internet in almost all segments of contemporary life calls for defining the rules of designing and positioning multimedia online contents on web sites. Recent research indicates beyond doubt that the physical positioning of an online content on a web site significantly determines the quality of user's perception of such content. By employing the "Eye tracking" method it is possible to objectively analyse the level of user perception of a multimedia content on a web site. What is the first thing observed by the user after opening the web site and how does he/she visually search the online content? By which methods can this be investigated subjectively and objectively? How can the survey results be used to improve the creation of web sites and to optimise the positioning of relevant contents on the site? The answers to these questions will significantly improve the presentation of multimedia interactive contents on the Web.

Factors influencing consumption of nutrient rich forest foods in rural Cameroon.

PubMed

Fungo, Robert; Muyonga, John H; Kabahenda, Margaret; Okia, Clement A; Snook, Laura

2016-02-01

Studies show that a number of forest foods consumed in Cameroon are highly nutritious and rich in health boosting bioactive compounds. This study assessed the knowledge and perceptions towards the nutritional and health promoting properties of forest foods among forest dependent communities. The relationship between knowledge, perceptions and socio-demographic attributes on consumption of forest foods was also determined. A total of 279 females in charge of decision making with respect to food preparation were randomly selected from 12 villages in southern and eastern Cameroon and interviewed using researcher administered questionnaires. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify the factors affecting consumption of forest foods. Baillonella toxisperma (98%) and Irvingia gabonesis (81%) were the most known nutrient rich forest foods by the respondents. About 31% of the respondents were aware of the nutritional value and health benefits of forest foods. About 10%-61% of the respondents expressed positive attitudes to questions related with health benefits of specific forest foods. Consumption of forest foods was found to be higher among polygamous families and also positively related to length of stay in the forest area and age of respondent with consumption of forest foods. Education had an inverse relationship with use of forest foods. Knowledge and positive attitude towards the nutritional value of forest foods were also found to positively influence consumption of forest foods. Since knowledge was found to influence attitude and consumption, there is need to invest in awareness campaigns to strengthen the current knowledge levels among the study population. This should positively influence the attitudes and perceptions towards increased consumption of forest foods. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Body-part metaphors: a cross-cultural survey of the perception of translatability among Americans and Japanese.

PubMed

Sakuragi, Toshiyuki; Fuller, Judith W

2003-07-01

What kinds of linguistic resources do people utilize when they try to translate metaphors into a foreign language? This investigation of the perception of translatability of body-part metaphors examined the effects of the following factors: the similarity between the human body part and the metaphorical expression (e.g., "eye" in "electric eye") in appearance and function; the frequency of the use of the metaphor in the native language; and the perceived distance between the first language and the target language. The results of a survey of American (n = 151) and Japanese (n = 116) university students showed that both Similarity in Appearance and Similarity in Function correlated positively with Translatability, while the effect of the former was stronger than the latter. Frequency correlated positively with Translatability for the Americans, although the correlation was weaker when the target language is "distant" (Japanese or Chinese) than when the target language is "close" (Spanish). Among the Japanese, Frequency did not correlate with translatability regardless of the target language.

Children's Perception, Production, and Description of Musical Expression.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rodriguez, Carlos Xavier

1998-01-01

Investigates whether children can demonstrate awareness of musical expression by discriminating between expressive and mechanical music fragments, performing similar songs, and describing the fragments and songs. Indicates task improvement with age, significant differences between kindergarten and fourth-grade scores in perception and description,…

Characteristics of US Adults Who Have Positive and Negative Perceptions of Doctors of Chiropractic and Chiropractic Care.

PubMed

Weeks, William B; Goertz, Christine M; Meeker, William C; Marchiori, Dennis M

2016-01-01

The purpose of this study was to compare characteristics, likelihood to use, and actual use of chiropractic care for US survey respondents with positive and negative perceptions of doctors of chiropractic (DCs) and chiropractic care. From a 2015 nationally representative survey of 5422 adults (response rate, 29%), we used respondents' answers to identify those with positive and negative perceptions of DCs or chiropractic care. We used the χ(2) test to compare other survey responses for these groups. Positive perceptions of DCs were more common than those for chiropractic care, whereas negative perceptions of chiropractic care were more common than those for DCs. Respondents with negative perceptions of DCs or chiropractic care were less likely to know whether chiropractic care was covered by their insurance, more likely to want to see a medical doctor first if they were experiencing neck or back pain, less likely to indicate that they would see a DC for neck or back pain, and less likely to have ever seen a DC as a patient, particularly in the recent past. Positive perceptions of chiropractic care and negative perceptions of DCs appear to have greater influence on DC utilization rates than their converses. We found that US adults generally perceive DCs in a positive manner but that a relatively high proportion has negative perceptions of chiropractic care, particularly the costs and number of visits required by such care. Characteristics of respondents with positive and negative perceptions were similar, but those with positive perceptions were more likely to plan to use-and to have already received-chiropractic care. Copyright © 2016 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Body Weight Can Change How Your Emotions Are Perceived

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Accurately interpreting other’s emotions through facial expressions has important adaptive values for social interactions. However, due to the stereotypical social perception of overweight individuals as carefree, humorous, and light-hearted, the body weight of those with whom we interact may have a systematic influence on our emotion judgment even though it has no relevance to the expressed emotion itself. In this experimental study, we examined the role of body weight in faces on the affective perception of facial expressions. We hypothesized that the weight perceived in a face would bias the assessment of an emotional expression, with overweight faces generally more likely to be perceived as having more positive and less negative expressions than healthy weight faces. Using two-alternative forced-choice perceptual decision tasks, participants were asked to sort the emotional expressions of overweight and healthy weight facial stimuli that had been gradually morphed across six emotional intensity levels into one of two categories—“neutral vs. happy” (Experiment 1) and “neutral vs. sad” (Experiment 2). As predicted, our results demonstrated that overweight faces were more likely to be categorized as happy (i.e., lower happy decision threshold) and less likely to be categorized as sad (i.e., higher sad decision threshold) compared to healthy weight faces that had the same levels of emotional intensity. The neutral-sad decision threshold shift was negatively correlated with participant’s own fear of becoming fat, that is, those without a fear of becoming fat more strongly perceived overweight faces as sad relative to those with a higher fear. These findings demonstrate that the weight of the face systematically influences how its emotional expression is interpreted, suggesting that being overweight may make emotional expressions appear more happy and less sad than they really are. PMID:27870892

Body Weight Can Change How Your Emotions Are Perceived.

PubMed

Oh, Yujung; Hass, Norah C; Lim, Seung-Lark

2016-01-01

Accurately interpreting other's emotions through facial expressions has important adaptive values for social interactions. However, due to the stereotypical social perception of overweight individuals as carefree, humorous, and light-hearted, the body weight of those with whom we interact may have a systematic influence on our emotion judgment even though it has no relevance to the expressed emotion itself. In this experimental study, we examined the role of body weight in faces on the affective perception of facial expressions. We hypothesized that the weight perceived in a face would bias the assessment of an emotional expression, with overweight faces generally more likely to be perceived as having more positive and less negative expressions than healthy weight faces. Using two-alternative forced-choice perceptual decision tasks, participants were asked to sort the emotional expressions of overweight and healthy weight facial stimuli that had been gradually morphed across six emotional intensity levels into one of two categories-"neutral vs. happy" (Experiment 1) and "neutral vs. sad" (Experiment 2). As predicted, our results demonstrated that overweight faces were more likely to be categorized as happy (i.e., lower happy decision threshold) and less likely to be categorized as sad (i.e., higher sad decision threshold) compared to healthy weight faces that had the same levels of emotional intensity. The neutral-sad decision threshold shift was negatively correlated with participant's own fear of becoming fat, that is, those without a fear of becoming fat more strongly perceived overweight faces as sad relative to those with a higher fear. These findings demonstrate that the weight of the face systematically influences how its emotional expression is interpreted, suggesting that being overweight may make emotional expressions appear more happy and less sad than they really are.

Encapsulated social perception of emotional expressions.

PubMed

Smortchkova, Joulia

2017-01-01

In this paper I argue that the detection of emotional expressions is, in its early stages, informationally encapsulated. I clarify and defend such a view via the appeal to data from social perception on the visual processing of faces, bodies, facial and bodily expressions. Encapsulated social perception might exist alongside processes that are cognitively penetrated, and that have to do with recognition and categorization, and play a central evolutionary function in preparing early and rapid responses to the emotional stimuli. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Connecting Socially Isolated Older Rural Adults with Older Volunteers through Expressive Arts.

PubMed

MacLeod, Ann; Skinner, Mark W; Wilkinson, Fay; Reid, Heather

2016-03-01

Employing a participatory arts-based research approach, we examined an innovative program from rural Ontario, Canada, designed to address social isolation among older people. Older socially isolated adults were matched to trained volunteers, where in dyads, the eight pairs created expressive art in their home setting over the course of 10 home visits. With thematic and narrative inquiry, we analysed the experiences and perceptions of the program leader, older participants, and older volunteers via their artistic creations, weekly logs, evaluations, and field notes. The findings reveal a successful intervention that positively influenced the well-being of older adult participants and older volunteers, especially in regards to relationships, personal development, and creating meaning as well as extending the intervention's impact beyond the program's duration. We also discuss opportunities for similar programs to inform policy and enable positive community-based health and social service responses to rural social isolation.

Connotative Meaning of Military Chat Communications

DTIC Science & Technology

2009-09-01

humans recognize connotative cues expressing uncertainty, perception of personal threat, and urgency; formulate linguistic and non-linguistic means for...built a matrix of speech “cues” representative of uncertainty, perception of personal threat, and urgency, but also applied maximum entropy analysis...results. This project proposed to: (1) conduct a study of how humans recognize connotative cues expressing uncertainty, perception of personal

Revisiting the Relationship between the Processing of Gaze Direction and the Processing of Facial Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ganel, Tzvi

2011-01-01

There is mixed evidence on the nature of the relationship between the perception of gaze direction and the perception of facial expressions. Major support for shared processing of gaze and expression comes from behavioral studies that showed that observers cannot process expression or gaze and ignore irrelevant variations in the other dimension.…

Perceived improvement in integrated management of childhood illness implementation through use of mobile technology: qualitative evidence from a pilot study in Tanzania.

PubMed

Mitchell, Marc; Getchell, Maya; Nkaka, Melania; Msellemu, Daniel; Van Esch, Jan; Hedt-Gauthier, Bethany

2012-01-01

This study examined health care provider and caretaker perceptions of electronic Integrated Management of Childhood Illness (eIMCI) in diagnosing and treating childhood illnesses. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews among caretakers (n = 20) and health care providers (n = 11) in the Pwani region of Tanzania. This qualitative study was nested within a larger quantitative study measuring impact of eIMCI on provider adherence to IMCI protocols. Caretakers and health care workers involved in the larger study provided their perceptions of eIMCI in comparison with the conventional paper forms. One health care provider from each participating health center participated in qualitative interviews; 20 caretakers were selected from 1 health center involved in the quantitative study. Interviews were conducted in Swahili and lasted 5-10 min each. Providers expressed positive opinions of eIMCI, noting that the personal digital assistants were faster and easier to use than were the paper forms and encouraged adherence to IMCI procedures. Caretakers also held a positive view of eIMCI, noting improved service from providers, more thorough examination of their child, and a perception that providers who used the personal digital assistants were more knowledgeable. Research indicates widespread nonadherence to IMCI guidelines, suggesting improved methods for implementing IMCI are necessary. The authors conclude that eIMCI represents a promising method for improving health care delivery because it improves health care provider and caretaker perception of the clinical encounter. Further investigation into this technology is warranted.

The enlightenment from Malaysian consumers' perspective toward cosmetic products.

PubMed

Ayob, Ain; Awadh, Ammar Ihsan; Jafri, Juliana; Jamshed, Shazia; Ahmad, Hawa Mas Azmar; Hadi, Hazrina

2016-01-01

Variety of cosmetic products was used in our daily life, yet the amount and types of the cosmetic products used by the consumers were varied, which may be due to the different perspectives held by each of the consumers. To explore consumers' perspectives toward cosmetic products. An interview guide was developed with a set of 12 semistructured questions. Participants in Kuantan, Pahang were recruited via the purposive sampling, and they undergo in-depth face-to-face interviews. All of the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and were analyzed via thematic content analysis. For the awareness of cosmetic products, less aware about the cosmetic products in Malaysia were noted among the participants. In terms of perceptions about the cosmetic products, participants expressed positive perceptions toward natural cosmetic products, quality were seen as synonymous with branded products and halal certification. Next, for the attitude toward the use of cosmetic products, participants were influenced by ingredients, product brand, and halal certification. Based on personal experiences, they provide complaints and suggestions for the enhancement of cosmetic products' quality. Participants were found to have less awareness about the cosmetic products in Malaysia. Besides, they realized about the chemical ingredients and halal certification for the cosmetic products. Therefore, they held positive perceptions and practiced positive attitudes toward natural and halal cosmetic products. Finally, adverse reactions from the use of cosmetic products were commonly experienced by the participants, which contributed mainly by the ingredients. Thus, they hoped for serious approached to be enacted to solve this problem.

Predictors of sports motivation among gay and bisexual men.

PubMed

Zamboni, Brian D; Crawford, Isiaah; Carrico, Adam W

2008-01-01

Athletic activities are associated with reduced levels of stress and negative mood states among heterosexuals; thus, examining this association among gay/bisexual men is warranted. The current study examined the relationship between sports motivation and mood states, self-esteem, body esteem, life satisfaction, perceptions of masculinity/femininity, and parental encouragement for athletic endeavors among 195 gay/bisexual men. The results were mixed, but suggest that sports participation among gay/bisexual men may relate to a desire to express their masculinity and maintain a positive body image. Gay/bisexual men may be more likely to participate in sports if they receive positive reinforcement from others.

Biased recognition of facial affect in patients with major depressive disorder reflects clinical state.

PubMed

Münkler, Paula; Rothkirch, Marcus; Dalati, Yasmin; Schmack, Katharina; Sterzer, Philipp

2015-01-01

Cognitive theories of depression posit that perception is negatively biased in depressive disorder. Previous studies have provided empirical evidence for this notion, but left open the question whether the negative perceptual bias reflects a stable trait or the current depressive state. Here we investigated the stability of negatively biased perception over time. Emotion perception was examined in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy control participants in two experiments. In the first experiment subjective biases in the recognition of facial emotional expressions were assessed. Participants were presented with faces that were morphed between sad and neutral and happy expressions and had to decide whether the face was sad or happy. The second experiment assessed automatic emotion processing by measuring the potency of emotional faces to gain access to awareness using interocular suppression. A follow-up investigation using the same tests was performed three months later. In the emotion recognition task, patients with major depression showed a shift in the criterion for the differentiation between sad and happy faces: In comparison to healthy controls, patients with MDD required a greater intensity of the happy expression to recognize a face as happy. After three months, this negative perceptual bias was reduced in comparison to the control group. The reduction in negative perceptual bias correlated with the reduction of depressive symptoms. In contrast to previous work, we found no evidence for preferential access to awareness of sad vs. happy faces. Taken together, our results indicate that MDD-related perceptual biases in emotion recognition reflect the current clinical state rather than a stable depressive trait.

The production and perception of emotionally expressive walking sounds: similarities between musical performance and everyday motor activity.

PubMed

Giordano, Bruno L; Egermann, Hauke; Bresin, Roberto

2014-01-01

Several studies have investigated the encoding and perception of emotional expressivity in music performance. A relevant question concerns how the ability to communicate emotions in music performance is acquired. In accordance with recent theories on the embodiment of emotion, we suggest here that both the expression and recognition of emotion in music might at least in part rely on knowledge about the sounds of expressive body movements. We test this hypothesis by drawing parallels between musical expression of emotions and expression of emotions in sounds associated with a non-musical motor activity: walking. In a combined production-perception design, two experiments were conducted, and expressive acoustical features were compared across modalities. An initial performance experiment tested for similar feature use in walking sounds and music performance, and revealed that strong similarities exist. Features related to sound intensity, tempo and tempo regularity were identified as been used similarly in both domains. Participants in a subsequent perception experiment were able to recognize both non-emotional and emotional properties of the sound-generating walkers. An analysis of the acoustical correlates of behavioral data revealed that variations in sound intensity, tempo, and tempo regularity were likely used to recognize expressed emotions. Taken together, these results lend support the motor origin hypothesis for the musical expression of emotions.

She looks sad, but he looks mad: the effects of age, gender, and ambiguity on emotion perception.

PubMed

Parmley, Maria; Cunningham, Joseph G

2014-01-01

This study investigated how target sex, target age, and expressive ambiguity influence emotion perception. Undergraduate participants (N = 192) watched morphed video clips of eight child and eight adult facial expressions shifting from neutral to either sadness or anger. Participants were asked to stop the video clip when they first saw an emotion appear (perceptual sensitivity) and were asked to identify the emotion that they saw (accuracy). Results indicate that female participants identified sad expressions sooner in female targets than in male targets. Participants were also more accurate identifying angry facial expressions by male children than by female children. Findings are discussed in terms of the effects of ambiguity, gender, and age on the perception of emotional expressions.

Dynamic facial expressions evoke distinct activation in the face perception network: a connectivity analysis study.

PubMed

Foley, Elaine; Rippon, Gina; Thai, Ngoc Jade; Longe, Olivia; Senior, Carl

2012-02-01

Very little is known about the neural structures involved in the perception of realistic dynamic facial expressions. In the present study, a unique set of naturalistic dynamic facial emotional expressions was created. Through fMRI and connectivity analysis, a dynamic face perception network was identified, which is demonstrated to extend Haxby et al.'s [Haxby, J. V., Hoffman, E. A., & Gobbini, M. I. The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Science, 4, 223-233, 2000] distributed neural system for face perception. This network includes early visual regions, such as the inferior occipital gyrus, which is identified as insensitive to motion or affect but sensitive to the visual stimulus, the STS, identified as specifically sensitive to motion, and the amygdala, recruited to process affect. Measures of effective connectivity between these regions revealed that dynamic facial stimuli were associated with specific increases in connectivity between early visual regions, such as the inferior occipital gyrus and the STS, along with coupling between the STS and the amygdala, as well as the inferior frontal gyrus. These findings support the presence of a distributed network of cortical regions that mediate the perception of different dynamic facial expressions.

Neonatal Nurses’ and Therapists’ Perceptions of Positioning for Preterm Infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

PubMed Central

Zarem, Cori; Crapnell, Tara; Tiltges, Lisa; Madlinger, Laura; Reynolds, Lauren; Lukas, Karen; Pineda, Roberta

2014-01-01

Purpose Determine perceptions about positioning for preterm infants in the NICU. Design Twenty-item survey Sample Neonatal nurses (n=68) and speech, physical, and occupational therapists (n=8). Main Outcome Variable Perceptions about positioning were obtained, and differences in perceptions between nurses and therapists were explored. Results Ninety-nine percent of respondents agreed that positioning is important for the well-being of the infant. Sixty-two percent of nurses and 86% of therapists identified the Dandle Roo as the ideal method of neonatal positioning. Forty-four percent of nurses and 57% of therapists reported the Dandle Roo is the easiest positioning method to use in the NICU. Some perceptions differed: therapists were more likely to report the Sleep Sack does not hold the infant in good alignment. Nurses were more likely to report the infant does not sleep well in traditional positioning. PMID:23477978

Positive Perception of Aging and Performance in a Memory Task: Compensating for Stereotype Threat?

PubMed

Fernández-Ballesteros, Rocío; Bustillos, Antonio; Huici, Carmen

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: The aim of this research is to explore whether segments of seniors might be immune to aging stereotypes of the older adult group. Stereotype threat research indicates that older adults show low memory recall under conditions of stereotype threat. Stereotype internalization theory (Levy, 2009) predicts that a positive perception of aging has favorable effects on the behavior and health of older people. A total of 112 older adult participants (62% women, aged 55 to 78) attending the University Programme for Older Adults were assigned to one of two conditions: stereotype threat condition and positive information condition. A control group was included from participants in the same program (n = 34; 61% women, aged 55 to 78). Individual differences in self-perception of aging were considered as continuous variable. Participants with better self-perception of aging showed better memory performance than those with poorer self-perception of aging in the stereotype threat condition and control condition. However, no differences were found in the positive information condition between participants with high and low self-perception of aging. These results indicate that positive self-perception of aging moderates the effects of stereotype threat, and that positive information promotes better memory performance for those older adults with a poorer self-perception of aging. As expected, individuals with a positive perception of their own aging were less vulnerable to the activation of a negative older adult stereotype in the stereotype threat condition.

The Role of Positive Traits and Pain Catastrophizing in Pain Perception

PubMed Central

Hood, Anna

2013-01-01

A variety of biological, psychological, and social factors interact to influence pain. This article focuses on two distinct, but connected, psychological factors—positive personality traits and pain catastrophizing—and their link with pain perception in healthy and clinical populations. First, we review the protective link between positive personality traits, such as optimism, hope, and self-efficacy, and pain perception. Second, we provide evidence of the well-established relationship between pain catastrophizing and pain perception and other related outcomes. Third, we outline the inverse relationship between positive traits and pain catastrophizing, and offer a model that explains the inverse link between positive traits and pain perception through lower pain catastrophizing. Finally, we discuss clinical practice recommendations based on the aforementioned relationships. PMID:23512722

Contact high: Mania proneness and positive perception of emotional touches.

PubMed

Piff, Paul K; Purcell, Amanda; Gruber, June; Hertenstein, Matthew J; Keltner, Dacher

2012-01-01

How do extreme degrees of positive emotion-such as those characteristic of mania-influence emotion perception? The present study investigated how mania proneness, assessed using the Hypomanic Personality Scale, influences the perception of emotion via touch. Using a validated dyadic interaction paradigm for communicating emotion through touch (Hertenstein, Keltner, App, Bulleit, & Jaskolka, 2006), participants (N=53) received eight different touches to their forearm from a stranger and then identified the emotion via forced-choice methodology. Mania proneness predicted increased overall accuracy in touch perception, particularly for positive emotion touches, as well as the over-attribution of positive and under-attribution of negative emotions across all touches. These findings highlight the effects of positive emotion extremes on the perception of emotion in social interactions.

Pain perception and expression: the influence of gender, personal self-efficacy, and lifespan socialization.

PubMed

Miller, Carly; Newton, Sarah E

2006-12-01

There are differences between males and females regarding the perception, expression, and tolerance of pain that stems from a variety of social and psychologic influences. Personal self-efficacy and lifespan socialization are two such influences, and they provide new dimensions for nurses to better understand the pain experience. This article will present a review of the literature regarding personal self-efficacy and lifespan socialization and their effects on pain perception and expression among males and females. Finally, nursing implications related to the topic will be discussed.

Perceptions of university instructors toward students who stutter: a quantitative and qualitative approach.

PubMed

Daniels, Derek E; Panico, James; Sudholt, Jennifer

2011-01-01

Many research studies have focused on perceptions of stuttering by various groups of people. However, there is limited research on the perceptions of university instructors toward stuttering and people who stutter. Therefore, this study explored the perceptions of university instructors toward stuttering and students who stutter, and their beliefs about classroom participation. Participants included 328 university instructors across a variety of disciplines at two Midwestern universities. Each participant completed a 12-item questionnaire regarding perceptions related to stuttering, students who stutter, and classroom participation. Of the 328 participants, 212 completed an open-ended question about their experiences and concerns of working with students who stutter. Results indicated that increased knowledge of stuttering is associated with positive attitudes toward students who stutter. Moreover, the participants in this study expressed a need for more information about stuttering and ways to accommodate students who stutter in the classroom. After reading this article, the reader will be able to: (1) discuss the challenges that university instructors face when working with students with disabilities; (2) provide a rationale for the need to explore the perceptions of university instructors toward students who stutter; (3) describe the major themes of university instructors' knowledge of stuttering, and beliefs about classroom participation for students who stutter; and (4) discuss the need for disseminating more knowledge about stuttering to university instructors. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Different coding strategies for the perception of stable and changeable facial attributes.

PubMed

Taubert, Jessica; Alais, David; Burr, David

2016-09-01

Perceptual systems face competing requirements: improving signal-to-noise ratios of noisy images, by integration; and maximising sensitivity to change, by differentiation. Both processes occur in human vision, under different circumstances: they have been termed priming, or serial dependencies, leading to positive sequential effects; and adaptation or habituation, which leads to negative sequential effects. We reasoned that for stable attributes, such as the identity and gender of faces, the system should integrate: while for changeable attributes like facial expression, it should also engage contrast mechanisms to maximise sensitivity to change. Subjects viewed a sequence of images varying simultaneously in gender and expression, and scored each as male or female, and happy or sad. We found strong and consistent positive serial dependencies for gender, and negative dependency for expression, showing that both processes can operate at the same time, on the same stimuli, depending on the attribute being judged. The results point to highly sophisticated mechanisms for optimizing use of past information, either by integration or differentiation, depending on the permanence of that attribute.

Loss of idealism or realistic optimism? A cross-sectional analysis of dental hygiene students' and registered dental hygienists' professional identity perceptions.

PubMed

Champine, J M; Inglehart, M R; Furgeson, D; Halaris, J F; Fitzgerald, M; Danciu, T E; Kinney, J S

2018-02-01

The dental hygiene profession in the U.S. is in the process of establishing a direct access model of care and contributing to the creation of the profession of a dental therapist. The objectives were to analyse the professional role perceptions of dental hygiene students and registered dental hygienists in these times of change. Specifically, it was explored whether dental hygiene students' current professional identities differ (i) from their expected future identities, and (ii) from dental hygienists' current and (iii) past identities. Survey data were collected from 215 dental hygiene students concerning their present and future role perceptions, and from 352 registered dental hygienists concerning their present and past professional identity perceptions. Students' future professional identity perceptions were even more positive than their very positive current perceptions of their professional role components. Students' current perceptions of professional pride, professional ambition, work ethic and patient relations were more positive than dental hygienists' current perceptions of these professional role components. A comparison of students' current perceptions with dental hygienists' current and retrospective descriptions showed that students were more positive than dental hygienists in each case. The fact that dental hygienists had less positive role perceptions than dental hygiene students might lead to the conclusion that a loss of idealism occurs over the course of a professional lifespan. However, dental hygienists actually improved their role perceptions over time and students' future descriptions were more positive than their current descriptions, supporting the interpretation that realistic optimism dominates professional role perceptions in these times of change. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Perceptions of Heavy Drinking College Students about a Sleep and Alcohol Health Intervention

PubMed Central

DeMartini, Kelly S.; Hanrahan, Tess; Whittemore, Robin; Yaggi, Henry Klar; Redeker, Nancy S.

2014-01-01

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the sleep and psychological characteristics of heavy drinking college students, their perceptions of sleep and sleep/alcohol interactions, and their reactions to a proposed integrated sleep and alcohol internet-based intervention. Students (N = 24) completed standardized surveys and participated in semi-structured focus group interviews. Participants reported a high degree of sleep disturbance, sleep obstacles, and sleep-related consequences, which were validated by both quantitative and qualitative investigations. Sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment were associated with more frequent drinking and greater risks from drinking. Participants perceived that alcohol has positive and negative effects on sleep latency, continuity, and quality. They expressed overall enthusiasm for the intervention but had specific content and format preferences. PMID:24924956

Perceptions of Heavy-Drinking College Students About a Sleep and Alcohol Health Intervention.

PubMed

Fucito, Lisa M; DeMartini, Kelly S; Hanrahan, Tess H; Whittemore, Robin; Yaggi, H Klar; Redeker, Nancy S

2015-01-01

The purpose of this mixed methods study was to describe the sleep and psychological characteristics of heavy-drinking college students, their perceptions of sleep and sleep/alcohol interactions, and their reactions to a proposed integrated sleep and alcohol Web-based intervention. Students (N = 24) completed standardized surveys and participated in semistructured focus group interviews. Participants reported a high degree of sleep disturbance, sleep obstacles, and sleep-related consequences, which were validated by both quantitative and qualitative investigations. Sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment were associated with more frequent drinking and greater risks from drinking. Participants perceived that alcohol has positive and negative effects on sleep latency, continuity, and quality. They expressed overall enthusiasm for the intervention but had specific content and format preferences.

Work Organization and Health Issues in Long-Term Care Centers

PubMed Central

Zhang, Yuan; Flum, Marian; Nobrega, Suzanne; Blais, Lara; Qamili, Shpend; Punnett, Laura

2018-01-01

This qualitative study explored common and divergent perceptions of caregivers and managers regarding occupational health and safety, work organization, and psychosocial concerns in long-term care centers. Both common and differing issues were identified. Both groups agreed on the importance of ergonomic concerns, the high prevalence of stress, and receptiveness to participatory health promotion programs. However, numerous work organization issues and physical and psychosocial workplace hazards were identified by certified nursing assistants but were not mentioned by managers. The results suggest that different perceptions naturally arise from people's varying positions in the occupational hierarchy and their consequent exposures to health and safety hazards. Improved systems of communication that allow frontline workers to express their concerns would make it possible to create solutions to these problems. PMID:21261239

Quantifying deficits in the perception of fear and anger in morphed facial expressions after bilateral amygdala damage.

PubMed

Graham, Reiko; Devinsky, Orrin; Labar, Kevin S

2007-01-07

Amygdala damage has been associated with impairments in perceiving facial expressions of fear. However, deficits in perceiving other emotions, such as anger, and deficits in perceiving emotion blends have not been definitively established. One possibility is that methods used to index expression perception are susceptible to heuristic use, which may obscure impairments. To examine this, we adapted a task used to examine categorical perception of morphed facial expressions [Etcoff, N. L., & Magee, J. J. (1992). Categorical perception of facial expressions. Cognition, 44(3), 227-240]. In one version of the task, expressions were categorized with unlimited time constraints. In the other, expressions were presented with limited exposure durations to tap more automatic aspects of processing. Three morph progressions were employed: neutral to anger, neutral to fear, and fear to anger. Both tasks were administered to a participant with bilateral amygdala damage (S.P.), age- and education-matched controls, and young controls. The second task was also administered to unilateral temporal lobectomy patients. In the first version, S.P. showed impairments relative to normal controls on the neutral-to-anger and fear-to-anger morphs, but not on the neutral-to-fear morph. However, reaction times suggested that speed-accuracy tradeoffs could account for results. In the second version, S.P. showed impairments on all morph types relative to all other subject groups. A third experiment showed that this deficit did not extend to the perception of morphed identities. These results imply that when heuristics use is discouraged on tasks utilizing subtle emotion transitions, deficits in the perception of anger and anger/fear blends, as well as fear, are evident with bilateral amygdala damage.

Feeling good, feeling bad: influences of maternal perceptions of the child and marital adjustment on well-being in mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Lickenbrock, Diane M; Ekas, Naomi V; Whitman, Thomas L

2011-07-01

Mothers of children with an autism spectrum disorder (n = 49) participated in a 30-day diary study which examined associations between mothers' positive and negative perceptions of their children, marital adjustment, and maternal well-being. Hierarchical linear modeling results revealed that marital adjustment mediated associations between positive perceptions and maternal well-being. Mothers who reported higher levels of positive perceptions of the child were higher in marital adjustment and well-being. Results also revealed that marital adjustment moderated the relation between negative perceptions and negative maternal affect. Mothers low in marital adjustment had a positive association between negative maternal perceptions of the child and negative maternal affect. These findings highlight the dynamic roles that mothers' perceptions and marital adjustment play in determining maternal psychological outcomes.

Self-Perception in Late Adolescence: An Interactive Perspective.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Klein, Helen Altman

1995-01-01

Examined self-perception during late adolescence as a correlate of individual temperament. Found that positive self-perception correlated with approaching, flexible, and positive mood patterns, and with high task orientation. Different aspects of self-perception showed distinct relationships with specific temperament dimensions. Noted men's and…

Chinese High School Students' Perceptions of Freedom of Expression: Implications for Researching Emerging Civil Liberties in Global Educational Contexts

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Torres, Mario S.; Qin, Lixia

2017-01-01

This study explored attitudes and perceptions of Chinese high school students regarding freedom of expression in their country. A survey capturing perceptions over various forms of free speech (e.g., student publication, dress code) was administered to a sample of 838, which included students from both urban and rural areas within Shaanxi Province…

The influence of attention toward facial expressions on size perception.

PubMed

Choi, Jeong-Won; Kim, Kiho; Lee, Jang-Han

2016-01-01

According to the New Look theory, size perception is affected by emotional factors. Although previous studies have attempted to explain the effects of both emotion and motivation on size perception, they have failed to identify the underlying mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate the underlying mechanisms of size perception by applying attention toward facial expressions using the Ebbinghaus illusion as a measurement tool. The participants, female university students, were asked to judge the size of a target stimulus relative to the size of facial expressions (i.e., happy, angry, and neutral) surrounding the target. The results revealed that the participants perceived angry and neutral faces to be larger than happy faces. This finding indicates that individuals pay closer attention to neutral and angry faces than happy ones. These results suggest that the mechanisms underlying size perception involve cognitive processes that focus attention toward relevant stimuli and block out irrelevant stimuli.

How women with high risk pregnancies perceive interactions with healthcare professionals when discussing place of birth: A qualitative study.

PubMed

Lee, Suzanne; Ayers, Susan; Holden, Des

2016-07-01

to investigate women's perceptions of interactions with obstetricians and midwives during high risk pregnancies. The intention was to examine differences and similarities between women planning to give birth at home or in hospital. qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Setting Maternity department in a hospital in South East England. twenty-six women with high risk pregnancies, at least 32 weeks pregnant. Half were planning hospital births and half homebirths. semi-structured interviews to investigate women's perception of communication. Results were analysed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: women's experiences of communication about risks in pregnancy; women's perceptions of professionals' beliefs about birth; women's trust in professionals; and women's attitude to professionals' advice. Women spoke more positively about communication with midwives than with obstetricians. Women planning hospital births expressed trust in obstetricians. Women planning homebirths expressed more trust in midwives. Women planning hospital births were less likely to question advice from professionals. Women planning homebirths were more inclined to trust their own instincts when these contradicted professional advice. women prefer to communicate with professionals who are respectful of their thoughts and feelings. They may not follow all professional advice. professionals working with women with high risk pregnancies should acknowledge women's concerns and deliver impartial, evidence-based advice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Practice environment and its association with professional competence and work-related factors: perception of newly graduated nurses.

PubMed

Numminen, Olivia; Ruoppa, Eija; Leino-Kilpi, Helena; Isoaho, Hannu; Hupli, Maija; Meretoja, Riitta

2016-01-01

To explore newly graduated nurses' (NGN) perception of their practice environment and its association with their self-assessed competence, turnover intentions and job satisfaction as work-related factors. The impact of practice environment on nurses' work is important. Positive practice environments are associated with positive organisational, nurse and patient outcomes. How this applies to NGNs needs further exploration. A cross-sectional descriptive correlation design was used. Data were collected with PES-NWI and NCS instruments from 318 Finnish registered nurses, and analysed statistically. Newly graduated nurses' perception of their practice environment was mainly positive. Most positive perceptions related to collegial nurse-physician relations, and the least positive to staffing and resource adequacy. Positive perceptions were also associated with higher professional competence, higher perceptions of quality of care and lower intentions to leave the job or profession. The findings revealed strong and significant associations between practice environment and work-related factors. Practice environment is an important element in supporting NGNs' competence, retention and job satisfaction. Nursing management should pay attention to NGNs' perceptions of their practice environment. Management's ability to create and maintain positive practice environments can foster NGNs' professional development and job satisfaction, and consequently retain them in the workforce. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The elevator illusion results from the combination of body orientation and egocentric perception.

PubMed

Paillard, A; Denise, P; Barraud, P-A; Roux, A; Cian, C

2009-10-30

Perception of body orientation and apparent location of objects are altered when humans are using assisted means of locomotion and the resultant of the imposed acceleration and gravity is no longer aligned with the gravitational vertical. As the otolithic system cannot discriminate the acceleration of gravity from sustained inertial accelerations, individuals would perceive the resultant acceleration vector (GiA) as the vertical. However, when subjects are aligned on the GiA, an increase in the magnitude of GiA induced a lowering of the apparent visual horizon (i.e. "elevator illusion"). The main aim of this study was to quantify the contribution of body and egocentric perception in the elevator illusion. While being exposed to 1G and 1.3G and aligned on the GiA acceleration, subjects (N=20) were asked (1) to set a luminous target to the subjective horizon, (2) to set a luminous target on "straight ahead" position (egocentric task) and (3) to rotate a tilting tube to their subjective perception of body orientation. Results showed that increasing GiA lowered horizon and egocentric settings and induces a backward body tilt perception. Moreover, the elevator illusion can be expressed as the additive combination of two processes: one that is dependent on body tilt perception, and the other that is dependent on egocentric perception. Both misperceptions in hypergravity may be considered to be a consequence of excessive shearing of the otolith organs. However large inter-individual differences in body tilt perception were observed. This last result was discussed in terms of the contribution of extravestibular graviceptors.

Early onset ageing and service preparation in people with intellectual disabilities: institutional managers' perspective.

PubMed

Lin, Jin-Ding; Wu, Chia-Ling; Lin, Pei-Ying; Lin, Lan-Ping; Chu, Cordia M

2011-01-01

Although longevity among older adults with intellectual disabilities is increasing, there is limited information on their premature aging related health characteristics and how it may change with increasing age. The present paper provides information of the institutional manager's perception on early onset aging and service preparation for this population. We used purposive sampling to recruit 54 institutional managers who care for people with intellectual disabilities in Taiwan. The present study employed a cross-sectional design using a self-administrative structured questionnaire that was completed by the respondents in November 2009. The results showed that more than 90% of the respondents agreed with earlier onset aging characteristics of people with ID. However, nearly all of the respondents expressed that the government policies were inadequate and the institution is not capable of caring for aging people with ID, and more than half of them did not satisfy to their provisional care for this group of people. With regard to the service priority of government aging policy for people with ID, the respondent expressed that medical care, financial support, daily living care were the main areas in the future policy development for them. The factors of institutional type, expressed adequacy of government's service, respondent's job position, age, and working years in disability service were variables that can significantly predict the positive perceptions toward future governmental aging services for people with ID (adjusted R(2) = 0.563). We suggest that the future study strategy should underpin the aging characteristics of people with intellectual disabilities and its differences with general population to provide the useful information for the institutional caregivers. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The Production and Perception of Emotionally Expressive Walking Sounds: Similarities between Musical Performance and Everyday Motor Activity

PubMed Central

Giordano, Bruno L.; Egermann, Hauke; Bresin, Roberto

2014-01-01

Several studies have investigated the encoding and perception of emotional expressivity in music performance. A relevant question concerns how the ability to communicate emotions in music performance is acquired. In accordance with recent theories on the embodiment of emotion, we suggest here that both the expression and recognition of emotion in music might at least in part rely on knowledge about the sounds of expressive body movements. We test this hypothesis by drawing parallels between musical expression of emotions and expression of emotions in sounds associated with a non-musical motor activity: walking. In a combined production-perception design, two experiments were conducted, and expressive acoustical features were compared across modalities. An initial performance experiment tested for similar feature use in walking sounds and music performance, and revealed that strong similarities exist. Features related to sound intensity, tempo and tempo regularity were identified as been used similarly in both domains. Participants in a subsequent perception experiment were able to recognize both non-emotional and emotional properties of the sound-generating walkers. An analysis of the acoustical correlates of behavioral data revealed that variations in sound intensity, tempo, and tempo regularity were likely used to recognize expressed emotions. Taken together, these results lend support the motor origin hypothesis for the musical expression of emotions. PMID:25551392

Speak-up culture in an intensive care unit in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional survey exploring the communication openness perceptions of Chinese doctors and nurses

PubMed Central

Ng, George Wing Yiu; Pun, Jack Kwok Hung; So, Eric Hang Kwong; Chiu, Wendy Wai Hang; Leung, Avis Siu Ha; Stone, Yuk Han; Lam, Chung Ling; Lai, Sarah Pui Wa; Leung, Rowlina Pui Wah; Luk, Hing Wah; Leung, Anne Kit Hung; Au Yeung, Kin Wah; Lai, Kang Yiu; Slade, Diana; Chan, Engle Angela

2017-01-01

Objectives Despite growing recognition of the importance of speaking up to protect patient safety in critical care, little research has been performed in this area in an intensive care unit (ICU) context. This study explored the communication openness perceptions of Chinese doctors and nurses and identified their perceptions of issues in ICU communication, their reasons for speaking up and the possible factors and strategies involved in promoting the practice of speaking up. Design A mixed-methods design with quantitative and sequential qualitative components was used. Setting and participants Eighty ICU staff members from a large public hospital in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of communication openness. Ten clinicians whose survey responses indicated support for open communication were then interviewed about their speak-up practices. Results The participating ICU staff members had similar perceptions of their openness to communication. However, the doctors responded more positively than the nurses to many aspects of communication openness. The two groups also had different perceptions of speaking up. The interviewed ICU staff members who indicated a high level of communication openness reported that their primary reasons for speaking up were to seek and clarify information, which was achieved by asking questions. Other factors perceived to influence the motivation to speak up included seniority, relationships and familiarity with patient cases. Conclusions Creating an atmosphere of safety and equality in which team members feel confident in expressing their personal views without fear of reprisal or embarrassment is necessary to encourage ICU staff members, regardless of their position, to speak up. Because harmony and saving face is valued in Chinese culture, training nurses and doctors to speak up by focusing on human factors and values rather than simply addressing conflict management is desirable in this context. PMID:28801406

Speak-up culture in an intensive care unit in Hong Kong: a cross-sectional survey exploring the communication openness perceptions of Chinese doctors and nurses.

PubMed

Ng, George Wing Yiu; Pun, Jack Kwok Hung; So, Eric Hang Kwong; Chiu, Wendy Wai Hang; Leung, Avis Siu Ha; Stone, Yuk Han; Lam, Chung Ling; Lai, Sarah Pui Wa; Leung, Rowlina Pui Wah; Luk, Hing Wah; Leung, Anne Kit Hung; Au Yeung, Kin Wah; Lai, Kang Yiu; Slade, Diana; Chan, Engle Angela

2017-08-11

Despite growing recognition of the importance of speaking up to protect patient safety in critical care, little research has been performed in this area in an intensive care unit (ICU) context. This study explored the communication openness perceptions of Chinese doctors and nurses and identified their perceptions of issues in ICU communication, their reasons for speaking up and the possible factors and strategies involved in promoting the practice of speaking up. A mixed-methods design with quantitative and sequential qualitative components was used. Eighty ICU staff members from a large public hospital in Hong Kong completed a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of communication openness. Ten clinicians whose survey responses indicated support for open communication were then interviewed about their speak-up practices. The participating ICU staff members had similar perceptions of their openness to communication. However, the doctors responded more positively than the nurses to many aspects of communication openness. The two groups also had different perceptions of speaking up. The interviewed ICU staff members who indicated a high level of communication openness reported that their primary reasons for speaking up were to seek and clarify information, which was achieved by asking questions. Other factors perceived to influence the motivation to speak up included seniority, relationships and familiarity with patient cases. Creating an atmosphere of safety and equality in which team members feel confident in expressing their personal views without fear of reprisal or embarrassment is necessary to encourage ICU staff members, regardless of their position, to speak up. Because harmony and saving face is valued in Chinese culture, training nurses and doctors to speak up by focusing on human factors and values rather than simply addressing conflict management is desirable in this context. © Article author(s) (or their employer(s) unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2017. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

Students' Perception of Biology Fieldwork: The example of students undertaking a preliminary year at a UK university

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goulder, Raymond; Scott, Graham W.; Scott, Lisa J.

2013-06-01

It is widely held among biology teachers that fieldwork is valuable, but little is heard about students' perception of fieldwork or about the reasons for their liking or disliking fieldwork. This paper uses data from students to explore the hypotheses (1) that biology students with a positive perception of fieldwork have a less positive perception of laboratory work and vice versa and (2) that perception of fieldwork is related to demographic/personal factors and/or to pre-university perceptions and experience of fieldwork. Numeric indices of appreciation of biology field and laboratory work (I field and I lab) were determined using questionnaire information from 54 students. I field and I lab were positively correlated and there was no evidence of polarization of views; the problem that some students have a poor perception of both needs to be addressed. Mature students had a more positive view of fieldwork than 18-20-year-olds. However, regression analysis of I field against principal components suggested that demographic/personal factors had relatively little overall influence (< 20%) on appreciation of fieldwork. Perception of fieldwork at university was related to the rank given to fieldwork when choosing a university course. However, students who had participated in pre-university fieldwork did not have a more positive perception of university fieldwork; although students who recalled a worst memory of pre-university fieldwork had a less positive perception of fieldwork at university. The seeming mixed relevance of pre-university fieldwork suggests that the relationship between perception of fieldwork undertaken at university and quality of pre-university fieldwork is an area for future research.

Adolescents' Perceptions of Middle School: Relation to Longitudinal Changes in Academic and Psychological Adjustment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roeser, Robert W.; Eccles, Jacquelynne S.

1998-01-01

Studied relationships between adolescents' perceptions of their middle school (school goal structures, autonomy provisions, positive teacher regard) and changes in academic motivation, achievement, and psychological adjustment. Found perceptions to be important predictors; for example, perception of positive teacher regard and an emphasis on…

The semantic analysis about the spatial orientation expression of GIS in Chinese case study of Beijing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhang, Jing; Liu, Yu; Sun, Jiuhu; Zhang, Jie

2006-10-01

Spatial relationship is an important research area in GIS. The orientation information about the urban environment is directly available to human beings through perception and is crucial for establishing their spatial location and for way-finding. People perceive the layout of entities in space, categorize them as spatial relationships, and describe them as spatial expression in language. The orientation expression in different language is different. This paper will discuss the road network in Beijing and its characteristic. We analyze the post-position in Chinese, we know that people like to use 'outside' and 'inside' in the sentence "N is + ring road + postposition" by first experiment. We will illustrate the fuzzy range by 'outside or inside' in the ring-road by the second experiment. In the last part, we conclude the paper and our further research.

Older orthopaedic patients' perceptions of individualised care: a comparative survey.

PubMed

Suhonen, Riitta; Leino-Kilpi, Helena

2012-06-01

To describe and compare the individualised care perceptions of older orthopaedic patients' and patients of working age. Age has been found to influence perceptions of care and although individualised care is highlighted in the literature, it is seldom studied from an older person's perspective. Descriptive and comparative. Data were collected using the Individualised Care Scale from orthopaedic patients (n = 420, response rate 84%). The participants were divided into two groups: those 65 and over (n = 149) and those under 65 and working (n = 271). Data analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics. Patients expressed a desire for individualised care, and gave relatively good evaluations about the perceived support for their individuality and the realisation of individualised care. Differences in the perceptions of individualised care were found between, but not within, the two groups. The older patients were more positive in their evaluations. There is a need for programmes of individualised care that are age-adjusted. As the older population rises worldwide individualised care becomes more important in the care of older people. These findings provide baseline data for the development of individualised nursing care from the patients' perspective. © 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Older adults' attitudes towards and perceptions of "smart home" technologies: a pilot study.

PubMed

Demiris, George; Rantz, Marilyn; Aud, Myra; Marek, Karen; Tyrer, Harry; Skubic, Marjorie; Hussam, Ali

2004-06-01

The study aim is to explore the perceptions and expectations of seniors in regard to "smart home" technology installed and operated in their homes with the purpose of improving their quality of life and/or monitoring their health status. Three focus group sessions were conducted within this pilot study to assess older adults' perceptions of the technology and ways they believe technology can improve their daily lives. Themes discussed in these groups included participants' perceptions of the usefulness of devices and sensors in health-related issues such as preventing or detecting falls, assisting with visual or hearing impairments, improving mobility, reducing isolation, managing medications, and monitoring of physiological parameters. The audiotapes were transcribed and a content analysis was performed. A total of 15 older adults participated in three focus group sessions. Areas where advanced technologies would benefit older adult residents included emergency help, prevention and detection of falls, monitoring of physiological parameters, etc. Concerns were expressed about the user-friendliness of the devices, lack of human response and the need for training tailored to older learners. All participants had an overall positive attitude towards devices and sensors that can be installed in their homes in order to enhance their lives.

Teachers’ Perceptions of Bullying of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Students in a Southwestern Pennsylvania Sample

PubMed Central

Kolbert, Jered B.; Crothers, Laura M.; Bundick, Matthew J.; Wells, Daniel S.; Buzgon, Julie; Berbary, Cassandra; Simpson, Jordan; Senko, Katherine

2015-01-01

This study was designed to ascertain teachers’ perceptions of bullying of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth. In a sample of 200 educators (61.0% female; 96.5% White) from a county in southwestern Pennsylvania, there was a significant positive relationship between the teachers’ perceptions of the supportiveness of school staff towards students regardless of sexual orientation and those teachers’ reports of the frequency of bullying victimization experienced by LGBTQ students. Teachers’ perceptions of a higher level of staff and student support was associated with higher reported frequencies of students’ use of derogatory language about LGBTQ individuals and various types of bullying of LGBTQ students. Teachers with a lesbian, gay, or bisexual orientation were found to rate the school staff and students as significantly less supportive of students regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in comparison to heterosexual teachers. Finally, teachers who either were unaware of or believed that their school lacked an anti-bullying policy reported significantly higher rates of physical bullying victimization of LGBTQ students when compared to the rates observed by teachers who reported knowledge of their schools’ anti-bullying policies. PMID:26030341

Teachers' Perceptions of Bullying of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) Students in a Southwestern Pennsylvania Sample.

PubMed

Kolbert, Jered B; Crothers, Laura M; Bundick, Matthew J; Wells, Daniel S; Buzgon, Julie; Berbary, Cassandra; Simpson, Jordan; Senko, Katherine

2015-05-28

This study was designed to ascertain teachers' perceptions of bullying of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth. In a sample of 200 educators (61.0% female; 96.5% White) from a county in southwestern Pennsylvania, there was a significant positive relationship between the teachers' perceptions of the supportiveness of school staff towards students regardless of sexual orientation and those teachers' reports of the frequency of bullying victimization experienced by LGBTQ students. Teachers' perceptions of a higher level of staff and student support was associated with higher reported frequencies of students' use of derogatory language about LGBTQ individuals and various types of bullying of LGBTQ students. Teachers with a lesbian, gay, or bisexual orientation were found to rate the school staff and students as significantly less supportive of students regardless of their sexual orientation, gender identity, or gender expression in comparison to heterosexual teachers. Finally, teachers who either were unaware of or believed that their school lacked an anti-bullying policy reported significantly higher rates of physical bullying victimization of LGBTQ students when compared to the rates observed by teachers who reported knowledge of their schools' anti-bullying policies.

Egocentric Direction and Position Perceptions are Dissociable Based on Only Static Lane Edge Information

PubMed Central

Nakashima, Ryoichi; Iwai, Ritsuko; Ueda, Sayako; Kumada, Takatsune

2015-01-01

When observers perceive several objects in a space, at the same time, they should effectively perceive their own position as a viewpoint. However, little is known about observers’ percepts of their own spatial location based on the visual scene information viewed from them. Previous studies indicate that two distinct visual spatial processes exist in the locomotion situation: the egocentric position perception and egocentric direction perception. Those studies examined such perceptions in information rich visual environments where much dynamic and static visual information was available. This study examined these two perceptions in information of impoverished environments, including only static lane edge information (i.e., limited information). We investigated the visual factors associated with static lane edge information that may affect these perceptions. Especially, we examined the effects of the two factors on egocentric direction and position perceptions. One is the “uprightness factor” that “far” visual information is seen at upper location than “near” visual information. The other is the “central vision factor” that observers usually look at “far” visual information using central vision (i.e., foveal vision) whereas ‘near’ visual information using peripheral vision. Experiment 1 examined the effect of the “uprightness factor” using normal and inverted road images. Experiment 2 examined the effect of the “central vision factor” using normal and transposed road images where the upper half of the normal image was presented under the lower half. Experiment 3 aimed to replicate the results of Experiments 1 and 2. Results showed that egocentric direction perception is interfered with image inversion or image transposition, whereas egocentric position perception is robust against these image transformations. That is, both “uprightness” and “central vision” factors are important for egocentric direction perception, but not for egocentric position perception. Therefore, the two visual spatial perceptions about observers’ own viewpoints are fundamentally dissociable. PMID:26648895

Effects of Online Comments on Smokers’ Perception of Anti-Smoking Public Service Announcements

PubMed Central

Shi, Rui; Messaris, Paul; Cappella, Joseph N.

2014-01-01

On YouTube anti-smoking PSAs are widely viewed and uploaded; they also receive extensive commentary by viewers. This study examined whether such evaluative comments with or without uncivil expressions influence evaluations by subsequent viewers. Results showed PSAs with positive (i.e. anti-smoking) comments were perceived by smokers as more effective than PSAs with negative (pro smoking) comments. Smokers in the no comment condition gave the highest perceived effectiveness score to PSAs. Smokers’ readiness to quit smoking moderated the effect of comments on PSA evaluation. Smokers reading negative uncivil comments reported more negative attitude toward quitting and a lower level of perceived risk of smoking than those reading negative civil comments but positive civil and positive uncivil comments didn't elicit different responses. PMID:25561825

Effects of Online Comments on Smokers' Perception of Anti-Smoking Public Service Announcements.

PubMed

Shi, Rui; Messaris, Paul; Cappella, Joseph N

2014-07-01

On YouTube anti-smoking PSAs are widely viewed and uploaded; they also receive extensive commentary by viewers. This study examined whether such evaluative comments with or without uncivil expressions influence evaluations by subsequent viewers. Results showed PSAs with positive (i.e. anti-smoking) comments were perceived by smokers as more effective than PSAs with negative (pro smoking) comments. Smokers in the no comment condition gave the highest perceived effectiveness score to PSAs. Smokers' readiness to quit smoking moderated the effect of comments on PSA evaluation. Smokers reading negative uncivil comments reported more negative attitude toward quitting and a lower level of perceived risk of smoking than those reading negative civil comments but positive civil and positive uncivil comments didn't elicit different responses.

Is the Positive Illusory Bias Illusory? Examining Discrepant Self-Perceptions of Competence in Girls with ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Swanson, Erika N.; Owens, Elizabeth B.; Hinshaw, Stephen P.

2012-01-01

It has been claimed that excessively positive self-perceptions of competence are a key risk factor for concurrent and subsequent impairments in youth with attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). We examined whether girls with ADHD demonstrate positive illusory self-perceptions in scholastic competence, social acceptance, and behavioral…

Enterprise-Level Motivations, Regulatory Pressures, and Corporate Environmental Management in Guangzhou, China

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tang, Shui-Yan; Li, Pansy Honying; Fryxell, Gerald E.; Lo, Carlos Wing-Hung

2015-09-01

This study examines the effects of internal motivations and external pressures on the integration of environmental management (EM) practices within manufacturing operations in China. The moderating role of perceptions toward the regulatory process is also considered along with comparisons between wholly Chinese-owned and foreign-owned enterprises. From a sample of 131 manufacturing companies in the Guangzhou area, it was found that the salience of fees and fines has a strong positive influence on perceptions toward the regulator (the local Environmental Protection Bureau, EPB). This also has a positive effect on perceptions toward regulations themselves for foreign-owned enterprises. Business-case motivations for EM positively shape enterprise perceptions toward regulations, whereas risk-reduction motivations have a negative effect on perceptions toward regulations in foreign-owned enterprises. Enterprise perceptions toward the regulatory process have direct effects on the integration of EM practices in wholly Chinese-owned enterprises, but in opposite directions. While positive perceptions toward regulations have positive influence, positive perceptions toward regulators (i.e., the EPB) negatively affect it. Overall, these results indicated that promoting the adoption of EM practices depends on convincing business leaders that EM practices contribute to profit making. The regulatory process can potentially promote these practices, but measures need to be taken to ensure that the regulator is not co-opted by the regulated, especially in wholly Chinese-owned enterprises.

Enterprise-Level Motivations, Regulatory Pressures, and Corporate Environmental Management in Guangzhou, China.

PubMed

Tang, Shui-Yan; Li, Pansy Honying; Fryxell, Gerald E; Lo, Carlos Wing-Hung

2015-09-01

This study examines the effects of internal motivations and external pressures on the integration of environmental management (EM) practices within manufacturing operations in China. The moderating role of perceptions toward the regulatory process is also considered along with comparisons between wholly Chinese-owned and foreign-owned enterprises. From a sample of 131 manufacturing companies in the Guangzhou area, it was found that the salience of fees and fines has a strong positive influence on perceptions toward the regulator (the local Environmental Protection Bureau, EPB). This also has a positive effect on perceptions toward regulations themselves for foreign-owned enterprises. Business-case motivations for EM positively shape enterprise perceptions toward regulations, whereas risk-reduction motivations have a negative effect on perceptions toward regulations in foreign-owned enterprises. Enterprise perceptions toward the regulatory process have direct effects on the integration of EM practices in wholly Chinese-owned enterprises, but in opposite directions. While positive perceptions toward regulations have positive influence, positive perceptions toward regulators (i.e., the EPB) negatively affect it. Overall, these results indicated that promoting the adoption of EM practices depends on convincing business leaders that EM practices contribute to profit making. The regulatory process can potentially promote these practices, but measures need to be taken to ensure that the regulator is not co-opted by the regulated, especially in wholly Chinese-owned enterprises.

Patient's perceptions of an anesthesia preoperative computerized patient interview.

PubMed

Vitkun, S A; Halpern-Lewis, J G; Williams, S A; Gage, J S; Poppers, P J

1999-12-01

Our desire to elicit a more complete medical history from our patients led to the implementation of a preoperative computerized interview. We previously demonstrated the effectiveness of the interview by computing its mean completion time for the overall patient population (n = 120), and further examined the effects of age, gender, and educational level. In this study, we investigated patient perception of the interview itself. Before and after taking the computer interview, we asked the patients to complete a paper and pencil questionnaire comprised of sixteen questions, expressing their feelings toward the computer interview. Responses elicited prior to taking the computer interview were compared with those obtained afterward. The Stuart-Maxwell test was used to determine statistically significant differences in answers before and after the interview. Initial questionnaire responses reflected a positive attitude toward computer usage which became even stronger after the interview. The only negative responses elicited were really more "doctor positive" than "computer negative." We conclude that patients looked favorably upon participating in a computerized medical interview provided that physician-patient contact is maintained.

Knowledge, attitudes and perceptions towards menopause among highly educated Asian women in their midlife.

PubMed

Memon, Fouzia R; Jonker, Leon; Qazi, Roshan A

2014-12-01

To determine knowledge levels, and attitudes and perceptions towards, menopause among highly educated Asian women in their midlife. A cross-sectional survey. Five teaching institutions in Hyderabad, Pakistan. In total, 200 out of 225 (89% response rate) teachers, lecturers and professors, aged 40-59 years, were surveyed in 2013 using a self-administered questionnaire. The mean age of responders was 48 years. Premenopausal and perimenopausal women attributed for 58%, whereas 42% were postmenopausal. All women had a masters degree; 15% had a PhD degree. Forty-six percent of responders thought they had sufficient knowledge about the menopause and 87% had positive perceptions about it, with 76% feeling life was easier and calmer as a result of it. Reported negative perceptions included 30% of women experiencing feelings of grumpiness, irritability, altered work capability and loss of femininity. Health professionals were an information resource. of 60% of cases, only 5% of participants knew about hormone replacement therapy and none knew about available alternative therapies. Despite the fact that the majority of women felt well informed and exhibited a positive attitude towards menopause, a strong urge for more knowledge was expressed. Public health care systems should mobilize resources and take measures to improve women's awareness and knowledge about menopause-related changes through a variety of educational tools and media, including the Internet. A recommendation would be for physicians to provide more information about menopausal symptoms and also therapies to alleviate these symptoms, regardless of the patient's socioeconomic background. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

The enlightenment from Malaysian consumers’ perspective toward cosmetic products

PubMed Central

Ayob, Ain; Awadh, Ammar Ihsan; Jafri, Juliana; Jamshed, Shazia; Ahmad, Hawa Mas Azmar; Hadi, Hazrina

2016-01-01

Backgrounds: Variety of cosmetic products was used in our daily life, yet the amount and types of the cosmetic products used by the consumers were varied, which may be due to the different perspectives held by each of the consumers. Objectives: To explore consumers’ perspectives toward cosmetic products. Methods: An interview guide was developed with a set of 12 semistructured questions. Participants in Kuantan, Pahang were recruited via the purposive sampling, and they undergo in-depth face-to-face interviews. All of the interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim, and were analyzed via thematic content analysis. Results: For the awareness of cosmetic products, less aware about the cosmetic products in Malaysia were noted among the participants. In terms of perceptions about the cosmetic products, participants expressed positive perceptions toward natural cosmetic products, quality were seen as synonymous with branded products and halal certification. Next, for the attitude toward the use of cosmetic products, participants were influenced by ingredients, product brand, and halal certification. Based on personal experiences, they provide complaints and suggestions for the enhancement of cosmetic products’ quality. Conclusions: Participants were found to have less awareness about the cosmetic products in Malaysia. Besides, they realized about the chemical ingredients and halal certification for the cosmetic products. Therefore, they held positive perceptions and practiced positive attitudes toward natural and halal cosmetic products. Finally, adverse reactions from the use of cosmetic products were commonly experienced by the participants, which contributed mainly by the ingredients. Thus, they hoped for serious approached to be enacted to solve this problem. PMID:27413352

Perceptions of temperature, moisture and comfort in clothing during environmental transients.

PubMed

Li, Y

2005-02-22

A study has been carried out to investigate the psychophysical mechanisms of the perception of temperature and moisture sensations in clothing during environmental transients. A series of wear trials was conducted to measure the psychological perception of thermal and moisture sensations and the simultaneous temperature and humidity at the skin surface, fabric surface and in the clothing under simulated moderate rain conditions. Jumpers made from wool and acrylic fibres were used in the trial. Analysis has been carried out to study the relationship between psychological perceptions of temperature and moisture and the objectively measured skin and fabric temperatures and relative humidity in clothing microclimate. The perception of warmth seems to follow Fechner's law and Stevens' power law, having positive relationships with the skin temperature and fabric temperatures. The perception of dampness appears to follow Fechner's law more closely than Stevens' power law with a negative relationship with skin temperature, and is nonlinearly and positively correlated with relative humidity in clothing microclimate. The perception of comfort is positively related to the perception of warmth and negatively to the perception of dampness. This perception of comfort is positively related to the skin temperature, which appears to follow both Fechner's law and Stevens' law, also non-linearly and negatively related to relative humidity in clothing microclimate.

The relationship between stress, social capital and quality of education among medical residents.

PubMed

Anastasiadis, Charis; Tsounis, Andreas; Sarafis, Pavlos

2018-05-04

The educational climate is a key factor in medical education. The study aims to examine the relationship between trainee doctors' perceptions of hospital educational environment, stress and social capital. A cross-sectional study among 104 trainee doctors working in a Greek public hospital was conducted. According to the main hypotheses, perceptions of clinical training are positively associated with social capital and negatively with stress. Perceptions of autonomy dimension of training quality was positively related to community participation, tolerance of diversity and total social capital. Perceptions of teaching and social support dimensions of the quality of education were positively correlated with community participation. All training quality subscales were negatively correlated with almost all working stress subscales. Analysis revealed significantly higher scores in autonomy perceptions for those who evaluated their undergraduate studies positively. Females had a significantly lower score in perceptions of teaching and social support scales.

Functional asymmetry and interhemispheric cooperation in the perception of emotions from facial expressions.

PubMed

Tamietto, Marco; Latini Corazzini, Luca; de Gelder, Beatrice; Geminiani, Giuliano

2006-05-01

The present study used the redundant target paradigm on healthy subjects to investigate functional hemispheric asymmetries and interhemispheric cooperation in the perception of emotions from faces. In Experiment 1 participants responded to checkerboards presented either unilaterally to the left (LVF) or right visual half field (RVF), or simultaneously to both hemifields (BVF), while performing a pointing task for the control of eye movements. As previously reported (Miniussi et al. in J Cogn Neurosci 10:216-230, 1998), redundant stimulation led to shorter latencies for stimulus detection (bilateral gain or redundant target effect, RTE) that exceeded the limit for a probabilistic interpretation, thereby validating the pointing procedure and supporting interhemispheric cooperation. In Experiment 2 the same pointing procedure was used in a go/no-go task requiring subjects to respond when seeing a target emotional expression (happy or fearful, counterbalanced between blocks). Faster reaction times to unilateral LVF than RVF emotions, regardless of valence, indicate that the perception of positive and negative emotional faces is lateralized toward the right hemisphere. Simultaneous presentation of two congruent emotional faces, either happy or fearful, produced an RTE that cannot be explained by probability summation and suggests interhemispheric cooperation and neural summation. No such effect was present with BVF incongruent facial expressions. In Experiment 3 we studied whether the RTE for emotional faces depends on the physical identity between BVF stimuli, and we set a second BVF congruent condition in which there was only emotional but not physical or gender identity between stimuli (i.e. two different faces expressing the same emotion). The RTE and interhemispheric cooperation were present also in this second BVF congruent condition. This shows that emotional congruency is the sufficient condition for the RTE to take place in the intact brain and that the cerebral hemispheres can interact in spite of physical differences between stimuli.

Moderating effects of nurses' organizational justice between organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviors for evidence-based practice.

PubMed

Chang, Ching-Sheng

2014-10-01

Lack of existing literature on the correlation among organizational justice, organizational support, and organizational citizenship behaviors has created a research gap in previous evidence-based practice (EBP) studies on nursing personnel. To investigate whether organizational justice among nurses has a moderating effect between their organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviors in order to bridge such a gap of existing literature with the EBP study on nursing personnel. Nursing staff of one large and influential hospital in Taiwan was surveyed. Four hundred questionnaires were distributed, and 386 were collected with a valid response rate of 96.50%. SPSS 17.0 and Amos 17.0 statistical software packages were used for data analysis. Nurses' organizational support positively influences their organizational citizenship behaviors, and their organizational justice perception has a positive moderating effect between organizational support and organizational citizenship behaviors. Results call hospitals' attention to the type of individual behaviors that may improve organizational performance. When nursing staff perceive fair and impartial treatment by the organization and supportive emotional attachment, behaviors beneficial for the organization are expressed in return. Subjective perceptions of nursing staff play an important role in organizational exchange relationship; the higher the degree of nursing staff's perceived organizational justice, the higher the degree of their organizational support, perception, and exhibition of organizational citizenship behaviors such as altruistic behavior and dedication to the work. © 2014 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Socialization of Affect: Effects of Parent Attitudes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Saarni, Carolyn

Children's beliefs about why affective expressive behavior should be dissociated from internal state were elicited via a structured interview and investigated in conjunction with their parents' (1) attitudes toward children's expressive behavior, (2) perceptions of their own self-monitoring, and (3) perceptions of their families'"social…

I feel your voice. Cultural differences in the multisensory perception of emotion.

PubMed

Tanaka, Akihiro; Koizumi, Ai; Imai, Hisato; Hiramatsu, Saori; Hiramoto, Eriko; de Gelder, Beatrice

2010-09-01

Cultural differences in emotion perception have been reported mainly for facial expressions and to a lesser extent for vocal expressions. However, the way in which the perceiver combines auditory and visual cues may itself be subject to cultural variability. Our study investigated cultural differences between Japanese and Dutch participants in the multisensory perception of emotion. A face and a voice, expressing either congruent or incongruent emotions, were presented on each trial. Participants were instructed to judge the emotion expressed in one of the two sources. The effect of to-be-ignored voice information on facial judgments was larger in Japanese than in Dutch participants, whereas the effect of to-be-ignored face information on vocal judgments was smaller in Japanese than in Dutch participants. This result indicates that Japanese people are more attuned than Dutch people to vocal processing in the multisensory perception of emotion. Our findings provide the first evidence that multisensory integration of affective information is modulated by perceivers' cultural background.

The Influences of Presentation Modes and Conducting Gestures on the Perceptions of Expressive Choral Performance of High School Musicians Attending a Summer Choral Camp

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Napoles, Jessica

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the influences of presentation modes (audio and visual) on perceptions of expressive choral performance. The stimulus recording included four choral selections, each conducted by a different conductor in two ways: using expressive conducting gestures and using strict conducting gestures. Three groups of…

The Role of Health Care Experience and Consumer Information Efficacy in Shaping Privacy and Security Perceptions of Medical Records: National Consumer Survey Results

PubMed Central

Beckjord, Ellen; Moser, Richard P; Hughes, Penelope; Hesse, Bradford W

2015-01-01

Background Providers’ adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is increasing and consumers have expressed concerns about the potential effects of EHRs on privacy and security. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding regarding factors that affect individuals’ perceptions regarding the privacy and security of their medical information. Objective The aim of this study was to describe national perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical records and identify a comprehensive set of factors associated with these perceptions. Methods Using a nationally representative 2011-2012 survey, we reported on adults’ perceptions regarding privacy and security of medical records and sharing of health information between providers, and whether adults withheld information from a health care provider due to privacy or security concerns. We used multivariable models to examine the association between these outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics, health and health care experience, information efficacy, and technology-related variables. Results Approximately one-quarter of American adults (weighted n=235,217,323; unweighted n=3959) indicated they were very confident (n=989) and approximately half indicated they were somewhat confident (n=1597) in the privacy of their medical records; we found similar results regarding adults’ confidence in the security of medical records (very confident: n=828; somewhat confident: n=1742). In all, 12.33% (520/3904) withheld information from a health care provider and 59.06% (2100/3459) expressed concerns about the security of both faxed and electronic health information. Adjusting for other characteristics, adults who reported higher quality of care had significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of their medical records and were less likely to withhold information from their health care provider due to privacy or security concerns. Adults with higher information efficacy had significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of medical records and less concern about sharing of health information by both fax and electronic means. Individuals’ perceptions of whether their providers use an EHR was not associated with any privacy or security outcomes. Conclusions Although most adults are confident in the privacy and security of their medical records, many express concerns regarding sharing of information between providers; a minority report withholding information from their providers due to privacy and security concerns. Whether individuals thought their provider was using an EHR was not associated with negative privacy/security perceptions or withholding, suggesting the transition to EHRs is not associated with negative perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical information. However, monitoring to see how this evolves will be important. Given that positive health care experiences and higher information efficacy were associated with more favorable perceptions of privacy and security, efforts should continue to encourage providers to secure medical records, provide patients with a “meaningful choice” in how their data are shared, and enable individuals to access information they need to manage their care. PMID:25843686

The role of health care experience and consumer information efficacy in shaping privacy and security perceptions of medical records: national consumer survey results.

PubMed

Patel, Vaishali; Beckjord, Ellen; Moser, Richard P; Hughes, Penelope; Hesse, Bradford W

2015-04-02

Providers' adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is increasing and consumers have expressed concerns about the potential effects of EHRs on privacy and security. Yet, we lack a comprehensive understanding regarding factors that affect individuals' perceptions regarding the privacy and security of their medical information. The aim of this study was to describe national perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical records and identify a comprehensive set of factors associated with these perceptions. Using a nationally representative 2011-2012 survey, we reported on adults' perceptions regarding privacy and security of medical records and sharing of health information between providers, and whether adults withheld information from a health care provider due to privacy or security concerns. We used multivariable models to examine the association between these outcomes and sociodemographic characteristics, health and health care experience, information efficacy, and technology-related variables. Approximately one-quarter of American adults (weighted n=235,217,323; unweighted n=3959) indicated they were very confident (n=989) and approximately half indicated they were somewhat confident (n=1597) in the privacy of their medical records; we found similar results regarding adults' confidence in the security of medical records (very confident: n=828; somewhat confident: n=1742). In all, 12.33% (520/3904) withheld information from a health care provider and 59.06% (2100/3459) expressed concerns about the security of both faxed and electronic health information. Adjusting for other characteristics, adults who reported higher quality of care had significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of their medical records and were less likely to withhold information from their health care provider due to privacy or security concerns. Adults with higher information efficacy had significantly greater confidence in the privacy and security of medical records and less concern about sharing of health information by both fax and electronic means. Individuals' perceptions of whether their providers use an EHR was not associated with any privacy or security outcomes. Although most adults are confident in the privacy and security of their medical records, many express concerns regarding sharing of information between providers; a minority report withholding information from their providers due to privacy and security concerns. Whether individuals thought their provider was using an EHR was not associated with negative privacy/security perceptions or withholding, suggesting the transition to EHRs is not associated with negative perceptions regarding the privacy and security of medical information. However, monitoring to see how this evolves will be important. Given that positive health care experiences and higher information efficacy were associated with more favorable perceptions of privacy and security, efforts should continue to encourage providers to secure medical records, provide patients with a "meaningful choice" in how their data are shared, and enable individuals to access information they need to manage their care.

Social and emotional relevance in face processing: happy faces of future interaction partners enhance the late positive potential

PubMed Central

Bublatzky, Florian; Gerdes, Antje B. M.; White, Andrew J.; Riemer, Martin; Alpers, Georg W.

2014-01-01

Human face perception is modulated by both emotional valence and social relevance, but their interaction has rarely been examined. Event-related brain potentials (ERP) to happy, neutral, and angry facial expressions with different degrees of social relevance were recorded. To implement a social anticipation task, relevance was manipulated by presenting faces of two specific actors as future interaction partners (socially relevant), whereas two other face actors remained non-relevant. In a further control task all stimuli were presented without specific relevance instructions (passive viewing). Face stimuli of four actors (2 women, from the KDEF) were randomly presented for 1s to 26 participants (16 female). Results showed an augmented N170, early posterior negativity (EPN), and late positive potential (LPP) for emotional in contrast to neutral facial expressions. Of particular interest, face processing varied as a function of experimental tasks. Whereas task effects were observed for P1 and EPN regardless of instructed relevance, LPP amplitudes were modulated by emotional facial expression and relevance manipulation. The LPP was specifically enhanced for happy facial expressions of the anticipated future interaction partners. This underscores that social relevance can impact face processing already at an early stage of visual processing. These findings are discussed within the framework of motivated attention and face processing theories. PMID:25076881

Attention shaping as a means to improve emotion perception deficits in outpatients with schizophrenia and impaired controls.

PubMed

Combs, Dennis R; Chapman, Dustin; Waguspack, Jace; Basso, Michael R; Penn, David L

2011-04-01

Deficits in emotion perception are common in people with schizophrenia and current research has focused on improving these deficits. In our previous research, we demonstrated that directing attention to salient facial features via attention shaping can improve these deficits among inpatients. In this study, we examined the efficacy of an enhanced attention shaping program that contains 192 emotional expressions from which 25 are randomly presented for training. We extended our previous work by using repeated administrations of the shaping intervention and testing its effect in outpatients with schizophrenia and impaired controls. Fifteen participants with schizophrenia and fourteen college student controls with emotion perception deficits were randomly assigned to 1, 3 or 5 sessions of attention shaping. Participants completed 2 outcome measures of emotion perception, the FEIT and BLERT, not presented during the training, and underwent eye tracking at pre and post-tests. All conditions and groups improved, but the largest improvements on the BLERT and FEIT were found for persons assigned to the 5 session condition. Performance on the shaping program was positively correlated with the two outcome measures of emotion perception. There was less support for changes in visual scanning of faces as there was a relative reduction in total scanning time from pre-test to post-test. Results are interpreted in terms of the efficacy of attention shaping as a means to improve emotion perception deficits. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nasal Oxytocin Treatment Biases Dogs’ Visual Attention and Emotional Response toward Positive Human Facial Expressions

PubMed Central

Somppi, Sanni; Törnqvist, Heini; Topál, József; Koskela, Aija; Hänninen, Laura; Krause, Christina M.; Vainio, Outi

2017-01-01

The neuropeptide oxytocin plays a critical role in social behavior and emotion regulation in mammals. The aim of this study was to explore how nasal oxytocin administration affects gazing behavior during emotional perception in domestic dogs. Looking patterns of dogs, as a measure of voluntary attention, were recorded during the viewing of human facial expression photographs. The pupil diameters of dogs were also measured as a physiological index of emotional arousal. In a placebo-controlled within-subjects experimental design, 43 dogs, after having received either oxytocin or placebo (saline) nasal spray treatment, were presented with pictures of unfamiliar male human faces displaying either a happy or an angry expression. We found that, depending on the facial expression, the dogs’ gaze patterns were affected selectively by oxytocin treatment. After receiving oxytocin, dogs fixated less often on the eye regions of angry faces and revisited (glanced back at) more often the eye regions of smiling (happy) faces than after the placebo treatment. Furthermore, following the oxytocin treatment dogs fixated and revisited the eyes of happy faces significantly more often than the eyes of angry faces. The analysis of dogs’ pupil diameters during viewing of human facial expressions indicated that oxytocin may also have a modulatory effect on dogs’ emotional arousal. While subjects’ pupil sizes were significantly larger when viewing angry faces than happy faces in the control (placebo treatment) condition, oxytocin treatment not only eliminated this effect but caused an opposite pupil response. Overall, these findings suggest that nasal oxytocin administration selectively changes the allocation of attention and emotional arousal in domestic dogs. Oxytocin has the potential to decrease vigilance toward threatening social stimuli and increase the salience of positive social stimuli thus making eye gaze of friendly human faces more salient for dogs. Our study provides further support for the role of the oxytocinergic system in the social perception abilities of domestic dogs. We propose that oxytocin modulates fundamental emotional processing in dogs through a mechanism that may facilitate communication between humans and dogs. PMID:29089919

Seeing a haptically explored face: visual facial-expression aftereffect from haptic adaptation to a face.

PubMed

Matsumiya, Kazumichi

2013-10-01

Current views on face perception assume that the visual system receives only visual facial signals. However, I show that the visual perception of faces is systematically biased by adaptation to a haptically explored face. Recently, face aftereffects (FAEs; the altered perception of faces after adaptation to a face) have been demonstrated not only in visual perception but also in haptic perception; therefore, I combined the two FAEs to examine whether the visual system receives face-related signals from the haptic modality. I found that adaptation to a haptically explored facial expression on a face mask produced a visual FAE for facial expression. This cross-modal FAE was not due to explicitly imaging a face, response bias, or adaptation to local features. Furthermore, FAEs transferred from vision to haptics. These results indicate that visual face processing depends on substrates adapted by haptic faces, which suggests that face processing relies on shared representation underlying cross-modal interactions.

Expression-dependent susceptibility to face distortions in processing of facial expressions of emotion.

PubMed

Guo, Kun; Soornack, Yoshi; Settle, Rebecca

2018-03-05

Our capability of recognizing facial expressions of emotion under different viewing conditions implies the existence of an invariant expression representation. As natural visual signals are often distorted and our perceptual strategy changes with external noise level, it is essential to understand how expression perception is susceptible to face distortion and whether the same facial cues are used to process high- and low-quality face images. We systematically manipulated face image resolution (experiment 1) and blur (experiment 2), and measured participants' expression categorization accuracy, perceived expression intensity and associated gaze patterns. Our analysis revealed a reasonable tolerance to face distortion in expression perception. Reducing image resolution up to 48 × 64 pixels or increasing image blur up to 15 cycles/image had little impact on expression assessment and associated gaze behaviour. Further distortion led to decreased expression categorization accuracy and intensity rating, increased reaction time and fixation duration, and stronger central fixation bias which was not driven by distortion-induced changes in local image saliency. Interestingly, the observed distortion effects were expression-dependent with less deterioration impact on happy and surprise expressions, suggesting this distortion-invariant facial expression perception might be achieved through the categorical model involving a non-linear configural combination of local facial features. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Nurses' Attitudes toward Clinical Research: Experience of the Therapeutic Hypothermia after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest Trials

PubMed Central

Browning, Brittan; Page, Kent E.; Kuhn, Renee L.; DiLiberto, Mary Ann; Deschenes, Jendar; Taillie, Eileen; Tomanio, Elyse; Holubkov, Richard; Dean, J. Michael; Moler, Frank W.; Meert, Kathleen; Pemberton, Victoria L.

2016-01-01

Objectives To understand factors affecting nurses' attitudes towards the Therapeutic Hypothermia after Pediatric Cardiac Arrest (THAPCA) trials and association with approach/consent rates. Design, setting and participants Cross sectional survey of pediatric/cardiac intensive care nurses' perceptions of the trials, conducted at 16 of 38 self-selected study sites. Measurements The primary outcome was the proportion of nurses with positive perceptions, as defined by agree or strongly agree with the statement “I am happy to take care of a THAPCA patient”. Associations between perceptions and study approach/consent rates were also explored. Results Of 2241 nurses invited, 1387 (62%) completed the survey and 77% reported positive perceptions of the trials. Nurses, who felt positively about the scientific question, the study team, and training received, were more likely to have positive perceptions of the trials (p <0.001). Nurses who had previously cared for a research patient had significantly more positive perceptions of THAPCA compared with those who had not (79% vs. 54%, p<0.001). Of the 754 nurses who cared for a THAPCA patient, 82% had positive perceptions, despite 86% reporting it required more work. Sixty-nine percent believed that hypothermia reduces brain injury and mortality; sites had lower consent rates when their nurses believed that hypothermia was beneficial. Institution-specific approach rates were positively correlated with nurses' perceptions of institutional support for the trial (r=0.54, p=0.04), intensive care unit support (r=0.61, p=0.02), and the importance of conducting the trial in children (r=0.61, p=0.01). Conclusions The majority of nurses had positive perceptions of the THAPCA trials. Institutional, colleague and study team support and training were contributing factors. Despite increased work, nurses remained enthusiastic demonstrating that studies with intensive bedside nursing procedures are feasible. Institutions whose nurses believed hypothermia was beneficial had lower consent rates suggesting that educating nurses on study rationale and equipoise may enhance study participation. PMID:26669643

Action understanding in the superior temporal sulcus region.

PubMed

Wyk, Brent C Vander; Hudac, Caitlin M; Carter, Elizabeth J; Sobel, David M; Pelphrey, Kevin A

2009-06-01

The posterior superior temporal sulcus (STS) region plays an important role in the perception of social acts, although its full role has not been completely clarified. This functional magnetic resonance imaging experiment examined activity in the STS region as participants viewed actions that were congruent or incongruent with intentions established by a previous emotional context. Participants viewed an actress express either a positive or a negative emotion toward one of two objects and then subsequently pick up one of them. If the object that was picked up had received positive regard, or if the object that was not picked up had received negative regard, the action was congruent; otherwise, the action was incongruent. Activity in the right posterior STS region was sensitive to the congruency between the action and the actress's emotional expression (i.e., STS activity was greater on incongruent than on congruent trials). These findings suggest that the posterior STS represents not only biological motion, but also how another person's motion is related to his or her intentions.

Dogs recognize dog and human emotions.

PubMed

Albuquerque, Natalia; Guo, Kun; Wilkinson, Anna; Savalli, Carine; Otta, Emma; Mills, Daniel

2016-01-01

The perception of emotional expressions allows animals to evaluate the social intentions and motivations of each other. This usually takes place within species; however, in the case of domestic dogs, it might be advantageous to recognize the emotions of humans as well as other dogs. In this sense, the combination of visual and auditory cues to categorize others' emotions facilitates the information processing and indicates high-level cognitive representations. Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm, we presented dogs with either human or dog faces with different emotional valences (happy/playful versus angry/aggressive) paired with a single vocalization from the same individual with either a positive or negative valence or Brownian noise. Dogs looked significantly longer at the face whose expression was congruent to the valence of vocalization, for both conspecifics and heterospecifics, an ability previously known only in humans. These results demonstrate that dogs can extract and integrate bimodal sensory emotional information, and discriminate between positive and negative emotions from both humans and dogs. © 2016 The Author(s).

Gravity matters: Motion perceptions modified by direction and body position.

PubMed

Claassen, Jens; Bardins, Stanislavs; Spiegel, Rainer; Strupp, Michael; Kalla, Roger

2016-07-01

Motion coherence thresholds are consistently higher at lower velocities. In this study we analysed the influence of the position and direction of moving objects on their perception and thereby the influence of gravity. This paradigm allows a differentiation to be made between coherent and randomly moving objects in an upright and a reclining position with a horizontal or vertical axis of motion. 18 young healthy participants were examined in this coherent threshold paradigm. Motion coherence thresholds were significantly lower when position and motion were congruent with gravity independent of motion velocity (p=0.024). In the other conditions higher motion coherence thresholds (MCT) were found at lower velocities and vice versa (p<0.001). This result confirms previous studies with higher MCT at lower velocity but is in contrast to studies concerning perception of virtual turns and optokinetic nystagmus, in which differences of perception were due to different directions irrespective of body position, i.e. perception took place in an egocentric reference frame. Since the observed differences occurred in an upright position only, perception of coherent motion in this study is defined by an earth-centered reference frame rather than by an ego-centric frame. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Self-Categorization Explanation for Opinion Consensus Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zhang, Jinguang; Reid, Scott A.

2013-01-01

The public expression of opinions (and related communicative activities) hinges upon the perception of opinion consensus. Current explanations for opinion consensus perceptions typically focus on egocentric and other biases, rather than functional cognitions. Using self-categorization theory we showed that opinion consensus perceptions flow from…

Perception of Upright: Multisensory Convergence and the Role of Temporo-Parietal Cortex

PubMed Central

Kheradmand, Amir; Winnick, Ariel

2017-01-01

We inherently maintain a stable perception of the world despite frequent changes in the head, eye, and body positions. Such “orientation constancy” is a prerequisite for coherent spatial perception and sensorimotor planning. As a multimodal sensory reference, perception of upright represents neural processes that subserve orientation constancy through integration of sensory information encoding the eye, head, and body positions. Although perception of upright is distinct from perception of body orientation, they share similar neural substrates within the cerebral cortical networks involved in perception of spatial orientation. These cortical networks, mainly within the temporo-parietal junction, are crucial for multisensory processing and integration that generate sensory reference frames for coherent perception of self-position and extrapersonal space transformations. In this review, we focus on these neural mechanisms and discuss (i) neurobehavioral aspects of orientation constancy, (ii) sensory models that address the neurophysiology underlying perception of upright, and (iii) the current evidence for the role of cerebral cortex in perception of upright and orientation constancy, including findings from the neurological disorders that affect cortical function. PMID:29118736

Somatosensory Representations Link the Perception of Emotional Expressions and Sensory Experience.

PubMed

Kragel, Philip A; LaBar, Kevin S

2016-01-01

Studies of human emotion perception have linked a distributed set of brain regions to the recognition of emotion in facial, vocal, and body expressions. In particular, lesions to somatosensory cortex in the right hemisphere have been shown to impair recognition of facial and vocal expressions of emotion. Although these findings suggest that somatosensory cortex represents body states associated with distinct emotions, such as a furrowed brow or gaping jaw, functional evidence directly linking somatosensory activity and subjective experience during emotion perception is critically lacking. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate decoding techniques, we show that perceiving vocal and facial expressions of emotion yields hemodynamic activity in right somatosensory cortex that discriminates among emotion categories, exhibits somatotopic organization, and tracks self-reported sensory experience. The findings both support embodied accounts of emotion and provide mechanistic insight into how emotional expressions are capable of biasing subjective experience in those who perceive them.

Somatosensory Representations Link the Perception of Emotional Expressions and Sensory Experience123

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Abstract Studies of human emotion perception have linked a distributed set of brain regions to the recognition of emotion in facial, vocal, and body expressions. In particular, lesions to somatosensory cortex in the right hemisphere have been shown to impair recognition of facial and vocal expressions of emotion. Although these findings suggest that somatosensory cortex represents body states associated with distinct emotions, such as a furrowed brow or gaping jaw, functional evidence directly linking somatosensory activity and subjective experience during emotion perception is critically lacking. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and multivariate decoding techniques, we show that perceiving vocal and facial expressions of emotion yields hemodynamic activity in right somatosensory cortex that discriminates among emotion categories, exhibits somatotopic organization, and tracks self-reported sensory experience. The findings both support embodied accounts of emotion and provide mechanistic insight into how emotional expressions are capable of biasing subjective experience in those who perceive them. PMID:27280154

Illness Perception Profiles and Their Association with 10-Year Survival Following Cardiac Valve Replacement.

PubMed

Crawshaw, Jacob; Rimington, Helen; Weinman, John; Chilcot, Joseph

2015-10-01

The aim of the present study was to examine whether profiles of illness perceptions are associated with 10-year survival following cardiac valve replacement surgery. Illness perceptions were evaluated in 204 cardiac patients awaiting first-time valve replacement and again 1 year post-operatively using cluster analysis. All-cause mortality was recorded over a 10-year period. At 1 year, 136 patients were grouped into one of four profiles (stable positive, stable negative, changed from positive to negative, changed from negative to positive). The median follow-up was 3063 days (78 deaths). After controlling for clinical covariates, including markers of function, patients who changed illness perceptions from positive to negative beliefs 1 year post-surgery had an increased mortality risk (hazard ratio (HR) = 3.2, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.2-8.3, p = .02) compared to patients who held positive stable perceptions. Following cardiac valve replacement, developing negative illness perceptions over the first post-operative year predicts long-term mortality. Early screening and intervention to alter this pattern of beliefs may be beneficial.

Health perceptions, self and body image, physical activity and nutrition among undergraduate students in Israel.

PubMed

Korn, Liat; Gonen, Ester; Shaked, Yael; Golan, Moria

2013-01-01

This study examines health perceptions, self and body image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students. A structured, self-reported questionnaire was administered to more than 1500 students at a large academic institute in Israel. The study population was heterogenic in both gender and fields of academic study. High correlations between health perceptions, appropriate nutrition, and positive self and body image were found. The relationships between these variables differed between the subpopulation in the sample and the different genders. Engagement in physical exercise contributed to positive body image and positive health perceptions more than engagement in healthy nutrition. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, positive self and body image and higher engagement in physical exercise in comparison to all other students in the sample. This study suggests, as have many before, that successful health promotion policy should reflect a collectivist rather than an individualist ethos by providing health prerequisites through a public policy of health-promotion, where the academic settings support a healthy lifestyle policy, by increasing availability of a healthy, nutritious and varied menu in the cafeterias, and offering students various activities that enhance healthy eating and exercise. IMPLICATIONS AND CONTRIBUTION: This study examined health perceptions, self-image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students and found high correlations between these topics. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, and positive self and body image and engaged more in physical exercise when compared with all other students in the sample.

How a tolerant past affects the present: historical tolerance and the acceptance of Muslim expressive rights.

PubMed

Smeekes, Anouk; Verkuyten, Maykel; Poppe, Edwin

2012-11-01

Three studies, conducted in The Netherlands, examined the relationship between a tolerant representation of national history and the acceptance of Muslim expressive rights. Following self-categorization theory, it was hypothesized that historical tolerance would be associated with greater acceptance of Muslim expressive rights, especially for natives who strongly identify with their national in-group. Furthermore, it was predicted that the positive effect of representations of historical tolerance on higher identifiers' acceptance could be explained by reduced perceptions of identity incompatibility. The results of Study 1 confirmed the first hypothesis, and the results of Study 2 and Study 3 supported the second hypothesis. These findings underline the importance of historical representations of the nation for understanding current reactions toward immigrants. Importantly, the results show that a tolerant representation of national history can elevate acceptance of immigrants, especially among natives who feel a relatively strong sense of belonging to their nation.

Enhanced embodied response following ambiguous emotional processing.

PubMed

Beffara, Brice; Ouellet, Marc; Vermeulen, Nicolas; Basu, Anamitra; Morisseau, Tiffany; Mermillod, Martial

2012-08-01

It has generally been assumed that high-level cognitive and emotional processes are based on amodal conceptual information. In contrast, however, "embodied simulation" theory states that the perception of an emotional signal can trigger a simulation of the related state in the motor, somatosensory, and affective systems. To study the effect of social context on the mimicry effect predicted by the "embodied simulation" theory, we recorded the electromyographic (EMG) activity of participants when looking at emotional facial expressions. We observed an increase in embodied responses when the participants were exposed to a context involving social valence before seeing the emotional facial expressions. An examination of the dynamic EMG activity induced by two socially relevant emotional expressions (namely joy and anger) revealed enhanced EMG responses of the facial muscles associated with the related social prime (either positive or negative). These results are discussed within the general framework of embodiment theory.

Differences in holistic processing do not explain cultural differences in the recognition of facial expression.

PubMed

Yan, Xiaoqian; Young, Andrew W; Andrews, Timothy J

2017-12-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of the own-race advantage in facial expression perception. In Experiment 1, we investigated Western Caucasian and Chinese participants' perception and categorization of facial expressions of six basic emotions that included two pairs of confusable expressions (fear and surprise; anger and disgust). People were slightly better at identifying facial expressions posed by own-race members (mainly in anger and disgust). In Experiment 2, we asked whether the own-race advantage was due to differences in the holistic processing of facial expressions. Participants viewed composite faces in which the upper part of one expression was combined with the lower part of a different expression. The upper and lower parts of the composite faces were either aligned or misaligned. Both Chinese and Caucasian participants were better at identifying the facial expressions from the misaligned images, showing interference on recognizing the parts of the expressions created by holistic perception of the aligned composite images. However, this interference from holistic processing was equivalent across expressions of own-race and other-race faces in both groups of participants. Whilst the own-race advantage in recognizing facial expressions does seem to reflect the confusability of certain emotions, it cannot be explained by differences in holistic processing.

A Study of Michigan State University Undergraduate Music Performance Students' Perceptions of Their Experiences and Their Place in the University Setting

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Vatne, Stacy Jennifer

2010-01-01

The purpose of my study was to understand undergraduate music performance students' perceptions of their experiences as music performance majors and to assess music student positionality. Music student positionality, music students' perceptions of their place in the university setting, involves music majors' perceptions of their relationships to…

Facial Expression Enhances Emotion Perception Compared to Vocal Prosody: Behavioral and fMRI Studies.

PubMed

Zhang, Heming; Chen, Xuhai; Chen, Shengdong; Li, Yansong; Chen, Changming; Long, Quanshan; Yuan, Jiajin

2018-05-09

Facial and vocal expressions are essential modalities mediating the perception of emotion and social communication. Nonetheless, currently little is known about how emotion perception and its neural substrates differ across facial expression and vocal prosody. To clarify this issue, functional MRI scans were acquired in Study 1, in which participants were asked to discriminate the valence of emotional expression (angry, happy or neutral) from facial, vocal, or bimodal stimuli. In Study 2, we used an affective priming task (unimodal materials as primers and bimodal materials as target) and participants were asked to rate the intensity, valence, and arousal of the targets. Study 1 showed higher accuracy and shorter response latencies in the facial than in the vocal modality for a happy expression. Whole-brain analysis showed enhanced activation during facial compared to vocal emotions in the inferior temporal-occipital regions. Region of interest analysis showed a higher percentage signal change for facial than for vocal anger in the superior temporal sulcus. Study 2 showed that facial relative to vocal priming of anger had a greater influence on perceived emotion for bimodal targets, irrespective of the target valence. These findings suggest that facial expression is associated with enhanced emotion perception compared to equivalent vocal prosodies.

Effect of hypergravity on expression of the immediate early gene, c-fos, in central nervous system of medaka (Oryzias latipes)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sayaka, Shimomura-Umemura; Ijiri, Kenichi

2006-01-01

Immediate-early genes serve as useful neurobiological tools for mapping brain activity induced by a sensory stimulation. In this study, we have examined brain activity related to gravity perception of medaka (Oryzias latipes) by use of c-fos. The gene, which is homologous to the c-fos genes of other vertebrates, was identified in medaka. Functionally important domains are highly conserved among all the vertebrate species analyzed. Intraperitoneal administration of kainic acid transiently induced the c-fos mRNAs in medaka brains. The results indicate that the expression of c-fos can be utilized as a suitable anatomical marker for the increased neural activities in the central nervous system of medaka. Fish were continuously exposed to 3 g hypergravity by centrifugation. Investigation of c-fos mRNA expression indicated that c-fos mRNA significantly increased 30 min after a start of 3 g exposure. The distribution of its transcripts within the brains was analyzed by an in situ hybridization method. The 3-g treated medakas displayed c-fos positive cells in their brainstem regions, which are related to vestibular function, such as torus semicircularis, nucleus tangentialis, posterior octavu nucleus, and inferior olive. Our results established a method to follow the effect of gravity stimulation, which can be used to investigate gravity perception.

Expression of c-fos gene in central nervous system of adult medaka (Oryzias latipes) after hypergravity stimulation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shimomura, S.; Ijiri, K.

The immediate-early genes serve as useful neurobiological tools for mapping brain activity induced by a sensory stimulation. In this study, we have examined brain activity related to gravity perception of medaka (Oryzias latipes) by use of c-fos. The gene, which is homologous to the c-fos genes of other vertebrates, was identified in medaka. Functionally important domains are highly conserved among all the vertebrate species analyzed. Intraperitoneal administration of kainic acid transiently induced the c-fos mRNAs in medaka brain. The results indicate that the expression of c-fos can be utilized as a suitable anatomical marker for the increased neural activities in the central nervous system of medaka. Fish were continuously exposed to 3G hypergravity by centrifugation. Investigation of c-fos mRNA expression showed that c-fos mRNA significantly increased 30 minutes after a start of 3G exposure. The distribution of its transcripts within brains was analyzed by an in situ hybridization method. The 3G-treated medakas displayed c-fos positive cells in their brainstem regions, which are related to vestibular function, such as torus semicircularis, posterior octavu nucleus, nucleus tangentialis and inferior olive. Our results established the method to trace the activated area in the fish brain following gravity stimulation. The method will be a useful tool for understanding gravity perception in the brain.

The Social Accuracy Model of Interpersonal Perception: Assessing Individual Differences in Perceptive and Expressive Accuracy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Biesanz, Jeremy C.

2010-01-01

The social accuracy model of interpersonal perception (SAM) is a componential model that estimates perceiver and target effects of different components of accuracy across traits simultaneously. For instance, Jane may be generally accurate in her perceptions of others and thus high in "perceptive accuracy"--the extent to which a particular…

I thought that I heard you laughing: Contextual facial expressions modulate the perception of authentic laughter and crying.

PubMed

Lavan, Nadine; Lima, César F; Harvey, Hannah; Scott, Sophie K; McGettigan, Carolyn

2015-01-01

It is well established that categorising the emotional content of facial expressions may differ depending on contextual information. Whether this malleability is observed in the auditory domain and in genuine emotion expressions is poorly explored. We examined the perception of authentic laughter and crying in the context of happy, neutral and sad facial expressions. Participants rated the vocalisations on separate unipolar scales of happiness and sadness and on arousal. Although they were instructed to focus exclusively on the vocalisations, consistent context effects were found: For both laughter and crying, emotion judgements were shifted towards the information expressed by the face. These modulations were independent of response latencies and were larger for more emotionally ambiguous vocalisations. No effects of context were found for arousal ratings. These findings suggest that the automatic encoding of contextual information during emotion perception generalises across modalities, to purely non-verbal vocalisations, and is not confined to acted expressions.

Subliminal and Supraliminal Processing of Facial Expression of Emotions: Brain Oscillation in the Left/Right Frontal Area

PubMed Central

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-01-01

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral) under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms) vs. subliminal (30 ms) stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types. PMID:24962767

Perceiving expressions of emotion: What evidence could bear on questions about perceptual experience of mental states?

PubMed

Butterfill, Stephen A

2015-11-01

What evidence could bear on questions about whether humans ever perceptually experience any of another's mental states, and how might those questions be made precise enough to test experimentally? This paper focusses on emotions and their expression. It is proposed that research on perceptual experiences of physical properties provides one model for thinking about what evidence concerning expressions of emotion might reveal about perceptual experiences of others' mental states. This proposal motivates consideration of the hypothesis that categorical perception of expressions of emotion occurs, can be facilitated by information about agents' emotions, and gives rise to phenomenal expectations. It is argued that the truth of this hypothesis would support a modest version of the claim that humans sometimes perceptually experience some of another's mental states. Much available evidence is consistent with, but insufficient to establish, the truth of the hypothesis. We are probably not yet in a position to know whether humans ever perceptually experience others' mental states. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of facial expression of emotions: brain oscillation in the left/right frontal area.

PubMed

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-03-26

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral) under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms) vs. subliminal (30 ms) stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types.

Categorical Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Preschoolers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Cheal, Jenna L.; Rutherford, M. D.

2011-01-01

Adults perceive emotional facial expressions categorically. In this study, we explored categorical perception in 3.5-year-olds by creating a morphed continuum of emotional faces and tested preschoolers' discrimination and identification of them. In the discrimination task, participants indicated whether two examples from the continuum "felt the…

Categorical Representation of Facial Expressions in the Infant Brain

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Leppanen, Jukka M.; Richmond, Jenny; Vogel-Farley, Vanessa K.; Moulson, Margaret C.; Nelson, Charles A.

2009-01-01

Categorical perception, demonstrated as reduced discrimination of within-category relative to between-category differences in stimuli, has been found in a variety of perceptual domains in adults. To examine the development of categorical perception in the domain of facial expression processing, we used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP)…

[Perceptions of classroom goal structures, personal achievement goal orientations, and learning strategies].

PubMed

Miki, Kaori; Yamauchi, Hirotsugu

2005-08-01

We examined the relations among students' perceptions of classroom goal structures (mastery and performance goal structures), students' achievement goal orientations (mastery, performance, and work-avoidance goals), and learning strategies (deep processing, surface processing and self-handicapping strategies). Participants were 323 5th and 6th grade students in elementary schools. The results from structural equation modeling indicated that perceptions of classroom mastery goal structures were associated with students' mastery goal orientations, which were in turn related positively to the deep processing strategies and academic achievement. Perceptions of classroom performance goal stractures proved associated with work avoidance-goal orientations, which were positively related to the surface processing and self-handicapping strategies. Two types of goal structures had a positive relation with students' performance goal orientations, which had significant positive effects on academic achievement. The results of this study suggest that elementary school students' perceptions of mastery goal structures are related to adaptive patterns of learning more than perceptions of performance goal structures are. The role of perceptions of classroom goal structure in promoting students' goal orientations and learning strategies is discussed.

Individual Differences in Laughter Perception Reveal Roles for Mentalizing and Sensorimotor Systems in the Evaluation of Emotional Authenticity

PubMed Central

McGettigan, C.; Walsh, E.; Jessop, R.; Agnew, Z. K.; Sauter, D. A.; Warren, J. E.; Scott, S. K.

2015-01-01

Humans express laughter differently depending on the context: polite titters of agreement are very different from explosions of mirth. Using functional MRI, we explored the neural responses during passive listening to authentic amusement laughter and controlled, voluntary laughter. We found greater activity in anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC) to the deliberate, Emitted Laughs, suggesting an obligatory attempt to determine others' mental states when laughter is perceived as less genuine. In contrast, passive perception of authentic Evoked Laughs was associated with greater activity in bilateral superior temporal gyri. An individual differences analysis found that greater accuracy on a post hoc test of authenticity judgments of laughter predicted the magnitude of passive listening responses to laughter in amPFC, as well as several regions in sensorimotor cortex (in line with simulation accounts of emotion perception). These medial prefrontal and sensorimotor sites showed enhanced positive connectivity with cortical and subcortical regions during listening to involuntary laughter, indicating a complex set of interacting systems supporting the automatic emotional evaluation of heard vocalizations. PMID:23968840

Individual differences in laughter perception reveal roles for mentalizing and sensorimotor systems in the evaluation of emotional authenticity.

PubMed

McGettigan, C; Walsh, E; Jessop, R; Agnew, Z K; Sauter, D A; Warren, J E; Scott, S K

2015-01-01

Humans express laughter differently depending on the context: polite titters of agreement are very different from explosions of mirth. Using functional MRI, we explored the neural responses during passive listening to authentic amusement laughter and controlled, voluntary laughter. We found greater activity in anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPFC) to the deliberate, Emitted Laughs, suggesting an obligatory attempt to determine others' mental states when laughter is perceived as less genuine. In contrast, passive perception of authentic Evoked Laughs was associated with greater activity in bilateral superior temporal gyri. An individual differences analysis found that greater accuracy on a post hoc test of authenticity judgments of laughter predicted the magnitude of passive listening responses to laughter in amPFC, as well as several regions in sensorimotor cortex (in line with simulation accounts of emotion perception). These medial prefrontal and sensorimotor sites showed enhanced positive connectivity with cortical and subcortical regions during listening to involuntary laughter, indicating a complex set of interacting systems supporting the automatic emotional evaluation of heard vocalizations. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press.

Face-to-face: Perceived personal relevance amplifies face processing

PubMed Central

Pittig, Andre; Schupp, Harald T.; Alpers, Georg W.

2017-01-01

Abstract The human face conveys emotional and social information, but it is not well understood how these two aspects influence face perception. In order to model a group situation, two faces displaying happy, neutral or angry expressions were presented. Importantly, faces were either facing the observer, or they were presented in profile view directed towards, or looking away from each other. In Experiment 1 (n = 64), face pairs were rated regarding perceived relevance, wish-to-interact, and displayed interactivity, as well as valence and arousal. All variables revealed main effects of facial expression (emotional > neutral), face orientation (facing observer > towards > away) and interactions showed that evaluation of emotional faces strongly varies with their orientation. Experiment 2 (n = 33) examined the temporal dynamics of perceptual-attentional processing of these face constellations with event-related potentials. Processing of emotional and neutral faces differed significantly in N170 amplitudes, early posterior negativity (EPN), and sustained positive potentials. Importantly, selective emotional face processing varied as a function of face orientation, indicating early emotion-specific (N170, EPN) and late threat-specific effects (LPP, sustained positivity). Taken together, perceived personal relevance to the observer—conveyed by facial expression and face direction—amplifies emotional face processing within triadic group situations. PMID:28158672

Predicting consumer liking and preference based on emotional responses and sensory perception: A study with basic taste solutions.

PubMed

Samant, Shilpa S; Chapko, Matthew J; Seo, Han-Seok

2017-10-01

Traditional methods of sensory testing focus on capturing information about multisensory perceptions, but do not necessarily measure emotions elicited by these food and beverages. The objective of this study was to develop an optimum model of predicting overall liking (rating) and preference (choice) based on taste intensity and evoked emotions. One hundred and two participants (51 females) were asked to taste water, sucrose, citric acid, salt, and caffeine solutions. Their emotional responses toward each sample were measured by a combination of a self-reported emotion questionnaire (EsSense25), facial expressions, and autonomic nervous system (ANS) responses. In addition, their perceived intensity and overall liking were measured. After a break, participants re-tasted the samples and ranked them according to their preference. The results showed that emotional responses measured using self-reported emotion questionnaire and facial expression analysis along with perceived taste intensity performed best to predict overall liking as well as preference, while ANS measures showed limited contribution. Contrary to some previous research, this study demonstrated that not only negative emotions, but also positive ones could help predict consumer liking and preference. In addition, since there were subtle differences in the prediction models of overall liking and preference, both aspects should be taken into account to understand consumer behavior. In conclusion, combination of evoked emotions along with sensory perception could help better understand consumer acceptance as well as preference toward basic taste solutions. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Racial and ethnic minority medical students' perceptions of and interest in careers in academic medicine.

PubMed

Sánchez, J P; Peters, Lutheria; Lee-Rey, Elizabeth; Strelnick, Hal; Garrison, Gwen; Zhang, Kehua; Spencer, Dennis; Ortega, Gezzer; Yehia, Baligh; Berlin, Anne; Castillo-Page, Laura

2013-09-01

To describe diverse medical students' perceptions of and interest in careers in academic medicine. In 2010, the authors invited students attending three national medical student conferences to respond to a survey and participate in six focus groups. The authors identified trends in data through bivariate analyses of the quantitative dataset and using a grounded theory approach in their analysis of focus group transcripts. The 601 survey respondents represented 103 U.S. medical schools. The majority (72%) were in their first or second year; 34% were black and 17% were Hispanic. Many respondents (64%) expressed interest in careers in academic medicine; teaching and research were viewed as positive influences on that interest. However, black and Hispanic respondents felt they would have a harder time succeeding in academia. The 73 focus group participants (25% black, 29% Hispanic) described individual- and institutional-level challenges to academic medicine careers and offered recommendations. They desired deliberate and coordinated exposure to academic career paths, research training, clarification of the promotion process, mentorship, protected time for faculty to provide teaching and research training, and an enhanced infrastructure to support diversity and inclusion. Medical students expressed an early interest in academic medicine but lacked clarity about the career path. Black and Hispanic students' perceptions of having greater difficulty succeeding in academia may be an obstacle to engaging them in the prospective pool of academicians. Strategic and dedicated institutional resources are needed to encourage racial and ethnic minority medical students to explore careers in academic medicine.

Faces in Context: A Review and Systematization of Contextual Influences on Affective Face Processing

PubMed Central

Wieser, Matthias J.; Brosch, Tobias

2012-01-01

Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals’ emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant “basic emotion” approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, automatic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, de-contextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual’s face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social information gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias. Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual variables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at (1) systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and (2) summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of automatic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in future research. PMID:23130011

Faces in context: a review and systematization of contextual influences on affective face processing.

PubMed

Wieser, Matthias J; Brosch, Tobias

2012-01-01

Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals' emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant "basic emotion" approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, automatic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, de-contextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual's face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social information gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias. Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual variables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at (1) systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and (2) summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of automatic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in future research.

Recreation fees: attitudes and perceptions of Region 6 Forest Service employees in recreation positions and non-recreation positions

Treesearch

Karen Robinson; Robert C. Burns; Alan Graefe

2007-01-01

This study explored the attitudes and perceptions of U.S. Forest Service employees concerning the Recreation Fee Demonstration Program (RFDP) in the Pacific Northwest Region (Region 6, Oregon and Washington), and their perceptions of how recreation fees should be used once the money is collected. Employees who reported that they were in a recreationrelated position...

Women's meta-perceptions of attractiveness and their relations to body image.

PubMed

Dijkstra, Pieternel; Barelds, Dick P H

2011-01-01

The present study examined meta-perceptions of attractiveness among women. More specifically, ratings were collected about how women thought their partner, family and friends, and strangers would view their physical attractiveness. In an online survey, 1287 Dutch women (aged 19-80 years) answered questions concerning meta-perceptions of attractiveness, demographic data, body mass index (BMI), body image (Body Areas Satisfaction Scale, self-rated general physical attractiveness, and actual-ideal weight discrepancy), and self-esteem. Results showed that women's meta-perceptions of attractiveness reflected the level of closeness of the relationship with the other person, with the most positive meta-perceptions reported for the partner, followed by those for family and friends, and the least positive meta-perceptions for strangers. Meta-perceptions were strongly related to body image, self-esteem and BMI. Self-ratings of attractiveness appeared to be lower than all meta-perceptions of attractiveness, suggesting that women are aware of their own negative self-bias and/or other people's positive bias. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Metaperception in Adolescents With and Without Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Burrows, Catherine A.; Messinger, Daniel S.; Henderson, Heather A.

2018-01-01

This study compared how adolescents with and without autism spectrum disorder (ASD) evaluated unfamiliar peers (i.e., perceptions), as well as how adolescents believed they were evaluated by peers (i.e., metaperceptions). The Perceptions and Metaperceptions Questionnaire was designed to quantify perceptions and metaperceptions following a live interaction. For all adolescents, more positive perceptions of the peer were associated with more positive metaperceptions. Adolescents with ASD exhibited more accurate metaperceptions than did typically developing adolescents. More positive perceptions and metaperceptions were associated with higher levels of observed social competence across groups. Findings extend our understanding of typically and atypically developing adolescents' impressions of unfamiliar peers and their ability to discern what peers think of them. PMID:29080926

A differential neural response to threatening and non-threatening negative facial expressions in paranoid and non-paranoid schizophrenics.

PubMed

Phillips, M L; Williams, L; Senior, C; Bullmore, E T; Brammer, M J; Andrew, C; Williams, S C; David, A S

1999-11-08

Several studies have demonstrated impaired facial expression recognition in schizophrenia. Few have examined the neural basis for this; none have compared the neural correlates of facial expression perception in different schizophrenic patient subgroups. We compared neural responses to facial expressions in 10 right-handed schizophrenic patients (five paranoid and five non-paranoid) and five normal volunteers using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). In three 5-min experiments, subjects viewed alternating 30-s blocks of black-and-white facial expressions of either fear, anger or disgust contrasted with expressions of mild happiness. After scanning, subjects categorised each expression. All patients were less accurate in identifying expressions, and showed less activation to these stimuli than normals. Non-paranoids performed poorly in the identification task and failed to activate neural regions that are normally linked with perception of these stimuli. They categorised disgust as either anger or fear more frequently than paranoids, and demonstrated in response to disgust expressions activation in the amygdala, a region associated with perception of fearful faces. Paranoids were more accurate in recognising expressions, and demonstrated greater activation than non-paranoids to most stimuli. We provide the first evidence for a distinction between two schizophrenic patient subgroups on the basis of recognition of and neural response to different negative facial expressions.

Delusional mood and delusional perception -- a phenomenological analysis.

PubMed

Fuchs, Thomas

2005-01-01

In the initial stages of schizophrenia, the environment as perceived by the patient changes into a puzzling, mysterious and stage-like scenery. At the same time, objects or persons may gain an overwhelming physiognomic expression and may even fuse with the patient's body. The paper explains these different alterations using Husserl's concept of intentional perception on the one hand, and Merleau-Ponty's concept of embodied perception on the other hand. The first may also be understood as describing the intersubjective constitution of reality through common concepts which structure intentional perception. The latter points to the embodiment of the perceiving subject and uncovers our intimate connection with the world mediated by the lived body. Thus, in each perception, an active, intentional or 'gnostic' component and a bodily, 'pathic' component work together. On this basis, the alteration of schizophrenic perception in delusional mood may be described as a paralysis of intentionality, or of the 'gnostic' component of perception. The synthetic and sense-bestowing processes effective in perception are seriously disturbed. On the other hand, as a result of the disturbance of intentional perception, physiognomic and expressive properties are set free within the perceptual field. The 'pathic' component of perception becomes independent. Thus, the intersubjective constitution of reality is replaced by idiosyncratic meanings and qualities of perception, leading finally into delusional perception.

(De-)accentuation and the process of information status: evidence from event-related brain potentials.

PubMed

Baumann, Stefan; Schumacher, Petra B

2012-09-01

The paper reports on a perception experiment in German that investigated the neuro-cognitive processing of information structural concepts and their prosodic marking using event-related brain potentials (ERPs). Experimental conditions controlled the information status (given vs. new) of referring and non-referring target expressions (nouns vs. adjectives) and were elicited via context sentences, which did not - unlike most previous ERP studies in the field--trigger an explicit focus expectation. Target utterances displayed prosodic realizations of the critical words which differed in accent position and accent type. Electrophysiological results showed an effect of information status, maximally distributed over posterior sites, displaying a biphasic N400--Late Positivity pattern for new information. We claim that this pattern reflects increased processing demands associated with new information, with the N400 indicating enhanced costs from linking information with the previous discourse and the Late Positivity indicating the listener's effort to update his/her discourse model. The prosodic manipulation registered more pronounced effects over anterior regions and revealed an enhanced negativity followed by a Late Positivity for deaccentuation, probably also reflecting costs from discourse linking and updating respectively. The data further lend indirect support for the idea that givenness applies not only to referents but also to non-referential expressions ('lexical givenness').

Subliminal presentation of emotionally negative vs positive primes increases the perceived beauty of target stimuli.

PubMed

Era, Vanessa; Candidi, Matteo; Aglioti, Salvatore Maria

2015-11-01

Emotions have a profound influence on aesthetic experiences. Studies using affective priming procedures demonstrate, for example, that inducing a conscious negative emotional state biases the perception of abstract stimuli towards the sublime (Eskine et al. Emotion 12:1071-1074, 2012. doi: 10.1037/a0027200). Moreover, subliminal happy facial expressions have a positive impact on the aesthetic evaluation of abstract art (Flexas et al. PLoS ONE 8:e80154, 2013). Little is known about how emotion influences aesthetic perception of non-abstract, representational stimuli, especially those that are particularly relevant for social behaviour, like human bodies. Here, we explore whether the subliminal presentation of emotionally charged visual primes modulates the explicit subjective aesthetic judgment of body images. Using a forward/backward masking procedure, we presented subliminally positive and negative, arousal-matched, emotional or neutral primes and measured their effect on the explicit evaluation of perceived beauty (high vs low) and emotion (positive vs negative) evoked by abstract and body images. We found that negative primes increased subjective aesthetic evaluations of target bodies or abstract images in comparison with positive primes. No influence of primes on the emotional dimension of the targets was found, thus ruling out an unspecific arousal effect and strengthening the link between emotional valence and aesthetic appreciation. More specifically, that subliminal negative primes increase beauty ratings compared to subliminal positive primes indicates a clear link between negative emotions and positive aesthetic evaluations and vice versa, suggesting a possible link between negative emotion and the experience of sublime in art. The study expands previous research by showing the effect of subliminal negative emotions on the subjective aesthetic evaluation not only of abstract but also of body images.

Functional characterization of Arabidopsis phototropin 1 in the hypocotyl apex.

PubMed

Sullivan, Stuart; Takemiya, Atsushi; Kharshiing, Eros; Cloix, Catherine; Shimazaki, Ken-Ichiro; Christie, John M

2016-12-01

Phototropin (phot1) is a blue light-activated plasma membrane-associated kinase that acts as the principal photoreceptor for shoot phototropism in Arabidopsis in conjunction with the signalling component Non-Phototropic Hypocotyl 3 (NPH3). PHOT1 is uniformly expressed throughout the Arabidopsis hypocotyl, yet decapitation experiments have localized the site of light perception to the upper hypocotyl. This prompted us to investigate in more detail the functional role of the hypocotyl apex, and the regions surrounding it, in establishing phototropism. We used a non-invasive approach where PHOT1-GFP (P1-GFP) expression was targeted to the hypocotyl apex of the phot-deficient mutant using the promoters of CUP-SHAPED COTYLEDON 3 (CUC3) and AINTEGUMENTA (ANT). Expression of CUC3::P1-GFP was clearly visible at the hypocotyl apex, with weaker expression in the cotyledons, whereas ANT::P1-GFP was specifically targeted to the developing leaves. Both lines showed impaired curvature to 0.005 μmol m -2  sec -1 unilateral blue light, indicating that regions below the apical meristem are necessary for phototropism. Curvature was however apparent at higher fluence rates. Moreover, CUC3::P1-GFP partially or fully complemented petiole positioning, leaf flattening and chloroplast accumulation, but not stomatal opening. Yet, tissue analysis of NPH3 de-phosphorylation showed that CUC3::P1-GFP and ANT::P1-GFP mis-express very low levels of phot1 that likely account for this responsiveness. Our spatial targeting approach therefore excludes the hypocotyl apex as the site for light perception for phototropism and shows that phot1-mediated NPH3 de-phosphorylation is tissue autonomous and occurs more prominently in the basal hypocotyl. © 2016 The Authors. The Plant Journal published by Society for Experimental Biology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Students' perception of the educational environment in medical college: a study based on DREEM questionnaire.

PubMed

Patil, Asmita Ashok; Chaudhari, Vijaya Laxman

2016-09-01

The educational environment (EE) plays a very important role in effective student learning. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) is a validated tool to assess the EE. This study aimed to collect baseline information about our medical student's perception of the EE, and to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses as well as scope for improvements in the current EE. Medical students and interns were included in this cross-sectional study. The DREEM questionnaire was used to measure students' perceptions about the EE, which has five domains: students' perceptions of learning; students' perceptions of teachers; students' academic self-perceptions; students' perceptions of atmosphere; and students' social self-perceptions. Students were asked to respond using a 5-point Likert-type scale. Data was analyzed using suitable tests and statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The mean global DREEM score was 123/200. All students had more positive than negative academic self-perception (21.24/32), perception of atmosphere (29.21/48), and perception of learning (28.99/48), while their social self-perception (17.48/28) was not too bad and perception of teachers (26.71/44) moved in the right direction. The fifth semester students perceived EE more positively than other semester students. The present study revealed that all students perceived their EE positively. The positive points were that teachers were knowledgeable, that students had good friends, and they were confident about passing their exams. Problem areas observed were authoritarian teachers, overemphasis on factual learning, overly teacher-centered teaching, teachers getting angry, and the need for a support system for stressed students.

Institutional transparency improves public perception of lab animal technicians and support for animal research

PubMed Central

Mills, Katelyn E.; Han, Zetta; Robbins, Jesse

2018-01-01

The use of animals in research is controversial and often takes place under a veil of secrecy. Lab animal technicians responsible for the care of animals at research institutions are sometimes described as performing ‘dirty work’ (i.e. professions that are viewed as morally tainted), and may be stigmatized by negative perceptions of their job. This study assessed if transparency affects public perceptions of lab animal technicians and support for animal research. Participants (n = 550) were randomly assigned to one of six scenarios (using a 3x2 design) that described identical research varying only the transparency of the facility (low, high) and the species used (mice, dogs, cows). Participants provided Likert-type and open-ended responses to questions about the personal characteristics (warmth, competence) of a hypothetical lab technician ‘Cathy’ and their support for the described research. Quantitative analysis showed participants in the low-transparency condition perceived Cathy to be less warm and were less supportive of the research regardless of animal species. Qualitative responses varied greatly, with some participants expressing support for both Cathy and the research. These results suggest that increasing transparency in lab animal institutions could result in a more positive perception of lab animal researchers and the work that they do. PMID:29466425

Institutional transparency improves public perception of lab animal technicians and support for animal research.

PubMed

Mills, Katelyn E; Han, Zetta; Robbins, Jesse; Weary, Daniel M

2018-01-01

The use of animals in research is controversial and often takes place under a veil of secrecy. Lab animal technicians responsible for the care of animals at research institutions are sometimes described as performing 'dirty work' (i.e. professions that are viewed as morally tainted), and may be stigmatized by negative perceptions of their job. This study assessed if transparency affects public perceptions of lab animal technicians and support for animal research. Participants (n = 550) were randomly assigned to one of six scenarios (using a 3x2 design) that described identical research varying only the transparency of the facility (low, high) and the species used (mice, dogs, cows). Participants provided Likert-type and open-ended responses to questions about the personal characteristics (warmth, competence) of a hypothetical lab technician 'Cathy' and their support for the described research. Quantitative analysis showed participants in the low-transparency condition perceived Cathy to be less warm and were less supportive of the research regardless of animal species. Qualitative responses varied greatly, with some participants expressing support for both Cathy and the research. These results suggest that increasing transparency in lab animal institutions could result in a more positive perception of lab animal researchers and the work that they do.

Perceptions of Why Women Stay in Physically Abusive Relationships: A Comparative Study of Chinese and U.S. College Students.

PubMed

Pugh, Brandie; Li, Luye; Sun, Ivan Y

2018-05-01

In both China and the United States, public attitudes toward intimate partner violence (IPV) have shifted from viewing IPV as a tolerable, private matter to viewing it as a matter of public concern that should be dealt with as a crime. Empirical and comparative examinations of the perceptions of why women stay in physically abusive relationships are lacking. Answering this question calls for comprehensive, methodologically rigorous research. Using survey data collected from approximately 1,000 college students from two Chinese and two U.S. universities, this study empirically compared and contrasted factors that impact U.S. and Chinese students' perceptions as to why women remain in physically abusive relationships. Utilizing a theoretical framework of social constructionism, two common reasons were assessed: Women stay in physically abusive relationships because of learned helplessness and positive beliefs in the relationship/hope for the future. The results show that viewing IPV as a crime, gender, and beliefs of the causes of IPV were robust predictors of college students' perceptions toward why women stay in physically abusive relationships. U.S. college students were more likely to express sympathy and understanding toward why women remain in abusive relationships than Chinese students. Directions for future research and policy implications were discussed.

Effects of nonverbal behavior on perceptions of a female employee's power bases.

PubMed

Aguinis, H; Henle, C A

2001-08-01

The authors extended a previous examination of the effects of nonverbal behavior on perceptions of a male employee's power bases (H. Aguinis, M. M. Simonsen, & C. A. Pierce, 1998) by examining the effects of nonverbal behavior on perceptions of a female employee's power bases. U.S. undergraduates read vignettes describing a female employee engaging in 3 types of nonverbal behavior (i.e., eye contact, facial expression, body posture) and rated their perceptions of the woman's power bases (i.e., reward, coercive, legitimate, referent, expert, credibility). As predicted, (a) direct eye contact increased perceptions of coercive power, and (b) a relaxed facial expression decreased perceptions of all 6 power bases. Also as predicted, the present results differed markedly from those of Aguinis et al. (1998) regarding a male employee. The authors discuss implications for theory, future research, and the advancement of female employees.

Combining oxytocin administration and positive emotion inductions: Examining social perception and analytical performance.

PubMed

Human, Lauren J; Thorson, Katherine R; Woolley, Joshua D; Mendes, Wendy Berry

2017-04-01

Intranasal administration of the hypothalamic neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has, in some studies, been associated with positive effects on social perception and cognition. Similarly, positive emotion inductions can improve a range of perceptual and performance-based behaviors. In this exploratory study, we examined how OT administration and positive emotion inductions interact in their associations with social and analytical performance. Participants (N=124) were randomly assigned to receive an intranasal spray of OT (40IU) or placebo and then viewed one of three videos designed to engender one of the following emotion states: social warmth, pride, or an affectively neutral state. Following the emotion induction, participants completed social perception and analytical tasks. There were no significant main effects of OT condition on social perception tasks, failing to replicate prior research, or on analytical performance. Further, OT condition and positive emotion inductions did not interact with each other in their associations with social perception performance. However, OT condition and positive emotion manipulations did significantly interact in their associations with analytical performance. Specifically, combining positive emotion inductions with OT administration was associated with worse analytical performance, with the pride induction no longer benefiting performance and the warmth induction resulting in worse performance. In sum, we found little evidence for main or interactive effects of OT on social perception but preliminary evidence that OT administration may impair analytical performance when paired with positive emotion inductions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Health Perceptions, Self and Body Image, Physical Activity and Nutrition among Undergraduate Students in Israel

PubMed Central

Korn, Liat; Gonen, Ester; Shaked, Yael; Golan, Moria

2013-01-01

Purpose This study examines health perceptions, self and body image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students. Methods A structured, self-reported questionnaire was administered to more than 1500 students at a large academic institute in Israel. The study population was heterogenic in both gender and fields of academic study. Results High correlations between health perceptions, appropriate nutrition, and positive self and body image were found. The relationships between these variables differed between the subpopulation in the sample and the different genders. Engagement in physical exercise contributed to positive body image and positive health perceptions more than engagement in healthy nutrition. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, positive self and body image and higher engagement in physical exercise in comparison to all other students in the sample. Conclusions This study suggests, as have many before, that successful health promotion policy should reflect a collectivist rather than an individualist ethos by providing health prerequisites through a public policy of health-promotion, where the academic settings support a healthy lifestyle policy, by increasing availability of a healthy, nutritious and varied menu in the cafeterias, and offering students various activities that enhance healthy eating and exercise. Implications and contribution This study examined health perceptions, self-image, physical exercise and nutrition among undergraduate students and found high correlations between these topics. Nutrition students reported higher frequencies of positive health perceptions, and positive self and body image and engaged more in physical exercise when compared with all other students in the sample. PMID:23516503

Student perceptions of workplace-based assessment.

PubMed

Ali, Jason; Goh, Aaron

2017-10-01

Workplace-based assessments (WBAs) have become integrated into postgraduate medical training, although there is much negativity from trainees. The objective of this study was to examine medical student understanding and perceptions towards WBAs. A questionnaire was administered to final-year medical students at a single institution, examining experience, understanding and perceptions towards WBAs. Rating-scale responses were analysed by calculating positivity estimate values, and categorising data for subgroup comparison. Negativity was the most prevalent overall position of students towards participating in WBAs RESULTS: One hundred and fifteen of 162 (71%) students completed the questionnaire. Almost half the students had experience of WBAs and the majority (90%) reported benefiting from them; however, those with experience did not report more positive perceptions towards WBAs. In contrast, those students who seemed to demonstrate a good understanding of WBAs reported strongly positive perceptions. Interestingly, understanding and experience were not correlated. Negativity was the most prevalent overall position of students towards participating in WBAs as future trainees, with similar concerns reported by trainees, such as availability of time, trainer engagement and a feeling that they are simply 'tick-box' exercises. Medical students appear to possess negative perceptions towards WBAs. Although having experience of undertaking WBAs had little impact on their position, possessing an understanding of WBAs seemed to influence perceptions. This suggests that the manner in which medical students are exposed to WBAs should be carefully considered to ensure that it fosters the development of enthusiasm and positivity that can be carried by the students into their professional careers. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and The Association for the Study of Medical Education.

Rules versus Prototype Matching: Strategies of Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in the Autism Spectrum

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Rutherford, M. D.; McIntosh, Daniel N.

2007-01-01

When perceiving emotional facial expressions, people with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) appear to focus on individual facial features rather than configurations. This paper tests whether individuals with ASD use these features in a rule-based strategy of emotional perception, rather than a typical, template-based strategy by considering…

Variants of Independence in the Perception of Facial Identity and Expression

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fitousi, Daniel; Wenger, Michael J.

2013-01-01

A prominent theory in the face perception literature--the parallel-route hypothesis (Bruce & Young, 1986)--assumes a dedicated channel for the processing of identity that is separate and independent from the channel(s) in which nonidentity information is processed (e.g., expression, eye gaze). The current work subjected this assumption to…

Misinterpretation of Facial Expressions of Emotion in Verbal Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Eack, Shaun M.; Mazefsky, Carla A.; Minshew, Nancy J.

2015-01-01

Facial emotion perception is significantly affected in autism spectrum disorder, yet little is known about how individuals with autism spectrum disorder misinterpret facial expressions that result in their difficulty in accurately recognizing emotion in faces. This study examined facial emotion perception in 45 verbal adults with autism spectrum…

Nursing students' perceptions of their educational environment in the bachelor's programs of the Shifa College of Nursing, Pakistan.

PubMed

Victor, Gideon; Ishtiaq, Muhammad; Parveen, Subia

2017-01-01

The objective of this study was to evaluate nursing students' perceptions of their educational environment in a private college. Perceptions were compared between genders and 2 bachelor's programs. A total of 219 students participated in this study, drawn from the Generic Bachelor of Science in Nursing (GBSN) and the Post-Registered Nurse Bachelor of Science in Nursing (PRBSN) programs of the Shifa College of Nursing, Islamabad, Pakistan. The Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure was utilized for data collection. Descriptive statistics were used to calculate total scores, as well as means and standard deviations, and the t-test was applied for comparisons according to program and gender. The overall total mean score (119 of 200) is suggestive of more positive than negative perceptions of the educational environment. The mean score of 13 of 28 on the social self-perception subscale suggests that the social environment was felt to be 'not a nice place.' The t-test revealed more positive perceptions among students enrolled in the PRBSN program (P<0.0001) than among those enrolled in the GBSN program and more positive perceptions among female students than among male students (P<0.0001). Commonalities and differences were found in the perceptions of the nursing students. Both positive and negative perceptions were reported; the overall sense of a positive environment was present, but the social component requires immediate attention, along with other unsatisfactory components. Establishing a supportive environment conducive to competence-based learning would play an important role in bringing desirable changes to the educational environment.

Borderline personality disorder symptoms and affective responding to perceptions of rejection and acceptance from romantic versus nonromantic partners.

PubMed

Lazarus, Sophie A; Scott, Lori N; Beeney, Joseph E; Wright, Aidan G C; Stepp, Stephanie D; Pilkonis, Paul A

2018-05-01

We examined event-contingent recording of daily interpersonal interactions in a diagnostically diverse sample of 101 psychiatric outpatients who were involved in a romantic relationship. We tested whether the unique effect of borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms on affective responses (i.e., hostility, sadness, guilt, fear, and positive affect) to perceptions of rejection or acceptance differed with one's romantic partner compared with nonromantic partners. BPD symptoms were associated with more frequent perceptions of rejection and less frequent perceptions of acceptance across the study. For all participants, perceptions of rejecting behavior were associated with higher within-person negative affect and lower within-person positive affect. As predicted, in interactions with romantic partners only, those with high BPD symptoms reported heightened hostility and, to a lesser extent, attenuated sadness in response to perceptions of rejection. BPD symptoms did not moderate associations between perceptions of rejection and guilt, fear, or positive affect across romantic and nonromantic partners. For all participants, perceived acceptance was associated with lower within-person negative affect and higher within-person positive affect. However, BPD symptoms were associated with attenuated positive affect in response to perceptions of accepting behavior in interactions with romantic partners only. BPD symptoms did not moderate associations between perceptions of acceptance and any of the negative affects across romantic and nonromantic partners. This study highlights the specificity of affective responses characteristic of BPD when comparisons are made with patients with other personality and psychiatric disorders. Implications for romantic relationship dysfunction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Misinterpretation of Facial Expressions of Emotion in Verbal Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder

PubMed Central

Eack, Shaun M.; MAZEFSKY, CARLA A.; Minshew, Nancy J.

2014-01-01

Facial emotion perception is significantly affected in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), yet little is known about how individuals with ASD misinterpret facial expressions that result in their difficulty in accurately recognizing emotion in faces. This study examined facial emotion perception in 45 verbal adults with ASD and 30 age- and gender-matched volunteers without ASD to identify patterns of emotion misinterpretation during face processing that contribute to emotion recognition impairments in autism. Results revealed that difficulty distinguishing emotional from neutral facial expressions characterized much of the emotion perception impairments exhibited by participants with ASD. In particular, adults with ASD uniquely misinterpreted happy faces as neutral, and were significantly more likely than typical volunteers to attribute negative valence to non-emotional faces. The over-attribution of emotions to neutral faces was significantly related to greater communication and emotional intelligence impairments in individuals with ASD. These findings suggest a potential negative bias toward the interpretation of facial expressions and may have implications for interventions designed to remediate emotion perception in ASD. PMID:24535689

Brain systems for assessing the affective value of faces

PubMed Central

Said, Christopher P.; Haxby, James V.; Todorov, Alexander

2011-01-01

Cognitive neuroscience research on facial expression recognition and face evaluation has proliferated over the past 15 years. Nevertheless, large questions remain unanswered. In this overview, we discuss the current understanding in the field, and describe what is known and what remains unknown. In §2, we describe three types of behavioural evidence that the perception of traits in neutral faces is related to the perception of facial expressions, and may rely on the same mechanisms. In §3, we discuss cortical systems for the perception of facial expressions, and argue for a partial segregation of function in the superior temporal sulcus and the fusiform gyrus. In §4, we describe the current understanding of how the brain responds to emotionally neutral faces. To resolve some of the inconsistencies in the literature, we perform a large group analysis across three different studies, and argue that one parsimonious explanation of prior findings is that faces are coded in terms of their typicality. In §5, we discuss how these two lines of research—perception of emotional expressions and face evaluation—could be integrated into a common, cognitive neuroscience framework. PMID:21536552

Misinterpretation of facial expressions of emotion in verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder.

PubMed

Eack, Shaun M; Mazefsky, Carla A; Minshew, Nancy J

2015-04-01

Facial emotion perception is significantly affected in autism spectrum disorder, yet little is known about how individuals with autism spectrum disorder misinterpret facial expressions that result in their difficulty in accurately recognizing emotion in faces. This study examined facial emotion perception in 45 verbal adults with autism spectrum disorder and 30 age- and gender-matched volunteers without autism spectrum disorder to identify patterns of emotion misinterpretation during face processing that contribute to emotion recognition impairments in autism. Results revealed that difficulty distinguishing emotional from neutral facial expressions characterized much of the emotion perception impairments exhibited by participants with autism spectrum disorder. In particular, adults with autism spectrum disorder uniquely misinterpreted happy faces as neutral, and were significantly more likely than typical volunteers to attribute negative valence to nonemotional faces. The over-attribution of emotions to neutral faces was significantly related to greater communication and emotional intelligence impairments in individuals with autism spectrum disorder. These findings suggest a potential negative bias toward the interpretation of facial expressions and may have implications for interventions designed to remediate emotion perception in autism spectrum disorder. © The Author(s) 2014.

Iranian Nurses' Attitudes and Perception towards Patient Advocacy.

PubMed

Motamed-Jahromi, Mohadeseh; Abbaszadeh, Abbas; Borhani, Fariba; Zaher, Homa

2012-01-01

Patient advocacy is an inherent component of professional nursing ethics; in other words, nurses' enough knowledge would be essential to gain a positive attitude towards nursing advocacy. Using a descriptive-analytic design, this study aimed to assess the correlation between nurses' perception and attitudes towards patient advocacy, amongst 385 nurses in Kerman, Iran; hence, a three-part questionnaire was applied: part I, a demographic data sheet, part II, attitude measuring instrument, and part III, perception measuring instrument in nursing advocacy. The results implied that fairly positive attitudes and perception were found amongst the participants, and nurses' attitudes, in general, were positively correlated to their perception toward nursing advocacy. This means that with an improvement in perception, the attitude would also improve. In addition to our findings, it seems that these nurses needed more advocacy educational programs and support from responsible employers.

Caring more and knowing more reduces age-related differences in emotion perception.

PubMed

Stanley, Jennifer Tehan; Isaacowitz, Derek M

2015-06-01

Traditional emotion perception tasks show that older adults are less accurate than are young adults at recognizing facial expressions of emotion. Recently, we proposed that socioemotional factors might explain why older adults seem impaired in lab tasks but less so in everyday life (Isaacowitz & Stanley, 2011). Thus, in the present research we empirically tested whether socioemotional factors such as motivation and familiarity can alter this pattern of age effects. In 1 task, accountability instructions eliminated age differences in the traditional emotion perception task. Using a novel emotion perception paradigm featuring spontaneous dynamic facial expressions of a familiar romantic partner versus a same-age stranger, we found that age differences in emotion perception accuracy were attenuated in the familiar partner condition, relative to the stranger condition. Taken together, the results suggest that both overall accuracy as well as specific patterns of age effects differ appreciably between traditional emotion perception tasks and emotion perception within a socioemotional context. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.

Caring More and Knowing More Reduces Age-Related Differences in Emotion Perception

PubMed Central

Stanley, Jennifer Tehan; Isaacowitz, Derek M.

2015-01-01

Traditional emotion perception tasks show that older adults are less accurate than young adults at recognizing facial expressions of emotion. Recently, we proposed that socioemotional factors might explain why older adults seem impaired in lab tasks but less so in everyday life (Isaacowitz & Stanley, 2011). Thus, in the present research we empirically tested whether socioemotional factors such as motivation and familiarity can alter this pattern of age effects. In one task, accountability instructions eliminated age differences in the traditional emotion perception task. Using a novel emotion perception paradigm featuring spontaneous dynamic facial expressions of a familiar romantic partner versus a same-age stranger, we found that age differences in emotion perception accuracy were attenuated in the familiar partner condition, relative to the stranger condition. Taken together, the results suggest that both overall accuracy as well as specific patterns of age effects differ appreciably between traditional emotion perception tasks and emotion perception within a socioemotional context. PMID:26030775

Local visual perception bias in children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorders; do we have the whole picture?

PubMed

Falkmer, Marita; Black, Melissa; Tang, Julia; Fitzgerald, Patrick; Girdler, Sonya; Leung, Denise; Ordqvist, Anna; Tan, Tele; Jahan, Ishrat; Falkmer, Torbjorn

2016-01-01

While local bias in visual processing in children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) has been reported to result in difficulties in recognizing faces and facially expressed emotions, but superior ability in disembedding figures, associations between these abilities within a group of children with and without ASD have not been explored. Possible associations in performance on the Visual Perception Skills Figure-Ground test, a face recognition test and an emotion recognition test were investigated within 25 8-12-years-old children with high-functioning autism/Asperger syndrome, and in comparison to 33 typically developing children. Analyses indicated a weak positive correlation between accuracy in Figure-Ground recognition and emotion recognition. No other correlation estimates were significant. These findings challenge both the enhanced perceptual function hypothesis and the weak central coherence hypothesis, and accentuate the importance of further scrutinizing the existance and nature of local visual bias in ASD.

Qualitative Assessment of Pregnant Women’s Perceptions of Infant Sleep Boxes

PubMed Central

Ahlers-Schmidt, Carolyn R.; Schunn, Christy; Redmond, Michelle L.; Smith, Sharla; Brown, Molly; Kuhlmann, Stephanie N.; Engel, Matthew; Benton, Mary

2017-01-01

Although several states have implemented programs providing boxes for infant sleep, safe sleep experts express concern regarding the paucity of safety and efficacy research on boxes. The purpose of this study was to assess pregnant women’s perceptions regarding use of baby sleep boxes. A convenience sample was recruited from a community prenatal education program. Twenty-eight women were administered a brief semistructured interview about their knowledge of baby sleep boxes, opinions about the boxes, and questions they would have. For most (n = 15, 54%), this was their first pregnancy. Participants self-identified as white (43%), black (36%), Hispanic (18%), and “other” (4%). Ten subthemes emerged related to previous knowledge of boxes (useful for families in need, historic precedent in other countries), positive attributes (portable, compact, affordable, decorative), and negative attributes (low to ground, structural integrity/design, stability, stigma). Research on safety and efficacy could reduce concerns, but issues of stigma may persist. PMID:29226192

Tolerating Uncertainty: Perceptions of the Future for Ageing Parent Carers and Their Adult Children with Intellectual Disabilities.

PubMed

Pryce, Laura; Tweed, Alison; Hilton, Amanda; Priest, Helena M

2017-01-01

Improved life expectancy means that more adults with intellectual disabilities are now living with ageing parents. This study explored older families' perceptions of the future. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine older parents and three adults with intellectual disabilities and analysed to produce an explanatory thematic framework. 'Tolerating uncertainty' was the major theme in participants' attempts to manage anxieties about the future, encompassing sub-themes of 'accepting the parenting role', 'facing challenges', 'being supported/isolated', 'positive meaning making', 're-evaluating as time moves on' and 'managing future thinking'. Some participants expressed preferences for their future which were in contrast to their parents' views, and provide a unique perspective that has often been neglected in prior research. This research has found commonalities in how families tolerate the uncertainty of the future, but also unique differences that require tailored interventions and prospective action by services. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Face in profile view reduces perceived facial expression intensity: an eye-tracking study.

PubMed

Guo, Kun; Shaw, Heather

2015-02-01

Recent studies measuring the facial expressions of emotion have focused primarily on the perception of frontal face images. As we frequently encounter expressive faces from different viewing angles, having a mechanism which allows invariant expression perception would be advantageous to our social interactions. Although a couple of studies have indicated comparable expression categorization accuracy across viewpoints, it is unknown how perceived expression intensity and associated gaze behaviour change across viewing angles. Differences could arise because diagnostic cues from local facial features for decoding expressions could vary with viewpoints. Here we manipulated orientation of faces (frontal, mid-profile, and profile view) displaying six common facial expressions of emotion, and measured participants' expression categorization accuracy, perceived expression intensity and associated gaze patterns. In comparison with frontal faces, profile faces slightly reduced identification rates for disgust and sad expressions, but significantly decreased perceived intensity for all tested expressions. Although quantitatively viewpoint had expression-specific influence on the proportion of fixations directed at local facial features, the qualitative gaze distribution within facial features (e.g., the eyes tended to attract the highest proportion of fixations, followed by the nose and then the mouth region) was independent of viewpoint and expression type. Our results suggest that the viewpoint-invariant facial expression processing is categorical perception, which could be linked to a viewpoint-invariant holistic gaze strategy for extracting expressive facial cues. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Menthol Cigarettes Among Twitter Users: Content and Sentiment Analysis

PubMed Central

Jo, Catherine L; Binns, Steven; Buenger, Melissa; Emery, Sherry; Ribisl, Kurt M

2017-01-01

Background Menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by African American, female, and adolescent smokers. Twitter is also used disproportionately by minority and younger populations, providing a unique window into conversations reflecting social norms, behavioral intentions, and sentiment toward menthol cigarettes. Objective Our purpose was to identify the content and frequency of conversations about menthol cigarettes, including themes, populations, user smoking status, other tobacco or substances, tweet characteristics, and sentiment. We also examined differences in menthol cigarette sentiment by prevalent categories, which allowed us to assess potential perceptions, misperceptions, and social norms about menthol cigarettes on Twitter. This approach can inform communication about these products, particularly to subgroups who are at risk for menthol cigarette use. Methods Through a combination of human and machine classification, we identified 94,627 menthol cigarette-relevant tweets from February 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013 (1 year) from over 47 million tobacco-related messages gathered prospectively from the Twitter Firehose of all public tweets and metadata. Then, 4 human coders evaluated a random sample of 7000 tweets for categories, including sentiment toward menthol cigarettes. Results We found that 47.98% (3194/6657) of tweets expressed positive sentiment, while 40.26% (2680/6657) were negative toward menthol cigarettes. The majority of tweets by likely smokers (2653/4038, 65.70%) expressed positive sentiment, while 91.2% (320/351) of nonsmokers and 71.7% (91/127) of former smokers indicated negative views. Positive views toward menthol cigarettes were predominant in tweets that discussed addiction or craving, marijuana, smoking, taste or sensation, song lyrics, and tobacco industry or marketing or tweets that were commercial in nature. Negative views toward menthol were more common in tweets about smoking cessation, health, African Americans, women, and children and adolescents—largely due to expression of negative stereotypes associated with these groups’ use of menthol cigarettes. Conclusions Examinations of public opinions toward menthol cigarettes through social media can help to inform the framing of public communication about menthol cigarettes, particularly in light of potential regulation by the European Union, US Food and Drug Administration, other jurisdictions, and localities. PMID:28242592

Expression of a desaturase gene, desat1, in neural and nonneural tissues separately affects perception and emission of sex pheromones in Drosophila

PubMed Central

Bousquet, François; Nojima, Tetsuya; Houot, Benjamin; Chauvel, Isabelle; Chaudy, Sylvie; Dupas, Stéphane; Yamamoto, Daisuke; Ferveur, Jean-François

2012-01-01

Animals often use sex pheromones for mate choice and reproduction. As for other signals, the genetic control of the emission and perception of sex pheromones must be tightly coadapted, and yet we still have no worked-out example of how these two aspects interact. Most models suggest that emission and perception rely on separate genetic control. We have identified a Drosophila melanogaster gene, desat1, that is involved in both the emission and the perception of sex pheromones. To explore the mechanism whereby these two aspects of communication interact, we investigated the relationship between the molecular structure, tissue-specific expression, and pheromonal phenotypes of desat1. We characterized the five desat1 transcripts—all of which yielded the same desaturase protein—and constructed transgenes with the different desat1 putative regulatory regions. Each region was used to target reporter transgenes with either (i) the fluorescent GFP marker to reveal desat1 tissue expression, or (ii) the desat1 RNAi sequence to determine the effects of genetic down-regulation on pheromonal phenotypes. We found that desat1 is expressed in a variety of neural and nonneural tissues, most of which are involved in reproductive functions. Our results suggest that distinct desat1 putative regulatory regions independently drive the expression in nonneural and in neural cells, such that the emission and perception of sex pheromones are precisely coordinated in this species. PMID:22114190

Split-belt walking adaptation recalibrates sensorimotor estimates of leg speed but not position or force

PubMed Central

Vazquez, Alejandro; Statton, Matthew A.; Busgang, Stefanie A.

2015-01-01

Motor learning during reaching not only recalibrates movement but can also lead to small but consistent changes in the sense of arm position. Studies have suggested that this sensory effect may be the result of recalibration of a forward model that associates motor commands with their sensory consequences. Here we investigated whether similar perceptual changes occur in the lower limbs after learning a new walking pattern on a split-belt treadmill—a task that critically involves proprioception. Specifically, we studied how this motor learning task affects perception of leg speed during walking, perception of leg position during standing or walking, and perception of contact force during stepping. Our results show that split-belt adaptation leads to robust motor aftereffects and alters the perception of leg speed during walking. This is specific to the direction of walking that was trained during adaptation (i.e., backward or forward). The change in leg speed perception accounts for roughly half of the observed motor aftereffect. In contrast, split-belt adaptation does not alter the perception of leg position during standing or walking and does not change the perception of stepping force. Our results demonstrate that there is a recalibration of a sensory percept specific to the domain of the perturbation that was applied during walking (i.e., speed but not position or force). Furthermore, the motor and sensory consequences of locomotor adaptation may be linked, suggesting overlapping mechanisms driving changes in the motor and sensory domains. PMID:26424576

Anger and Sadness Perception in Clinically Referred Preschoolers: Emotion Processes and Externalizing Behavior Symptoms

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Martin, Sarah E.; Boekamp, John R.; McConville, David W.; Wheeler, Elizabeth E.

2010-01-01

This study examined emotion perception processes in preschool aged children presenting with clinically significant emotional and behavior problems, with emphasis on sadness perception accuracy (i.e., the ability to correctly identify sadness from expressive and situational cues) and anger perception bias (i.e., the tendency to perceive anger in…

Investigating the relationship between children's environmental perceptions and ecological actions through environmental learning experiences

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manoli, Constantinos C.

This study investigated the relationship between children's environmental perceptions and their ecological actions before and after attending Earthkeepers, an earth education program. Participants were 604 4th , 5th, and 6th grade students from 14 schools in Arizona and Pennsylvania. A comparison of the environmental perceptions of participants revealed a statistically significant difference between those who undertook more and those who undertook fewer or no positive ecological actions. After the program, students who undertook more positive ecological actions, for example using less energy and fewer materials, had more pro-environmental perceptions than their counterparts. Individual interviews with 18 of the participants supported the positive relationship between environmental perceptions and ecological actions and provided further explanations for those actions.

Pelvic floor muscle strength and body self-perception among Brazilian pregnant women.

PubMed

Sacomori, Cinara; Cardoso, Fernando Luiz; Vanderlinde, Cristiane

2010-12-01

To examine the relationship between pelvic floor muscle strength and body self-perception variables in pregnant women; and, more specifically, to determine the influence of the number of pregnancies (primigravidas vs multigravidas) on the strength of contraction of the pelvic floor muscles and on the body self-perception of pregnant women. Comparative cross-sectional research. Public health centres from Florianópolis, Brazil. Thirty-five pregnant women (18 primigravidas, 17 multigravidas) with a mean age of 25.5 (standard deviation 5.7) years. Pelvic floor strength measured through manual palpation, and body self-perception using the Questionnaire of Corporeality and Human Sexuality. Pelvic floor muscle strength was positively correlated with schooling [rho (ρ)=0.496] and body self-perception variables: finding the body beautiful (ρ=0.476), finding the body sexy (ρ=0.520), feeling that others find them sexy (ρ=0.364), finding the body proportional (ρ=0.412), touching the body generally (ρ=0.554) and recognising the smell of the body (ρ=0.454). Primigravidas found their bodies more beautiful and were more satisfied with their bodies. On a scale of 0 to 6, multigravid participants expressed a greater wish than primigravid participants to be thinner (median difference 2, 95% confidence interval 0-3, P=0.03). Pelvic floor strength did not differ between groups. The results suggest a relationship between pelvic floor muscle strength and body self-perception. Professionals involved in women's health may have a role in helping their patients to understand their bodies. Copyright © 2010 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Solid perception mechanism by a shading pattern: spatial frequency components in a corrugated wave pattern.

PubMed

Nameda, N

1988-01-01

Illumination allows solid object perception to be obtained and depicted by a shading pattern produced by lighting. The shading cue, as one of solid perception cues (Gibson 1979), was investigated in regard to a white corrugated wave shape, using computer graphic device: Tospix-2. The reason the corrugated wave was chosen, is that an alternately bright and dark pattern, produced by shading, can be conveniently analyzed into contained spatial frequencies. This paper reports spatial frequency properties contained in the shading pattern. The shading patterns, input into the computer graphic device, are analyzed by Fourier Transformation by the same device. After the filtration by various spatial frequency low and high pass filters, Inverse Fourier Transformation is carried out for the residual components. The result of the analysis indicates that the third through higher harmonics components are important in regard to presenting a solid reality feeling in solid perception. Sakata (1983) also reported that an edged pattern, superimposed onto a lower sinusoidal pattern, was important in solid perception. The third through higher harmonics components express the changing position of luminance on the pattern, and a slanted plane relating to the light direction. Detection of a solid shape, constructed with flat planes, is assumed to be on the bottom of the perfect curved solid perception mechanism. Apparent evidence for this assumption, in difficult visual conditions, is that a flat paneled solid is seen before the curved solid. This mechanism is explained by two spatial frequency neural network systems, assumed as having correspondence with higher spatial frequency detection and lower spatial frequency detection.

Assessing the Effects of Information About Global Population Growth on Risk Perceptions and Support for Mitigation and Prevention Strategies.

PubMed

Dawson, Ian G J

2018-05-16

The human population is forecast to increase by 3-4 billion people during this century and many scientists have expressed concerns that this could increase the likelihood of certain adverse events (e.g., climate change and resource shortages). Recent research shows that these concerns are mirrored in public risk perceptions and that these perceptions correlate with a willingness to adopt mitigation behaviors (e.g., reduce resource consumption) and preventative actions (e.g., support actions to limit growth). However, little research has assessed the factors that influence risk perceptions of global population growth (GPG). To contribute to this important goal, this article presents three studies that examined how risk perceptions of GPG might be influenced by textual-visual representations (like those in media and Internet articles) of the potential effects of GPG. Study 1 found that a textual narrative that highlighted the potential negative (cf. positive) consequences of GPG led to higher perceived risk and greater willingness to adopt mitigation behaviors, but not to support preventative actions. Notably, the influence of the narratives on perceived risk was largely moderated by the participant's prior knowledge and perceptions of GPG. Contrary to expectations, studies 2 and 3 revealed, respectively, that photographs depicting GPG-related imagery and graphs depicting GPG rates had no significant effect on the perceived risk of GPG or the willingness to embrace mitigation or preventative actions. However, study 3 found that individuals with higher "graph literacy" perceived GPG as a higher risk and were more willing to adopt mitigation behaviors and support preventative actions. © 2018 Society for Risk Analysis.

Depression, anxiety and positive affect in people diagnosed with low-grade tumours: the role of illness perceptions.

PubMed

Keeling, Melanie; Bambrough, Jacki; Simpson, Jane

2013-06-01

People with low-grade brain tumour experience a range of emotional, behavioural and psychosocial consequences. Using Leventhal's self-regulation model to explore biopsychosocial factors associated with distress, we examine the relationships between illness perceptions, coping and depression, anxiety and positive affect. A cross-sectional, self-report study in which 74 people (54% women) diagnosed with a low-grade brain tumour completed the Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-Revised was conducted. Mean time since diagnosis was 27.69 months (SD = 19.79). Mean age was 38.30 years (SD = 10.67). The Illness Perceptions Questionnaire-Revised, in addition to clinical, demographic and coping variables previously associated with psychological distress, was used to predict three psychological outcomes: depression, anxiety and positive affect. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses demonstrated that a biopsychosocial causal attribution was a significant predictor of anxiety and depression. Illness identity also emerged as a significant predictor of depression scores. Coping through self-blame was the only coping variable to emerge as a significant predictor of anxiety scores. A combination of coping through venting, acceptance, positive reframing, denial, behavioural disengagement and self-blame contributed to the variance in all three psychological outcome scores. No illness perception variables significantly predicted positive affect. Illness perceptions play a significant role in emotional distress experienced by people with low-grade brain tumours. Illness perceptions did not play a significant role in positive affect. Coping variables were shown to significantly contribute to the scores on all three psychological outcomes. Results suggest interventions targeted at modifying illness perceptions and enhancing problem-focused coping strategies may reduce psychological distress. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Connecting Athletes’ Self-Perceptions and Metaperceptions of Competence: a Structural Equation Modeling Approach

PubMed Central

Cecchini, Jose A.; Fernández-Rio, Javier; Méndez-Giménez, Antonio

2015-01-01

This study explored the relationships between athletes’ competence self-perceptions and metaperceptions. Two hundred and fifty one student-athletes (14.26 ± 1.89 years), members of twenty different teams (basketball, soccer) completed a questionnaire which included the Perception of Success Questionnaire, the Competence subscale of the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, and modified versions of both questionnaires to assess athletes’ metaperceptions. Structural equation modelling analysis revealed that athletes’ task and ego metaperceptions positively predicted task and ego self-perceptions, respectively. Competence metaperceptions were strong predictors of competence self-perceptions, confirming the atypical metaperception formation in outcome-dependent contexts such as sport. Task and ego metaperceptions positively predicted athletes’ competence metaperceptions. How coaches value their athletes’ competence is more influential on what the athletes think of themselves than their own self-perceptions. Athletes’ ego and task metaperceptions influenced their competence metaperceptions (how coaches rate their competence). Therefore, athletes build their competence metaperceptions using all information available from their coaches. Finally, only task-self perfections positively predicted athletes’ competence self-perceptions. PMID:26240662

Emotive hemispheric differences measured in real-life portraits using pupil diameter and subjective aesthetic preferences.

PubMed

Blackburn, Kelsey; Schirillo, James

2012-06-01

The biased positioning of faces exposed to viewers of Western portraiture has suggested there may be fundamental differences in the lateralized expression and perception of emotion. The present study investigates whether there are differences in the perception of the left and right sides of the face in real-life photographs of individuals. The study paired conscious aesthetic ratings of pleasantness with measurements of pupil size, which are thought to be a reliable unconscious measure of interest first tested by Hess. Images of 10 men and 10 women were taken from the left and right sides of the face. These images were also mirror-reversed. As expected, we found a strong preference for left-sided portraits (regardless of original or mirror-reversed orientation), such that left hemifaces elicited higher ratings and greater pupil dilation. Interestingly, this effect was true of both sexes. A positive linear relationship was also found between pupil size and aesthetic ratings such that pupil size increased with pleasantness ratings. These findings provide support for the notions of lateralized emotion, right-hemispheric dominance, pupillary dilation to pleasant images, and constriction to unpleasant images.

“Preventing sexual violence instead of just responding to it”: Students’ Perceptions of Sexual Violence Resources on Campus

PubMed Central

Garcia, Carolyn M.; Lechner, Kate E.; Frerich, Ellen A.; Lust, Katherine A.; Eisenberg, Marla E.

2012-01-01

Rates of sexual assault of college students are higher than the national rates. Colleges are uniquely positioned to offer preventive education and support services to a high-risk group. This qualitative study examines students’ perceptions of sexual violence resources and services. Seventy-eight female and male students, between 18–24 years old, belonging to various demographic groups participated in one-to-one, walking interviews on five diverse Midwest 2- and 4-year postsecondary campuses. Findings suggest that students are concerned with safety, students want more education regarding sexual violence, and they value services that offer protection from incidents of sexual violence on campus. Participants expressed mixed reactions to prevention education that combined sexual violence prevention with alcohol and drug use. Students shared positive views of the security measures on campus. They emphasized the importance of using varied mechanisms for sexual violence-related resource messaging and advised moving away from the pamphlet towards posters and online resources. Recommendations are offered to strengthen existing resources, such as prevention education and post-assault interventions including Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) services, and to minimize barriers to access of sexual violence resources. PMID:22621664

Transcriptional control of behavior: Engrailed knockout changes cockroach escape trajectories

PubMed Central

Booth, David; Marie, Bruno; Domenici, Paolo; Blagburn, Jonathan M; Bacon, Jonathan P

2009-01-01

The cerci of the cockroach are covered with identified sensory hairs, which detect air movements. The sensory neurons which innervate these hairs synapse with giant interneurons (GIs) in the terminal ganglion which in turn synapse with interneurons and leg motorneurons in thoracic ganglia. This neural circuit mediates the animal's escape behavior. The transcription factor Engrailed (En) is expressed only in the medially born sensory neurons, which suggested it could work as a positional determinant of sensory neuron identity. Previously, we used dsRNA interference to abolish En expression, and found that the axonal arborization and synaptic outputs of an identified En-positive sensory neuron changed so that it came to resemble a nearby En-negative cell, which was itself unaffected. We thus demonstrated directly that En controls synaptic choice, as well as axon projections. Is escape behavior affected as a result of this mis-wiring? We recently showed that adult cockroaches keep each escape unpredictable by running along one of a set of preferred escape trajectories (ETs) at fixed angles from the direction of the threatening stimulus. The probability of selecting a particular ET is influenced by wind direction. In this present study we show that early instar juvenile cockroaches also use those same ETs. En knockout significantly perturbs the animals' perception of posterior wind, altering the choice of ETs to one more appropriate for anterior wind. This is the first time that it has been shown that knockout of a transcription factor controlling synaptic connectivity can alter the perception of a directional stimulus. PMID:19494140

Face or body? Oxytocin improves perception of emotions from facial expressions in incongruent emotional body context.

PubMed

Perry, Anat; Aviezer, Hillel; Goldstein, Pavel; Palgi, Sharon; Klein, Ehud; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G

2013-11-01

The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been repeatedly reported to play an essential role in the regulation of social cognition in humans in general, and specifically in enhancing the recognition of emotions from facial expressions. The later was assessed in different paradigms that rely primarily on isolated and decontextualized emotional faces. However, recent evidence has indicated that the perception of basic facial expressions is not context invariant and can be categorically altered by context, especially body context, at early perceptual levels. Body context has a strong effect on our perception of emotional expressions, especially when the actual target face and the contextually expected face are perceptually similar. To examine whether and how OT affects emotion recognition, we investigated the role of OT in categorizing facial expressions in incongruent body contexts. Our results show that in the combined process of deciphering emotions from facial expressions and from context, OT gives an advantage to the face. This advantage is most evident when the target face and the contextually expected face are perceptually similar. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Neural Correlates of Facial Mimicry: Simultaneous Measurements of EMG and BOLD Responses during Perception of Dynamic Compared to Static Facial Expressions

PubMed Central

Rymarczyk, Krystyna; Żurawski, Łukasz; Jankowiak-Siuda, Kamila; Szatkowska, Iwona

2018-01-01

Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However, neural correlates of the phenomenon are as yet not well established. We investigated this issue using simultaneously recorded EMG and BOLD signals during perception of dynamic and static emotional facial expressions of happiness and anger. During display presentations, BOLD signals and zygomaticus major (ZM), corrugator supercilii (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) EMG responses were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals. Subjects reacted spontaneously to happy facial expressions with increased EMG activity in ZM and OO muscles and decreased CS activity, which was interpreted as FM. Facial muscle responses correlated with BOLD activity in regions associated with motor simulation of facial expressions [i.e., inferior frontal gyrus, a classical Mirror Neuron System (MNS)]. Further, we also found correlations for regions associated with emotional processing (i.e., insula, part of the extended MNS). It is concluded that FM involves both motor and emotional brain structures, especially during perception of natural emotional expressions. PMID:29467691

The Functional Role of Neural Oscillations in Non-Verbal Emotional Communication

PubMed Central

Symons, Ashley E.; El-Deredy, Wael; Schwartze, Michael; Kotz, Sonja A.

2016-01-01

Effective interpersonal communication depends on the ability to perceive and interpret nonverbal emotional expressions from multiple sensory modalities. Current theoretical models propose that visual and auditory emotion perception involves a network of brain regions including the primary sensory cortices, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, relatively little is known about how the dynamic interplay between these regions gives rise to the perception of emotions. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of neural oscillations in mediating neural communication within and between functional neural networks. Here we review studies investigating changes in oscillatory activity during the perception of visual, auditory, and audiovisual emotional expressions, and aim to characterize the functional role of neural oscillations in nonverbal emotion perception. Findings from the reviewed literature suggest that theta band oscillations most consistently differentiate between emotional and neutral expressions. While early theta synchronization appears to reflect the initial encoding of emotionally salient sensory information, later fronto-central theta synchronization may reflect the further integration of sensory information with internal representations. Additionally, gamma synchronization reflects facilitated sensory binding of emotional expressions within regions such as the OFC, STS, and, potentially, the amygdala. However, the evidence is more ambiguous when it comes to the role of oscillations within the alpha and beta frequencies, which vary as a function of modality (or modalities), presence or absence of predictive information, and attentional or task demands. Thus, the synchronization of neural oscillations within specific frequency bands mediates the rapid detection, integration, and evaluation of emotional expressions. Moreover, the functional coupling of oscillatory activity across multiples frequency bands supports a predictive coding model of multisensory emotion perception in which emotional facial and body expressions facilitate the processing of emotional vocalizations. PMID:27252638

The Functional Role of Neural Oscillations in Non-Verbal Emotional Communication.

PubMed

Symons, Ashley E; El-Deredy, Wael; Schwartze, Michael; Kotz, Sonja A

2016-01-01

Effective interpersonal communication depends on the ability to perceive and interpret nonverbal emotional expressions from multiple sensory modalities. Current theoretical models propose that visual and auditory emotion perception involves a network of brain regions including the primary sensory cortices, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). However, relatively little is known about how the dynamic interplay between these regions gives rise to the perception of emotions. In recent years, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of neural oscillations in mediating neural communication within and between functional neural networks. Here we review studies investigating changes in oscillatory activity during the perception of visual, auditory, and audiovisual emotional expressions, and aim to characterize the functional role of neural oscillations in nonverbal emotion perception. Findings from the reviewed literature suggest that theta band oscillations most consistently differentiate between emotional and neutral expressions. While early theta synchronization appears to reflect the initial encoding of emotionally salient sensory information, later fronto-central theta synchronization may reflect the further integration of sensory information with internal representations. Additionally, gamma synchronization reflects facilitated sensory binding of emotional expressions within regions such as the OFC, STS, and, potentially, the amygdala. However, the evidence is more ambiguous when it comes to the role of oscillations within the alpha and beta frequencies, which vary as a function of modality (or modalities), presence or absence of predictive information, and attentional or task demands. Thus, the synchronization of neural oscillations within specific frequency bands mediates the rapid detection, integration, and evaluation of emotional expressions. Moreover, the functional coupling of oscillatory activity across multiples frequency bands supports a predictive coding model of multisensory emotion perception in which emotional facial and body expressions facilitate the processing of emotional vocalizations.

Perceiving the evil eye: Investigating hostile interpretation of ambiguous facial emotional expression in violent and non-violent offenders.

PubMed

Kuin, Niki C; Masthoff, Erik D M; Munafò, Marcus R; Penton-Voak, Ian S

2017-01-01

Research into the causal and perpetuating factors influencing aggression has partly focused on the general tendency of aggression-prone individuals to infer hostile intent in others, even in ambiguous circumstances. This is referred to as the 'hostile interpretation bias'. Whether this hostile interpretation bias also exists in basal information processing, such as perception of facial emotion, is not yet known, especially with respect to the perception of ambiguous expressions. In addition, little is known about how this potential bias in facial emotion perception is related to specific characteristics of aggression. In the present study, conducted in a penitentiary setting with detained male adults, we investigated if violent offenders (n = 71) show a stronger tendency to interpret ambiguous facial expressions on a computer task as angry rather than happy, compared to non-violent offenders (n = 14) and to a control group of healthy volunteers (n = 32). We also investigated if hostile perception of facial expressions is related to specific characteristics of aggression, such as proactive and reactive aggression. No clear statistical evidence was found that violent offenders perceived facial emotional expressions as more angry than non-violent offenders or healthy volunteers. A regression analysis in the violent offender group showed that only age and a self-report measure of hostility predicted outcome on the emotion perception task. Other traits, such as psychopathic traits, intelligence, attention and a tendency to jump to conclusions were not associated with interpretation of anger in facial emotional expressions. We discuss the possible impact of the study design and population studied on our results, as well as implications for future studies.

Perceiving the evil eye: Investigating hostile interpretation of ambiguous facial emotional expression in violent and non-violent offenders

PubMed Central

Masthoff, Erik D. M.; Munafò, Marcus R.; Penton-Voak, Ian S.

2017-01-01

Research into the causal and perpetuating factors influencing aggression has partly focused on the general tendency of aggression-prone individuals to infer hostile intent in others, even in ambiguous circumstances. This is referred to as the ‘hostile interpretation bias’. Whether this hostile interpretation bias also exists in basal information processing, such as perception of facial emotion, is not yet known, especially with respect to the perception of ambiguous expressions. In addition, little is known about how this potential bias in facial emotion perception is related to specific characteristics of aggression. In the present study, conducted in a penitentiary setting with detained male adults, we investigated if violent offenders (n = 71) show a stronger tendency to interpret ambiguous facial expressions on a computer task as angry rather than happy, compared to non-violent offenders (n = 14) and to a control group of healthy volunteers (n = 32). We also investigated if hostile perception of facial expressions is related to specific characteristics of aggression, such as proactive and reactive aggression. No clear statistical evidence was found that violent offenders perceived facial emotional expressions as more angry than non-violent offenders or healthy volunteers. A regression analysis in the violent offender group showed that only age and a self-report measure of hostility predicted outcome on the emotion perception task. Other traits, such as psychopathic traits, intelligence, attention and a tendency to jump to conclusions were not associated with interpretation of anger in facial emotional expressions. We discuss the possible impact of the study design and population studied on our results, as well as implications for future studies. PMID:29190802

The challenge of change in acute mental health services: measuring staff perceptions of barriers to change and their relationship to job status and satisfaction using a new measure (VOCALISE).

PubMed

Laker, Caroline; Callard, Felicity; Flach, Clare; Williams, Paul; Sayer, Jane; Wykes, Til

2014-02-20

Health services are subject to frequent changes, yet there has been insufficient research to address how staff working within these services perceive the climate for implementation. Staff perceptions, particularly of barriers to change, may affect successful implementation and the resultant quality of care. This study measures staff perceptions of barriers to change in acute mental healthcare. We identify whether occupational status and job satisfaction are related to these perceptions, as this might indicate a target for intervention that could aid successful implementation. As there were no available instruments capturing staff perceptions of barriers to change, we created a new measure (VOCALISE) to assess this construct. All nursing staff from acute in-patient settings in one large London mental health trust were eligible. Using a participatory method, a nurse researcher interviewed 32 staff to explore perceptions of barriers to change. This generated a measure through thematic analyses and staff feedback (N = 6). Psychometric testing was undertaken according to standard guidelines for measure development (N = 40, 42, 275). Random effects models were used to explore the associations between VOCALISE, occupational status, and job satisfaction (N = 125). VOCALISE was easy to understand and complete, and showed acceptable reliability and validity. The factor analysis revealed three underlying constructs: 'confidence,' 'de-motivation' and 'powerlessness.' Staff with negative perceptions of barriers to change held more junior positions, and had poorer job satisfaction. Qualitatively, nursing assistants expressed a greater sense of organisational unfairness in response to change. VOCALISE can be used to explore staff perceptions of implementation climate and to assess how staff attitudes shape the successful outcomes of planned changes. Negative perceptions were linked with poor job satisfaction and to those occupying more junior roles, indicating a negative climate for implementation in those groups. Staff from these groups may therefore need special attention prior to implementing changes in mental health settings.

The effect of skin surface topography and skin colouration cues on perception of male facial age, health and attractiveness.

PubMed

Fink, B; Matts, P J; Brauckmann, C; Gundlach, S

2018-04-01

Previous studies investigating the effects of skin surface topography and colouration cues on the perception of female faces reported a differential weighting for the perception of skin topography and colour evenness, where topography was a stronger visual cue for the perception of age, whereas skin colour evenness was a stronger visual cue for the perception of health. We extend these findings in a study of the effect of skin surface topography and colour evenness cues on the perceptions of facial age, health and attractiveness in males. Facial images of six men (aged 40 to 70 years), selected for co-expression of lines/wrinkles and discolouration, were manipulated digitally to create eight stimuli, namely, separate removal of these two features (a) on the forehead, (b) in the periorbital area, (c) on the cheeks and (d) across the entire face. Omnibus (within-face) pairwise combinations, including the original (unmodified) face, were presented to a total of 240 male and female judges, who selected the face they considered younger, healthier and more attractive. Significant effects were detected for facial image choice, in response to skin feature manipulation. The combined removal of skin surface topography resulted in younger age perception compared with that seen with the removal of skin colouration cues, whereas the opposite pattern was found for health preference. No difference was detected for the perception of attractiveness. These perceptual effects were seen particularly on the forehead and cheeks. Removing skin topography cues (but not discolouration) in the periorbital area resulted in higher preferences for all three attributes. Skin surface topography and colouration cues affect the perception of age, health and attractiveness in men's faces. The combined removal of these features on the forehead, cheeks and in the periorbital area results in the most positive assessments. © 2018 Society of Cosmetic Scientists and the Société Française de Cosmétologie.

Teachers' Perception Regarding Facial Expressions as an Effective Teaching Tool

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Butt, Muhammad Naeem; Iqbal, Mohammad

2011-01-01

The major objective of the study was to explore teachers' perceptions about the importance of facial expression in the teaching-learning process. All the teachers of government secondary schools constituted the population of the study. A sample of 40 teachers, both male and female, in rural and urban areas of district Peshawar, were selected…

Asymmetries for the Visual Expression and Perception of Speech

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nicholls, Michael E. R.; Searle, Dara A.

2006-01-01

This study explored asymmetries for movement, expression and perception of visual speech. Sixteen dextral models were videoed as they articulated: "bat," "cat," "fat," and "sat." Measurements revealed that the right side of the mouth was opened wider and for a longer period than the left. The asymmetry was accentuated at the beginning and ends of…

Effects of Conducting Plane on Band and Choral Musicians' Perceptions of Conductor and Ensemble Expressivity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Silvey, Brian A.; Fisher, Ryan A.

2015-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine whether one aspect of conducting technique, the conducting plane, would affect band and/or choral musicians' perceptions of conductor and ensemble expressivity. A band and a choral conductor were each videotaped conducting 1-min excerpts from Morten Lauridsen's "O Magnum Mysterium" while using a…

Behavioral and Relational Correlates of Low Self-Perceived Competence in Young Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nelson, Larry J.; Hart, Craig H.; Evans, Cortney A.; Coplan, Robert J.; Roper, Susanne Olsen; Robinson, Clyde C.

2009-01-01

It is developmentally normative for preschoolers (aged four to five years) to have self-perceptions that are typically positive and even over-inflated. However, because not all children have positive self-perceptions in early childhood it is important to understand factors that influence the development of self-perceptions, especially low…

Teachers' Perceptions of Implementing a Positive Behavior Intervention Support Plan

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ayers, Milton A., Jr.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to assess teacher perceptions in implementing a Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) plan in an elementary school. The study was mainly quantitative, using surveys, personal interviews, and observations to measure teacher perceptions. The study focused on the common areas. The rules, procedures, and…

Effects of Positive Affect on Risk Perceptions in Adolescence and Young Adulthood

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haase, Claudia M.; Silbereisen, Rainer K.

2011-01-01

Affective influences may play a key role in adolescent risk taking, but have rarely been studied. Using an audiovisual method of affect induction, two experimental studies examined the effect of positive affect on risk perceptions in adolescence and young adulthood. Outcomes were risk perceptions regarding drinking alcohol, smoking a cigarette,…

Amphetamine as a social drug: Effects of d-amphetamine on social processing and behavior

PubMed Central

Wardle, Margaret C.; Garner, Matthew J.; Munafò, Marcus R.; de Wit, Harriet

2012-01-01

Rationale Drug users often report using drugs to enhance social situations, and empirical studies support the idea that drugs increase both social behavior and the value of social interactions. One way drugs may affect social behavior is by altering social processing, for example by decreasing perceptions of negative emotion in others. Objectives We examined effects of d-amphetamine on processing of emotional facial expressions, and on the social behavior of talking. We predicted amphetamine would enhance attention, identification and responsivity to positive expressions, and that this in turn would predict increased talkativeness. Methods Over three sessions, 36 healthy normal adults received placebo, 10mg, and 20mg d-amphetamine under counterbalanced double-blind conditions. At each session we measured processing of happy, fearful, sad and angry expressions using an attentional visual probe task, a dynamic emotion identification task, and measures of facial muscle activity. We also measured talking. Results Amphetamine decreased the threshold for identifying all emotions, increased negative facial responses to sad expressions, and increased talkativeness. Contrary to our hypotheses, amphetamine did not alter attention to, identification of or facial responses to positive emotions specifically. Interestingly, the drug decreased the threshold to identify all emotions, and this effect was uniquely related to increased talkativeness, even after controlling for overall sensitivity to amphetamine. Conclusions The results suggest that amphetamine may encourage sociability by increasing sensitivity to subtle emotional expressions. These findings suggest novel social mechanisms that may contribute to the rewarding effects of amphetamine. PMID:22526538

The influence on perceptions of truthfulness of the emotional expressions shown when talking about failure

PubMed Central

David, Shlomo; Hareli, Shlomo; Hess, Ursula

2015-01-01

The study aimed to assess whether showing emotion in an organizational inquiry into failure affects perceptions of truthfulness as a function of the match between the explanation of what caused the failure and the emotion expressed. Two web-based studies were conducted. Participants with work experience saw videos of an inquiry and rated the protagonist’s truthfulness. In both studies protagonists who expressed an emotion (anger or shame) were rated as less truthful than protagonists who expressed no emotion, regardless of what the failure was attributed to. In order to not confound effects of emotions with occupational stereotype effects only male protagonists were shown. Showing emotions when questioned is normal. Managers have to be aware of a tendency to count this against the employee. This is the only research focusing on the effects of showing emotions on perceptions of truthfulness in an organizational context. PMID:27247646

Understanding Chinese immigrant and European American mothers' expressions of warmth.

PubMed

Cheah, Charissa S L; Li, Jin; Zhou, Nan; Yamamoto, Yoko; Leung, Christy Y Y

2015-12-01

Maternal warmth, the quality of the affectional bond between mothers and their children, has been found to be consistently associated with children's positive developmental outcomes in Western cultures. However, researchers debate the potential differences in the cultural meanings of maternal warmth, particularly between Chinese and European American families. To address the lack of empirical research on this issue, the present study examined culturally derived perceptions and practices of maternal warmth through open-ended interviews with 70 Chinese immigrant and 70 European American mothers of preschoolers. Specifically, we compared mothers' perceived importance and degree of expression of warmth toward their children, and why and how they express warmth toward their children in the 2 cultural groups. Results showed that, although mothers perceived expressing warmth to be similarly important, European American mothers perceived expressing more warmth toward their children. Moreover, both cultural similarities and differences were found in why these 2 groups of mothers believed it was important to express warmth and the specific practices they used. Chinese immigrant mothers' responses were interpreted as reflecting a cultural emphasis on nurturance and instrumental support, whereas European American mothers' responses reflected the Western cultural focus on more direct and outward demonstrations of warmth. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Effects of an integrated geriatric group balance class within an entry-level Doctorate of Physical Therapy program on students' perceptions of geriatrics and geriatric education in the United States.

PubMed

Reneker, Jennifer C; Weems, Kyra; Scaia, Vincent

2016-01-01

This study was aimed at determining the effect of an integrated group balance class for community-dwelling older adults within entry-level physical therapist coursework on student perceptions of geriatric physical therapy and geriatric physical therapy education. Twenty-nine Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students, 21-33 years old, in their second year of coursework in 2012, participated in an integrated clinical experience with exposure to geriatric patients at an outpatient facility at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Akron, Ohio, USA. Student perceptions were collected before and after participation in the 8-week balance class. The Wilcoxon sign-ranked test was used to identify differences in perceptions after participation in the group balance class. Cohen's d values were calculated to measure the size of the pre-participation to post-participation effect for each measure. At the conclusion of the group class, the DPT students demonstrated an increase in positive perceptions of geriatric physical therapy in 8 measures, with small effect sizes (d=0.15-0.30). Two perceptions of geriatric physical therapy demonstrated a significant positive increase (P<.05) with moderate effect sizes (d=0.47 and d=0.50). The students' perceptions of geriatric education in the curriculum demonstrated a large positive effect for quality (d=1.68) and enjoyment (d=1.96). Positive changes were found in most of the perceptions of geriatrics and geriatric education after participation, suggesting that integrated clinical experiences with geriatric patients are an effective way to positively influence perceptions of physical therapist practice with older adults.

Functional Alterations of Postcentral Gyrus Modulated by Angry Facial Expressions during Intraoral Tactile Stimuli in Patients with Burning Mouth Syndrome: A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

PubMed Central

Yoshino, Atsuo; Okamoto, Yasumasa; Doi, Mitsuru; Okada, Go; Takamura, Masahiro; Ichikawa, Naho; Yamawaki, Shigeto

2017-01-01

Previous findings suggest that negative emotions could influence abnormal sensory perception in burning mouth syndrome (BMS). However, few studies have investigated the underlying neural mechanisms associated with BMS. We examined activation of brain regions in response to intraoral tactile stimuli when modulated by angry facial expressions. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging on a group of 27 BMS patients and 21 age-matched healthy controls. Tactile stimuli were presented during different emotional contexts, which were induced via the continuous presentation of angry or neutral pictures of human faces. BMS patients exhibited higher tactile ratings and greater activation in the postcentral gyrus during the presentation of tactile stimuli involving angry faces relative to controls. Significant positive correlations between changes in brain activation elicited by angry facial images in the postcentral gyrus and changes in tactile rating scores by angry facial images were found for both groups. For BMS patients, there was a significant positive correlation between changes in tactile-related activation of the postcentral gyrus elicited by angry facial expressions and pain intensity in daily life. Findings suggest that neural responses in the postcentral gyrus are more strongly affected by angry facial expressions in BMS patients, which may reflect one possible mechanism underlying impaired somatosensory system function in this disorder. PMID:29163243

The Curse of Curves: Sex Differences in the Associations Between Body Shape and Pain Expression.

PubMed

Vigil, Jacob M; Strenth, Chance R; Mueller, Andrea A; DiDomenico, Jared; Beltran, Diego Guevara; Coulombe, Patrick; Smith, Jane Ellen

2015-06-01

This study examines the associations between objective and subjective measurements and impressions of body shape and cold pressor pain reporting in healthy adults. On the basis of sexual selection theory (SST), we hypothesized that body characteristics that are universally preferred by the opposite sex-specifically, lower waist-to-hip ratios (WHR) in women and higher shoulder-to-hip ratios (SHR) in men-and characteristics (e.g., proportion of body fat in women) that infer attractiveness differently across cultures will correspond to higher experimental pain reporting in women and lower pain reporting in males. A convenience sample of young adults (n = 96, 58 females, 18-24 years; mean age = 19.4) was measured for body mass index (BMI), WHR, SHR, and subjective body impressions (SBI), along with cold pressor pain reporting. The findings showed that BMI was positively associated with WHR and less-positive SBI in both sexes. Consistent with SST, however, only BMI and WHR predicted variability in pain expression in women, whereas only SHR predicted variability in men. Subjective body impressions were positively associated with SHR among males and unrelated to WHR among females, yet only females showed a positive association between SBI and higher pain reporting. The findings suggest that sexually selected physical characteristics (WHR and SHR) and culturally influenced somatic (BMI) and psychological (SBI) indicators of attractiveness correspond with variability in pain reporting, potentially reflecting the general tendency for people to express clusters of sexually selected and culturally influenced traits that may include differential pain perception.

Family Presence During Resuscitation: Physicians' Perceptions of Risk, Benefit, and Self-Confidence.

PubMed

Twibell, Renee Samples; Siela, Debra; Neal, Alexis; Riwitis, Cheryl; Beane, Heather

Families often desire proximity to loved ones during life-threatening resuscitations and perceive clear benefits to being present. However, critical care nurses and physicians perceive risks and benefits. Whereas research is accumulating on nurses' perceptions of family presence, physicians' perspectives have not been clearly explicated. Psychometrically sound measures of physicians' perceptions are needed to create new knowledge and enhance collaboration among critical care nurses and physicians during resuscitation events. This study tests 2 new instruments that measure physicians' perceived risks, benefits, and self-confidence related to family presence during resuscitation. By a correlational design, a convenience sample of physicians (N = 195) from diverse clinical specialties in 1 hospital in the United States completed the Physicians' Family Presence Risk-Benefit Scale and Physicians' Family Presence Self-confidence Scale. Findings supported the internal consistency reliability and construct validity of both new scales. Mean scale scores indicated that physicians perceived more risk than benefit and were confident in managing resuscitations with families present, although more than two-thirds reported feeling anxious. Higher self-confidence was significantly related to more perceived benefit and less perceived risk (P = .001). Younger physicians, family practice physicians, and physicians who previously had invited family presence expressed more positive perceptions (P = .05-.001). These 2 new scales offer a means to assess key perceptions of physicians related to family presence. Further testing in diverse physician populations may further validate the scales and yield knowledge that can strengthen collaboration among critical care nurses and physicians and improve patient and family outcomes.

Perceptions and Attitudes Toward NANDA-I Nursing Diagnoses: A Cross-Sectional Study of Jordanian Nursing Students.

PubMed

Abed El-Rahman, Mona; Al Kalaldeh, Mahmoud T; Malak, Malakeh Z

2017-01-01

To assess the perceptions and attitudes of undergraduate nursing students toward NANDA-I nursing diagnosis. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used. A convenient sample was recruited from nursing students at Zarqa University/Jordan. Perceptions toward NANDA-I Nursing Diagnosis scale and Positions on Nursing Diagnosis scale were used. A total of 101 nursing students were included. A correct perception toward NANDA-I nursing diagnosis was evident. Attitudes toward NANDA appeared positive. However, insufficient distinction between nursing diagnosis and medical diagnosis and feeling less comfort while using NANDA-I were reported. Nursing students showed correct perceptions and positive attitudes toward the application of NANDA-I. Proper implementation of NANDA-I is a prerequisite to the better understanding of nursing language. © 2015 NANDA International, Inc.

Sentence-position effects on children's perception and production of English third person singular -s.

PubMed

Sundara, Megha; Demuth, Katherine; Kuhl, Patricia K

2011-02-01

Two-year-olds produce third person singular -s more accurately on verbs in sentence-final position as compared with verbs in sentence-medial position. This study was designed to determine whether these sentence-position effects can be explained by perceptual factors. For this purpose, the authors compared 22- and 27-month-olds' perception and elicited production of third person singular -s in sentence-medial versus-final position. The authors assessed perception by measuring looking/listening times to a 1-screen display of a cartoon paired with a grammatical versus an ungrammatical sentence (e.g., She eats now vs. She eat now). Children at both ages demonstrated sensitivity to the presence/absence of this inflectional morpheme in sentence-final, but not sentence-medial, position. Children were also more accurate at producing third person singular -s sentence finally, and production accuracy was predicted by vocabulary measures as well as by performance on the perception task. These results indicate that children's more accurate production of third person singular -s in sentence-final position cannot be explained by articulatory factors alone but that perceptual factors play an important role in accounting for early patterns of production. The findings also indicate that perception and production of inflectional morphemes may be more closely related than previously thought.

Safety leadership: extending workplace safety climate best practices across health care workforces.

PubMed

McCaughey, Deirdre; Halbesleben, Jonathon R B; Savage, Grant T; Simons, Tony; McGhan, Gwen E

2013-01-01

Hospitals within the United States consistently have injury rates that are over twice the national employee injury rate. Hospital safety studies typically investigate care providers rather than support service employees. Compounding the lack of evidence for this understudied population is the scant evidence that is available to examine the relationship of support service employees'perceptions of safety and work-related injuries. To examine this phenomenon, the purpose of this study was to investigate support service employees' perceptions of safety leadership and social support as well as the relationship of safety perception to levels of reported injuries. A nonexperimental survey was conducted with the data collected from hospital support service employees (n = 1,272) and examined. (1) relationships between safety leadership (supervisor and organization) and individual and unit safety perceptions; (2) the moderating effect of social support (supervisor and coworker) on individual and unit safety perceptions; and (3) the relationship of safety perception to reported injury rates. The survey items in this study were based on the items from the AHRQ Patient Safety Culture Survey and the U.S. National Health Care Surveys. Safety leadership (supervisor and organization) was found to be positively related to individual safety perceptions and unit safety grade as was supervisor and coworker support. Coworker support was found to positively moderate the following relationships: supervisor safety leadership and safety perceptions, supervisor safety leadership and unit safety grade, and senior management safety leadership and safety perceptions. Positive employee safety perceptions were found to have a significant relationship with lower reported injury rates. These findings suggest that safety leadership from supervisors and senior management as well as coworker support has positive implications for support service employees' perceptions of safety, which, in turn, are negatively related to lower odds of reporting injuries.

Contribution of eye position to movement perception.

PubMed

Pettorossi, V E; Panichi, R; Bambagioni, D; Grassi, S; Botti, F M

2004-05-01

To investigate the influence of gaze eccentricity on movement perception during asymmetric vestibular stimulation. Subjects (n = 10) were placed on a rotating platform and oscillated asymmetrically in the dark. Subjects were asked to reproduce with a pointer the location in space of a light spot that was turned off at the beginning of the oscillation. The target was presented in centric and eccentric (0 degrees, 20 degrees and 40 degrees) positions. In the centric position a large shift from the real position of the target was observed in the opposite direction to that of the faster vestibular stimulation. The shift increased when the target was placed eccentrically toward the slower vestibular stimulation side and decreased when it was placed in the opposite direction. The dependence of rotation perception on the target position suggests that the eye deviation, imposed by the eccentricity of the target, is able to influence the perception of body movement and may modulate the internal reference frame.

Sexual harassment in the workplace: nurses' perceptions.

PubMed

Fiedler, A; Hamby, E

2000-10-01

This study examined the perceptions of nurses and nursing administrators of various types of sexual harassment. It also investigated the differences in the perceptions based on gender, previous harassment, and position. Significant differences in perceptions of sexual harassment were found according to types of harassment, gender, position, and sensitivity from prior harassment. These results can inform the educators and supervisors about where the message about harassment is not getting through strongly enough, and help them to focus their training efforts.

RF EMF Risk Perception Revisited: Is the Focus on Concern Sufficient for Risk Perception Studies?

PubMed Central

Wiedemann, Peter M.; Freudenstein, Frederik; Böhmert, Christoph; Wiart, Joe; Croft, Rodney J.

2017-01-01

An implicit assumption of risk perception studies is that concerns expressed in questionnaires reflect concerns in everyday life. The aim of the present study is to check this assumption, i.e., the extrapolability of risk perceptions expressed in a survey, to risk perceptions in everyday life. To that end, risk perceptions were measured by a multidimensional approach. In addition to the traditional focus on measuring the magnitude of risk perceptions, the thematic relevance (how often people think about a risk issue) and the discursive relevance (how often people think about or discuss a risk issue) of risk perceptions were also collected. Taking into account this extended view of risk perception, an online survey was conducted in six European countries with 2454 respondents, referring to radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF EMF) risk potentials from base stations, and access points, such as WiFi routers and cell phones. The findings reveal that the present study’s multidimensional approach to measuring risk perception provides a more differentiated understanding of RF EMF risk perception. High levels of concerns expressed in questionnaires do not automatically imply that these concerns are thematically relevant in everyday life. We use thematic relevance to distinguish between enduringly concerned (high concern according to both questionnaire and thematic relevance) and not enduringly concerned participants (high concern according to questionnaire but no thematic relevance). Furthermore, we provide data for the empirical value of this distinction: Compared to other participants, enduringly concerned subjects consider radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure to a greater extent as a moral and affective issue. They also see themselves as highly exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. However, despite these differences, subjects with high levels of thematic relevance are nevertheless sensitive to exposure reduction as a means for improving the acceptance of base stations in their neighborhood. This underlines the value of exposure reduction for the acceptance of radio frequency electromagnetic field communication technologies. PMID:28594366

RF EMF Risk Perception Revisited: Is the Focus on Concern Sufficient for Risk Perception Studies?

PubMed

Wiedemann, Peter M; Freudenstein, Frederik; Böhmert, Christoph; Wiart, Joe; Croft, Rodney J

2017-06-08

An implicit assumption of risk perception studies is that concerns expressed in questionnaires reflect concerns in everyday life. The aim of the present study is to check this assumption, i.e., the extrapolability of risk perceptions expressed in a survey, to risk perceptions in everyday life. To that end, risk perceptions were measured by a multidimensional approach. In addition to the traditional focus on measuring the magnitude of risk perceptions, the thematic relevance (how often people think about a risk issue) and the discursive relevance (how often people think about or discuss a risk issue) of risk perceptions were also collected. Taking into account this extended view of risk perception, an online survey was conducted in six European countries with 2454 respondents, referring to radio frequency electromagnetic field (RF EMF) risk potentials from base stations, and access points, such as WiFi routers and cell phones. The findings reveal that the present study's multidimensional approach to measuring risk perception provides a more differentiated understanding of RF EMF risk perception. High levels of concerns expressed in questionnaires do not automatically imply that these concerns are thematically relevant in everyday life. We use thematic relevance to distinguish between enduringly concerned (high concern according to both questionnaire and thematic relevance) and not enduringly concerned participants (high concern according to questionnaire but no thematic relevance). Furthermore, we provide data for the empirical value of this distinction: Compared to other participants, enduringly concerned subjects consider radio frequency electromagnetic field exposure to a greater extent as a moral and affective issue. They also see themselves as highly exposed to radio frequency electromagnetic fields. However, despite these differences, subjects with high levels of thematic relevance are nevertheless sensitive to exposure reduction as a means for improving the acceptance of base stations in their neighborhood. This underlines the value of exposure reduction for the acceptance of radio frequency electromagnetic field communication technologies.

Participants' Perceptions of Their Outward Bound Final Expedition and the Relationship to Instructor Supervisory Position

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bobilya, Andrew J.; Kalisch, Kenneth R.; Daniel, Brad

2014-01-01

The purpose of this mixed-method study was to understand participants' perceptions of their Outward Bound Final Expedition experience and more specifically the relationship between the instructor supervisory position and participant's perception of learning. A sample of 331 students consented to participate and completed a survey at the conclusion…

Relationship between Teacher Perception of Positive Behavior Interventions Support and the Implementation Process

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hansen, Janice Marie

2014-01-01

The purpose of this study was to determine whether a relationship existed between teacher perception of a school's behavior management program and the implementation process. This study explored perceptions of teachers from three aspects of the Positive Behavior Intervention Support model as they relate to the implementation processes for PBIS.…

Attitudes Towards the Vaginal Ring and Transdermal Patch Among Adolescents and Young Women

PubMed Central

Raine, Tina R.; Epstein, Laura B.; Harper, Cynthia C.; Brown, Beth A.; Boyer, Cherrie B.

2009-01-01

Purpose The vaginal ring and the transdermal patch offer important contraceptive options for women at high risk of unintended pregnancy. Little is known about what adolescents and young women think about these methods and why use of the ring has been relatively low compared to the patch. We sought to examine young women’s attitudes and perceptions about the ring and the patch to better understand the relationship between perceptions of these methods and decisions to use them. Methods Sixteen focus groups of young women aged 15–26 years (n=113) from family planning clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area were convened. Data from the focus groups were analyzed using standard content analysis. Results While young women expressed apprehension and doubt about both methods, for the most part women expressed more positive attitudes about the patch. Two related themes for the ring and the patch were identified: “lack of trust in effectiveness,” and “method use concerns. Two themes unique to the ring: “concerns regarding vaginal insertion” and “sexual partner perceptions” and three themes unique to the patch: “ease of remembering”, “visibility issues”, and “perceived health risk” were identified. Conclusions Increased provider education about apprehensions related to the ring and the patch may lead to increased use of the ring and counter recent declines in use of the patch. It would be unfortunate if these safe and effective options for young women are underutilized because negative attitudes and perceptions about these methods act as barriers to adoption. PMID:19699422

Effects of Conductor Baton Use on Band and Choral Musicians' Perceptions of Conductor Expressivity and Clarity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nápoles, Jessica; Silvey, Brian A.

2017-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine participants' (college band and choral musicians, N = 143) perceptions of conductor clarity and expressivity after viewing band and choral directors conducting with or without a baton. One band and one choral conductor each prepared and conducted two excerpts of Guy Forbes's "O Nata Lux", a piece…

Parenting behaviors, perceptions, and psychosocial risk: impacts on young children's development.

PubMed

Glascoe, Frances Page; Leew, Shirley

2010-02-01

The goal of this study was to assess which parenting behaviors, perceptions, and risk factors were associated with optimal versus delayed development. A total of 382 families from the national Brigance Infant and Toddler Screens standardization and validation study participated. Data sources included parent questionnaires, child testing, and examiner observations of parent-child interactions. Parenting styles research was operationalized with the Brigance Parent-Child Interactions Scale, a brief measure of parenting behaviors and perceptions. Six positive parenting behaviors and perceptions predicted average to above-average development on the Brigance screens. Conversely, <2 positive parenting behaviors and negative perceptions of children indicated child performance nearly 2 SDs below the mean on Brigance screens. Psychosocial risk factors associated with fewer positive parenting behaviors and with negative perceptions included >3 children in the home, multiple moves, limited English, and parental depression. A dearth of positive parenting behaviors plus negative perceptions of children, with or without psychosocial risk factors, negatively affect child development, which is apparent as early as 6 months of age. The older the child is, the greater the performance gaps are. Language development is particularly at risk when parenting is problematic. Findings underscore the importance of early development promotion with parents, focusing on their talking, playing, and reading with children, and the need for interventions regarding psychosocial risk factors.

Blue-light regulation of ZmPHOT1 and ZmPHOT2 gene expression and the possible involvement of Zmphot1 in phototropism in maize coleoptiles.

PubMed

Suzuki, Hiromi; Okamoto, Ai; Kojima, Akane; Nishimura, Takeshi; Takano, Makoto; Kagawa, Takatoshi; Kadota, Akeo; Kanegae, Takeshi; Koshiba, Tomokazu

2014-08-01

ZmPHOT1 and ZmPHOT2 are expressed differentially in maize coleoptiles and leaves, with Zmphot1 possibly involved in first-positive phototropic curvature of red-light-adapted maize coleoptiles exposed to pulsed low-fluence blue light. Unilateral blue-light perception by phototropin(s) is the first event of phototropism, with the subsequent signal causing lateral transport of auxin at the coleoptile tip region of monocots. In this study, we analyzed the behavior of two maize phototropin genes: ZmPHOT1 and ZmPHOT2, the latter identified from the maize genome database and newly characterized. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis demonstrated that ZmPHOT1 was abundantly expressed in etiolated coleoptiles, while lower expressions of both ZmPHOT1 and ZmPHOT2 were observed in young leaves. Interestingly, these genes were not specifically expressed in the coleoptile tip region, a key position for photoperception in phototropism. Exposure to pulsed low-fluence blue light (LBL) (0.33 µmol m(-2) s(-1) × 8 s) and continuous high-fluence blue light (HBL) (10 µmol m(-2) s(-1)) rapidly decreased ZmPHOT1 gene expression in coleoptiles, with levels of ZmPHOT2 not significantly altered in that tissue. In young leaves, no drastic expression changes were induced in either ZmPHOT1 or ZmPHOT2 by LBL or HBL irradiation. The Zmphot1 protein was investigated by Western blot analysis with anti-Osphot1 antibodies. Zmphot1 was detected in microsomal fractions, with higher levels in coleoptiles than in leaves. HBL caused rapid phosphorylation of the protein, whereas no phot1 phosphorylation was induced by LBL. The involvement of Zmphot1 in LBL-induced phototropic curvature of maize coleoptiles is discussed.

The loved ones: families, intimates and patient autonomy.

PubMed

O'Donovan, Katherine; Gilbar, Roy

2003-05-01

Patient autonomy is one of the central values in medical ethics. It is generally understood as recognition of patients' rights as free individuals answerable only to themselves. This emphasis on the individual leaves open the question of the position of the patients' 'loved ones', that is of families and significant others. The authors examine this question in three areas of law and medical ethics. Organ donation offers an example of preference given by medical ethics to family views, notwithstanding an expressed wish of the deceased to donate, and the legal position protecting such a request. Decisions concerning the treatment of incompetent patients illustrate consideration for the family in medical ethics, but hesitations in both law and ethics in accepting family views once expressed. And the tension between the interests of patients and family members over the access to genetic information usually results in respecting the patient's right to confidentiality. This individualistic perception of autonomy, as adopted by medical law, overlooks the patient's relationships with others and is too narrow to face the complexities of human lives.

Sensory Drive, Color, and Color Vision.

PubMed

Price, Trevor D

2017-08-01

Colors often appear to differ in arbitrary ways among related species. However, a fraction of color diversity may be explained because some signals are more easily perceived in one environment rather than another. Models show that not only signals but also the perception of signals should regularly evolve in response to different environments, whether these primarily involve detection of conspecifics or detection of predators and prey. Thus, a deeper understanding of how perception of color correlates with environmental attributes should help generate more predictive models of color divergence. Here, I briefly review our understanding of color vision in vertebrates. Then I focus on opsin spectral tuning and opsin expression, two traits involved in color perception that have become amenable to study. I ask how opsin tuning is correlated with ecological differences, notably the light environment, and how this potentially affects perception of conspecific colors. Although opsin tuning appears to evolve slowly, opsin expression levels are more evolutionarily labile but have been difficult to connect to color perception. The challenge going forward will be to identify how physiological differences involved in color vision, such as opsin expression levels, translate into perceptual differences, the selection pressures that have driven those differences, and ultimately how this may drive evolution of conspecific colors.

ANALOGY AND DISANALOGY IN PRODUCTION AND PERCEPTION OF SPEECH

PubMed Central

Remez, Robert E.

2014-01-01

A varied psychological vocabulary now describes the cognitive and social conditions of language production, the ultimate result of which is the mechanical action of vocal musculature in spoken expression. Following the logic of the speech chain, descriptions of production have often exhibited a clear analogy to accounts of perception. This reciprocality is especially evident in explanations that rely on reafference to control production, on articulation to inform perception, and on strict parity between produced and perceived form to provide invariance in the relation between abstract linguistic objects and observed expression. However, a causal account of production and perception cannot derive solely from this hopeful analogy. Despite sharing of abstract linguistic representations, the control functions in production and perception as well as the constraints on their use stand in fundamental disanalogy. This is readily seen in the different adaptive challenges to production — to speak in a single voice — and perception — to resolve familiar linguistic properties in any voice. This acknowledgment sets descriptive and theoretical challenges that break the symmetry of production and perception. As a consequence, this recognition dislodges an old impasse between the psychoacoustic and motoric accounts in the regulation of production and perception. PMID:25642428

[Emotional valence of words in schizophrenia].

PubMed

Jalenques, I; Enjolras, J; Izaute, M

2013-06-01

Emotion recognition is a domain in which deficits have been reported in schizophrenia. A number of emotion classification studies have indicated that emotion processing deficits in schizophrenia are more pronounced for negative affects. Given the difficulty of developing material suitable for the study of these emotional deficits, it would be interesting to examine whether patients suffering from schizophrenia are responsive to positively and negatively charged emotion-related words that could be used within the context of remediation strategies. The emotional perception of words was examined in a clinical experiment involving schizophrenia patients. This emotional perception was expressed by the patients in terms of the valence associated with the words. In the present study, we investigated whether schizophrenia patients would assign the same negative and positive valences to words as healthy individuals. Twenty volunteer, clinically stable, outpatients from the Psychiatric Service of the University Hospital of Clermont-Ferrand were recruited. Diagnoses were based on DSM-IV criteria. Global psychiatric symptoms were assessed using the Positive and Negative Symptoms Scale (PANSS). The patients had to evaluate the emotional valence of a set of 300 words on a 5-point scale ranging from "very unpleasant" to "very pleasant". . The collected results were compared with those obtained by Bonin et al. (2003) [13] from 97 University students. Correlational analyses of the two studies revealed that the emotional valences were highly correlated, i.e. the schizophrenia patients estimated very similar emotional valences. More precisely, it was possible to examine three separate sets of 100 words each (positive words, neutral words and negative words). The positive words that were evaluated were the more positive words from the norms collected by Bonin et al. (2003) [13], and the negative words were the more negative examples taken from these norms. The neutral words reflected the more neutral emotional valences collected. The results suggested that the emotional valences for the negative words were significantly greater in the patients than is observed in the collected norms (P<0.001). Moreover, the emotional valence associated with positive words was significantly lower in the patients than in the collected norms (P<0.001). Nevertheless, only 16 words differed significantly in terms of evaluated emotional valence between patients and young adults. Despite their overall emotional impairments, the patients with schizophrenia had a very similar perception of word valence as controls. This result suggests that the emotional perception of most emotional words is preserved. This research provides data important to consider during rehabilitation. Moreover, this study will make it possible to select stimuli for use in future studies of emotion in patients. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.

Cognitive biases in processing infant emotion by women with depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder in pregnancy or after birth: A systematic review.

PubMed

Webb, Rebecca; Ayers, Susan

2015-01-01

Perinatal psychological problems such as post-natal depression are associated with poor mother-baby interaction, but the reason for this is not clear. One explanation is that mothers with negative mood have biased processing of infant emotion. This review aimed to synthesise research on processing of infant emotion by pregnant or post-natal women with anxiety, depression or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Systematic searches were carried out on 11 electronic databases using terms related to negative affect, childbirth and perception of emotion. Fourteen studies were identified which looked at the effect of depression, anxiety and PTSD on interpretation of infant emotional expressions (k = 10), or reaction times when asked to ignore emotional expressions (k = 4). Results suggest mothers with depression and anxiety are more likely to identify negative emotions (i.e., sadness) and less accurate at identifying positive emotions (i.e., happiness) in infant faces. Additionally, women with depression may disengage faster from positive and negative infant emotional expressions. Very few studies examined PTSD (k = 2), but results suggest biases towards specific infant emotions may be influenced by characteristics of the traumatic event. The implications of this research for mother-infant interaction are explored.

Face-to-face: Perceived personal relevance amplifies face processing.

PubMed

Bublatzky, Florian; Pittig, Andre; Schupp, Harald T; Alpers, Georg W

2017-05-01

The human face conveys emotional and social information, but it is not well understood how these two aspects influence face perception. In order to model a group situation, two faces displaying happy, neutral or angry expressions were presented. Importantly, faces were either facing the observer, or they were presented in profile view directed towards, or looking away from each other. In Experiment 1 (n = 64), face pairs were rated regarding perceived relevance, wish-to-interact, and displayed interactivity, as well as valence and arousal. All variables revealed main effects of facial expression (emotional > neutral), face orientation (facing observer > towards > away) and interactions showed that evaluation of emotional faces strongly varies with their orientation. Experiment 2 (n = 33) examined the temporal dynamics of perceptual-attentional processing of these face constellations with event-related potentials. Processing of emotional and neutral faces differed significantly in N170 amplitudes, early posterior negativity (EPN), and sustained positive potentials. Importantly, selective emotional face processing varied as a function of face orientation, indicating early emotion-specific (N170, EPN) and late threat-specific effects (LPP, sustained positivity). Taken together, perceived personal relevance to the observer-conveyed by facial expression and face direction-amplifies emotional face processing within triadic group situations. © The Author (2017). Published by Oxford University Press.

Positional signaling and expression of ENHANCER OF TRY AND CPC1 are tuned to increase root hair density in response to phosphate deficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana.

PubMed

Savage, Natasha; Yang, Thomas J W; Chen, Chung Ying; Lin, Kai-Lan; Monk, Nicholas A M; Schmidt, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Phosphate (Pi) deficiency induces a multitude of responses aimed at improving the acquisition of Pi, including an increased density of root hairs. To understand the mechanisms involved in Pi deficiency-induced alterations of the root hair phenotype in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), we analyzed the patterning and length of root epidermal cells under control and Pi-deficient conditions in wild-type plants and in four mutants defective in the expression of master regulators of cell fate, CAPRICE (CPC), ENHANCER OF TRY AND CPC 1 (ETC1), WEREWOLF (WER) and SCRAMBLED (SCM). From this analysis we deduced that the longitudinal cell length of root epidermal cells is dependent on the correct perception of a positional signal ('cortical bias') in both control and Pi-deficient plants; mutants defective in the receptor of the signal, SCM, produced short cells characteristic of root hair-forming cells (trichoblasts). Simulating the effect of cortical bias on the time-evolving probability of cell fate supports a scenario in which a compromised positional signal delays the time point at which non-hair cells opt out the default trichoblast pathway, resulting in short, trichoblast-like non-hair cells. Collectively, our data show that Pi-deficient plants increase root hair density by the formation of shorter cells, resulting in a higher frequency of hairs per unit root length, and additional trichoblast cell fate assignment via increased expression of ETC1.

Positional Signaling and Expression of ENHANCER OF TRY AND CPC1 Are Tuned to Increase Root Hair Density in Response to Phosphate Deficiency in Arabidopsis thaliana

PubMed Central

Savage, Natasha; Yang, Thomas J. W.; Chen, Chung Ying; Lin, Kai-Lan; Monk, Nicholas A. M.; Schmidt, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

Phosphate (Pi) deficiency induces a multitude of responses aimed at improving the acquisition of Pi, including an increased density of root hairs. To understand the mechanisms involved in Pi deficiency-induced alterations of the root hair phenotype in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana), we analyzed the patterning and length of root epidermal cells under control and Pi-deficient conditions in wild-type plants and in four mutants defective in the expression of master regulators of cell fate, CAPRICE (CPC), ENHANCER OF TRY AND CPC 1 (ETC1), WEREWOLF (WER) and SCRAMBLED (SCM). From this analysis we deduced that the longitudinal cell length of root epidermal cells is dependent on the correct perception of a positional signal (‘cortical bias’) in both control and Pi-deficient plants; mutants defective in the receptor of the signal, SCM, produced short cells characteristic of root hair-forming cells (trichoblasts). Simulating the effect of cortical bias on the time-evolving probability of cell fate supports a scenario in which a compromised positional signal delays the time point at which non-hair cells opt out the default trichoblast pathway, resulting in short, trichoblast-like non-hair cells. Collectively, our data show that Pi-deficient plants increase root hair density by the formation of shorter cells, resulting in a higher frequency of hairs per unit root length, and additional trichoblast cell fate assignment via increased expression of ETC1. PMID:24130712

Characteristics of preschoolers with lower perceived competence.

PubMed

Coplan, Robert J; Findlay, Leanne C; Nelson, Larry J

2004-08-01

The goal of the present study was to identify preschool children with "age-inappropriate" less positive self-perceptions, and to explore their parental and peer relationships as compared to their classmates with "age normal" self-perceptions. Participants were n = 127 preschool children (Mage = 54.98 mos., SD = 8.21). Data were collected from multiple sources including parental ratings, child self-reports, and teacher ratings. Results indicated that as compared to their peers, children with less positive self-perceptions demonstrated more internalizing problems (i.e., loneliness, social-withdrawal), were more excluded by peers, and had mothers with less positive parenting styles. Results are discussed in terms of the implications of poorer self-perceptions in early childhood.

Person perception precedes theory of mind: an event related potential analysis.

PubMed

Wang, Y W; Lin, C D; Yuan, B; Huang, L; Zhang, W X; Shen, D L

2010-09-29

Prior to developing an understanding of another person's mental state, an ability termed "theory of mind" (ToM), a perception of that person's appearance and actions is required. However the relationship between this "person perception" and ToM is unclear. To investigate the time course of ToM and person perception, event-related potentials (ERP) were recorded while 17 normal adults received three kinds of visual stimuli: cartoons involving people (person perception cartoons), cartoons involving people and also requiring ToM for comprehension (ToM cartoons), and scene cartoons. We hypothesized that the respective patterns of brain activation would be different under these three stimuli, at different stages in time. Our findings supported this proposal: the peak amplitudes of P200 for scene cartoons were significantly lower than for person perception or ToM cartoons, while there were no significant differences between the latter two for P200. During the 1000-1300 ms epoch, the mean amplitudes of the late positive components (LPC) for person perception were more positive than for scene representation, while the mean amplitudes of the LPC for ToM were more positive than for person perception. The present study provides preliminary evidence of the neural dynamic that underlies the dissociation between person perception and ToM. Copyright 2010 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Goal orientations, motivational climate, equality, and discipline of Spanish physical education students.

PubMed

Cervelló, Eduardo M; Jiménez, Ruth; del Villar, Fernando; Ramos, Luis; Santos-Rosa, Francisco J

2004-08-01

This study analyzes how dispositional goal orientations and perception of different motivational climates are related to the students' perception of sex-related egalitarian treatment and the appearance of disciplined or undisciplined behaviors in physical education classes. Analyses showed that ego orientation is a predictor of undisciplined behavior. Task orientation was positively associated to discipline. The perception of task-involving motivational climate is related to the students' perception of equal treatment. On the contrary, the perception of ego-involving climate has been linked positively to the prediction of the perception of sex discrimination in physical education classes and negatively to the perception of equality and the appearance of disciplined behavior. This study discusses the implications of these results related to teaching instructional actions in physical education classes.

Adapting Computer Programming Self-Efficacy Scale and Engineering Students' Self-Efficacy Perceptions

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Korkmaz, Özgen; Altun, Halis

2014-01-01

Students might have different type and different level of perceptions: Positive or negative perceptions on programming; a perception on benefit of programming, perceptions related to difficulties of programming process etc. The perception of student on their own competence is defined as self-efficacy. Based on the discussions reported in…

An investigation of emotion recognition training to reduce symptoms of social anxiety in adolescence.

PubMed

Rawdon, Caroline; Murphy, Daria; Motyer, Gillian; Munafò, Marcus R; Penton-Voak, Ian; Fitzgerald, Amanda

2018-05-01

This study aimed to examine the effect of emotion recognition training on social anxiety symptoms among adolescents, aged 15-18 years. The study included a screening session, which identified participants who scored above a cut-off on a self-report measure of social anxiety for enrolment into a randomized controlled trial (Clinical Trials ID: NCT02550379). Participants were randomized to an intervention condition designed to increase the perception of happiness over disgust in ambiguous facial expressions or a sham intervention control condition, and completed self-report measures of social anxiety, fear of negative evaluation, anxiety-related disorders, and depressive symptoms. The intervention group demonstrated a strong shift in the balance point at which they perceived happiness over disgust in ambiguous facial expressions. This increase in positive perception was not associated with any changes in the primary outcome of social anxiety; however, some evidence of improvement in symptomatology was observed on one of a number of secondary outcomes. Those in the intervention group had lower depression symptoms at 2-week follow-up, compared to those in the control group who received the sham intervention training. Potential reasons for why the shift in balance point measurement was not associated with a concurrent shift in symptoms of social anxiety are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Characteristics of social anxiety from virtual interpersonal interactions in patients with schizophrenia.

PubMed

Park, Il Ho; Kim, Jae-Jin; Ku, Jeonghun; Jang, Hee Jeong; Park, Sung-Hyouk; Kim, Chan-Hyung; Kim, In Young; Kim, Sun I

2009-01-01

Dysfunctional emotional processing affects social functioning in patients with schizophrenia. However, the relationship between emotional perception and response in social interaction has not been elucidated. Twenty-seven patients with schizophrenia and 27 normal controls performed a virtual reality social encounter task in which they introduced themselves to avatars expressing happy, neutral, or angry emotions while verbal response duration and onset time were measured and perception of emotional valence and arousal, and state anxiety were rated afterwards. Self-reported trait-affective scale scores and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) ratings were also obtained. Patient group significantly underestimated the valence and arousal of angry emotions expressed by an avatar. While valence and arousal ratings of happy avatars were comparable between groups, patient group reported significantly higher state anxiety in response to happy avatars. State anxiety ratings significantly decreased from encounters with neutral to happy avatars in normal controls while no significant decrease was observed in the patient group. The Social Anhedonia Scale and PANSS negative symptom subscale scores (blunted affect, emotional withdrawal, and passive/ apathetic social withdrawal items) were significantly correlated with state anxiety ratings of the encounters with happy avatars. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia have interference with the experience of pleasure in social interactions which may be associated with negative symptoms.

Enhancing Student Perceptions of Fairness: The Relationship between Instructor Credibility and Classroom Justice

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Chory, Rebecca M.

2007-01-01

The present study investigated the relationships between college students' perceptions of instructor credibility (competence, character, and caring) and their perceptions of classroom justice (distributive, procedural, and interactional justice). Results indicate that perceptions of instructor credibility positively predicted perceptions of…

Faculty Perceptions of Conflict with Administrators: An Analysis of the Associations between the Nature of Conflict and Positive and Negative Outcomes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hancks, Meredith L.

2013-01-01

This study examines the perceptions of faculty members regarding conflict experiences with administrators. It is driven by the question, "To what extent are faculty perceptions of positive and negative outcomes of faculty-administrator conflict associated with domain, nature and disciplinary context of the conflict," where domain refers…

Investigating Self-Perceptions and Resilience in Looked after Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Honey, Kyla L.; Rees, Paul; Griffey, Simon

2011-01-01

The perceptions of Looked After Children (LAC; n = 51), their Designated Teachers (DTs), and a sample of non-LAC (n = 99) were elicited. LAC held more positive self-perceptions than the non-LAC, and similarly positive ratings were given for the LAC by their DTs; but LAC held lower career aspirations than the non-LAC. LAC differed in their levels…

The Effects of Positive Portrayals of Black Television Characters on Black Children's Racial Attitudes, Self-Perception, and Racial Identification.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bonvillain, Jocelyn F.; Huston, Aletha C.

Children's perceptions and attitudes about racial groups are often affected by the information they receive from the view of their parents, their peers, their schools, and the mass media. A study was designed to examine the effects of positive portrayals of black television characters on black children's racial attitudes, self-perception, and…

In the eye of the beholder? Universality and cultural specificity in the expression and perception of emotion.

PubMed

Scherer, Klaus R; Clark-Polner, Elizabeth; Mortillaro, Marcello

2011-12-01

Do members of different cultures express (or "encode") emotions in the same fashion? How well can members of distinct cultures recognize (or "decode") each other's emotion expressions? The question of cultural universality versus specificity in emotional expression has been a hot topic of debate for more than half a century, but, despite a sizeable amount of empirical research produced to date, no convincing answers have emerged. We suggest that this unsatisfactory state of affairs is due largely to a lack of concern with the precise mechanisms involved in emotion expression and perception, and propose to use a modified Brunswikian lens model as an appropriate framework for research in this area. On this basis we provide a comprehensive review of the existing literature and point to research paradigms that are likely to provide the evidence required to resolve the debate on universality vs. cultural specificity of emotional expression. Applying this fresh perspective, our analysis reveals that, given the paucity of pertinent data, no firm conclusions can be drawn on actual expression (encoding) patterns across cultures (although there appear to be more similarities than differences), but that there is compelling evidence for intercultural continuity in decoding, or recognition, ability. We also note a growing body of research on the notion of ingroup advantage due to expression "dialects," above and beyond the general encoding or decoding patterns. We furthermore suggest that these empirical patterns could be explained by both universality in the underlying mechanisms and cultural specificity in the input to, and the regulation of, these expression and perception mechanisms. Overall, more evidence is needed, both to further elucidate these mechanisms and to inventory the patterns of cultural effects. We strongly recommend using more solid conceptual and theoretical perspectives, as well as more ecologically valid approaches, in designing future studies in emotion expression and perception research.

Positive Psychology in Context: Effects of Expressing Gratitude in Ongoing Relationships Depend on Perceptions of Enactor Responsiveness

PubMed Central

Algoe, Sara B.; Zhaoyang, Ruixue

2016-01-01

Recent correlational evidence implicates gratitude in personal and relational growth, for both members of ongoing relationships. From these observations, it would be tempting to prescribe interpersonal gratitude exercises to improve relationships. In this experiment, couples were randomly assigned to express gratitude over a month, or to a relationally-active control condition. Results showed modest effects of condition on personal and relational well-being. However, those whose partners were perceived as being particularly responsive when expressing gratitude at the initial lab session showed greater well-being across a range of outcomes, whereas this was not so for people in the control condition. Notably, evidence raises concerns about the effectiveness of artificial injections of gratitude when the partner is perceived to be low in responsiveness. Given the importance of close relationships, this work highlights the need for more theory-driven basic research tested in context before assuming what appears to work naturally will also work artificially. PMID:27800009

Positive Psychology in Context: Effects of Expressing Gratitude in Ongoing Relationships Depend on Perceptions of Enactor Responsiveness.

PubMed

Algoe, Sara B; Zhaoyang, Ruixue

2016-01-01

Recent correlational evidence implicates gratitude in personal and relational growth, for both members of ongoing relationships. From these observations, it would be tempting to prescribe interpersonal gratitude exercises to improve relationships. In this experiment, couples were randomly assigned to express gratitude over a month, or to a relationally-active control condition. Results showed modest effects of condition on personal and relational well-being. However, those whose partners were perceived as being particularly responsive when expressing gratitude at the initial lab session showed greater well-being across a range of outcomes, whereas this was not so for people in the control condition. Notably, evidence raises concerns about the effectiveness of artificial injections of gratitude when the partner is perceived to be low in responsiveness. Given the importance of close relationships, this work highlights the need for more theory-driven basic research tested in context before assuming what appears to work naturally will also work artificially.

Judging emotional congruency: Explicit attention to situational context modulates processing of facial expressions of emotion.

PubMed

Diéguez-Risco, Teresa; Aguado, Luis; Albert, Jacobo; Hinojosa, José Antonio

2015-12-01

The influence of explicit evaluative processes on the contextual integration of facial expressions of emotion was studied in a procedure that required the participants to judge the congruency of happy and angry faces with preceding sentences describing emotion-inducing situations. Judgments were faster on congruent trials in the case of happy faces and on incongruent trials in the case of angry faces. At the electrophysiological level, a congruency effect was observed in the face-sensitive N170 component that showed larger amplitudes on incongruent trials. An interactive effect of congruency and emotion appeared on the LPP (late positive potential), with larger amplitudes in response to happy faces that followed anger-inducing situations. These results show that the deliberate intention to judge the contextual congruency of facial expressions influences not only processes involved in affective evaluation such as those indexed by the LPP but also earlier processing stages that are involved in face perception. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Individual perception of bees: Between perceived danger and willingness to protect.

PubMed

Schönfelder, Mona Lisa; Bogner, Franz Xaver

2017-01-01

The current loss of biodiversity has found its way into the media. Especially the loss of bees as pollinators has recently received much attention aiming to increase public awareness about the consequence of pollinator loss and strategies for protection. However, pollinating insects like bees often prompt considerable anxiety. Negative emotions such as fear and disgust often lead to lack of support for conservation and appropriate initiatives for protection. Our study monitored perceptions of bees in the contexts of conservation and danger bees possibly represent by applying a semantic differential using contrasting adjectives under the heading "I think bees are…". Additionally, open questions were applied to examine individual perceptions of danger and conservation of bees. Respondents were students from primary school, secondary school and university. We compared these novices (n = 499) to experts (beekeepers, n = 153). An exploratory factor analysis of the semantic differential responses yielded three major oblique factors: Interest, Danger and Conservation & Usefulness. The inter-correlations of these factors were significant. Although all subgroups showed an overall high willingness to protect bees, the perception of danger scored medium. The individual experience of bee stings was the most prevalent reason for expressing fear. Educational programs focusing on pollinator conservation may reduce the perceived danger through removing misinformation, and supporting interest in the species. Based on the overall positive attitude toward bees, we suggest introducing bees (e.g., Apis mellifera) as a flagship species for pollinator conservation.

Plant proximity perception dynamically modulates hormone levels and sensitivity in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Bou-Torrent, Jordi; Galstyan, Anahit; Gallemí, Marçal; Cifuentes-Esquivel, Nicolás; Molina-Contreras, Maria José; Salla-Martret, Mercè; Jikumaru, Yusuke; Yamaguchi, Shinjiro; Kamiya, Yuji; Martínez-García, Jaime F

2014-06-01

The shade avoidance syndrome (SAS) refers to a set of plant responses initiated after perception by the phytochromes of light enriched in far-red colour reflected from or filtered by neighbouring plants. These varied responses are aimed at anticipating eventual shading from potential competitor vegetation. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the most obvious SAS response at the seedling stage is the increase in hypocotyl elongation. Here, we describe how plant proximity perception rapidly and temporally alters the levels of not only auxins but also active brassinosteroids and gibberellins. At the same time, shade alters the seedling sensitivity to hormones. Plant proximity perception also involves dramatic changes in gene expression that rapidly result in a new balance between positive and negative factors in a network of interacting basic helix-loop-helix proteins, such as HFR1, PAR1, and BIM and BEE factors. Here, it was shown that several of these factors act as auxin- and BR-responsiveness modulators, which ultimately control the intensity or degree of hypocotyl elongation. It was deduced that, as a consequence of the plant proximity-dependent new, dynamic, and local balance between hormone synthesis and sensitivity (mechanistically resulting from a restructured network of SAS regulators), SAS responses are unleashed and hypocotyls elongate. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.

NPH3- and PGP-like genes are exclusively expressed in the apical tip region essential for blue-light perception and lateral auxin transport in maize coleoptiles.

PubMed

Matsuda, Satomi; Kajizuka, Tomomi; Kadota, Akeo; Nishimura, Takeshi; Koshiba, Tomokazu

2011-06-01

Phototropic curvature results from differential growth on two sides of the elongating shoot, which is explained by asymmetrical indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) distribution. Using 2 cm maize coleoptile segments, 1st positive phototropic curvature was confirmed here after 8 s irradiation with unilateral blue light (0.33 μmol m(-2) s(-1)). IAA was redistributed asymmetrically by approximately 20 min after photo-stimulation. This asymmetric distribution was initiated in the top 0-3 mm region and was then transmitted to lower regions. Application of the IAA transport inhibitor, 1-N-naphthylphthalamic acid (NPA), to the top 2 mm region completely inhibited phototropic curvature, even when auxin was simultaneously applied below the NPA-treated zone. Thus, lateral IAA movement occurred only within the top 0-3 mm region after photo-stimulation. Localized irradiation experiments indicated that the photo-stimulus was perceived in the apical 2 mm region. The results suggest that this region harbours key components responsible for photo-sensing and lateral IAA transport. In the present study, it was found that the NPH3- and PGP-like genes were exclusively expressed in the 0-2 mm region of the tip, whereas PHOT1 and ZmPIN1a, b, and c were expressed relatively evenly along the coleoptile, and ZmAUX1, ZMK1, and ZmSAURE2 were strongly expressed in the elongation zone. These results suggest that the NPH3-like and PGP-like gene products have a key role in photo-signal transduction and regulation of the direction of auxin transport after blue light perception by phot1 at the very tip region of maize coleoptiles.

Putting the face in context: Body expressions impact facial emotion processing in human infants.

PubMed

Rajhans, Purva; Jessen, Sarah; Missana, Manuela; Grossmann, Tobias

2016-06-01

Body expressions exert strong contextual effects on facial emotion perception in adults. Specifically, conflicting body cues hamper the recognition of emotion from faces, as evident on both the behavioral and neural level. We examined the developmental origins of the neural processes involved in emotion perception across body and face in 8-month-old infants by measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We primed infants with body postures (fearful, happy) that were followed by either congruent or incongruent facial expressions. Our results revealed that body expressions impact facial emotion processing and that incongruent body cues impair the neural discrimination of emotional facial expressions. Priming effects were associated with attentional and recognition memory processes, as reflected in a modulation of the Nc and Pc evoked at anterior electrodes. These findings demonstrate that 8-month-old infants possess neural mechanisms that allow for the integration of emotion across body and face, providing evidence for the early developmental emergence of context-sensitive facial emotion perception. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Introducing the Geneva Multimodal expression corpus for experimental research on emotion perception.

PubMed

Bänziger, Tanja; Mortillaro, Marcello; Scherer, Klaus R

2012-10-01

Research on the perception of emotional expressions in faces and voices is exploding in psychology, the neurosciences, and affective computing. This article provides an overview of some of the major emotion expression (EE) corpora currently available for empirical research and introduces a new, dynamic, multimodal corpus of emotion expressions, the Geneva Multimodal Emotion Portrayals Core Set (GEMEP-CS). The design features of the corpus are outlined and justified, and detailed validation data for the core set selection are presented and discussed. Finally, an associated database with microcoded facial, vocal, and body action elements, as well as observer ratings, is introduced.

Models of hemispheric specialization in facial emotion perception--a reevaluation.

PubMed

Najt, Pablo; Bayer, Ulrike; Hausmann, Markus

2013-02-01

A considerable amount of research on functional cerebral asymmetries (FCAs) for facial emotion perception has shown conflicting support for three competing models: (i) the Right Hemisphere Hypothesis, (ii) the Valence-Specific Hypothesis, and (iii) the Approach/Withdrawal model. However, the majority of studies evaluating the Right Hemisphere or the Valence-Specific Hypotheses are rather limited by the small number of emotional expressions used. In addition, it is difficult to evaluate the Approach/Withdrawal Hypothesis due to insufficient data on anger and FCAs. The aim of the present study was (a) to review visual half field (VHF) studies of hemispheric specialization in facial emotion perception and (b) to reevaluate empirical evidence with respect to all three partly conflicting hypotheses. Results from the present study revealed a left visual field (LVF)/right hemisphere advantage for the perception of angry, fearful, and sad facial expressions and a right visual field (RVF)/left hemisphere advantage for the perception of happy expressions. Thus, FCAs for the perception of specific facial emotions do not fully support the Right Hemisphere Hypothesis, the Valence-Specific Hypothesis, or the Approach/Withdrawal model. A systematic literature review, together with the results of the present study, indicate a consistent LVF/right hemisphere advantage only for a subset of negative emotions including anger, fear and sadness, rather suggesting a "negative (only) valence model." PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Global-Local Precedence in the Perception of Facial Age and Emotional Expression by Children with Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gross, Thomas F.

2005-01-01

Global information processing and perception of facial age and emotional expression was studied in children with autism, language disorders, mental retardation, and a clinical control group. Children were given a global-local task and asked to recognize age and emotion in human and canine faces. Children with autism made fewer global responses and…

Profiling illness perceptions to identify patients at-risk for decline in health status after heart valve replacement.

PubMed

Kohlmann, Sebastian; Rimington, Helen; Weinman, John

2012-06-01

Identification of risk factors for decline in health status by profiling illness perceptions before and one year after heart valve replacement surgery. Prospective data from N=225 consecutively admitted first time valve replacement patients was assessed before and one year after surgery. Patients were asked about their illness perceptions (Illness Perception Questionnaire-Revised) and mood state (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Health status was defined by quality of life (Short-Form 36) and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class. Cluster analyses were conducted to identify illness perception profiles over time. Predictors of health status after surgery were analyzed with multivariate methods. Patients were grouped according to the stability and nature (positive, negative) of their illness perception profile over one year. One year after surgery patients holding a negative illness perception profile showed a lower physical quality of life and were diagnosed in a higher New York Heart Association class than patients changing to positive and patients with stable positive illness perceptions (P<.001). Over and above biological determinants, post-surgery physical quality of life and NYHA class were both predicted by pre-surgery illness perception profiles (P<.05). Patients going for heart valve replacement surgery can be easily categorized into illness perception profiles that predict health status one year after surgery. These patients could benefit from early screening as negative illness perceptions are modifiable risk factors. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Syllable Structure Universals and Native Language Interference in Second Language Perception and Production: Positional Asymmetry and Perceptual Links to Accentedness

PubMed Central

Cheng, Bing; Zhang, Yang

2015-01-01

The present study investigated how syllable structure differences between the first Language (L1) and the second language (L2) affect L2 consonant perception and production at syllable-initial and syllable-final positions. The participants were Mandarin-speaking college students who studied English as a second language. Monosyllabic English words were used in the perception test. Production was recorded from each Chinese subject and rated for accentedness by two native speakers of English. Consistent with previous studies, significant positional asymmetry effects were found across speech sound categories in terms of voicing, place of articulation, and manner of articulation. Furthermore, significant correlations between perception and accentedness ratings were found at the syllable onset position but not for the coda. Many exceptions were also found, which could not be solely accounted for by differences in L1–L2 syllabic structures. The results show a strong effect of language experience at the syllable level, which joins force with acoustic, phonetic, and phonemic properties of individual consonants in influencing positional asymmetry in both domains of L2 segmental perception and production. The complexities and exceptions call for further systematic studies on the interactions between syllable structure universals and native language interference with refined theoretical models to specify the links between perception and production in second language acquisition. PMID:26635699

Clinical investigations of receptive and expressive musical functions after stroke

PubMed Central

Rosslau, Ken; Steinwede, Daniel; Schröder, C.; Herholz, Sibylle C.; Lappe, Claudia; Dobel, Christian; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-01-01

There is a long tradition of investigating various disorders of musical abilities after stroke. These impairments, associated with acquired amusia, can be highly selective, affecting only music perception (i.e., receptive abilities/functions) or expression (music production abilities), and some patients report that these may dramatically influence their emotional state. The aim of this study was to systematically test both the melodic and rhythmic domains of music perception and expression in left- and right-sided stroke patients compared to healthy subjects. Music perception was assessed using rhythmic and melodic discrimination tasks, while tests of expressive function involved the vocal or instrumental reproduction of rhythms and melodies. Our approach revealed deficits in receptive and expressive functions in stroke patients, mediated by musical expertise. Those patients who had experienced a short period of musical training in childhood and adolescence performed better in the receptive and expressive subtests compared to those without any previous musical training. While discrimination of specific musical patterns was unimpaired after a left-sided stroke, patients with a right-sided stroke had worse results for fine melodic and rhythmic analysis. In terms of expressive testing, the most consistent results were obtained from a test that required patients to reproduce sung melodies. This implies that the means of investigating production abilities can impact the identification of deficits. PMID:26124731

Clinical investigations of receptive and expressive musical functions after stroke.

PubMed

Rosslau, Ken; Steinwede, Daniel; Schröder, C; Herholz, Sibylle C; Lappe, Claudia; Dobel, Christian; Altenmüller, Eckart

2015-01-01

There is a long tradition of investigating various disorders of musical abilities after stroke. These impairments, associated with acquired amusia, can be highly selective, affecting only music perception (i.e., receptive abilities/functions) or expression (music production abilities), and some patients report that these may dramatically influence their emotional state. The aim of this study was to systematically test both the melodic and rhythmic domains of music perception and expression in left- and right-sided stroke patients compared to healthy subjects. Music perception was assessed using rhythmic and melodic discrimination tasks, while tests of expressive function involved the vocal or instrumental reproduction of rhythms and melodies. Our approach revealed deficits in receptive and expressive functions in stroke patients, mediated by musical expertise. Those patients who had experienced a short period of musical training in childhood and adolescence performed better in the receptive and expressive subtests compared to those without any previous musical training. While discrimination of specific musical patterns was unimpaired after a left-sided stroke, patients with a right-sided stroke had worse results for fine melodic and rhythmic analysis. In terms of expressive testing, the most consistent results were obtained from a test that required patients to reproduce sung melodies. This implies that the means of investigating production abilities can impact the identification of deficits.

Mouth-licking by dogs as a response to emotional stimuli.

PubMed

Albuquerque, Natalia; Guo, Kun; Wilkinson, Anna; Resende, Briseida; Mills, Daniel S

2018-01-01

Dogs are able to perceptually discriminate emotional displays of conspecifics and heterospecifics and possess the cognitive prototypes for emotional categorisation, however, it remains unclear whether dogs can respond appropriately to this information. One way to assess associations between specific behaviours and the perception of emotionally competent stimuli is to look at other reliable measures that are related to cognitive and physiological processing. Using a cross-modal preferential looking paradigm (Albuquerque et al., 2016), we presented dogs with pairs of facial expressions (positive and negative) combined with an emotionally charged vocalisation (positive or negative) or a control sound (neutral) and coded their mouth-licking behaviour. We found an effect of the valence of the face image dogs were seeing on the onset of the mouth-licking, with higher frequencies of this behaviour in response to the negative faces compared to images with positive valence. However, neither the sound being played nor the interaction between image valence and sound affected the behaviour. We also found an effect of species with mouth-licking occurring more often towards human stimuli. This spontaneous differential behavioural response, combined with previous evidence of cognitive emotional processing in these animals, suggests that dogs may have a functional understanding of emotional expressions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Oxytocin and Social Bonds: The Role of Oxytocin in Perceptions of Romantic Partners' Bonding Behavior.

PubMed

Algoe, Sara B; Kurtz, Laura E; Grewen, Karen

2017-12-01

In this research, we tested hypotheses about the role of oxytocin in adult human bonding. Inspired by revisiting the research on pair bonding in microtine voles that fueled psychologists' interest in the role of oxytocin in social life, we drew on recent theory from affective and relationship science to identify a well-defined bonding context for human romantic relationships. We then paired these behaviors and subjective psychological responses with a measure of naturally circulating oxytocin. In 129 romantically involved adults whose partner expressed gratitude to them in the lab, greater oxytocin over the prior 24 hr was associated with greater perceptions of the expresser's responsiveness and gratitude, as well as greater experienced love, but not general affective reward. Moreover, in this one-time conversation, higher oxytocin acted like rose-colored glasses, attenuating the effect of a partner's behaviorally coded expressive behavior on perceptions of the expresser's responsiveness. These results justify future research on the role of oxytocin in psychological aspects of growth processes.

Sad or fearful? The influence of body posture on adults' and children's perception of facial displays of emotion.

PubMed

Mondloch, Catherine J

2012-02-01

The current research investigated the influence of body posture on adults' and children's perception of facial displays of emotion. In each of two experiments, participants categorized facial expressions that were presented on a body posture that was congruent (e.g., a sad face on a body posing sadness) or incongruent (e.g., a sad face on a body posing fear). Adults and 8-year-olds made more errors and had longer reaction times on incongruent trials than on congruent trials when judging sad versus fearful facial expressions, an effect that was larger in 8-year-olds. The congruency effect was reduced when faces and bodies were misaligned, providing some evidence for holistic processing. Neither adults nor 8-year-olds were affected by congruency when judging sad versus happy expressions. Evidence that congruency effects vary with age and with similarity of emotional expressions is consistent with dimensional theories and "emotional seed" models of emotion perception. 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Self-motion perception and vestibulo-ocular reflex during whole body yaw rotation in standing subjects: the role of head position and neck proprioception.

PubMed

Panichi, Roberto; Botti, Fabio Massimo; Ferraresi, Aldo; Faralli, Mario; Kyriakareli, Artemis; Schieppati, Marco; Pettorossi, Vito Enrico

2011-04-01

Self-motion perception and vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) were studied during whole body yaw rotation in the dark at different static head positions. Rotations consisted of four cycles of symmetric sinusoidal and asymmetric oscillations. Self-motion perception was evaluated by measuring the ability of subjects to manually track a static remembered target. VOR was recorded separately and the slow phase eye position (SPEP) was computed. Three different head static yaw deviations (active and passive) relative to the trunk (0°, 45° to right and 45° to left) were examined. Active head deviations had a significant effect during asymmetric oscillation: the movement perception was enhanced when the head was kept turned toward the side of body rotation and decreased in the opposite direction. Conversely, passive head deviations had no effect on movement perception. Further, vibration (100 Hz) of the neck muscles splenius capitis and sternocleidomastoideus remarkably influenced perceived rotation during asymmetric oscillation. On the other hand, SPEP of VOR was modulated by active head deviation, but was not influenced by neck muscle vibration. Through its effects on motion perception and reflex gain, head position improved gaze stability and enhanced self-motion perception in the direction of the head deviation. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The correlates of subjective perception of identity and expression in the face network: an fMRI adaptation study

PubMed Central

Fox, Christopher J.; Moon, So Young; Iaria, Giuseppe; Barton, Jason J.S.

2009-01-01

The recognition of facial identity and expression are distinct tasks, with current models hypothesizing anatomic segregation of processing within a face-processing network. Using fMRI adaptation and a region-of-interest approach, we assessed how the perception of identity and expression changes in morphed stimuli affected the signal within this network, by contrasting (a) changes that crossed categorical boundaries of identity or expression with those that did not, and (b) changes that subjects perceived as causing identity or expression to change, versus changes that they perceived as not affecting the category of identity or expression. The occipital face area (OFA) was sensitive to any structural change in a face, whether it was identity or expression, but its signal did not correlate with whether subjects perceived a change or not. Both the fusiform face area (FFA) and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) showed release from adaptation when subjects perceived a change in either identity or expression, although in the pSTS this effect only occurred when subjects were explicitly attending to expression. The middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS) showed release from adaptation for expression only, and the precuneus for identity only. The data support models where the OFA is involved in the early perception of facial structure. However, evidence for a functional overlap in the FFA and pSTS, with both identity and expression signals in both areas, argues against a complete independence of identity and expression processing in these regions of the core face-processing network. PMID:18852053

The correlates of subjective perception of identity and expression in the face network: an fMRI adaptation study.

PubMed

Fox, Christopher J; Moon, So Young; Iaria, Giuseppe; Barton, Jason J S

2009-01-15

The recognition of facial identity and expression are distinct tasks, with current models hypothesizing anatomic segregation of processing within a face-processing network. Using fMRI adaptation and a region-of-interest approach, we assessed how the perception of identity and expression changes in morphed stimuli affected the signal within this network, by contrasting (a) changes that crossed categorical boundaries of identity or expression with those that did not, and (b) changes that subjects perceived as causing identity or expression to change, versus changes that they perceived as not affecting the category of identity or expression. The occipital face area (OFA) was sensitive to any structural change in a face, whether it was identity or expression, but its signal did not correlate with whether subjects perceived a change or not. Both the fusiform face area (FFA) and the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) showed release from adaptation when subjects perceived a change in either identity or expression, although in the pSTS this effect only occurred when subjects were explicitly attending to expression. The middle superior temporal sulcus (mSTS) showed release from adaptation for expression only, and the precuneus for identity only. The data support models where the OFA is involved in the early perception of facial structure. However, evidence for a functional overlap in the FFA and pSTS, with both identity and expression signals in both areas, argues against a complete independence of identity and expression processing in these regions of the core face-processing network.

Linking Livelihoods and Conservation: An Examination of Local Residents' Perceived Linkages Between Conservation and Livelihood Benefits Around Nepal's Chitwan National Park

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nepal, Sanjay; Spiteri, Arian

2011-05-01

This paper investigates local recognition of the link between incentive-based program (IBP) benefits and conservation, and how perceptions of benefits and linkage influence attitudes in communities surrounding Chitwan National Park, Nepal. A survey of 189 households conducted between October and December 2004 examined local residents' perceived benefits, their attitudes toward park management, and perception of linkages between conservation and livelihoods. Linkage perceptions were measured by a scale compared with a respondent's recognition of benefits to determine whether IBPs establish a connection between benefits and livelihoods. An attitude scale was also created to compare attitudes toward park management with perceptions of benefits and linkage to determine if IBPs led to positive attitudes, and if the recognition of a direct tie between livelihoods and natural resources made attitudes more favorable. Research results indicate that as acknowledgement of benefit increases, so does the perception of linkage between the resource and livelihoods. Similarly, when perceived benefit increases, so too does attitude towards management. Positive attitude towards park management is influenced more by perception of livelihood dependence on resources than on benefits received from the park. However, overwhelming positive support voiced for conservation did not coincide with conduct. In spite of the positive attitudes and high perception of linkage, people did not necessarily behave in a way compatible with conservation. This suggests that while benefits alone can lead to positive attitudes, without clear linkages to conservation, the IBP may lose persuasion when alternative options—conflicting with conservation objectives—arise promising to provide greater economic benefit.

Longevity increased by positive self-perceptions of aging.

PubMed

Levy, Becca R; Slade, Martin D; Kunkel, Suzanne R; Kasl, Stanislav V

2002-08-01

This research found that older individuals with more positive self-perceptions of aging, measured up to 23 years earlier, lived 7.5 years longer than those with less positive self-perceptions of aging. This advantage remained after age, gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness, and functional health were included as covariates. It was also found that this effect is partially mediated by will to live. The sample consisted of 660 individuals aged 50 and older who participated in a community-based survey, the Ohio Longitudinal Study of Aging and Retirement (OLSAR). By matching the OLSAR to mortality data recently obtained from the National Death Index, the authors were able to conduct survival analyses. The findings suggest that the self-perceptions of stigmatized groups can influence longevity.

Sex-related differences in behavioral and amygdalar responses to compound facial threat cues.

PubMed

Im, Hee Yeon; Adams, Reginald B; Cushing, Cody A; Boshyan, Jasmine; Ward, Noreen; Kveraga, Kestutis

2018-03-08

During face perception, we integrate facial expression and eye gaze to take advantage of their shared signals. For example, fear with averted gaze provides a congruent avoidance cue, signaling both threat presence and its location, whereas fear with direct gaze sends an incongruent cue, leaving threat location ambiguous. It has been proposed that the processing of different combinations of threat cues is mediated by dual processing routes: reflexive processing via magnocellular (M) pathway and reflective processing via parvocellular (P) pathway. Because growing evidence has identified a variety of sex differences in emotional perception, here we also investigated how M and P processing of fear and eye gaze might be modulated by observer's sex, focusing on the amygdala, a structure important to threat perception and affective appraisal. We adjusted luminance and color of face stimuli to selectively engage M or P processing and asked observers to identify emotion of the face. Female observers showed more accurate behavioral responses to faces with averted gaze and greater left amygdala reactivity both to fearful and neutral faces. Conversely, males showed greater right amygdala activation only for M-biased averted-gaze fear faces. In addition to functional reactivity differences, females had proportionately greater bilateral amygdala volumes, which positively correlated with behavioral accuracy for M-biased fear. Conversely, in males only the right amygdala volume was positively correlated with accuracy for M-biased fear faces. Our findings suggest that M and P processing of facial threat cues is modulated by functional and structural differences in the amygdalae associated with observer's sex. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effects of an Integrated Science and Societal Implication Intervention on Promoting Adolescents' Positive Thinking and Emotional Perceptions in Learning Science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Zuway R.; Lin, Huann-Shyang; Lawrenz, Frances P.

2012-02-01

The goal of this study was to test the effectiveness of integrating science and societal implication on adolescents' positive thinking and emotional perceptions about learning science. Twenty-five eighth-grade Taiwanese adolescents (9 boys and 16 girls) volunteered to participate in a 12-week intervention and formed the experimental group. Fifty-seven eighth-grade Taiwanese adolescents (30 boys and 27 girls) volunteered to participate in the assessments and were used as the comparison group. Additionally, 15 experimental students were recruited to be observed and interviewed. Paired t-tests, correlations, and analyses of covariance assessed the similarity and differences between groups. The findings were that the experimental group significantly outperformed its counterpart on positive thinking and emotional perceptions, and all participants' positive thinking scores were significantly related to their emotional perceptions about learning science. Recommendations for integrating science and societal implication for adolescents are provided.

"Those edibles hit hard": Exploration of Twitter data on cannabis edibles in the U.S.

PubMed

Lamy, Francois R; Daniulaityte, Raminta; Sheth, Amit; Nahhas, Ramzi W; Martins, Silvia S; Boyer, Edward W; Carlson, Robert G

2016-07-01

Several states in the U.S. have legalized cannabis for recreational or medical uses. In this context, cannabis edibles have drawn considerable attention after adverse effects were reported. This paper investigates Twitter users' perceptions concerning edibles and evaluates the association edibles-related tweeting activity and local cannabis legislation. Tweets were collected between May 1 and July 31, 2015, using Twitter API and filtered through the eDrugTrends/Twitris platform. A random sample of geolocated tweets was manually coded to evaluate Twitter users' perceptions regarding edibles. Raw state proportions of Twitter users mentioning edibles were ajusted relative to the total number of Twitter users per state. Differences in adjusted proportions of Twitter users mentioning edibles between states with different cannabis legislation status were assesed via a permutation test. We collected 100,182 tweets mentioning cannabis edibles with 26.9% (n=26,975) containing state-level geolocation. Adjusted percentages of geolocated Twitter users posting about edibles were significantly greater in states that allow recreational and/or medical use of cannabis. The differences were statistically significant. Overall, cannabis edibles were generally positively perceived among Twitter users despite some negative tweets expressing the unreliability of edible consumption linked to variability in effect intensity and duration. Our findings suggest that Twitter data analysis is an important tool for epidemiological monitoring of emerging drug use practices and trends. Results tend to indicate greater tweeting activity about cannabis edibles in states where medical THC and/or recreational use are legal. Although the majority of tweets conveyed positive attitudes about cannabis edibles, analysis of experiences expressed in negative tweets confirms the potential adverse effects of edibles and calls for educating edibles-naïve users, improving edibles labeling, and testing their THC content. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Is psychological membership in the classroom a function of standing out while fitting in? Implications for achievement motivation and emotions.

PubMed

Gray, DeLeon L

2017-04-01

Education researchers have consistently linked students' perceptions of "fitting in" at school with patterns of motivation and positive emotions. This study proposes that "standing out" is also helpful for producing these outcomes, and that standing out works in concert with perceptions of fitting in. In a sample of 702 high school students nested within 33 classrooms, principal components analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were each conducted on half of the sample. Results support the proposed structure of measures of standing out and fitting in. Multilevel latent profile analysis was then used to classify students into four profiles of standing out while fitting in (SOFI): Unfulfilled, Somewhat Fulfilled, Nearly Fulfilled, and Fulfilled. A multinomial logistic regression revealed that students of color and those on who paid free/reduced prices lunch were overrepresented in the Unfulfilled and Somewhat Fulfilled profiles. A multilevel path analysis was then performed to assess the direct and indirect associations of profile membership with measures of task value and achievement emotions. Relative to the other profiles, students in the Fulfilled SOFI Profile express greater psychological membership in their classrooms and, in turn, express higher valuing of academic material (i.e., intrinsic value, utility value, and attainment value) and more positive achievement emotions (i.e., more enjoyment and pride; less boredom, hopelessness, and shame). This investigation provides critical insights on the potential benefits of structuring academic learning environments to foster feelings of distinctiveness among adolescents; and has implications for cultivating identities and achievement motivation in academic settings. Copyright © 2017 Society for the Study of School Psychology. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

“Those edibles hit hard”: Exploration of Twitter data on cannabis edibles in the U.S

PubMed Central

Lamy, Francois R.; Daniulaityte, Raminta; Sheth, Amit; Nahhas, Ramzi W.; Martins, Silvia S.; Boyer, Edward W.; Carlson, Robert G.

2016-01-01

Aims Several states in the U.S. have legalized cannabis for recreational or medical uses. In this context, cannabis edibles have drawn considerable attention after adverse effects were reported. This paper investigates Twitter users’ perceptions concerning edibles and evaluates the association edibles-related tweeting activity and local cannabis legislation. Methods Tweets were collected between May 1 and July 31, 2015, using Twitter API and filtered through the eDrugTrends/Twitris platform. A random sample of geolocated tweets was manually coded to evaluate Twitter users’ perceptions regarding edibles. Raw state proportions of Twitter users mentioning edibles were ajusted relative to the total number of Twitter users per state. Differences in adjusted proportions of Twitter users mentioning edibles between states with different cannabis legislation status were assesed via a permutation test. Results We collected 100,182 tweets mentioning cannabis edibles with 26.9% (n=26,975) containing state-level geolocation. Adjusted percentages of geolocated Twitter users posting about edibles were significantly greater in states that allow recreational and/or medical use of cannabis. The differences were statistically significant. Overall, cannabis edibles were generally positively perceived among Twitter users despite some negative tweets expressing the unreliability of edible consumption linked to variability in effect intensity and duration. Conclusion Our findings suggest that Twitter data analysis is an important tool for epidemiological monitoring of emerging drug use practices and trends. Results tend to indicate greater tweeting activity about cannabis edibles in states where medical THC and/or recreational use are legal. Although the majority of tweets conveyed positive attitudes about cannabis edibles, analysis of experiences expressed in negative tweets confirms the potential adverse effects of edibles and calls for educating edibles-naïve users, improving edibles labeling, and testing their THC content. PMID:27185160

What is adapted in face adaptation? The neural representations of expression in the human visual system.

PubMed

Fox, Christopher J; Barton, Jason J S

2007-01-05

The neural representation of facial expression within the human visual system is not well defined. Using an adaptation paradigm, we examined aftereffects on expression perception produced by various stimuli. Adapting to a face, which was used to create morphs between two expressions, substantially biased expression perception within the morphed faces away from the adapting expression. This adaptation was not based on low-level image properties, as a different image of the same person displaying that expression produced equally robust aftereffects. Smaller but significant aftereffects were generated by images of different individuals, irrespective of gender. Non-face visual, auditory, or verbal representations of emotion did not generate significant aftereffects. These results suggest that adaptation affects at least two neural representations of expression: one specific to the individual (not the image), and one that represents expression across different facial identities. The identity-independent aftereffect suggests the existence of a 'visual semantic' for facial expression in the human visual system.

Using appreciative inquiry to transform student nurses' image of nursing.

PubMed

Chauke, Motshedisi E; Van Der Wal, Dirk; Botha, Annalie

2015-08-19

Literature provides adequate evidence of a poor perception of nursing within the profession, resulting in high rates of attrition of student nurses and newly qualified nurses. The nursing profession, in particular nurse educators, has an ethical and professional responsibility to find innovative strategies to promote the positive image of nursing amongst student nurses. The purpose of the study was to explore the potential of appreciative inquiry (AI) as an intervention teaching strategy to transform student nurses' image of nursing. A quantitative, quasi-experimental, explorative-descriptive design comprising the pretest, appreciative inquiry as intervention, and the post-test was used. Convenience sampling was used to select third and fourth year college and university student nurses in the Gauteng province of South Africa for the pre- and the post-test respectively. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and analysed by SPSS version 20.0. The pretest results revealed a mix of positive and negative perceptions of the image of nursing amongst student nurses. The negative perceptions of the image of nursing that needed intervention included the working conditions of nurses, and the perception of nursing as a profession that was not respected and appreciated. The post-test results showed a significant and positive change in the student nurses' perception of the image of nursing as a respected and appreciated profession. Although AI resulted in a negative to positive change in some aspects of student nurses' image of nursing, the negative perceptions of the working conditions of nurses remained and became more negative. The positive image of gender in nursing was enhanced following the implementation of AI. Appreciative inquiry demonstrated potential as a teaching strategy to produce a positive nursing image change and positive orientation towards nursing amongst student nurses.

Effect of Perceived Parent-Child Relationship in Childhood on Resilience in Japanese Youth.

PubMed

Tamura, Takahiro

2018-01-01

The present study examined the effect of the perceived parent-child relationship in childhood on resilience in youth. It recruited 268 university students majoring in education and college students majoring in welfare science to investigate the relationship between their perception of parent-child relationship in their childhood and their current resilience by their responses on the Adolescent Resilience Scale and the Children's Perceived Affiliation for Parents Scale. The results indicated that female's positive perception of their relationship with their mothers in childhood had a positive influence on their resilience. On the other hand, the positive influence was inconspicuous and limited with regard to the perception of female's relationship with their fathers in childhood. In contrast, this positive influence was not confirmed in male participants regardless of the perception of their relationship with mothers and fathers in childhood. Although limited to females, these results suggest that youth's perception of their parent-child relationships in childhood significantly affected the development of resilience. In addition, sex difference was observed in this effect. The findings have been discussed with respect to the process of the development of resilience.

The perceived and built environment surrounding urban schools and physical activity among adolescent girls.

PubMed

Hager, Erin R; Witherspoon, Dawn O; Gormley, Candice; Latta, Laura W; Pepper, M Reese; Black, Maureen M

2013-02-01

Neighborhood perceived/built environment and physical activity (PA) associations have been examined for adolescents around homes, but not surrounding schools. The purpose of this paper is to examine if positive perceptions/built environment in neighborhoods surrounding schools predict PA among low-income, urban adolescent girls. Measures include: minutes in moderate-vigorous PA (MVPA, ankle accelerometry), perceptions of the school environment (questionnaire), built environment (neighborhood audit). Analyses include multi-level models. Two hundred twenty-four sixth and seventh grade girls [mean(sd) age = 12.1(0.7) years] from 12 schools serving low-income, primarily African American communities; mean MVPA 35.4 min (mean days assessed = 5.8). Girls in schools with more positive perceptions of the neighborhood environment surrounding the school were less active (β = 7.2, p = 0.043). Having "places to go within walking distance" (perceptions) and number of food stores near school (built environment) positively relate to MVPA (β = 5.5, p = 0.042 and β = 0.59, p = 0.047). Among neighborhoods surrounding urban schools, positive perceptions do not predict PA; accessibility, via both perceived and built environment, support PA.

Perceptions of insulin therapy amongst Asian patients with diabetes in Singapore.

PubMed

Wong, S; Lee, J; Ko, Y; Chong, M F; Lam, C K; Tang, W E

2011-02-01

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of insulin refusal amongst Singaporean patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, to compare perceptions regarding insulin therapy use between patients who were willing to use insulin and those who were not and to identify demographic factors that might predict insulin refusal. A cross-sectional interviewer-administered survey incorporating demographic variables and 17 perceptions regarding insulin use (14 negative and three positive) was conducted among a sample of 265 patients attending a public primary healthcare centre. Seven of every 10 patients expressed unwillingness to use insulin therapy (70.6%). The greatest differences in perceptions between patients willing to use insulin therapy and those who were not included fear of not being able to inject insulin correctly (47.4 vs. 70.6%), fear of pain (44.9 vs. 65.8%), belief that insulin therapy would make it difficult to fulfil responsibilities at work and home (46.2 vs. 66.8%) and belief that insulin therapy improved diabetes control (82.1 vs. 58.3%). A tertiary level of education was associated with willingness to use insulin (odds ratio 3.3, confidence interval 1.8-6.1), and significant differences in perceptions were present in patients with different educational levels. Insulin refusal is an important problem amongst our patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus. Findings of this study suggest that interventions aimed at increasing insulin therapy use should focus on injection-related concerns, perceived lifestyle adaptations and correction of misconceptions. Different interventions may also be required for patients of different educational groups. © 2011 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2011 Diabetes UK.

Student perceptions of the education environment in a Spanish medical podiatry school.

PubMed

Palomo-López, Patricia; Becerro-de-Bengoa-Vallejo, Ricardo; Calvo-Lobo, César; Tovaruela-Carrión, Natalia; Rodríguez-Sanz, David; Elena Losa-Iglesias, Marta; López-López, Daniel

2018-01-01

The aim of this study was to explore students' perceptions of the educational environment (EE) in a Spanish school of podiatry. Various aspects of EE were compared by academic year in the program. This was a cross-sectional study using a questionnaire to collect perceptions using data from a 2015 survey. Podiatric medical students from Extremadura University participated in this study. EE was assessed with the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM) tool.The DREEM questionnaire covers five domains of student perceptions, including learning, teachers, academic self-perceptions, atmosphere, and social self-perceptions. Two hundred thirty-five students participated, resulting in a 90.73% response rate. Participants included similar numbers of students from different years in the program, and most were women. The global EE score was 2.58 out of 4, indicating that students' perceptions were more positive than negative. Although some weaknesses were detected in this school, students viewed the EE positively in all five DREEM domains. Academic year in the program were generally not related to perceptions of EE. Podiatric medical students declared, in general, that the EE was more positive than negative in our school, according to the DREEM questionnaire. However, although the results are on the whole good, some areas need to be revised to make improvements.

Relationships between the Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) and self-reported research practices.

PubMed

Crain, A Lauren; Martinson, Brian C; Thrush, Carol R

2013-09-01

The Survey of Organizational Research Climate (SORC) is a validated tool to facilitate promotion of research integrity and research best practices. This work uses the SORC to assess shared and individual perceptions of the research climate in universities and academic departments and relate these perceptions to desirable and undesirable research practices. An anonymous web- and mail-based survey was administered to randomly selected biomedical and social science faculty and postdoctoral fellows in the United States. Respondents reported their perceptions of the research climates at their universities and primary departments, and the frequency with which they engaged in desirable and undesirable research practices. More positive individual perceptions of the research climate in one's university or department were associated with higher likelihoods of desirable, and lower likelihoods of undesirable, research practices. Shared perceptions of the research climate tended to be similarly predictive of both desirable and undesirable research practices as individuals' deviations from these shared perceptions. Study results supported the central prediction that more positive SORC-measured perceptions of the research climate were associated with more positive reports of research practices. There were differences with respect to whether shared or individual climate perceptions were related to desirable or undesirable practices but the general pattern of results provide empirical evidence that the SORC is predictive of self-reported research behavior.

How do insured perceive their financial security in the event of illness?--a panel data analysis for Germany.

PubMed

Lange, Ansgar; Prenzler, Anne; Zuchandke, Andy

2012-01-01

There is a lack of research regarding the subjective perception of financial security in the event of illness of insured persons. Therefore, the aim of our study was to analyze the subjective perception of financial security in the event of illness in the German setting over time and to identify major determinants of that perception. We applied a probit-adapted ordinary least squares estimation procedure including fixed effects to a balanced data set from the German Socio-Economic Panel. After correcting our data set, we included approximately 23,500 observations in our analyses. We show that higher income and the existence of private health insurance have a positive and significant impact on the perception of financial security. Furthermore, private supplementary health insurance has a positive and significant effect on this perception; however, this is solely true for policies that cover special features during hospital stays. Experience with the health care system is also positively related to the individual's perception. Finally, our regression results illustrate that the overall perception is declining over time. The results indicate that political decision makers are facing challenges regarding the declining subjective perception in the German health care system. Because of the positive correlation between experience and subjective perception, it can be assumed that the health care system and especially statutory health insurance are better than their presentation in the media. Hence, there is a problem of communication and information, and political decision makers face challenges in presenting the system objectively and handling the media in a proper way. Copyright © 2012 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Perception of face and body expressions using electromyography, pupillometry and gaze measures.

PubMed

Kret, Mariska E; Stekelenburg, Jeroen J; Roelofs, Karin; de Gelder, Beatrice

2013-01-01

Traditional emotion theories stress the importance of the face in the expression of emotions but bodily expressions are becoming increasingly important as well. In these experiments we tested the hypothesis that similar physiological responses can be evoked by observing emotional face and body signals and that the reaction to angry signals is amplified in anxious individuals. We designed three experiments in which participants categorized emotional expressions from isolated facial and bodily expressions and emotionally congruent and incongruent face-body compounds. Participants' fixations were measured and their pupil size recorded with eye-tracking equipment and their facial reactions measured with electromyography. The results support our prediction that the recognition of a facial expression is improved in the context of a matching posture and importantly, vice versa as well. From their facial expressions, it appeared that observers acted with signs of negative emotionality (increased corrugator activity) to angry and fearful facial expressions and with positive emotionality (increased zygomaticus) to happy facial expressions. What we predicted and found, was that angry and fearful cues from the face or the body, attracted more attention than happy cues. We further observed that responses evoked by angry cues were amplified in individuals with high anxiety scores. In sum, we show that people process bodily expressions of emotion in a similar fashion as facial expressions and that the congruency between the emotional signals from the face and body facilitates the recognition of the emotion.

Perception of Face and Body Expressions Using Electromyography, Pupillometry and Gaze Measures

PubMed Central

Kret, Mariska E.; Stekelenburg, Jeroen J.; Roelofs, Karin; de Gelder, Beatrice

2013-01-01

Traditional emotion theories stress the importance of the face in the expression of emotions but bodily expressions are becoming increasingly important as well. In these experiments we tested the hypothesis that similar physiological responses can be evoked by observing emotional face and body signals and that the reaction to angry signals is amplified in anxious individuals. We designed three experiments in which participants categorized emotional expressions from isolated facial and bodily expressions and emotionally congruent and incongruent face-body compounds. Participants’ fixations were measured and their pupil size recorded with eye-tracking equipment and their facial reactions measured with electromyography. The results support our prediction that the recognition of a facial expression is improved in the context of a matching posture and importantly, vice versa as well. From their facial expressions, it appeared that observers acted with signs of negative emotionality (increased corrugator activity) to angry and fearful facial expressions and with positive emotionality (increased zygomaticus) to happy facial expressions. What we predicted and found, was that angry and fearful cues from the face or the body, attracted more attention than happy cues. We further observed that responses evoked by angry cues were amplified in individuals with high anxiety scores. In sum, we show that people process bodily expressions of emotion in a similar fashion as facial expressions and that the congruency between the emotional signals from the face and body facilitates the recognition of the emotion. PMID:23403886

Next gen perception and cognition: augmenting perception and enhancing cognition through mobile technologies

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Goma, Sergio R.

2015-03-01

In current times, mobile technologies are ubiquitous and the complexity of problems is continuously increasing. In the context of advancement of engineering, we explore in this paper possible reasons that could cause a saturation in technology evolution - namely the ability of problem solving based on previous results and the ability of expressing solutions in a more efficient way, concluding that `thinking outside of brain' - as in solving engineering problems that are expressed in a virtual media due to their complexity - would benefit from mobile technology augmentation. This could be the necessary evolutionary step that would provide the efficiency required to solve new complex problems (addressing the `running out of time' issue) and remove the communication of results barrier (addressing the human `perception/expression imbalance' issue). Some consequences are discussed, as in this context the artificial intelligence becomes an automation tool aid instead of a necessary next evolutionary step. The paper concludes that research in modeling as problem solving aid and data visualization as perception aid augmented with mobile technologies could be the path to an evolutionary step in advancing engineering.

Colour influences perception of facial emotions but this effect is impaired in healthy ageing and schizophrenia.

PubMed

Silver, Henry; Bilker, Warren B

2015-01-01

Social cognition is commonly assessed by identification of emotions in facial expressions. Presence of colour, a salient feature of stimuli, might influence emotional face perception. We administered 2 tests of facial emotion recognition, the Emotion Recognition Test (ER40) using colour pictures and the Penn Emotional Acuity Test using monochromatic pictures, to 37 young healthy, 39 old healthy and 37 schizophrenic men. Among young healthy individuals recognition of emotions was more accurate and faster in colour than in monochromatic pictures. Compared to the younger group, older healthy individuals revealed impairment in identification of sad expressions in colour but not monochromatic pictures. Schizophrenia patients showed greater impairment in colour than monochromatic pictures of neutral and sad expressions and overall total score compared to both healthy groups. Patients showed significant correlations between cognitive impairment and perception of emotion in colour but not monochromatic pictures. Colour enhances perception of general emotional clues and this contextual effect is impaired in healthy ageing and schizophrenia. The effects of colour need to be considered in interpreting and comparing studies of emotion perception. Coloured face stimuli may be more sensitive to emotion processing impairments but less selective for emotion-specific information than monochromatic stimuli. This may impact on their utility in early detection of impairments and investigations of underlying mechanisms.

Defining the site of light perception and initiation of phototropism in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Preuten, Tobias; Hohm, Tim; Bergmann, Sven; Fankhauser, Christian

2013-10-07

Phototropism is an adaptive response allowing plants to optimize photosynthetic light capture. This is achieved by asymmetric growth between the shaded and lit sides of the stimulated organ. In grass seedlings, the site of phototropin-mediated light perception is distinct from the site of bending; however, in dicotyledonous plants (e.g., Arabidopsis), spatial aspects of perception remain debatable. We use morphological studies and genetics to show that phototropism can occur in the absence of the root, lower hypocotyl, hypocotyl apex, and cotyledons. Tissue-specific expression of the phototropin1 (phot1) photoreceptor demonstrates that light sensing occurs in the upper hypocotyl and that expression of phot1 in the hypocotyl elongation zone is sufficient to enable a normal phototropic response. Moreover, we show that efficient phototropism occurs when phot1 is expressed from endodermal, cortical, or epidermal cells and that its local activation rapidly leads to a global response throughout the seedling. We propose that spatial aspects in the steps leading from light perception to growth reorientation during phototropism differ between grasses and dicots. These results are important to properly interpret genetic experiments and establish a model connecting light perception to the growth response, including cellular and morphological aspects. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dispositional sources of sanction perceptions: Emotionality, cognitive style, intolerance of ambiguity, and self-efficacy.

PubMed

Pickett, Justin T; Bushway, Shawn D

2015-12-01

This study contributes to efforts to identify the sources of arrest risk perceptions and ambiguity (or lack of confidence) in such perceptions. Drawing on dual-process theories of reasoning, we argue that arrest risk perceptions often represent intuitive judgments that are influenced by cognitive heuristics and dispositional attributes. Multivariate regression models are estimated with data from 3 national surveys to test 6 hypotheses about the relationships between specific dispositional attributes and perceived arrest risk and ambiguity. We find evidence that dispositional positive affect and intolerance of ambiguity are both positively related to perceived arrest risk, and are also both negatively related to ambiguity. We also find evidence that cognitive reflection and general self-efficacy are, respectively, positively and negatively associated with ambiguity. Mixed evidence emerges about whether cognitive reflection is related to risk perceptions, and about whether either dispositional negative affect or thoughtfully reflective decision making correlate with ambiguity. Taken together, the results provide partial support for each of our hypotheses, and suggest that dispositional attributes are important sources of perceptions of arrest risk as well as of ambiguity in such perceptions. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

Perceptions of competence, implicit theory of ability, perception of motivational climate, and achievement goals: a test of the trichotomous conceptualization of endorsement of achievement motivation in the physical education setting.

PubMed

Cury, F; Da Fonséca, D; Rufo, M; Sarrazin, P

2002-08-01

To test and extend the conceptualization of the endorsement of achievement goals in the physical education setting Mastery, Performance-approach, and Performance-approach goals, Perception of the physical education competence, Implicit theory about sport ability, and Perception of the motivational climate were assessed among 682 boys attending five French schools. Analysis indicated that (1) Performance-approach goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Entity beliefs about sport ability, the Performance dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability. (2) Mastery goals were positively associated with perception of physical education Competence, Incremental beliefs about sport ability, the Mastery dimension of the motivational climate, and negatively associated with the Performance dimension of the motivational climate. Also, (3) Performance-avoidance goals were positively associated with Entity beliefs about sport ability and the Performance dimension of the motivational climate; these goals were negatively associated with Incremental beliefs about sport ability and perception of physical education Competence. These results clearly attested to the validity of the trichotomous model in the physical education setting.

Updating schematic emotional facial expressions in working memory: Response bias and sensitivity.

PubMed

Tamm, Gerly; Kreegipuu, Kairi; Harro, Jaanus; Cowan, Nelson

2017-01-01

It is unclear if positive, negative, or neutral emotional expressions have an advantage in short-term recognition. Moreover, it is unclear from previous studies of working memory for emotional faces whether effects of emotions comprise response bias or sensitivity. The aim of this study was to compare how schematic emotional expressions (sad, angry, scheming, happy, and neutral) are discriminated and recognized in an updating task (2-back recognition) in a representative sample of birth cohort of young adults. Schematic facial expressions allow control of identity processing, which is separate from expression processing, and have been used extensively in attention research but not much, until now, in working memory research. We found that expressions with a U-curved mouth (i.e., upwardly curved), namely happy and scheming expressions, favoured a bias towards recognition (i.e., towards indicating that the probe and the stimulus in working memory are the same). Other effects of emotional expression were considerably smaller (1-2% of the variance explained)) compared to a large proportion of variance that was explained by the physical similarity of items being compared. We suggest that the nature of the stimuli plays a role in this. The present application of signal detection methodology with emotional, schematic faces in a working memory procedure requiring fast comparisons helps to resolve important contradictions that have emerged in the emotional perception literature. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceptions of Self-Testing for Chlamydia: Understanding and Predicting Self-Test Use.

PubMed

Powell, Rachael; Pattison, Helen M; Marriott, John F

2016-05-10

Self-testing technology allows people to test themselves for chlamydia without professional support. This may result in reassurance and wider access to chlamydia testing, but anxiety could occur on receipt of positive results. This study aimed to identify factors important in understanding self-testing for chlamydia outside formal screening contexts, to explore the potential impacts of self-testing on individuals, and to identify theoretical constructs to form a Framework for future research and intervention development. Eighteen university students participated in semi-structured interviews; eleven had self-tested for chlamydia. Data were analysed thematically usingaFrameworkapproach. Perceivedbenefitsofself-testingincludeditsbeingconvenient, anonymousandnotrequiringphysicalexamination. Therewasconcernabouttestaccuracyandsome participants lacked confidence in using vulvo-vaginal swabs. While some participants expressed concern about the absence of professional support, all said they would seek help on receiving a positive result. Factors identified in Protection Motivation Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, such as response efficacy and self-efficacy, were found to be highly salient to participants in thinking about self-testing. These exploratory findings suggest that self-testing independentlyofformalhealthcaresystemsmaynomorenegativelyimpactpeoplethanbeingtested by health care professionals. Participants' perceptions about self-testing behaviour were consistent with psychological theories. Findings suggest that interventions which increase confidence in using self-tests and that provide reassurance of test accuracy may increase self-test intentions.

The intersection of antiretroviral therapy, peer support programmes, and economic empowerment with HIV stigma among HIV-positive women in West Nile Uganda.

PubMed

Kellett, Nicole Coffey; Gnauck, Katherine

2016-12-01

HIV stigma remains a major problem of the AIDS epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa. Women fear impending social stigma including blame, isolation and abuse. HIV infection and HIV stigma interact cyclically, creating and reinforcing economic and social exclusion for individuals living with HIV. Evidence suggests that interventions for people living with HIV infection that include, in combination, antiretroviral therapy (ART), peer support and economic empowerment are likely to be more effective than if used alone. We report a qualitative study in West Nile Uganda that explored perceptions of HIV stigma among fifty-four HIV-positive women who had similar access to ART and HIV peer support programmes, but varying levels of participation (full-time, intermittent, none) in economic empowerment programmes. Our study found that access to ART, peer support groups, and economic empowerment programmes helped to curb perceptions of deep-seated HIV stigma for participants. More expressions of usefulness, hope and psychological well-being prevailed with participants who had increased participation in economic empowerment programmes. Our findings underscore the value of HIV outreach programmes which combine ART, peer support and economic empowerment to alleviate HIV stigma. Further research to quantify the interaction of these factors is warranted.

Progressive 3D shape abstraction via hierarchical CSG tree

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chen, Xingyou; Tang, Jin; Li, Chenglong

2017-06-01

A constructive solid geometry(CSG) tree model is proposed to progressively abstract 3D geometric shape of general object from 2D image. Unlike conventional ones, our method applies to general object without the need for massive CAD models, and represents the object shapes in a coarse-to-fine manner that allows users to view temporal shape representations at any time. It stands in a transitional position between 2D image feature and CAD model, benefits from state-of-the-art object detection approaches and better initializes CAD model for finer fitting, estimates 3D shape and pose parameters of object at different levels according to visual perception objective, in a coarse-to-fine manner. Two main contributions are the application of CSG building up procedure into visual perception, and the ability of extending object estimation result into a more flexible and expressive model than 2D/3D primitive shapes. Experimental results demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed approach.

Internal noise estimates correlate with autistic traits.

PubMed

Vilidaite, Greta; Yu, Miaomiao; Baker, Daniel H

2017-08-01

Previous neuroimaging research has reported increased internal (neural) noise in sensory systems of autistic individuals. However, it is unclear if this difference has behavioural or perceptual consequences, as previous attempts at measuring internal noise in ASD psychophysically have been indirect. Here, we use a "gold standard" psychophysical double-pass paradigm to investigate the relationship between internal noise and autistic traits in the neurotypical population (n = 43). We measured internal noise in three tasks (contrast perception, facial expression intensity perception, and number summation) to estimate a global internal noise factor using principal components analysis. This global internal noise was positively correlated with autistic traits (r s  = 0.32, P = 0.035). This suggests that increased internal noise is associated with the ASD phenotype even in subclinical populations. The finding is discussed in relation to the neural and genetic basis of internal noise in ASD. Autism Res 2017, 10: 1384-1391. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 International Society for Autism Research, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Effect of task-oriented activities on hand functions, cognitive functions and self-expression of elderly patients with dementia.

PubMed

Son, Bo-Young; Bang, Yo-Soon; Hwang, Min-Ji; Oh, Eun-Ju

2017-08-01

[Purpose] This study investigates the effects of task-oriented activities on hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression of the elderly with dementia, and then identify the influencing factors on self-expression in sub-factors of dependent variables. [Subjects and Methods] Forty elderly persons were divided into two groups: intervention group (n=20) and control group (n=20). The interventions were applied to the subjects 3 times a week, 50 minutes per each time, for a total of five weeks. We measured the jamar hand dynamometer test for grip strength, the jamar hydraulic pinch gauge test for prehension test, nine-hole pegboard test for coordination test, and Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment-Geriatric Population for cognitive function, and self-expression rating scale for self-expression test. [Results] The task-oriented activities promoted hand function, cognitive function (visual perception, spatial perception, visuomotor organization, attention & concentration) and self-expression of the elderly with early dementia, and the factors influencing the self-expression were cognitive function (visual perception) and hand function (coordination). The study showed that the task-oriented program enabled self-expression by improving hand function and cognitive function. [Conclusion] This study suggested that there should be provided the task-oriented program for prevention and treatment of the elderly with early dementia in the clinical settings and it was considered that results have a value as basic data that can be verified relationship of hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression.

Effect of task-oriented activities on hand functions, cognitive functions and self-expression of elderly patients with dementia

PubMed Central

Son, Bo-Young; Bang, Yo-Soon; Hwang, Min-Ji; Oh, Eun-Ju

2017-01-01

[Purpose] This study investigates the effects of task-oriented activities on hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression of the elderly with dementia, and then identify the influencing factors on self-expression in sub-factors of dependent variables. [Subjects and Methods] Forty elderly persons were divided into two groups: intervention group (n=20) and control group (n=20). The interventions were applied to the subjects 3 times a week, 50 minutes per each time, for a total of five weeks. We measured the jamar hand dynamometer test for grip strength, the jamar hydraulic pinch gauge test for prehension test, nine-hole pegboard test for coordination test, and Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive Assessment-Geriatric Population for cognitive function, and self-expression rating scale for self-expression test. [Results] The task-oriented activities promoted hand function, cognitive function (visual perception, spatial perception, visuomotor organization, attention & concentration) and self-expression of the elderly with early dementia, and the factors influencing the self-expression were cognitive function (visual perception) and hand function (coordination). The study showed that the task-oriented program enabled self-expression by improving hand function and cognitive function. [Conclusion] This study suggested that there should be provided the task-oriented program for prevention and treatment of the elderly with early dementia in the clinical settings and it was considered that results have a value as basic data that can be verified relationship of hand function, cognitive function, and self-expression. PMID:28878462

Effect of 'nursing terminologies and classifications' course on nursing students' perception of nursing diagnosis.

PubMed

Karaca, Turkan; Aslan, Sinan

2018-05-23

To determine nursing students' perception of nursing diagnosis and the effect of 'nursing terminologies and classifications' course on this perception. This study was carried out as a quasi-experimental, two group design. Data were collected through the Nursing Diagnosis Survey. The overall Perceptions of Nursing Diagnosis Survey score for this study was found 2.44 ± 0.44. Perceptions of Nursing Diagnosis Survey mean scores of nursing students who took 'Nursing Terminologies and Classifications' course were found more positive than the nursing students who did not take the course. Positive perceptions about the use of nursing diagnosis have beneficial effects on the identification of patient problems and planning of these; and improves the quality of the patient care. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

How positive emotions build physical health: perceived positive social connections account for the upward spiral between positive emotions and vagal tone.

PubMed

Kok, Bethany E; Coffey, Kimberly A; Cohn, Michael A; Catalino, Lahnna I; Vacharkulksemsuk, Tanya; Algoe, Sara B; Brantley, Mary; Fredrickson, Barbara L

2013-07-01

The mechanisms underlying the association between positive emotions and physical health remain a mystery. We hypothesize that an upward-spiral dynamic continually reinforces the tie between positive emotions and physical health and that this spiral is mediated by people's perceptions of their positive social connections. We tested this overarching hypothesis in a longitudinal field experiment in which participants were randomly assigned to an intervention group that self-generated positive emotions via loving-kindness meditation or to a waiting-list control group. Participants in the intervention group increased in positive emotions relative to those in the control group, an effect moderated by baseline vagal tone, a proxy index of physical health. Increased positive emotions, in turn, produced increases in vagal tone, an effect mediated by increased perceptions of social connections. This experimental evidence identifies one mechanism-perceptions of social connections-through which positive emotions build physical health, indexed as vagal tone. Results suggest that positive emotions, positive social connections, and physical health influence one another in a self-sustaining upward-spiral dynamic.

Teacher Perceptions of Using Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports as Behavioral Interventions in a Pre-K-5 Elementary School: A Phenomenological Study

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberts-Clawson, Meghann E.

2017-01-01

This qualitative study addresses teacher perceptions of using positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) as positive behavioral interventions. This phenomenological study was conducted within a Pre-K-5 elementary school in northwestern North Carolina. In order to collect qualitative data, personal individualized interviews were conducted…

Factors associated with a positive attitude towards receiving cancer information: a population-based study in Spain.

PubMed

Sanz-Barbero, Belén; Prieto, María Eugenia; Cambas, Naiara

2016-04-01

It is necessary to raise a positive attitude towards cancer information to improve disease prevention and control. To identify social factors, health characteristics and cancer-related perceptions and knowledge associated with a positive attitude towards cancer information. We ran multivariate logistic regression models to analyse population-based data from OncoBarómetro-2010, a Spanish representative survey on perceptions and knowledge, related to cancer, conducted among 7938 people aged 18 years or more. Attitudes towards cancer information. A positive attitude includes feeling motivated to keep informed, to have screening tests or to change lifestyle. A negative attitude includes feeling indifference, concern, frustration or fear. 38.3% of the studied population reported having received information related to cancer (within the last 6 months). Among those, 31.5% expressed a negative attitude towards cancer information. People more likely to have a positive attitude towards cancer information (reference category: negative attitude) were people aged 35-74 (ref: aged 18-34) (P < 0.001) and cancer survivors (ref: those who had not had cancer) (OR: 3.05; 95% CI: 1.73-5.38). The likelihood of a positive attitude increased with the level of education (P < 0.001). The variables negatively associated with a positive attitude towards cancer information were poor self-rated health status (ref: fair) (OR: 0.63; 95% CI: 0.42-0.95) and high self-perceived risk of developing cancer (ref: low) (OR: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.60-0.92). These findings have potential to inform programmes designed to promote cancer prevention behaviours. Policies should target population groups with low socio-economic groups, those with poor self-rated health and individuals with high self-perceived risk of cancer. Further, in order to increase knowledge of cancer symptoms, we need to focus on individuals with unhealthy lifestyles. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

On the Relationship Between Neighborhood Perception, Length of Residence and Co-Ethnic Concentration

PubMed Central

Saenz, Joseph

2014-01-01

We investigate how co-ethnic concentration and length of residence are related to neighborhood perception in aged Mexican Americans, and discuss sources of information for measuring social environments. Neighborhood perception scale, length of residence in current home, and all individual-level covariates in a hierarchical linear model are derived from data on community-dwelling older adults. Tract-level measures are obtained from Census data. We find no relationship between co-ethnic concentration and positive neighborhood perception, and find a direct relationship between length of residence and positive neighborhood perception. Until further evidence is found, different sources of information when measuring place should be treated equally. PMID:25057331

A qualitative study exploring midwives' perceptions and views of extending their role to the examination of the newborn baby.

PubMed

Rogers, Catherine; Bloomfield, Linda; Townsend, Joy

2003-03-01

to explore midwives' attitudes and perceptions about extending their role to the examination of the newborn baby, as well as their general perceptions and attitudes to new role developments. qualitative, data collected using semi-structured interviews, which were exploratory and interactive in form. six maternity hospitals in South-east England. ten midwives were purposefully selected, including five trained in the examination of the newborn baby and currently conducting examinations and five who had not. Most of the midwives had been qualified for over ten years and had a wide range of clinical experience in hospital and community settings. midwives identified many benefits to themselves, to their profession and to the mothers as a result of developing their role into the examination of the newborn baby. The major benefit cited was improved job satisfaction, which was directly related to their ability to give continuity and total care to mothers and babies. Midwives also perceived that undertaking the examination strengthened their position as autonomous practitioners, by enabling them to provide total care to mothers and babies who fitted their criteria of normality. Moreover, midwives thought that improvements in the overall quality of care to mothers would result from them performing the examination, including improved communication, greater continuity of care and a more holistic examination. Although midwives were concerned about possible increase in workloads and pressure to take on new roles, the examination was generally perceived as being easily incorporated into their current practice without compromising overall standards in midwifery care. Midwives expressed concern about 'extending' practice into areas that did not fit their perceptions of normality and about being 'pressurised' into taking on new roles. it would appear from this study that an important consideration for midwives in their acceptance of new roles, is the relationship of that role to their position as experts in normality. Midwives in this study viewed the examination of the newborn baby as 'fitting in' with their perceptions of the core values of midwifery.

Clinical correlates of distorted auditory perception in first-episode psychosis.

PubMed

Morenz, Rachel; Woolverton, Cindy; Frost, R Brock; Kiewel, Nicole A; Breitborde, Nicholas J K

2015-06-01

Auditory hallucinations are hypothesized to be based in distorted sensory perceptions, with increasingly distorted perceptions of reality possibly prompting the first psychotic phase of schizophrenia spectrum disorders. Our goal was to examine the association between distorted auditory perceptions and psychotic symptomatology, social functioning and quality of life among individuals with first-episode psychosis. Forty individuals with first-episode psychosis completed assessments of distorted auditory perception, psychotic symptomatology, social functioning and quality of life. Both negative (greater symptomatology) and positive clinical correlates (better quality of life) were associated with greater distorted auditory perceptions. Our findings suggest that distorted auditory perceptions are associated with both positive and negative clinical correlates among individuals with first-episode psychosis. These results highlight the potential clinical importance of balancing the goal of symptomatic reduction with the need to maintain healthy coping strategies that may be biologically and psychologically entwined with the symptoms of psychosis, themselves. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Effects of playing video games on perceptions of one's humanity.

PubMed

Greitemeyer, Tobias

2013-01-01

According to self-perception theory, individuals infer their characteristics by observing their own behavior. In the present research, the hypothesis is examined whether helping behavior increases perceptions of one's own humanity even when help is given that does not benefit a real person. In fact, two studies revealed that playing a prosocial video game (where the goal is to help and care for other game characters) led to increased perceptions of the player's own humanity (in particular, for positive humanity traits). Results also revealed that playing a violent, relative to a neutral, video game decreased perceptions of humanity on positive humanity traits and increased perceptions of humanity on negative humanity traits. Taken together, it appears that being helpful while playing video games leads to the perception of being more human, whereas being harmful while playing video games leads players to perceive themselves negatively.

Adapted physical activity programme and self-perception in obese adolescents with intellectual disability: between morphological awareness and positive illusory bias.

PubMed

Salaun, Laureline; Reynes, Eric; Berthouze-Aranda, Sophie E

2014-03-01

In adolescent with intellectual disability, the management of obesity is a crucial issue, yet also quite complex because of their particular perception of themselves. This study investigated the relationship between self-perception variables and morphological variables and their changes after a 9-month Adapted Physical Activity (APA) programme. Twenty-three adolescents with intellectual disability responded to an adapted questionnaire, including the PSI-VSF-ID and a nine-drawing body silhouette scale. Anthropometric and body composition indicators were measured before and after the APA programme. The main predictor of the adolescents' self-perceptions was the inclination towards positive illusory bias before the intervention; obesity awareness ranked second. Morphological measurements did not contribute in the same way to self-perceptions in the initial and final data. This study confirms the interest of weight management programmes for adolescents with intellectual disability and points to the need to take positive illusory bias more fully into account in the study of self-perception. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Schizophrenic Patients' Perceptions of Stress, Expressed Emotion, and Sensitivity To Criticism

PubMed Central

Cutting, Linda P.; Aakre, Jennifer M.; Docherty, Nancy M.

2006-01-01

This study was designed to get an “insider's view” of expressed emotion (EE) from the perspective of schizophrenic patients. Thirty-two patient and “influential other” pairs participated in the study. Patients' perceptions of EE attitudes in influential others were examined to determine whether they corresponded with actual EE ratings. Patients also rated how “stressed” they felt when interacting with their influential others, and patients' general sensitivity to criticism (STC) was assessed. As predicted, patients' perceptions of critical attitudes were related to actual EE ratings of criticism, although patients' perceptions of emotional overinvolvement (EOI) were not related to EOI ratings. Patients reported feeling more stressed when interacting with high-EE influential others, supporting an “EE as stressor” hypothesis. Finally, patients' STC influenced the level of stress they reported. PMID:16731686

Perception of Climate Risk among Rural Farmers in Vietnam: Consistency within Households and with the Empirical Record.

PubMed

Cullen, Alison C; Anderson, C Leigh

2017-03-01

Rural farmers in Vietnamese communes perceive climate risk and potential impacts on livelihood within a complex context that may influence individual and household decisions. In a primary survey of 1,145 residents of the Thach Ha district of Ha Tinh province, we gathered data regarding perception about stability in climate, potential risks to livelihood, demographic characteristics, orientation toward risk, and interest in expanding economic activity. Temporal analysis of meteorological and economic indicator data forms an empirical basis for comparison with human perception. We ask the basic question: Are rural farmers' perceptions of climate consistent with the historical record and reproducible within households? We find that respondents do perceive climate anomalies, with some anchoring on recent extreme events as revealed by climate observational data, and further that spouses disproportionately share perceptions relative to randomly simulated pairings. To put climate-related risk perception in a larger context, we examine patterns across a range of risks to livelihood faced by farmers (livestock disease, pests, markets, health), using dimension reduction techniques. We find that our respondents distinguish among potential causes of low economic productivity, with substantial emphasis on climate-related impacts. They do not express uniform concern across risks, but rather average patterns reveal common modes and distinguish climate concern. Still, among those expressing concern about climate-related risks to livelihood we do not find an association with expressed intention to pursue changes in economic activity as a risk management response. © 2016 Society for Risk Analysis.

Variability of patient safety culture in Belgian acute hospitals.

PubMed

Vlayen, Annemie; Schrooten, Ward; Wami, Welcome; Aerts, Marc; Barrado, Leandro Garcia; Claes, Neree; Hellings, Johan

2015-06-01

The aim of this study was to measure differences in safety culture perceptions within Belgian acute hospitals and to examine variability based on language, work area, staff position, and work experience. The Hospital Survey on Patient Safety Culture was distributed to hospitals participating in the national quality and safety program (2007-2009). Hospitals were invited to participate in a comparative study. Data of 47,136 respondents from 89 acute hospitals were used for quantitative analysis. Percentages of positive response were calculated on 12 dimensions. Generalized estimating equations models were fitted to explore differences in safety culture. Handoffs and transitions, staffing, and management support for patient safety were considered as major problem areas. Dutch-speaking hospitals had higher odds of positive perceptions for most dimensions in comparison with French-speaking hospitals. Safety culture scores were more positive for respondents working in pediatrics, psychiatry, and rehabilitation compared with the emergency department, operating theater, and multiple hospital units. We found an important gap in safety culture perceptions between leaders and assistants within disciplines. Administration and middle management had lower perceptions toward patient safety. Respondents working less than 1 year in the current hospital had more positive safety culture perceptions in comparison with all other respondents. Large comparative databases provide the opportunity to identify distinct high and low scoring groups. In our study, language, work area, and profession were identified as important safety culture predictors. Years of experience in the hospital had only a small effect on safety culture perceptions.

Perceptions of Menthol Cigarettes Among Twitter Users: Content and Sentiment Analysis.

PubMed

Rose, Shyanika W; Jo, Catherine L; Binns, Steven; Buenger, Melissa; Emery, Sherry; Ribisl, Kurt M

2017-02-27

Menthol cigarettes are used disproportionately by African American, female, and adolescent smokers. Twitter is also used disproportionately by minority and younger populations, providing a unique window into conversations reflecting social norms, behavioral intentions, and sentiment toward menthol cigarettes. Our purpose was to identify the content and frequency of conversations about menthol cigarettes, including themes, populations, user smoking status, other tobacco or substances, tweet characteristics, and sentiment. We also examined differences in menthol cigarette sentiment by prevalent categories, which allowed us to assess potential perceptions, misperceptions, and social norms about menthol cigarettes on Twitter. This approach can inform communication about these products, particularly to subgroups who are at risk for menthol cigarette use. Through a combination of human and machine classification, we identified 94,627 menthol cigarette-relevant tweets from February 1, 2012 to January 31, 2013 (1 year) from over 47 million tobacco-related messages gathered prospectively from the Twitter Firehose of all public tweets and metadata. Then, 4 human coders evaluated a random sample of 7000 tweets for categories, including sentiment toward menthol cigarettes. We found that 47.98% (3194/6657) of tweets expressed positive sentiment, while 40.26% (2680/6657) were negative toward menthol cigarettes. The majority of tweets by likely smokers (2653/4038, 65.70%) expressed positive sentiment, while 91.2% (320/351) of nonsmokers and 71.7% (91/127) of former smokers indicated negative views. Positive views toward menthol cigarettes were predominant in tweets that discussed addiction or craving, marijuana, smoking, taste or sensation, song lyrics, and tobacco industry or marketing or tweets that were commercial in nature. Negative views toward menthol were more common in tweets about smoking cessation, health, African Americans, women, and children and adolescents-largely due to expression of negative stereotypes associated with these groups' use of menthol cigarettes. Examinations of public opinions toward menthol cigarettes through social media can help to inform the framing of public communication about menthol cigarettes, particularly in light of potential regulation by the European Union, US Food and Drug Administration, other jurisdictions, and localities. ©Shyanika W Rose, Catherine L Jo, Steven Binns, Melissa Buenger, Sherry Emery, Kurt M Ribisl. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 27.02.2017.

Suspicion of Motives Predicts Minorities' Responses to Positive Feedback in Interracial Interactions.

PubMed

Major, Brenda; Kunstman, Jonathan W; Malta, Brenna D; Sawyer, Pamela J; Townsend, Sarah S M; Mendes, Wendy Berry

2016-01-01

Strong social and legal norms in the United States discourage the overt expression of bias against ethnic and racial minorities, increasing the attributional ambiguity of Whites' positive behavior to ethnic minorities. Minorities who suspect that Whites' positive overtures toward minorities are motivated more by their fear of appearing racist than by egalitarian attitudes may regard positive feedback they receive from Whites as disingenuous. This may lead them to react to such feedback with feelings of uncertainty and threat. Three studies examined how suspicion of motives relates to ethnic minorities' responses to receiving positive feedback from a White peer or same-ethnicity peer (Experiment 1), to receiving feedback from a White peer that was positive or negative (Experiment 2), and to receiving positive feedback from a White peer who did or did not know their ethnicity (Experiment 3). As predicted, the more suspicious Latinas were of Whites' motives for behaving positively toward minorities in general, the more they regarded positive feedback from a White peer who knew their ethnicity as disingenuous and the more they reacted with cardiovascular reactivity characteristic of threat/avoidance, increased feelings of stress, heightened uncertainty, and decreased self-esteem. We discuss the implications for intergroup interactions of perceptions of Whites' motives for nonprejudiced behavior.

Physical and chemical quality characteristics and antioxidant properties of strawberry cultivars (Fragaria × ananassa Duch.) in Greece: assessment of their sensory impact.

PubMed

Zeliou, Konstantina; Papasotiropoulos, Vassilis; Manoussopoulos, Yiannis; Lamari, Fotini N

2018-02-01

There are many factors determining the strawberry organoleptic profile and they are difficult to define. In this study, the sensory, physical, and chemical quality characteristics, the antioxidant properties as examined using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and 1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) assays, the lactone concentration, and the FaFAD1 expression of ripe strawberries (cv. Camarosa, Florida Fortuna, and Sabrina) from Greece were evaluated and their interrelationships were investigated. 'Camarosa' had the highest antioxidant capacity and polyphenol content, although significant intra-cultivar variations of sugars, solid soluble content/titratable acidity (SSC/TA), red color intensity, sweetness, and hardness were recorded. In 'Sabrina' there was a constant lactone presence and FaFAD1 expression; it also had the lowest ascorbic acid content, the highest pH, SSC/TA index, firmness, and sweetness. 'Fortuna' showed the lowest sweetness and aroma indices, whereas 'Camarosa' had intermediate ones. Overall, firmness was correlated with hardness, while pH and SSC/TA index correlated with juiciness and sweetness. Both γ-decalactone and γ-dodecalactone concentrations were correlated with FaFAD1 expression and pH, but they did not solely determine the aroma sensory perception. In total, FRAP values were positively correlated with ascorbic acid and polyphenol content, and negatively with pH. Significant inter- and intra-cultivar variation was recorded, revealing the impact of the genotype and underlining the effect of microenvironmental and cultivation conditions on quality and sensory perception. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Individual Uncertainty and the Uncertainty of Science: The Impact of Perceived Conflict and General Self-Efficacy on the Perception of Tentativeness and Credibility of Scientific Information.

PubMed

Flemming, Danny; Feinkohl, Insa; Cress, Ulrike; Kimmerle, Joachim

2015-01-01

We examined in two empirical studies how situational and personal aspects of uncertainty influence laypeople's understanding of the uncertainty of scientific information, with focus on the detection of tentativeness and perception of scientific credibility. In the first study (N = 48), we investigated the impact of a perceived conflict due to contradicting information as a situational, text-inherent aspect of uncertainty. The aim of the second study (N = 61) was to explore the role of general self-efficacy as an intra-personal uncertainty factor. In Study 1, participants read one of two versions of an introductory text in a between-group design. This text provided them with an overview about the neurosurgical procedure of deep brain stimulation (DBS). The text expressed a positive attitude toward DBS in one experimental condition or focused on the negative aspects of this method in the other condition. Then participants in both conditions read the same text that dealt with a study about DBS as experimental treatment in a small sample of patients with major depression. Perceived conflict between the two texts was found to increase the perception of tentativeness and to decrease the perception of scientific credibility, implicating that text-inherent aspects have significant effects on critical appraisal. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that participants with higher general self-efficacy detected the tentativeness to a lesser degree and assumed a higher level of scientific credibility, indicating a more naïve understanding of scientific information. This appears to be contradictory to large parts of previous findings that showed positive effects of high self-efficacy on learning. Both studies showed that perceived tentativeness and perceived scientific credibility of medical information contradicted each other. We conclude that there is a need for supporting laypeople in understanding the uncertainty of scientific information and that scientific writers should consider how to present scientific results when compiling pertinent texts.

Individual Uncertainty and the Uncertainty of Science: The Impact of Perceived Conflict and General Self-Efficacy on the Perception of Tentativeness and Credibility of Scientific Information

PubMed Central

Flemming, Danny; Feinkohl, Insa; Cress, Ulrike; Kimmerle, Joachim

2015-01-01

We examined in two empirical studies how situational and personal aspects of uncertainty influence laypeople’s understanding of the uncertainty of scientific information, with focus on the detection of tentativeness and perception of scientific credibility. In the first study (N = 48), we investigated the impact of a perceived conflict due to contradicting information as a situational, text-inherent aspect of uncertainty. The aim of the second study (N = 61) was to explore the role of general self-efficacy as an intra-personal uncertainty factor. In Study 1, participants read one of two versions of an introductory text in a between-group design. This text provided them with an overview about the neurosurgical procedure of deep brain stimulation (DBS). The text expressed a positive attitude toward DBS in one experimental condition or focused on the negative aspects of this method in the other condition. Then participants in both conditions read the same text that dealt with a study about DBS as experimental treatment in a small sample of patients with major depression. Perceived conflict between the two texts was found to increase the perception of tentativeness and to decrease the perception of scientific credibility, implicating that text-inherent aspects have significant effects on critical appraisal. The results of Study 2 demonstrated that participants with higher general self-efficacy detected the tentativeness to a lesser degree and assumed a higher level of scientific credibility, indicating a more naïve understanding of scientific information. This appears to be contradictory to large parts of previous findings that showed positive effects of high self-efficacy on learning. Both studies showed that perceived tentativeness and perceived scientific credibility of medical information contradicted each other. We conclude that there is a need for supporting laypeople in understanding the uncertainty of scientific information and that scientific writers should consider how to present scientific results when compiling pertinent texts. PMID:26648902

Exploring the Perceptions of Core Values of Nursing in Taiwanese Nursing Students at the Baccalaureate Level.

PubMed

Lin, Chun-Chih; Han, Chin-Yen; Pan, I-Ju; Lin, Pi-Li

2016-06-01

The core values of nursing are a standard component of the nursing curriculum in Taiwan. Therefore, these values provide an essential guide for educating and evaluating the learning outcomes of nursing students. Student perceptions of those core values that relate to the process of curricula learning are key to measuring the core values of nursing. This study explores the views on the core values of nursing of baccalaureate-level nursing students at a Taiwanese university. This qualitative study collected data from the reflection reports of 109 students and analyzed these data using thematic content analysis. The results of this study identified that the learning of core values of nursing tends to utilize the latent curriculum rather than the open curriculum. Critical thinking was perceived and experienced by asking "why." General clinical skills and basic biomedical science were categorized collectively as care ability, which relates to the thinking, analysis, and mapping of client health problems. The value of communication and teamwork capability was defined as the sequential process of accepting, interacting, communicating, and collaborating. Caring was defined as contributing empathy with respect to one's self and to others. Ethics was defined as a moral perspective, as respecting others, and as prioritizing the needs of clients. Accountability was defined as a way of observing standards within the role given in a position. Finally, lifelong learning is a process of learning that encourages more aggressive learning. The progress of core values of nursing in this study reflects positive movement and achievement. The participants expressed the perception that the core values of nursing enhance understanding, which enables nursing educators to reframe the nursing curriculum to meet their learning needs. The perceptions of nursing students of core values of nursing may be used as a guide to increase clinical nursing competence in healthcare.

Self-perception, self-regulation and metacognition in adolescents with intellectual disability.

PubMed

Nader-Grosbois, Nathalie

2014-06-01

This study compares self-perception of competences in 28 typically developing children (TD) aged 7-9 years and 32 adolescents with intellectual disability (ID) aged 11-16 years in special school, matched for mental age (MA). The links between self-perception, self-regulation in problem-solving and metacognition are investigated. Overall self-perception and self-perception of competences by domain do not differ significantly between the two groups. Self-perception of competences in specific domains, self-regulation and metacognition vary depending on MA and verbal comprehension in the two groups. ID adolescents attribute more importance to social acceptance than TD children. In both groups, positive links are identified between self-perception and importance attributed to domains. Performance, self-regulation and metacognition are lower in ID adolescents than in TD children. Positive links are obtained between self-perception of competences in specific domains and certain self-regulatory and metacognitive strategies, although these links differ in the two groups. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Test battery for measuring the perception and recognition of facial expressions of emotion

PubMed Central

Wilhelm, Oliver; Hildebrandt, Andrea; Manske, Karsten; Schacht, Annekathrin; Sommer, Werner

2014-01-01

Despite the importance of perceiving and recognizing facial expressions in everyday life, there is no comprehensive test battery for the multivariate assessment of these abilities. As a first step toward such a compilation, we present 16 tasks that measure the perception and recognition of facial emotion expressions, and data illustrating each task's difficulty and reliability. The scoring of these tasks focuses on either the speed or accuracy of performance. A sample of 269 healthy young adults completed all tasks. In general, accuracy and reaction time measures for emotion-general scores showed acceptable and high estimates of internal consistency and factor reliability. Emotion-specific scores yielded lower reliabilities, yet high enough to encourage further studies with such measures. Analyses of task difficulty revealed that all tasks are suitable for measuring emotion perception and emotion recognition related abilities in normal populations. PMID:24860528

Differential hemispheric and visual stream contributions to ensemble coding of crowd emotion

PubMed Central

Im, Hee Yeon; Albohn, Daniel N.; Steiner, Troy G.; Cushing, Cody A.; Adams, Reginald B.; Kveraga, Kestutis

2017-01-01

In crowds, where scrutinizing individual facial expressions is inefficient, humans can make snap judgments about the prevailing mood by reading “crowd emotion”. We investigated how the brain accomplishes this feat in a set of behavioral and fMRI studies. Participants were asked to either avoid or approach one of two crowds of faces presented in the left and right visual hemifields. Perception of crowd emotion was improved when crowd stimuli contained goal-congruent cues and was highly lateralized to the right hemisphere. The dorsal visual stream was preferentially activated in crowd emotion processing, with activity in the intraparietal sulcus and superior frontal gyrus predicting perceptual accuracy for crowd emotion perception, whereas activity in the fusiform cortex in the ventral stream predicted better perception of individual facial expressions. Our findings thus reveal significant behavioral differences and differential involvement of the hemispheres and the major visual streams in reading crowd versus individual face expressions. PMID:29226255

Perceptions of Emotion from Facial Expressions are Not Culturally Universal: Evidence from a Remote Culture

PubMed Central

Gendron, Maria; Roberson, Debi; van der Vyver, Jacoba Marietta; Barrett, Lisa Feldman

2014-01-01

It is widely believed that certain emotions are universally recognized in facial expressions. Recent evidence indicates that Western perceptions (e.g., scowls as anger) depend on cues to US emotion concepts embedded in experiments. Since such cues are standard feature in methods used in cross-cultural experiments, we hypothesized that evidence of universality depends on this conceptual context. In our study, participants from the US and the Himba ethnic group sorted images of posed facial expressions into piles by emotion type. Without cues to emotion concepts, Himba participants did not show the presumed “universal” pattern, whereas US participants produced a pattern with presumed universal features. With cues to emotion concepts, participants in both cultures produced sorts that were closer to the presumed “universal” pattern, although substantial cultural variation persisted. Our findings indicate that perceptions of emotion are not universal, but depend on cultural and conceptual contexts. PMID:24708506

Perception of emotion in abstract artworks: a multidisciplinary approach.

PubMed

Melcher, David; Bacci, Francesca

2013-01-01

There is a long-standing and fundamental debate regarding how emotion can be expressed by fine art. Some artists and theorists have claimed that certain features of paintings, such as color, line, form, and composition, can consistently express an "objective" emotion, while others have argued that emotion perception is subjective and depends more on expertise of the observer. Here, we discuss two studies in which we have found evidence for consistency in observer ratings of emotion for abstract artworks. We have developed a stimulus set of abstract art images to test emotional priming, both between different painting images and between paintings and faces. The ratings were also used in a computational vision analysis of the visual features underlying emotion expression. Overall, these findings suggest that there is a strong bottom-up and objective aspect to perception of emotion in abstract artworks that may tap into basic visual mechanisms. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Pornography and sexual experiences among high school students in Sweden.

PubMed

Mattebo, Magdalena; Tydén, Tanja; Häggström-Nordin, Elisabet; Nilsson, Kent W; Larsson, Margareta

2014-04-01

The study investigated the differences between high school boys and girls in: (1) the use of pornography, (2) sexual experiences, (3) experience of sexual abuse, and (4) perceptions of sexuality and pornography. It also examined the possible predictors of experiencing sexual activities, such as sex, sociodemographic factors (high school program, household, and ethnic background), pornography consumption, experience of sexual abuse, perception of sexuality, and perception of pornography. A population-based classroom survey of 16-year-old boys (n = 477) and girls (n = 400) from 53 randomly selected high school classes in 2 towns in mid-Sweden. Almost all boys (96%, n = 453) and 54% of the girls (n = 213) had watched pornography. Regardless of sex, pornography consumers had a positive perception of pornography. There were no differences between pornography-consuming boys and girls regarding fantasies, and they had attempted sexual acts inspired by pornography. A higher proportion of girls (15%) than boys (6%) had experienced sexual abuse. Predictors for being sexually experienced (oral sex, intercourse, and anal sex) included: being a girl, attending a vocational high school program, living with separated parents, having experience of sexual abuse, stating that boys and girls are equally interested in sex, and having a positive perception of pornography (Adj. R = 0.166). Boys had more experience of and a more positive perception of pornography, but there were only a few differences between boys and girls in the pornography-consumer group. Girls were more sexually experienced than boys. A positive perception of pornography predicted being sexually experienced.

Impaired Perception of Emotional Expression in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis.

PubMed

Oh, Seong Il; Oh, Ki Wook; Kim, Hee Jin; Park, Jin Seok; Kim, Seung Hyun

2016-07-01

The increasing recognition that deficits in social emotions occur in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is helping to explain the spectrum of neuropsychological dysfunctions, thus supporting the view of ALS as a multisystem disorder involving neuropsychological deficits as well as motor deficits. The aim of this study was to characterize the emotion perception abilities of Korean patients with ALS based on the recognition of facial expressions. Twenty-four patients with ALS and 24 age- and sex-matched healthy controls completed neuropsychological tests and facial emotion recognition tasks [ChaeLee Korean Facial Expressions of Emotions (ChaeLee-E)]. The ChaeLee-E test includes facial expressions for seven emotions: happiness, sadness, anger, disgust, fear, surprise, and neutral. The ability to perceive facial emotions was significantly worse among ALS patients performed than among healthy controls [65.2±18.0% vs. 77.1±6.6% (mean±SD), p=0.009]. Eight of the 24 patients (33%) scored below the 5th percentile score of controls for recognizing facial emotions. Emotion perception deficits occur in Korean ALS patients, particularly regarding facial expressions of emotion. These findings expand the spectrum of cognitive and behavioral dysfunction associated with ALS into emotion processing dysfunction.

The development of Israeli children's images of Jews and Arabs and their expression in human figure drawings.

PubMed

Teichman, Y

2001-11-01

The development of images of "a Jew" and "an Arab" in Jewish Israeli children who were 4-15 years of age was investigated by means of human figure drawings followed by the administration of questionnaires. The drawings were scored on structural and thematic variables. The questionnaires assessed beliefs and intentions. The hypotheses predicted a differential perception of in- and out-groups and peaks in negativity toward the out-group at preschool age and in early adolescence. Results indicate that, irrespective of age, Jewish Israeli children have generalized images of the two ethnic groups. Preschoolers expressed both positive biases toward the in-group and negativism toward the out-group. and early adolescents manifested mainly negative biases toward the out-group. Children in middle childhood and mid-adolescents manifested reductions in both in-group favoritism and out-group negativity.

Adversity, emotion recognition, and empathic concern in high-risk youth.

PubMed

Quas, Jodi A; Dickerson, Kelli L; Matthew, Richard; Harron, Connor; Quas, Catherine M

2017-01-01

Little is known about how emotion recognition and empathy jointly operate in youth growing up in contexts defined by persistent adversity. We investigated whether adversity exposure in two groups of youth was associated with reduced empathy and whether deficits in emotion recognition mediated this association. Foster, rural poor, and comparison youth from Swaziland, Africa identified emotional expressions and rated their empathic concern for characters depicted in images showing positive, ambiguous, and negative scenes. Rural and foster youth perceived greater anger and happiness in the main characters in ambiguous and negative images than did comparison youth. Rural children also perceived less sadness. Youth's perceptions of sadness in the negative and ambiguous expressions mediated the relation between adversity and empathic concern, but only for the rural youth, who perceived less sadness, which then predicted less empathy. Findings provide new insight into processes that underlie empathic tendencies in adversity-exposed youth and highlight potential directions for interventions to increase empathy.

Consumer perception of risk associated with filters contaminated with glass fibers.

PubMed

Cummings, K M; Hastrup, J L; Swedrock, T; Hyland, A; Perla, J; Pauly, J L

2000-09-01

The filters in Eclipse, a new cigarette-like smoking article marketed by R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company, are contaminated with glass fibers, fragments, and particles. Reported herein are the results of a study in which consumers were questioned about their opinions as to whether exposure to glass fibers in such a filter poses an added health risk beyond that from smoking and whether the manufacturer has an obligation to inform consumers about the glass contamination problem. The study queried 137 adults who were interviewed while waiting at a Division of Motor Vehicles office in Erie County, New York in 1997. All but one person expressed the view that the presence of glass fibers on the filters poses an added health risk beyond that associated with exposure to tobacco smoke alone. Nearly all expressed the position that the cigarette manufacturer has a duty to inform the public about the potential for glass exposure.

Perception of threat from emotions and its role in poor emotional expression within eating pathology.

PubMed

Ioannou, Korina; Fox, John R E

2009-01-01

Recent research has documented links between eating disorder (ED) symptomatology and emotional expression deficits. Relevant theoretical models have alluded to the functional role of disordered eating in alleviating affect that is felt to be otherwise unmanageable and threatening. Nevertheless, research examining ED individuals' perceptions of emotional states has been sparse, while empirical studies have predominantly focused on global conceptualizations of emotion, failing to address discrete affect states. The current study had three aims: (a) to determine the relation between ED symptomatology and emotional expression, in a sample of women with ED, in an attempt to confirm previous findings of an inverse relation; (b) to test the hypothesis that women with ED inhibit the expression of emotions perceived as threatening, by examining the relation between emotional expression and perceptions of threat from emotion, while partialling out the effects of depression; and (c) to determine whether, amongst women with ED, perceptions of threat from anger are uniquely associated with emotional inhibition, when the effects of depression and body dissatisfaction are controlled for. Results demonstrated that (a) emotional expression was negatively related with the three Eating Disorders Inventory-3 subscales (drive for thinness, bulimia and body dissatisfaction); (b) perceived threat from emotion, particularly anger, was negatively correlated with emotional expression, when depression was partialled out in the analysis; and (c) perceived threat from anger significantly and uniquely predicted emotional inhibition, over and above the effects of body dissatisfaction and depression, in a sample of women with ED symptomatology. It is suggested that anger may be perceived as particularly threatening amongst women with ED, and play a significant role in the emotional expression difficulties that this population experiences. The implications of the current findings are discussed in line with relevant theory and research, with particular reference to the new Schematic Propositional Analogical Associative Representation System for Eating Disorders (SPAARS-ED) model.

The Role of Religion and Institution Type in Seniors' Perceptions of the Religious and Spiritual Campus Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fosnacht, Kevin; Broderick, Cynthia

2018-01-01

This study investigated the correlates of two measures that capture students' perception of the religious and spiritual campus climate. It focuses on how the factors, religious identity and attending a religiously affiliated institution, influence students' perception of the respect for their beliefs and comfort in expressing their views on…

Emotion Perception in Asperger's Syndrome and High-Functioning Autism: The Importance of Diagnostic Criteria and Cue Intensity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mazefsky, Carla A.; Oswald, Donald P.

2007-01-01

This study compared emotion perception accuracy between children with Asperger's syndrome (AS) and high-functioning autism (HFA). Thirty children were diagnosed with AS or HFA based on empirically supported diagnostic criteria and administered an emotion perception test consisting of facial expressions and tone of voice cues that varied in…

Examining Social Perceptions between Arab and Jewish Children through Human Figure Drawings

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Yedidia, Tova; Lipschitz-Elchawi, Rachel

2012-01-01

This study examined social perceptions among 191 Arab and Jewish children who live in mixed neighborhoods in Israel. Human Figure Drawing assessment was used to examine the children's social perceptions. The drawings that the Jewish Israeli children created portrayed Arabs as the enemy, whereas the Arab Israeli children expressed a more positive…

Putting Like a Pro: The Role of Positive Contagion in Golf Performance and Perception

PubMed Central

Lee, Charles; Linkenauger, Sally A.; Bakdash, Jonathan Z.; Joy-Gaba, Jennifer A.; Profitt, Dennis R.

2011-01-01

Many amateur athletes believe that using a professional athlete's equipment can improve their performance. Such equipment can be said to be affected with positive contagion, which refers to the belief of transference of beneficial properties between animate persons/objects to previously neutral objects. In this experiment, positive contagion was induced by telling participants in one group that a putter previously belonged to a professional golfer. The effect of positive contagion was examined for perception and performance in a golf putting task. Individuals who believed they were using the professional golfer's putter perceived the size of the golf hole to be larger than golfers without such a belief and also had better performance, sinking more putts. These results provide empirical support for anecdotes, which allege that using objects with positive contagion can improve performance, and further suggest perception can be modulated by positive contagion. PMID:22028804

HIV-negative Men-who-Have-Sex-with-Men who Bareback are Concerned about HIV Infection: Implications for HIV Risk Reduction Interventions

PubMed Central

Balán, Iván C.; Carballo-Diéguez, Alex; Ventuneac, Ana; Remien, Robert H.; Dolezal, Curtis; Ford, Jordan

2012-01-01

The emergence of barebacking (intentional unprotected anal intercourse in situations where there is risk of HIV infection) among men who have sex with men (MSM) has been partially attributed to a decrease in HIV-related concerns due to improved anti-retroviral treatment. It is important to understand the level of concern these men have regarding HIV infection because it can affect their interest in risk reduction behaviors as well as their possible engagement in risk reduction interventions. As part of a study on MSM who use the Internet to seek sexual partners, 89 ethnic and racially diverse men who reported never having an HIV-positive test result completed an in-depth qualitative interview and a computer-based quantitative assessment. Of the 82 men who were asked about concerns of HIV infection during the qualitative interviews, 30 expressed “significant concern” about acquiring HIV, while 42 expressed “moderate concern,” and 10 expressed “minimal concern. Themes that emerged across the different levels of concern were their perceptions of the severity of HIV infection, having friends who are HIV positive, and their own vulnerability to HIV infection. However, these themes differed depending on the level of concern. Among the most frequently mentioned approaches to decrease risk of HIV infection, participants mentioned avoiding HIV-positive sex partners, limiting the number of partners with whom they barebacked, and not allowing partners to ejaculate inside their rectum. Findings suggest that many MSM who bareback would be amenable to HIV prevention efforts that do not depend solely on condom use. PMID:22218787

Cognitive and Social Processes Predicting Partner Psychological Adaptation to Early Stage Breast Cancer

PubMed Central

Manne, Sharon; Ostroff, Jamie; Fox, Kevin; Grana, Generosa; Winkel, Gary

2009-01-01

Introduction The diagnosis and subsequent treatment for early stage breast cancer is stressful for partners. Little is known about the role of cognitive and social processes predicting the longitudinal course of partners’ psychosocial adaptation. This study evaluated the role of cognitive and social processing in partner psychological adaptation to early stage breast cancer, evaluating both main and moderator effect models. Moderating effects for meaning-making, acceptance, and positive reappraisal on the predictive association of searching for meaning, emotional processing, and emotional expression on partner psychological distress were examined. Materials and Methods Partners of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer were evaluated shortly after the ill partner’s diagnosis (n= 253), nine (n = 167), and 18 months (n = 149) later. Partners completed measures of emotional expression, emotional processing, acceptance, meaning-making, and general and cancer-specific distress at all time points. Results Lower satisfaction with partner support predicted greater global distress, and greater use of positive reappraisal was associated with greater distress. The predicted moderator effects for found meaning on the associations between the search for meaning and cancer-specific distress were found and similar moderating effects for positive reappraisal on the associations between emotional expression and global distress and for acceptance on the association between emotional processing and cancer-specific distress were found. Conclusions Results indicate several cognitive-social processes directly predict partner distress. However, moderator effect models in which the effects of partners’ processing depends upon whether these efforts result changes in perceptions of the cancer experience may add to the understanding of partners’ adaptation to cancer. PMID:18435865

Cognitive and social processes predicting partner psychological adaptation to early stage breast cancer.

PubMed

Manne, Sharon; Ostroff, Jamie; Fox, Kevin; Grana, Generosa; Winkel, Gary

2009-02-01

The diagnosis and subsequent treatment for early stage breast cancer is stressful for partners. Little is known about the role of cognitive and social processes predicting the longitudinal course of partners' psychosocial adaptation. This study evaluated the role of cognitive and social processing in partner psychological adaptation to early stage breast cancer, evaluating both main and moderator effect models. Moderating effects for meaning making, acceptance, and positive reappraisal on the predictive association of searching for meaning, emotional processing, and emotional expression on partner psychological distress were examined. Partners of women diagnosed with early stage breast cancer were evaluated shortly after the ill partner's diagnosis (N=253), 9 (N=167), and 18 months (N=149) later. Partners completed measures of emotional expression, emotional processing, acceptance, meaning making, and general and cancer-specific distress at all time points. Lower satisfaction with partner support predicted greater global distress, and greater use of positive reappraisal was associated with greater distress. The predicted moderator effects for found meaning on the associations between the search for meaning and cancer-specific distress were found and similar moderating effects for positive reappraisal on the associations between emotional expression and global distress and for acceptance on the association between emotional processing and cancer-specific distress were found. Results indicate several cognitive-social processes directly predict partner distress. However, moderator effect models in which the effects of partners' processing depends upon whether these efforts result in changes in perceptions of the cancer experience may add to the understanding of partners' adaptation to cancer.

Influence of spatial frequency and emotion expression on face processing in patients with panic disorder.

PubMed

Shim, Miseon; Kim, Do-Won; Yoon, Sunkyung; Park, Gewnhi; Im, Chang-Hwan; Lee, Seung-Hwan

2016-06-01

Deficits in facial emotion processing is a major characteristic of patients with panic disorder. It is known that visual stimuli with different spatial frequencies take distinct neural pathways. This study investigated facial emotion processing involving stimuli presented at broad, high, and low spatial frequencies in patients with panic disorder. Eighteen patients with panic disorder and 19 healthy controls were recruited. Seven event-related potential (ERP) components: (P100, N170, early posterior negativity (EPN); vertex positive potential (VPP), N250, P300; and late positive potential (LPP)) were evaluated while the participants looked at fearful and neutral facial stimuli presented at three spatial frequencies. When a fearful face was presented, panic disorder patients showed a significantly increased P100 amplitude in response to low spatial frequency compared to high spatial frequency; whereas healthy controls demonstrated significant broad spatial frequency dependent processing in P100 amplitude. Vertex positive potential amplitude was significantly increased in high and broad spatial frequency, compared to low spatial frequency in panic disorder. Early posterior negativity amplitude was significantly different between HSF and BSF, and between LSF and BSF processing in both groups, regardless of facial expression. The possibly confounding effects of medication could not be controlled. During early visual processing, patients with panic disorder prefer global to detailed information. However, in later processing, panic disorder patients overuse detailed information for the perception of facial expressions. These findings suggest that unique spatial frequency-dependent facial processing could shed light on the neural pathology associated with panic disorder. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Perceived duration of emotional events: evidence for a positivity effect in older adults.

PubMed

Nicol, Jeffrey R; Tanner, Jessica; Clarke, Kelly

2013-01-01

BACKGROUND/STUDY CONTEXT: Arousal and negative affect modulate the effect of emotion on the subjective experience of the passage of time. Given that older adults are less aroused by negative emotional stimuli, and report lower levels of negative affect, compared with younger adults, the present study examined whether the effect of emotion on time perception differed in older and younger adults. Participants performed a temporal bisection task for emotional (i.e., angry, sad, happy) and neutral facial expressions presented at varying temporal intervals. Older adults perceived the duration of both positive and threatening events longer than neutral events, whereas younger adults only perceived threatening events longer than neutral events. The results, which are partially consistent with the positivity effect of aging postulated by the socioemotional selectivity theory, are the first to show how the effect of emotion on perceived duration affects older adults, and support previous research indicating that only threatening events prolong perceived duration in younger adults.

“Now I Can Do Better”: A Study of Obese Women’s Experiences Following a Nonprescriptive Nutritional Intervention

PubMed Central

Ulian, Mariana D; Gualano, Bruno; Benatti, Fabiana B; de Campos-Ferraz, Patricia L; Roble, Odilon J; Modesto, Bruno T; Brito, Bruna C; Murakawa, Karina A; Torre, Mariana D; Tritto, Aline CC; Unsain, Ramiro F; de M Sato, Priscila; Scagliusi, Fernanda B

2015-01-01

The present study analyzed obese women’s experiences following a nonprescriptive nutritional intervention, implemented through a 1-year program based on the Health at Every Size® philosophy. We employed an action research method and conducted three focus groups during the intervention. We identified five interpretative axes across the focus groups, as follows: conflicts and perceptions; gaining motivation, perspective, and positioning; becoming autonomous eaters; acquiring tools; and the meetings between the nutritional therapist and participant. Our findings revealed varying levels of readiness among participants in adapting to the intervention and varying valuations of achievements related to eating and health, independent of body-weight changes. Participants reported benefiting from and expressed approval of the intervention. Participants reported positive behavioral and attitudinal changes to their diet and improvements to diet quality, diet structure, and consumption. Finally, participants seemed to show increased autonomy concerning diet and indicated increased confidence, comfort, flexibility, and positivity of attitude regarding eating. PMID:26417206

Characterizing the motivational orientation of students in higher education: a naturalistic study in three Hong Kong universities.

PubMed

Kember, David; Hong, Celina; Ho, Amber

2008-06-01

Consideration of motivation in higher education has often been drawn upon theories and research that were based upon school or workplace studies. This paper reports an open naturalistic study to better characterize the motivational orientation of students in higher education. Open semi-structured individual interviews were conducted with 36 students from three universities in Hong Kong. The analysis used an exploratory grounded theory approach. Motivation was characterized as a framework with six continua with positive and negative poles. On enrolment, students had positions on the six facets of motivation, which shifted as they progressed through their degree, according to perceptions of their teaching and learning environment. The positive poles of the six continua were given labels: compliance, individual goal setting, interest, career, sense of belonging and university lifestyle. The formulation of motivational orientation is consistent with contemporary social cognitive theories of motivation in that it has been characterized as a multifaceted phenomenon, with students expressing context-dependent multiple motives.

Identifying and detecting facial expressions of emotion in peripheral vision.

PubMed

Smith, Fraser W; Rossit, Stephanie

2018-01-01

Facial expressions of emotion are signals of high biological value. Whilst recognition of facial expressions has been much studied in central vision, the ability to perceive these signals in peripheral vision has only seen limited research to date, despite the potential adaptive advantages of such perception. In the present experiment, we investigate facial expression recognition and detection performance for each of the basic emotions (plus neutral) at up to 30 degrees of eccentricity. We demonstrate, as expected, a decrease in recognition and detection performance with increasing eccentricity, with happiness and surprised being the best recognized expressions in peripheral vision. In detection however, while happiness and surprised are still well detected, fear is also a well detected expression. We show that fear is a better detected than recognized expression. Our results demonstrate that task constraints shape the perception of expression in peripheral vision and provide novel evidence that detection and recognition rely on partially separate underlying mechanisms, with the latter more dependent on the higher spatial frequency content of the face stimulus.

Identifying and detecting facial expressions of emotion in peripheral vision

PubMed Central

Rossit, Stephanie

2018-01-01

Facial expressions of emotion are signals of high biological value. Whilst recognition of facial expressions has been much studied in central vision, the ability to perceive these signals in peripheral vision has only seen limited research to date, despite the potential adaptive advantages of such perception. In the present experiment, we investigate facial expression recognition and detection performance for each of the basic emotions (plus neutral) at up to 30 degrees of eccentricity. We demonstrate, as expected, a decrease in recognition and detection performance with increasing eccentricity, with happiness and surprised being the best recognized expressions in peripheral vision. In detection however, while happiness and surprised are still well detected, fear is also a well detected expression. We show that fear is a better detected than recognized expression. Our results demonstrate that task constraints shape the perception of expression in peripheral vision and provide novel evidence that detection and recognition rely on partially separate underlying mechanisms, with the latter more dependent on the higher spatial frequency content of the face stimulus. PMID:29847562

Investigating relationships between ancestry, lifestyle behaviors and perceptions of heart disease and breast cancer among Canadian women with British and with South Asian ancestry.

PubMed

Curtin, Kimberley D; Berry, Tanya R; Courneya, Kerry S; McGannon, Kerry R; Norris, Colleen M; Rodgers, Wendy M; Spence, John C

2018-04-01

Ethnic minority groups including Asians in Canada have different knowledge and perceptions of heart disease and breast cancer compared with the ethnic majority group. Examine relationships between perceptions of heart disease and breast cancer, and lifestyle behaviors for Canadian women with British and with South Asian ancestry. Women with South Asian ( n = 170) and with British ( n = 373) ancestry ( M age = 33.01, SD = 12.86) reported leisure time physical activity, intended fruit and vegetable consumption, disease perceptions (ability to reduce risk, control over getting the diseases, and influence of family history), and demographic information. Mann-Whitney tests and multiple hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine the relationships between lifestyle behaviors and disease perceptions, with ancestry explored as a possible moderator. Participants with South Asian ancestry believed they had greater ability to reduce their risk and have control over getting breast cancer than participants with British ancestry. Family history influences on getting either disease was perceived as higher for women with British ancestry. Age was positively related to all three perceptions in both diseases. Intended fruit and vegetable consumption was positively related to perceptions of ability to reduce risk and control of both diseases, but was stronger for women with South Asian ancestry regarding perceptions of breast cancer. Leisure time physical activity was positively related to perceptions of control over getting heart disease for women with British ancestry. Women's disease perceptions can vary by ancestry and lifestyle behaviors. Accurate representation of diseases is essential in promoting effective preventative behaviors.

Linking nurses' perceptions of patient care quality to job satisfaction: the role of authentic leadership and empowering professional practice environments.

PubMed

Spence Laschinger, Heather K; Fida, Roberta

2015-05-01

A model linking authentic leadership, structural empowerment, and supportive professional practice environments to nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction was tested. Positive work environment characteristics are important for nurses' perceptions of patient care quality and job satisfaction (significant factors for retention). Few studies have examined the mechanism by which these characteristics operate to influence perceptions of patient care quality or job satisfaction. A cross-sectional provincial survey of 723 Canadian nurses was used to test the hypothesized models using structural equation modeling. The model was an acceptable fit and all paths were significant. Authentic leadership had a positive effect on structural empowerment, which had a positive effect on perceived support for professional practice and a negative effect on nurses' perceptions that inadequate unit staffing prevented them from providing high-quality patient care. These workplace conditions predicted job satisfaction. Authentic leaders play an important role in creating empowering professional practice environments that foster high-quality care and job satisfaction.

Perceptions of twelve-step mutual-help groups and their associations with motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes among chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems.

PubMed

Grazioli, Véronique S; Collins, Susan E; Daeppen, Jean-Bernard; Larimer, Mary E

2015-05-01

Twelve-step mutual-help groups (TMGs) are among the most available forms of support for homeless individuals with alcohol problems. Qualitative research, however, has suggested that this population often has negative perceptions of these groups, which has been shown to be associated with low TMG attendance. It is important to understand this population's perceptions of TMGs and their association with alcohol outcomes to provide more appropriate and better tailored programming for this multiply affected population. The aims of this cross-sectional study were to (a) qualitatively examine perception of TMGs in this population and (b) quantitatively evaluate its association with motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes. Participants (N=62) were chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems who received single-site Housing First within a larger evaluation study. Perceptions of TMGs were captured using an open-ended item. Quantitative outcome variables were created from assessments of motivation, treatment attendance and alcohol outcomes. Findings indicated that perceptions of TMGs were primarily negative followed by positive and neutral perceptions, respectively. There were significant, positive associations between perceptions of TMGs and motivation and treatment attendance, whereas no association was found for alcohol outcomes. Although some individuals view TMGs positively, alternative forms of help are needed to engage the majority of chronically homeless individuals with alcohol problems. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Effects of a Pedagogical Agent's Emotional Expressiveness on Learner Perceptions

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Romero, Enilda J.; Watson, Ginger S.

2012-01-01

The use of animated pedagogical agents or avatars in instruction has lagged behind their use in entertainment. This is due in part to the cost and complexity of development and implementation of agents in educational settings, but also results from a lack of research to understand how emotions from animated agents influence instructional effectiveness. The phenomenological study presented here assesses the perceptions of eight learners interacting with low and high intensity emotionally expressive pedagogical agents in a computer-mediated environment. Research methods include maximum variation and snowball sampling with random assignment to treatment. The resulting themes incorporate perceptions of importance, agent humanness, enjoyment, implementation barriers, and suggested improvements. Design recommendations and implications for future research are presented.

Effects of mother-son incest and positive perceptions of sexual abuse experiences on the psychosocial adjustment of clinic-referred men.

PubMed

Kelly, Robert J; Wood, Jeffrey J; Gonzalez, Lauren S; MacDonald, Virginia; Waterman, Jill

2002-04-01

The primary objective was to examine the long-term impact of mother-son incest and positive initial perceptions of sexual abuse experiences on adult male psychosocial functioning. Sixty-seven clinic-referred men with a history of sexual abuse participated. The participants completed self-report measures regarding their current psychosocial functioning and described the nature of their sexual and physical abuse experiences during childhood. Seventeen men reported mother-son incest, and these men endorsed more trauma symptoms than did other sexually abused men, even after controlling for a history of multiple perpetrators and physical abuse. Mother-son incest was likely to be subtle, involving behaviors that may be difficult to distinguish from normal caregiving (e.g., genital touching), despite the potentially serious long-term consequences. Twenty-seven men recalled positive or mixed initial perceptions of the abuse, including about half of the men who had been abused by their mothers. These men reported more adjustment problems than did men who recalled purely negative initial perceptions. Mother-son incest and positive initial perceptions of sexual abuse experiences both appear to be risk factors for more severe psychosocial adjustment problems among clinic-referred men.

Individual perception of bees: Between perceived danger and willingness to protect

PubMed Central

Bogner, Franz Xaver

2017-01-01

The current loss of biodiversity has found its way into the media. Especially the loss of bees as pollinators has recently received much attention aiming to increase public awareness about the consequence of pollinator loss and strategies for protection. However, pollinating insects like bees often prompt considerable anxiety. Negative emotions such as fear and disgust often lead to lack of support for conservation and appropriate initiatives for protection. Our study monitored perceptions of bees in the contexts of conservation and danger bees possibly represent by applying a semantic differential using contrasting adjectives under the heading “I think bees are…”. Additionally, open questions were applied to examine individual perceptions of danger and conservation of bees. Respondents were students from primary school, secondary school and university. We compared these novices (n = 499) to experts (beekeepers, n = 153). An exploratory factor analysis of the semantic differential responses yielded three major oblique factors: Interest, Danger and Conservation & Usefulness. The inter-correlations of these factors were significant. Although all subgroups showed an overall high willingness to protect bees, the perception of danger scored medium. The individual experience of bee stings was the most prevalent reason for expressing fear. Educational programs focusing on pollinator conservation may reduce the perceived danger through removing misinformation, and supporting interest in the species. Based on the overall positive attitude toward bees, we suggest introducing bees (e.g., Apis mellifera) as a flagship species for pollinator conservation. PMID:28662124

Perception of medical care systems and stress responses in preschoolers' caregivers at a pediatric emergency department in Taiwan.

PubMed

Kao, Jun-Kai; Cherng, Chian-Fang G; Tsai, Ru-Chiao; Tsao, Lon-Yen; Hung, Chin-Yi

2012-11-01

This study was undertaken to understand caregivers' perception of medical care systems and their stress responses throughout their stay with preschoolers at a pediatric emergency department (ED). Overall, 201 preschoolers' caregivers in pediatric ED were recruited in this study. They were asked to answer self-made questionnaires regarding the perception of medical care systems and their stress responses immediately before preschoolers' release. The results show that caregivers with a low education or low income level were prone to exhibit greater appreciation for the efficiency of medical care systems and greater degree of anxiety for their lack of treatment and care knowledge than those of caregivers with a high education or high income level. Interestingly, caregivers older than 38 years reported greater emotional responses and physical exhaustion than did younger caregivers. Immigrant caregivers had higher emotional reaction and lower concentration than did Taiwanese caregivers. Paradoxically, caregivers undergoing over 3-time pediatric ED visits for observation expressed stronger stress reactions as compared with caregivers with less observation experiences. Not surprisingly, caregivers reported the highest emotional responses when their preschoolers were diagnosed as having very urgent degree in triage classification. Finally, caregivers' perception of "lack of family support" and "lack of treatment and care knowledge" correlated positively with all aspects of the stress responses. These results indicate that attention should be paid to the specific psychological weakness and need for the caregivers with certain demographic characteristics by the medical team in pediatric ED.

Bidirectional Perception-Production Relations in Phonological Development: Evidence from Positional Neutralization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Byun, Tara McAllister

2012-01-01

Many children who neutralize phonemic contrasts in production exhibit diminished perception of the same contrasts. It is usually difficult to determine whether the perception deficit caused the production error, or vice versa; however, the direction of causation has implications for treatment planning. This study examines perception-production…

Illness Perception and Information Behaviour of Patients with Rare Chronic Diseases

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Katavic, Snježana Stanarevic; Tanackovic, Sanjica Faletar; Badurina, Boris

2016-01-01

Introduction: This study examined possible correlations between health information behaviour and illness perception among patients with rare chronic diseases. Illness perception is related to coping strategies used by patients, and some health information behaviour practices may be associated with better coping and more positive perception of…

Preschool Children's Perceptions of the Aged.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Click, Eulalia Tate; Powell, Judith A.

This study attempted to investigate: (1) preschool children's positive or negative perceptions of the aged, and (2) the effect of increased interpersonal contact with older adults on these perceptions. A review of related literature is reported. Two instruments, The Perceptions of the Aged Test (PAT) and The Familiarity With the Aged Questionnaire…

A Brief Measure of Adolescent Perceptions of School Climate

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

White, Nick; La Salle, Tamika; Ashby, Jeffrey S.; Meyers, Joel

2014-01-01

Student perceptions of school climate represent the ways students feel about the school environment. These include perceptions regarding safety, teaching and learning, and relationships within the school. It has been found that student perceptions of school climate are positively correlated with academic achievement (Brookover et al., 1978), and…

Multiple Cues in Social Perception: The Time Course of Processing Race and Facial Expression

PubMed Central

Kubota, Jennifer T.; Ito, Tiffany A.

2007-01-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine the time course of race and expression processing to determine how these cues influence early perceptual as well as explicit categorization judgments. Despite their importance in social perception, little research has examined how social category information and emotional expression are processed over time. Moreover, although models of face processing suggest that the two cues should be processed independently, this has rarely been directly examined. Event-related brain potentials were recorded as participants made race and emotion categorization judgments of Black and White men posing either happy, angry, or neutral expressions. Our findings support that processing of race and emotion cues occur independently and in parallel, relatively early in processing. PMID:17940587

Epidermal jasmonate perception is sufficient for all aspects of jasmonate-mediated male fertility in Arabidopsis.

PubMed

Jewell, Jeremy B; Browse, John

2016-03-01

Jasmonate (JA) signaling is essential for several environmental responses and reproductive development in many plant species. In Arabidopsis thaliana, the most obvious phenotype of JA biosynthetic and perception mutants is profound sporophytic male sterility characterized by failure of stamen filament elongation, severe delay of anther dehiscence and pollen inviability. The site of action of JA in the context of reproductive development has been discussed, but the ideas have not been tested experimentally. To this end we used targeted expression of a COI1-YFP transgene in the coi1-1 mutant background. As COI1 is an essential component of the JA co-receptor complex, the null coi1-1 mutant is male sterile due to lack of JA perception. We show that expression of COI1-YFP in the epidermis of the stamen filament and anther in coi1 mutant plants is sufficient to rescue filament elongation, anther dehiscence and pollen viability. In contrast, filament expression alone or expression in the tapetum do not restore dehiscence and pollen viability. These results demonstrate that epidermal JA perception is sufficient for anther function and pollen viability, and suggest the presence of a JA-dependent non-autonomous signal produced in the anther epidermis to synchronize both anther dehiscence and pollen maturation. © 2016 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Bihippocampal damage with emotional dysfunction: impaired auditory recognition of fear.

PubMed

Ghika-Schmid, F; Ghika, J; Vuilleumier, P; Assal, G; Vuadens, P; Scherer, K; Maeder, P; Uske, A; Bogousslavsky, J

1997-01-01

A right-handed man developed a sudden transient, amnestic syndrome associated with bilateral hemorrhage of the hippocampi, probably due to Urbach-Wiethe disease. In the 3rd month, despite significant hippocampal structural damage on imaging, only a milder degree of retrograde and anterograde amnesia persisted on detailed neuropsychological examination. On systematic testing of recognition of facial and vocal expression of emotion, we found an impairment of the vocal perception of fear, but not that of other emotions, such as joy, sadness and anger. Such selective impairment of fear perception was not present in the recognition of facial expression of emotion. Thus emotional perception varies according to the different aspects of emotions and the different modality of presentation (faces versus voices). This is consistent with the idea that there may be multiple emotion systems. The study of emotional perception in this unique case of bilateral involvement of hippocampus suggests that this structure may play a critical role in the recognition of fear in vocal expression, possibly dissociated from that of other emotions and from that of fear in facial expression. In regard of recent data suggesting that the amygdala is playing a role in the recognition of fear in the auditory as well as in the visual modality this could suggest that the hippocampus may be part of the auditory pathway of fear recognition.

A possible contributory mechanism for impaired idiom perception in schizophrenia.

PubMed

Sela, Tal; Lavidor, Michal; Mitchell, Rachel L C

2015-09-30

In this review, we focus on the ability of people with schizophrenia to correctly perceive the meaning of idioms; figurative language expressions in which intended meaning is not derived from the meaning of constituent words. We collate evidence on how idiom perception is impaired, ascertain the clinical relevance of this impairment, and consider possible psychological and neural mechanisms behind the impairment. In reviewing extant literature, we searched the PubMed database, from 1975-2014, focussing on articles that directly concerned schizophrenia and idioms, with follow up searches to explore the viability of possible underlying mechanisms. We learn that there is clear evidence of impairment, with a tendency to err towards literal interpretations unless the figurative meaning is salient, and despite contextual cues to figurative interpretations. Given the importance of idioms in everyday language, the potential impact is significant. Clinically, impaired idiom perception primarily relates to positive symptoms of schizophrenia, but also to negative symptoms. The origins of the impairment remain speculation, with impaired executive function, impaired semantic functions, and impaired context processing all proposed to explain the phenomenon. We conclude that a possible contributory mechanism at the neural level is an impaired dorsolateral prefrontal cortex system for cognitive control over semantic processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Evaluating verbal and non-verbal communication skills, in an ethnogeriatric OSCE.

PubMed

Collins, Lauren G; Schrimmer, Anne; Diamond, James; Burke, Janice

2011-05-01

Communication during medical interviews plays a large role in patient adherence, satisfaction with care, and health outcomes. Both verbal and non-verbal communication (NVC) skills are central to the development of rapport between patients and healthcare professionals. The purpose of this study was to assess the role of non-verbal and verbal communication skills on evaluations by standardized patients during an ethnogeriatric Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE). Interviews from 19 medical students, residents, and fellows in an ethnogeriatric OSCE were analyzed. Each interview was videotaped and evaluated on a 14 item verbal and an 8 item non-verbal communication checklist. The relationship between verbal and non-verbal communication skills on interview evaluations by standardized patients were examined using correlational analyses. Maintaining adequate facial expression (FE), using affirmative gestures (AG), and limiting both unpurposive movements (UM) and hand gestures (HG) had a significant positive effect on perception of interview quality during this OSCE. Non-verbal communication skills played a role in perception of overall interview quality as well as perception of culturally competent communication. Incorporating formative and summative evaluation of both verbal and non-verbal communication skills may be a critical component of curricular innovations in ethnogeriatrics, such as the OSCE. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Can Japanese students embrace learner-centered methods for teaching medical interviewing skills? Focus groups.

PubMed

Saiki, Takuya; Mukohara, Kei; Otani, Takashi; Ban, Nobutaro

2011-01-01

Students' perceptions of learner-centered methods for teaching medical interviewing skills have not been fully explored. To explore Japanese students' perceptions of learner-centered methods for teaching medical interviewing skills such as role play with student-created scenarios, peer-assisted video reviews, and student-led small group debriefing. We conducted three focus groups with a total of 15 students who participated in the learner-centered seminars on medical interviewing skills at the Nagoya University School of Medicine. The transcripts were analyzed by two authors independently. Keywords and concepts were identified and a thematic framework was developed. Overall, students valued the experience of writing their own scenarios for role play, but some questioned their realism. Many students commented that peer-assisted video reviews provided them with more objective perspectives on their performance. However, some students expressed concerns about competitiveness during the video reviews. While students appreciated teachers' minimum involvement in the group debriefing, some criticized that teachers did not explain the objectives of the seminar clearly. Many students had difficulties in exchanging constructive feedback. We were able to gain new insights into positive and negative perceptions of students about learner-centered methods for teaching medical interviewing skills at one medical school in Japan.

A Model of Aging Perception in Iranian Elders With Effects of Hope, Life Satisfaction, and Socioeconomic Status: A Path Analysis.

PubMed

Yaghoobzadeh, Ameneh; Gorgulu, Ozkan; Yee, Bit-Lian; Wibisono, Ahmad Hasyim; Pahlevan Sharif, Saeed; Sharif Nia, Hamid; Allen, Kelly A

2018-01-01

Aging perception plays a central role in the experience of healthy aging by older people. Research identified that factors such as hope, life satisfaction, and socioeconomic status influence the perception of aging in older populations. This study sought to test a hypothetical model to quantitatively evaluate the relationship between hope, life satisfaction, and socioeconomic status with aging perception. A cross-sectional design was used with 504 older aged participants who live in Qazvin, Iran. Data were collected using the Barker's Aging Perception Questionnaire, Life Satisfaction Index-Z, and Herth Hope Index. The results of path analysis showed that hope was the most important factor affecting aging perception. Results drawn from correlation analysis indicated that there was a positive significant correlation ( r = .383, p < .001) between hope and aging perception. Further analysis found that hope had the strongest impact on aging perception compared with the other variables analyzed (e.g., life satisfaction and socioeconomic status). A model of aging perception in Iranian elders is presented. The findings suggested that hope had a significant and positive impact on aging perception. Implications for clinical practice and research are discussed.

Public understanding of science and the perception of nanotechnology: the roles of interest in science, methodological knowledge, epistemological beliefs, and beliefs about science

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Retzbach, Andrea; Marschall, Joachim; Rahnke, Marion; Otto, Lukas; Maier, Michaela

2011-12-01

In this article, we report data from an online questionnaire study with 587 respondents, representative for the adult U.S. population in terms of age, gender, and level of education. The aim of this study was to assess how interest in science and knowledge as well as beliefs about science are associated with risk and benefit perceptions of nanotechnology. The findings suggest that the U.S. public is still rather unfamiliar with nanotechnology. Those who have some knowledge mainly have gotten it from TV and the Internet. The content of current media reports is perceived as fairly positive. Knowledge of scientific methods is unrelated to benefit and risk perceptions, at least when other predictors are controlled. In contrast, positive beliefs about science (e.g., its impact on economy or health) and more sophisticated epistemological beliefs about the nature of scientific knowledge are moderately linked to more positive perceptions of nanotechnology. The only exception is the perception of scientific uncertainty: This is associated with less positive evaluations. Finally, higher engagement with science is associated with higher risk perceptions. These findings show that laypersons who are engaged with science and who are aware of the inherent uncertainty of scientific evidence might perceive nanotechnology in a somewhat more differentiated way, contrary to how it is portrayed in the media today.

Internet Searching About Disease Elicits a Positive Perception of Own Health When Severity of Illness Is High: A Longitudinal Questionnaire Study.

PubMed

Sassenberg, Kai; Greving, Hannah

2016-03-04

The Internet is one of the primary sources for health information. However, in research, the effects of Internet use on the perception of one's own health have not received much attention so far. This study tested how Internet use for acquiring health information and severity of illness influence patients with a chronic disease with regard to the perception of their own health. Negative psychological states are known to lead to preferential processing of positive information. In particular, the self-directed nature of Internet use provides room for such biases. Therefore, we predicted that patients experiencing negative health states more frequently, due to more frequent episodes of a chronic illness, will gain a more positive perception of their health if they use the Internet frequently to gain health information, but not if they use the Internet rarely. This effect was not expected for other sources of information. A longitudinal questionnaire study with two measurement points-with a 7-month time lag-tested the hypothesis in a sample of patients with chronic inflammatory bowel disease (n=208). This study assessed patients' frequency of Internet use, their participation in online social support groups, their use of other sources of health information, and several indicators of the participants' perceptions of their own health. A structure equation model (SEM) was used to test the predictions separately for Internet searches and other sources of information. Data analysis supported the prediction; the interaction between frequency of health-related information searches and frequency of episodes at the first measurement point (T1) was related to participants' positive perceptions of their own health at the second measurement point (T2) (B=.10, SE=.04, P=.02) above and beyond the perceptions of their own health at T1. When participants used the Internet relatively rarely (-1 SD), there was no relationship between frequency of episodes and positive perceptions of their own health (B=-.11, SE=.14, t203=-0.82, P=.41). In contrast, when participants used the Internet relatively often (+1 SD), the more frequently they had those episodes the more positive were the perceptions of their own health (B=.36, SE=.15, t203=2.43, P=.02). Additional SEM analyses revealed that this effect occurs exclusively when information is searched for on the Internet, but not when other sources of information are consulted, nor when online social support groups are joined. The results of this study suggest that patients might process information from the Internet selectively, in an unbalanced, biased fashion, with the formation of a self-serving (ie, positive) perception of own health. At the same time, this bias contributes to the ability of patients to cope psychologically with their disease.

Undergraduate physiotherapy education in Malawi--the views of students on disability.

PubMed

Amosun, S; Kambalametore, S; Maart, S; Ferguson, G

2013-06-01

The College of Medicine in Malawi offers an undergraduate physiotherapy programme which started in 2010. The programme aims at training competent physiotherapists who can address the needs of people with disabilities. Therefore it is important to ensure that the perceptions of physiotherapy students towards disability are appropriate. The study explored the views of the first cohort of physiotherapy students (n=19) in the pre-medical class in the College of Medicine, University of Malawi, on disability. An audit of the views of premedical physiotherapy students was carried out in 2010 using the Q methodology. Two independent factors emerged which captured the views of 19 students on disability. Most of the views expressed suggest that the students empathised with people with disabilities. Participants perceived that people with disabilities can have a good quality of life like everyone else, and are as intelligent as people without disabilities. However, some participants also expressed some discomfort when around people with disabilities. While there was consensus on some positive views, the negative viewpoints have the potential to act as a barrier to the rehabilitation of people with disabilities. The curriculum should ensure that the positive views are reinforced throughout the training programme, while the negative viewpoints are reversed.

[Correlational study among anger, perceived stress and mental health status in middle aged women].

PubMed

Lee, Pyoung-Sook

2003-10-01

This study was to identify the relationships of trait anger, mode of anger expression, and perceived stress to mental health status in middle aged women. The subjects were 157 middle aged women from 40s to 60s who lived in Seoul. Data was collected by questionnaire surveys using the convenience sampling. The instruments used for this study were Spielberger's trait anger scale and anger expression scale, Cohen, Kamarck, and Mermelstein's perceived stress and Derogatis's SCL-90-R. The collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation coefficient, and Stepwise multiple regression with SAS/PC. The trait anger of middle aged women indicated a significantly positive correlation to perceived stress(r=.180, p=.023) and mental health status(r.=021, p=.014). Anger-in(r=.237, p<.05), and perceived stress(p=.461, p<.01) showed significantly positive correlation to mental health status. The most significant predictor influencing health status of middle aged women was perceived stress, and anger-in and the variance explained was 27%. These results suggested that middle aged women with high degree of trait anger is likely to be high in stress perception. Perceived stress and anger-in are major factors influencing mental health status.

"I Feel Lucky" - Gratitude Among Young Adults with Phenylketonuria (PKU).

PubMed

Diesen, Plata Sofie

2016-10-01

If persons with phenylketonuria (PKU) do not start a protein restricted diet in early infancy, they will suffer severe brain damage. Previous qualitative research on adults and adolescents with PKU has identified stigmatization, uncertain risk perceptions, considerable time spent on preparing food, and incongruence between the PKU diet and certain lifestyle demands. The aim of this study was to explore young and early treated Norwegian adults' experiences, by conducting in-depth interviews in 2011 with 11 adults with PKU, aged 20-30. Being the first qualitative study on people with PKU in Norway, the process was inspired by grounded theory. All participants reflected on their own health and existence by expressing positive counterfactual thoughts. They considered themselves lucky to have had parents who had managed the diet, they were grateful for the time and place they were born, and for information and treatment availability, although the results also show some ambiguous attitudes towards the hospital which provided the treatment. The expression of gratitude in association with having PKU suggests a major positive coping strategy. It contributes to a more holistic understanding of the experiences and attitudes of young, Norwegian adults with PKU, as it provides a counterweight to the negative experiences.

Automatic emotion processing as a function of trait emotional awareness: an fMRI study

PubMed Central

Lichev, Vladimir; Sacher, Julia; Ihme, Klas; Rosenberg, Nicole; Quirin, Markus; Lepsien, Jöran; Pampel, André; Rufer, Michael; Grabe, Hans-Jörgen; Kugel, Harald; Kersting, Anette; Villringer, Arno; Lane, Richard D.

2015-01-01

It is unclear whether reflective awareness of emotions is related to extent and intensity of implicit affective reactions. This study is the first to investigate automatic brain reactivity to emotional stimuli as a function of trait emotional awareness. To assess emotional awareness the Levels of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS) was administered. During scanning, masked happy, angry, fearful and neutral facial expressions were presented to 46 healthy subjects, who had to rate the fit between artificial and emotional words. The rating procedure allowed assessment of shifts in implicit affectivity due to emotion faces. Trait emotional awareness was associated with increased activation in the primary somatosensory cortex, inferior parietal lobule, anterior cingulate gyrus, middle frontal and cerebellar areas, thalamus, putamen and amygdala in response to masked happy faces. LEAS correlated positively with shifts in implicit affect caused by masked happy faces. According to our findings, people with high emotional awareness show stronger affective reactivity and more activation in brain areas involved in emotion processing and simulation during the perception of masked happy facial expression than people with low emotional awareness. High emotional awareness appears to be characterized by an enhanced positive affective resonance to others at an automatic processing level. PMID:25140051

Australian women's attitudes towards and understandings of the subdermal contraceptive implant: a qualitative study of never-users.

PubMed

Inoue, Kumiyo; Kelly, Marguerite; Barratt, Alexandra; Bateson, Deborah; Rutherford, Alison; Black, Kirsten I; Stewart, Mary; Richters, Juliet

2017-04-01

Few studies have explored Australian women's understandings of contraception. This study examined the attitudes towards, and understandings of, the subdermal contraceptive implant expressed by women living in New South Wales (NSW), Australia. As part of a larger qualitative study using in-depth, open-ended interviews in 2012-2013 with women aged 16-49 years who had ever used contraception ( n =94), 65 interviews from women who discussed or mentioned the subdermal implant, but had not previously used the device, were examined and analysed using thematic analysis. The emergent themes were: satisfaction with current method; weak personal opinions and ambivalence; uncertainty due to specific concerns; and strong negative reactions - fear and dislike. Although there were a few positive perceptions expressed by women who had never used the subdermal implant, for the majority of women the perception was predominantly negative. Women tended to form negative impressions from the stories of other women about the subdermal implant. Interventions to enhance evidence-informed awareness of the relative advantages and disadvantages of the implant - for example, improved access to supportive contraceptive counselling - need investigation in the Australian context. Avenues to improve women's perceived control over the device could also be usefully investigated. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Decoding Task and Stimulus Representations in Face-responsive Cortex

PubMed Central

Kliemann, Dorit; Jacoby, Nir; Anzellotti, Stefano; Saxe, Rebecca R.

2017-01-01

Faces provide rich social information about others’ stable traits (e.g., age) and fleeting states of mind (e.g., emotional expression). While some of these facial aspects may be processed automatically, observers can also deliberately attend to some features while ignoring others. It remains unclear how internal goals (e.g., task context) influence the representational geometry of variable and stable facial aspects in face-responsive cortex. We investigated neural response patterns related to decoding i) the intention to attend to a facial aspect before its perception, ii) the attended aspect of a face and iii) stimulus properties. We measured neural responses while subjects watched videos of dynamic positive and negative expressions, and judged the age or the expression’s valence. Split-half multivoxel pattern analyses (MVPA) showed that (i) the intention to attend to a specific aspect of a face can be decoded from left fronto-lateral, but not face-responsive regions; (ii) during face perception, the attend aspect (age vs emotion) could be robustly decoded from almost all face-responsive regions; and (iii) a stimulus property (valence), was represented in right posterior superior temporal sulcus and medial prefrontal cortices. The effect of deliberately shifting the focus of attention on representations suggest a powerful influence of top-down signals on cortical representation of social information, varying across cortical regions, likely reflecting neural flexibility to optimally integrate internal goals and dynamic perceptual input. PMID:27978778

kappa-Opioid receptor in humans: cDNA and genomic cloning, chromosomal assignment, functional expression, pharmacology, and expression pattern in the central nervous system.

PubMed Central

Simonin, F; Gavériaux-Ruff, C; Befort, K; Matthes, H; Lannes, B; Micheletti, G; Mattéi, M G; Charron, G; Bloch, B; Kieffer, B

1995-01-01

Using the mouse delta-opioid receptor cDNA as a probe, we have isolated genomic clones encoding the human mu- and kappa-opioid receptor genes. Their organization appears similar to that of the human delta receptor gene, with exon-intron boundaries located after putative transmembrane domains 1 and 4. The kappa gene was mapped at position q11-12 in human chromosome 8. A full-length cDNA encoding the human kappa-opioid receptor has been isolated. The cloned receptor expressed in COS cells presents a typical kappa 1 pharmacological profile and is negatively coupled to adenylate cyclase. The expression of kappa-opioid receptor mRNA in human brain, as estimated by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction, is consistent with the involvement of kappa-opioid receptors in pain perception, neuroendocrine physiology, affective behavior, and cognition. In situ hybridization studies performed on human fetal spinal cord demonstrate the presence of the transcript specifically in lamina II of the dorsal horn. Some divergences in structural, pharmacological, and anatomical properties are noted between the cloned human and rodent receptors. Images Fig. 3 Fig. 4 PMID:7624359

Expression and Perception of Emotion: Race and Sex.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gitter, A. George; Black, Harvey

A 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design was utilized to investigate the effects of race of expressor (black and white), sex of expressor, race of perceiver and sex of perceiver on perception of emotion (POE). Perception of seven emotions (anger, happiness, surprise, fear, disgust, pain, and sadness) was analyzed in terms of three dependent variables: (1)…

Social categories shape the neural representation of emotion: evidence from a visual face adaptation task

PubMed Central

Otten, Marte; Banaji, Mahzarin R.

2012-01-01

A number of recent behavioral studies have shown that emotional expressions are differently perceived depending on the race of a face, and that perception of race cues is influenced by emotional expressions. However, neural processes related to the perception of invariant cues that indicate the identity of a face (such as race) are often described to proceed independently of processes related to the perception of cues that can vary over time (such as emotion). Using a visual face adaptation paradigm, we tested whether these behavioral interactions between emotion and race also reflect interdependent neural representation of emotion and race. We compared visual emotion aftereffects when the adapting face and ambiguous test face differed in race or not. Emotion aftereffects were much smaller in different race (DR) trials than same race (SR) trials, indicating that the neural representation of a facial expression is significantly different depending on whether the emotional face is black or white. It thus seems that invariable cues such as race interact with variable face cues such as emotion not just at a response level, but also at the level of perception and neural representation. PMID:22403531

Differing perceptions of safety culture across job roles in the ambulatory setting: analysis of the AHRQ Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture.

PubMed

Hickner, John; Smith, Scott A; Yount, Naomi; Sorra, Joann

2016-08-01

Experts in patient safety stress the importance of a shared culture of safety. Lack of consensus may be detrimental to patient safety. This study examines differences in patient safety culture perceptions among providers, management and staff in a large national survey of safety culture in ambulatory practices in the USA. The US Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality Medical Office Survey on Patient Safety Culture (SOPS) assesses perceptions about patient safety issues and event reporting in medical offices (ie, ambulatory practices). Using the 2014 data, we analysed responses from medical offices with at least five respondents. We calculated differences in perceptions of patient safety culture across six job positions (physicians, management, nurse practitioners (NPs)/physician assistants (PAs), nurses, clinical support staff and administrative/clerical staff) for 10 survey composites, the average of the 10 composites and an overall patient safety rating using multivariate hierarchical linear regressions. We analysed data from 828 medical offices with responses from 15 523 providers and staff, with an average 20 completed surveys per medical office (range: 5-367) and an average medical office response rate of 65% (range: 3%-100%). Management had significantly more positive patient safety culture perceptions on nine of 10 composite scores compared with all other job positions, including physicians. The composite that showed the largest difference was Communication Openness; Management (85% positive) was 22% points more positive than other clinical and support staff and administrative/clerical staff. Physicians were significantly more positive than PAs/NPs, nursing staff, other clinical and support staff and administrative/clerical staff on four composites: Communication About Error, Communication Openness, Staff Training and Teamwork, ranging from 3% to 20% points more positive. These findings suggest that managers need to pay attention to the training needs of office staff, since this was an area with one of the greatest gaps in perceptions. In addition, both office managers and physicians need to encourage more open communication. As medical offices innovate to improve value, efficiency and patient-centred care, it is important that they continue to foster shared perceptions about what organisational members need, understanding that those perceptions may differ systematically by job position. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/

Assessment of perception of morphed facial expressions using the Emotion Recognition Task: normative data from healthy participants aged 8-75.

PubMed

Kessels, Roy P C; Montagne, Barbara; Hendriks, Angelique W; Perrett, David I; de Haan, Edward H F

2014-03-01

The ability to recognize and label emotional facial expressions is an important aspect of social cognition. However, existing paradigms to examine this ability present only static facial expressions, suffer from ceiling effects or have limited or no norms. A computerized test, the Emotion Recognition Task (ERT), was developed to overcome these difficulties. In this study, we examined the effects of age, sex, and intellectual ability on emotion perception using the ERT. In this test, emotional facial expressions are presented as morphs gradually expressing one of the six basic emotions from neutral to four levels of intensity (40%, 60%, 80%, and 100%). The task was administered in 373 healthy participants aged 8-75. In children aged 8-17, only small developmental effects were found for the emotions anger and happiness, in contrast to adults who showed age-related decline on anger, fear, happiness, and sadness. Sex differences were present predominantly in the adult participants. IQ only minimally affected the perception of disgust in the children, while years of education were correlated with all emotions but surprise and disgust in the adult participants. A regression-based approach was adopted to present age- and education- or IQ-adjusted normative data for use in clinical practice. Previous studies using the ERT have demonstrated selective impairments on specific emotions in a variety of psychiatric, neurologic, or neurodegenerative patient groups, making the ERT a valuable addition to existing paradigms for the assessment of emotion perception. © 2013 The British Psychological Society.

Brain Response to a Humanoid Robot in Areas Implicated in the Perception of Human Emotional Gestures

PubMed Central

Chaminade, Thierry; Zecca, Massimiliano; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Takanishi, Atsuo; Frith, Chris D.; Micera, Silvestro; Dario, Paolo; Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Gallese, Vittorio; Umiltà, Maria Alessandra

2010-01-01

Background The humanoid robot WE4-RII was designed to express human emotions in order to improve human-robot interaction. We can read the emotions depicted in its gestures, yet might utilize different neural processes than those used for reading the emotions in human agents. Methodology Here, fMRI was used to assess how brain areas activated by the perception of human basic emotions (facial expression of Anger, Joy, Disgust) and silent speech respond to a humanoid robot impersonating the same emotions, while participants were instructed to attend either to the emotion or to the motion depicted. Principal Findings Increased responses to robot compared to human stimuli in the occipital and posterior temporal cortices suggest additional visual processing when perceiving a mechanical anthropomorphic agent. In contrast, activity in cortical areas endowed with mirror properties, like left Broca's area for the perception of speech, and in the processing of emotions like the left anterior insula for the perception of disgust and the orbitofrontal cortex for the perception of anger, is reduced for robot stimuli, suggesting lesser resonance with the mechanical agent. Finally, instructions to explicitly attend to the emotion significantly increased response to robot, but not human facial expressions in the anterior part of the left inferior frontal gyrus, a neural marker of motor resonance. Conclusions Motor resonance towards a humanoid robot, but not a human, display of facial emotion is increased when attention is directed towards judging emotions. Significance Artificial agents can be used to assess how factors like anthropomorphism affect neural response to the perception of human actions. PMID:20657777

Emotion recognition in borderline personality disorder: effects of emotional information on negative bias.

PubMed

Fenske, Sabrina; Lis, Stefanie; Liebke, Lisa; Niedtfeld, Inga; Kirsch, Peter; Mier, Daniela

2015-01-01

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe deficits in social interactions, which might be linked to deficits in emotion recognition. Research on emotion recognition abilities in BPD revealed heterogeneous results, ranging from deficits to heightened sensitivity. The most stable findings point to an impairment in the evaluation of neutral facial expressions as neutral, as well as to a negative bias in emotion recognition; that is the tendency to attribute negative emotions to neutral expressions, or in a broader sense to report a more negative emotion category than depicted. However, it remains unclear which contextual factors influence the occurrence of this negative bias. Previous studies suggest that priming by preceding emotional information and also constrained processing time might augment the emotion recognition deficit in BPD. To test these assumptions, 32 female BPD patients and 31 healthy females, matched for age and education, participated in an emotion recognition study, in which every facial expression was preceded by either a positive, neutral or negative scene. Furthermore, time constraints for processing were varied by presenting the facial expressions with short (100 ms) or long duration (up to 3000 ms) in two separate blocks. BPD patients showed a significant deficit in emotion recognition for neutral and positive facial expression, associated with a significant negative bias. In BPD patients, this emotion recognition deficit was differentially affected by preceding emotional information and time constraints, with a greater influence of emotional information during long face presentations and a greater influence of neutral information during short face presentations. Our results are in line with previous findings supporting the existence of a negative bias in emotion recognition in BPD patients, and provide further insights into biased social perceptions in BPD patients.

Experimenter bias and subliminal perception

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Barber, Paul J.; Rushton, J. Philippe

1975-01-01

It has been suggested that subliminal perception phenomena may be in part due to experimenter bias effects. Two studies that obtained positive evidence of subliminal perception were therefore replicated with experimenters tested under blind and not blind conditions. (Editor)

Cross-Cultural Patterns in Dynamic Ratings of Positive and Negative Natural Emotional Behaviour

PubMed Central

Sneddon, Ian; McKeown, Gary; McRorie, Margaret; Vukicevic, Tijana

2011-01-01

Background Studies of cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion have typically compared rates of recognition of static posed stimulus photographs. That research has provided evidence for universality in the recognition of a range of emotions but also for some systematic cross-cultural variation in the interpretation of emotional expression. However, questions remain about how widely such findings can be generalised to real life emotional situations. The present study provides the first evidence that the previously reported interplay between universal and cultural influences extends to ratings of natural, dynamic emotional stimuli. Methodology/Principal Findings Participants from Northern Ireland, Serbia, Guatemala and Peru used a computer based tool to continuously rate the strength of positive and negative emotion being displayed in twelve short video sequences by people from the United Kingdom engaged in emotional conversations. Generalized additive mixed models were developed to assess the differences in perception of emotion between countries and sexes. Our results indicate that the temporal pattern of ratings is similar across cultures for a range of emotions and social contexts. However, there are systematic differences in intensity ratings between the countries, with participants from Northern Ireland making the most extreme ratings in the majority of the clips. Conclusions/Significance The results indicate that there is strong agreement across cultures in the valence and patterns of ratings of natural emotional situations but that participants from different cultures show systematic variation in the intensity with which they rate emotion. Results are discussed in terms of both ‘in-group advantage’ and ‘display rules’ approaches. This study indicates that examples of natural spontaneous emotional behaviour can be used to study cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion. PMID:21364739

Professional and pre-professional pharmacy students' perceptions of team based learning (TBL) at a private research-intensive university.

PubMed

Miller, Danielle M; Khalil, Karen; Iskaros, Olivia; Van Amburgh, Jenny A

2017-07-01

Pharmacy students need to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills as well as be a valuable team member. The use of team based learning (TBL) fosters effective team collaboration, enables continuous active and self-directed learning, and requires both individual and team accountability. The purpose was to evaluate pharmacy students' perceptions and experiences related to TBL in different years of the pharmacy curriculum. Two classes, Introduction to the Profession of Pharmacy (intro), a required course, and Self-Care/Non-Prescription Medications (self-care), an elective course, utilize the TBL approach. Students enrolled in both courses were recruited to complete a validated questionnaire during the last class. There was 100% participation; the majority of students, regardless of course, expressed positive attitudes towards TBL. Variations, relevance of TBL activities and the use of TBL as a learning strategy, between the required intro class and the elective self-care class were observed using a Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.05). Both cohorts of pharmacy students positively rated the TBL sessions in terms of learning effectiveness. It's important to consider the differences in professional development in these students and how this may impact their perceptions of TBL. TBL imparts more responsibility and accountability on the individual student allowing for the development of self-directed learners. Students, regardless of their year, found TBL to be an effective learning strategy. Third professional year (P3) pharmacy students further along in the curriculum are more accepting of TBL and are better able to appreciate the benefits of active and self-directed learning as well as working within a team. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Cross-cultural patterns in dynamic ratings of positive and negative natural emotional behaviour.

PubMed

Sneddon, Ian; McKeown, Gary; McRorie, Margaret; Vukicevic, Tijana

2011-02-18

Studies of cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion have typically compared rates of recognition of static posed stimulus photographs. That research has provided evidence for universality in the recognition of a range of emotions but also for some systematic cross-cultural variation in the interpretation of emotional expression. However, questions remain about how widely such findings can be generalised to real life emotional situations. The present study provides the first evidence that the previously reported interplay between universal and cultural influences extends to ratings of natural, dynamic emotional stimuli. Participants from Northern Ireland, Serbia, Guatemala and Peru used a computer based tool to continuously rate the strength of positive and negative emotion being displayed in twelve short video sequences by people from the United Kingdom engaged in emotional conversations. Generalized additive mixed models were developed to assess the differences in perception of emotion between countries and sexes. Our results indicate that the temporal pattern of ratings is similar across cultures for a range of emotions and social contexts. However, there are systematic differences in intensity ratings between the countries, with participants from Northern Ireland making the most extreme ratings in the majority of the clips. The results indicate that there is strong agreement across cultures in the valence and patterns of ratings of natural emotional situations but that participants from different cultures show systematic variation in the intensity with which they rate emotion. Results are discussed in terms of both 'in-group advantage' and 'display rules' approaches. This study indicates that examples of natural spontaneous emotional behaviour can be used to study cross-cultural variations in the perception of emotion.

Forward genetic screens identify a role for the mitochondrial HER2 in E-2-hexenal responsiveness.

PubMed

Scala, Alessandra; Mirabella, Rossana; Goedhart, Joachim; de Vries, Michel; Haring, Michel A; Schuurink, Robert C

2017-11-01

This work adds a new player, HER2, downstream of the perception of E-2-hexenal, a green leaf volatile, and shows that E-2-hexenal specifically changes the redox status of the mitochondria. It is widely accepted that plants produce and respond to green leaf volatiles (GLVs), but the molecular components involved in transducing their perception are largely unknown. The GLV E-2-hexenal inhibits root elongation in seedlings and, using this phenotype, we isolated E-2-hexenal response (her) Arabidopsis thaliana mutants. Using map-based cloning we positioned the her2 mutation to the At5g63620 locus, resulting in a phenylalanine instead of serine on position 223. Knockdown and overexpression lines of HER2 confirmed the role of HER2, which encodes an oxidoreductase, in the responsiveness to E-2-hexenal. Since E-2-hexenal is a reactive electrophile species, which are known to influence the redox status of cells, we utilized redox sensitive GFP2 (roGFP2) to determine the redox status of E-2-hexenal-treated root cells. Since the signal peptide of HER2 directed mCherry to the mitochondria, we targeted the expression of roGFP2 to this organelle besides the cytosol. E-2-hexenal specifically induced a change in the redox status in the mitochondria. We did not see a difference in the redox status in her2 compared to wild-type Arabidopsis. Still, the mitochondrial redox status did not change with Z-3-hexenol, another abundant GLV. These results indicate that HER2 is involved in transducing the perception of E-2-hexenal, which changes the redox status of the mitochondria.

A content analysis of nature photographs taken by Lebanese rural youth.

PubMed

Mattouk, Miriam; Talhouk, Salma N

2017-01-01

'Living in Harmony with Nature' is a 2050 vision put forth by the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) which takes into consideration culture and locality of perceptions of nature and aspirations for its use. Considering that 54% of the world population lives in cities, where nature has been decimated, the role of rural communities, living within or in proximity of natural and semi natural areas, will effectively influence the fate of the 'remaining' nature while they engage in local development. Reconciling between growth and development on the one hand, and nature conservation on the other, necessitates an understanding of how rural communities, especially the youth, imprint their own ideas on landscapes and develop ownership over natural spaces. In order to extend the understanding of how harmony with nature is perceived in different parts of the world, this paper presents the findings of primary research involving a group of young people who live in rural areas in Lebanon, a country in the Arab Middle East. Participatory research based on photovoice methodology was conducted with 77 young people aged 7-16 and residing in five rural villages located in different parts of Lebanon. Photographs taken by participants indicated that for many, nature was not perceived literally i.e. woodlands, forests, plants, animals, etc…. Instead, the participants saw nature as part of agriculture and local culture. Nature was also seen as symbolic expression of the participants' inner state of mind. Narratives written to explain the photographs shed light on the perception of harmony with nature which focused on positive family experiences and relayed personal emotions, abstract, and holistic yet functional view of nature. Another recurring theme that emerged from photographs and narratives was the role of family members, in particular grandparents, as having a strong influence on the positive perceptions of nature.

Perceptions of neighborhood park quality: associations with physical activity and body mass index.

PubMed

Bai, Hua; Wilhelm Stanis, Sonja A; Kaczynski, Andrew T; Besenyi, Gina M

2013-02-01

Parks are important resources for physical activity (PA), yet few studies have examined how perceptions of park characteristics relate to PA and health. This study investigated associations between perceptions of neighborhood park quality and overall moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA), park-based PA, and body mass index (BMI). Data were collected via questionnaire from 893 households in Kansas City, Missouri. The newly developed neighborhood park quality scale demonstrated good test-retest and internal reliability. Residents' perceptions of neighborhood park quality were related to PA and health outcomes. Perceiving parks as a benefit was positively related to overall MVPA and park-based PA and negatively related to BMI. Perceptions of well-used parks were positively related to BMI, while perceived cleanliness was negatively related to park-based PA. Better measuring and understanding how perceptions of local parks are associated with PA and health can improve appreciation of how parks facilitate active living.

You Probably Think this Paper’s About You: Narcissists’ Perceptions of their Personality and Reputation

PubMed Central

Carlson, Erika N.; Vazire, Simine; Oltmanns, Thomas F.

2011-01-01

Do narcissists have insight into the negative aspects of their personality and reputation? Using both clinical and subclinical measures of narcissism, we examined others’ perceptions, self-perceptions and meta-perceptions of narcissists across a wide range of traits for a new acquaintance and close other (Study 1), longitudinally with a group of new acquaintances (Study 2), and among coworkers (Study 3). Results bring us to three surprising conclusions about narcissists: 1) they understand that others see them less positively than they see themselves (i.e., their meta-perceptions are less biased than are their self-perceptions), 2) they have some insight into the fact that they make positive first impressions that deteriorate over time, and 3) they have insight into their narcissistic personality (e.g., they describe themselves as arrogant). These findings shed light on some of the psychological mechanisms underlying narcissism. PMID:21604895

Not on the Face Alone: Perception of Contextualized Face Expressions in Huntington's Disease

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Aviezer, Hillel; Bentin, Shlomo; Hassin, Ran R.; Meschino, Wendy S.; Kennedy, Jeanne; Grewal, Sonya; Esmail, Sherali; Cohen, Sharon; Moscovitch, Morris

2009-01-01

Numerous studies have demonstrated that Huntington's disease mutation-carriers have deficient explicit recognition of isolated facial expressions. There are no studies, however, which have investigated the recognition of facial expressions embedded within an emotional body and scene context. Real life facial expressions are typically embedded in…

Action and familiarity effects on self and other expert musicians’ Laban effort-shape analyses of expressive bodily behaviors in instrumental music performance: a case study approach

PubMed Central

Broughton, Mary C.; Davidson, Jane W.

2014-01-01

Self-reflective performance review and expert evaluation are features of Western music performance practice. While music is usually the focus, visual information provided by performing musicians’ expressive bodily behaviors communicates expressiveness to musically trained and untrained observers. Yet, within a seemingly homogenous group, such as one of musically trained individuals, diversity of experience exists. Individual differences potentially affect perception of the subtleties of expressive performance, and performers’ effective communication of their expressive intentions. This study aimed to compare self- and other expert musicians’ perception of expressive bodily behaviors observed in marimba performance. We hypothesized that analyses of expressive bodily behaviors differ between expert musicians according to their specialist motor expertise and familiarity with the music. Two professional percussionists and experienced marimba players, and one professional classical singer took part in the study. Participants independently conducted Laban effort-shape analysis – proposing that intentions manifest in bodily activity are understood through shared embodied processes – of a marimbists’ expressive bodily behaviors in an audio-visual performance recording. For one percussionist, this was a self-reflective analysis. The work was unfamiliar to the other percussionist and singer. Perception of the performer’s expressive bodily behaviors appeared to differ according to participants’ individual instrumental or vocal motor expertise, and familiarity with the music. Furthermore, individual type of motor experience appeared to direct participants’ attention in approaching the analyses. Findings support forward and inverse perception–action models, and embodied cognitive theory. Implications offer scientific rigor and artistic interest for how performance practitioners can reflectively analyze performance to improve expressive communication. PMID:25400601

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Interactions between Facial Expressions and Gender Information in Face Perception.

PubMed

Liu, Chengwei; Liu, Ying; Iqbal, Zahida; Li, Wenhui; Lv, Bo; Jiang, Zhongqing

2017-01-01

To investigate the interaction between facial expressions and facial gender information during face perception, the present study matched the intensities of the two types of information in face images and then adopted the orthogonal condition of the Garner Paradigm to present the images to participants who were required to judge the gender and expression of the faces; the gender and expression presentations were varied orthogonally. Gender and expression processing displayed a mutual interaction. On the one hand, the judgment of angry expressions occurred faster when presented with male facial images; on the other hand, the classification of the female gender occurred faster when presented with a happy facial expression than when presented with an angry facial expression. According to the evoked-related potential results, the expression classification was influenced by gender during the face structural processing stage (as indexed by N170), which indicates the promotion or interference of facial gender with the coding of facial expression features. However, gender processing was affected by facial expressions in more stages, including the early (P1) and late (LPC) stages of perceptual processing, reflecting that emotional expression influences gender processing mainly by directing attention.

Subjective Well-Being: Keeping up with the Perception of the Joneses

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guven, Cahit; Sorensen, Bent E.

2012-01-01

Using data from the US General Social Survey 1972-2004, we study the role of perceptions and status in self-reported happiness. Reference group income negatively relates to own happiness and high perceptions about own relative income, quality of dwelling, and social class relate positively and very significantly to happiness. Perceptions about…

Canaries in the Coal Mine: Perceptions of Threat and Media System Dependency Relations.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Loges, William E.

1994-01-01

Investigates whether the intensity and scope of media system dependency (MSD) relations are positively related to perceptions of threats in the environment. Finds that higher perceptions of threat are associated with more intense MSD relations; threat perceptions are strong predictors of the intensity of MSD relations when demographic variables…

The effects of gender, ethnicity, and a close relationship theme on perceptions of persons introducing a condom.

PubMed

Castaneda, D M; Collins, B E

1998-09-01

Perceptions of persons who introduce condoms in an ongoing sexual interaction, and the effects of gender and ethnicity on these perceptions, were explored in a study involving 243 students at a large, urban university in the western US. 133 of these students identified themselves as Mexican American; the remaining students indicated they were White. A vignette methodology was used to elicit perceptions of condom introducers on six scales (Nice, Exciting, Sexually Attractive, Promiscuous, Good Relationship Partner, Unpersonable/Personable). Data were analyzed in a 2 (gender of participant) x 2 (gender of condom introducer) x 3 (low acculturated Mexican American, high acculturated Mexican American, White) x 2 (presence/absence of close relationship theme) analysis of variance and covariance. In terms of the Nice Scale, women rated condom introducers significantly higher than men, female condom introducers were rated significantly higher than male introducers, and condom introducers who expressed a care and responsibility theme while introducing a condom were rated significantly higher than those who expressed no theme. On the Exciting Scale, women condom introducers were rated significantly higher than men. Condom introducers who expressed a care and responsibility theme were rated significantly higher than those who expressed no theme on the Good Relationship Partner scale. Men rated the female condom introducer significantly higher than women on the Promiscuous scale. Low acculturated Mexicans rated the female condom introducer significantly higher than the male introducer on the Promiscuous scale and rated the condom introducer significantly higher than Whites on the Sexually Attractive scale. These findings attest that many often contradictory interpersonal gender- and ethnicity-related perceptions operate in sexual encounters.

Compliance with recommended protective actions during an H7N9 emergency: a risk perception perspective.

PubMed

Wang, Fei; Wei, Jiuchang; Shi, Xing

2018-04-01

This study investigates the factors determining an individual's response to official recommended protective measures, based on the Health Belief Model and the Protective Action Decision Model, to understand the adoption of protective behaviour during an H7N9 (Avian Influenza A) emergency. A public survey involving 1,375 respondents was conducted in Anhui Province, China, during the 2013 H7N9 outbreak to test the research model and hypotheses. The results indicate that protective, stakeholder, and risk perceptions influence positively an individual's willingness to take recommended actions. Protective and stakeholder perceptions also have a positive bearing on lay people's risk perceptions. A stakeholder perception is a vital determinant of a protective perception. More importantly, the effects of protective and stakeholder perceptions on behavioural responses to recommendations are mediated in part by risk perception. These findings can help public health officials to develop messages to encourage members of the population to protect themselves effectively during an influenza crisis. © 2018 The Author(s). Disasters © Overseas Development Institute, 2018.

A Cross-National Comparison of School Students' Perceptions Regarding High Performing Peers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Oh, Hyerim; Sutherland, Margaret; Stack, Niamh; del Mar Badia, Maria; Blumen, Sheyla; Nguyen Quoc, Anh-Thu; Wormald, Catherine; Maakrun, Julie; Baier, Barbara; Schmidt, Martha; Ziegler, Albert

2014-01-01

This cross-national scenario based study examined fourth-grade students' perceptions of high-performing classmates in terms of their expected intellectual abilities, positive social qualities and popularity among their peers across seven countries. The overall results show that high academic achievements predominantly lead to positive expectations…

College Student Perceptions of the Content of Father Stereotypes

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Troilo, Jessica; Coleman, Marilyn

2008-01-01

This study used a three-step procedure to examine 663 Midwestern university students' perceptions of the content of social stereotypes related to seven types of fathers. Married and adoptive fathers were the most positively stereotyped groups, and divorced residential fathers were also viewed quite positively. There were relatively neutral views…

Hope in Civic Action: To Be Optimistic and Non-Prejudicial

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferrari, Joseph R.; Haq, Arsalan; Williams, Shannon M.

2014-01-01

The present study explored perceptions of hope for social change through civic engagement. Psychology majors, active in campus clubs and organizations (n = 52; M age = 19 years old) completed survey measures predicting hopeful (agency and pathways) tendencies by positive personality qualities, such as positive perceptions of life, being…

Perceptions of Women Managers and Their Communicator Competencies.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Wheeless, Virginia Eman; Berryman-Fink, Cynthia

1985-01-01

Examined employee attitudes toward women in general and women as managers, and perceived communication competencies of women managers. Found that female employees demonstrated a more positive regard for women in general, a less traditional view of women as managers, and a more positive perception of their communication competencies. (PD)

A Study of Kentucky Volunteer Hunter Education Instructor Perceptions: Positive and Negative Motivators.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Crume, Charles T., Jr.; Lang, Mac

A survey examined perceptions of volunteer service among 260 volunteer instructors in the Kentucky Hunter Education Association, a nonprofit organization that provides educational programs to hunters on safety, accident prevention, and sportsmanship. Volunteer instructors completed a survey pertaining to negative and positive motivators for…

Attitudes of meat retailers to animal welfare in Spain.

PubMed

Miranda-de la Lama, Genaro C; Sepúlveda, Wilmer S; Villarroel, Morris; María, Gustavo A

2013-11-01

This study analyzes retailer attitude towards animal welfare in Spain, and how this attitude has changed over recent years (2006-2011). Retailers were concerned about animal welfare issues but a declining trend is observed recently, probably due to the financial crisis. The concern about animal welfare was affected by sex, with women retailers expressing a more positive attitude towards animal welfare issues than men. Retailers, based on their experience, perceive a low level of willingness to pay more for welfare friendly products (WFP) on behalf of their customers. This fact is reflected in the sales of the WFP, which declined from 2006 to 2011. The main reason for consumers to buy WFP, according to retailer perception, is organoleptic quality, with improved welfare being second. The results obtained provide a pessimistic picture in relation to the current market positioning of WFP, which is probably a consequence of market contraction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

THE DEFENSIVE NATURE OF BENEFIT FINDING DURING ONGOING TERRORISM: AN EXAMINATION OF A NATIONAL SAMPLE OF ISRAELI JEWS

PubMed Central

HALL, BRIAN J.; HOBFOLL, STEVAN E.; CANETTI, DAPHNA; JOHNSON, ROBERT J.; GALEA, SANDRO

2011-01-01

A study examining the effects of terrorism on a national sample of 1,136 Jewish adults was conducted in Israel via telephone surveys, during the Second Intifada. The relationship between reports of positive changes occurring subsequent to terrorism exposure (i.e., Benefit finding), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom severity, and negative outgroup attitudes toward Palestinian citizens of Israel (PCI) was examined. Benefit finding was related to greater PTSD symptom severity. Further, Benefit finding was related to greater threat perception of PCI and ethnic exclusionism of PCI. Findings were consistent with hypotheses derived from theories of outgroup bias and support the anxiety buffering role of social affiliation posited by terror management theory. This study suggests that benefit finding may be a defensive coping strategy when expressed under the conditions of ongoing terrorism and external threat. PMID:22058603

Emotions in primary care: Are there cultural differences in the expression of cues and concerns?

PubMed

Schouten, Barbara C; Schinkel, Sanne

2015-11-01

This study compared native-Dutch and Turkish-Dutch patients' expressions of emotional cues/concerns and GPs' responses to these cues/concerns. Relations between patient's cues/concerns and GPs' perceptions of the patient's health complaint were examined too. 82 audiotaped encounters with native-Dutch and 38 with Turkish-Dutch GP patients were coded using the VR-CoDES and VR-CoDES-P. Patients filled out a survey before each consultation to assess their cultural identification, Dutch language proficiency and health-related variables. GPs filled out a survey after each consultation to assess their perceptions of the patient's health complaint. Turkish-Dutch patients expressed more cues than native-Dutch patients, which was explained by higher worries about their health and worse perceived general health. GPs responded more often with space-providing responses to Turkish-Dutch patients compared to native-Dutch patients. Turkish-Dutch patients' cue expression strongly influenced GPs' perceptions about the presence of psychosocial problems. Migrant patient-related factors influence the amount of emotional cue expression in primary care. GPs perceive these cues as indicating the presence of psychosocial problems and provide space for patients to elaborate on their emotional distress. GPs should be trained in using more affective communication techniques to enhance elicitation of the underlying reasons for migrant patients' enhanced emotional cue expression. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Trends and correlates of the public’s perception of healthcare systems in the European Union: a multilevel analysis of Eurobarometer survey data from 2009 to 2013

PubMed Central

AlSaud, AlJohara M; Taddese, Henock B; Filippidis, Filippos T

2018-01-01

Objective The aim of the study is to assess trends in public perceptions of health systems in 27 European Union (EU) member states following the financial crisis (2009–2013), in order to discuss observed changes in the context of the financial crisis. Design Repeated cross-sectional studies. Setting 27 EU countries. Participants EU citizens aged 15 years and older. Methods The study mainly uses the Eurobarometer Social Climate Survey, conducted annually between 2009 and 2013, thereby analysing 116 706 observations. A multilevel logistic regression was carried out to analyse trends over time and the factors associated with citizens’ perceptions of their healthcare systems. Results Europeans generally exhibit positive perceptions of their national healthcare systems, 64.0% (95% CI 63.6% to 64.4%). However, we observed a significant drop in positive perceptions in the years following the crisis, especially within countries most affected by the crisis. Concerning fiscal characteristics, wealthier countries and those dedicating higher proportion of their national income to health were more likely to maintain positive perceptions. At the individual level, perceptions of healthcare systems were significantly associated with respondents’ self-perceptions of their social status, financial capacity and overall satisfaction in life. Conclusions Our finding confirms previous observations that citizens’ perceptions of their healthcare systems may reflect their overall prospects within the broader socioeconomic systems they live in; which have in turn been affected by the financial crisis and the policy measures instituted in response. PMID:29317413

Influence of caring youth sport contexts on efficacy-related beliefs and social behaviors.

PubMed

Gano-Overway, Lori A; Newton, Maria; Magyar, T Michelle; Fry, Mary D; Kim, Mi-Sook; Guivernau, Marta R

2009-03-01

Understanding what factors influence positive youth development has been advocated by youth development researchers (P. L. Benson, 2006; J. S. Eccles & J. A. Gootman, 2002). Consequently, the purpose of this study was to examine whether perceptions of a caring youth sport context influenced prosocial and antisocial behavior through efficacy-related beliefs, that is, positive and negative affective self-regulatory efficacy (ASRE) and empathic self-efficacy (ESE). Multiethnic youths taking part in summer sport programs (N = 395) completed a questionnaire that measured perceptions of the caring climate, ESE, ASRE, and social behavior. Structural equation modeling was used to test whether ASRE and ESE mediated the relationship between caring and social behaviors. Findings revealed that perceptions of caring positively predicted ASRE and ESE. In turn, positive ASRE positively predicted ESE. Prosocial behaviors were positively linked to ESE, whereas antisocial behaviors were negatively predicted by positive ASRE. The results suggest that caring influences prosocial and antisocial behavior because such contexts develop youths' ability to monitor, manage, and control positive affect, which in turn enhances their belief in their ability to empathize.

A window of opportunity? Motor skills and perceptions of competence of children in Kindergarten

PubMed Central

2012-01-01

Background Our aim was to examine the relationship between motor skill proficiency and perceptions of competence of children in their first year of school. We also explored gender-based differences. Findings Participants were 260 kindergarten children (mean age = 5y 9 m; boys = 52%) from eight schools; representing 78% of eligible children in those schools. Motor skills were measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and perceptions of physical competence were assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Motor skill scores were generally low (percentile ranks ranged from 16 - 24) but perceptions of physical competence were positive (boys = 18.1/24.0, girls = 19.5/24.0). A MANOVA showed a significant overall effect for gender (Wilk's lambda = .84 with F (3, 254) = 15.84, p < 0.001) and univariate F tests were significant for all outcome variables. The relationship between object control skills and perceptions of physical competence among girls was not significant; however all other correlations were modest but significant. Conclusions Although motor skill levels were quite low, the children generally held positive perceptions of their physical competence. These positive perceptions provide a window of opportunity for fostering skillfulness. The modest relationships between perceptions of competence and motor skill proficiency suggest that the children are beginning to make self-judgments at a young age. Accordingly, opportunities for children to become and feel physically competent need to occur early in their school or preschool life. PMID:22420534

A window of opportunity? Motor skills and perceptions of competence of children in kindergarten.

PubMed

LeGear, Mark; Greyling, Lizette; Sloan, Erin; Bell, Rick I; Williams, Buffy-Lynne; Naylor, Patti-Jean; Temple, Viviene A

2012-03-15

Our aim was to examine the relationship between motor skill proficiency and perceptions of competence of children in their first year of school. We also explored gender-based differences. Participants were 260 kindergarten children (mean age = 5y 9 m; boys = 52%) from eight schools; representing 78% of eligible children in those schools. Motor skills were measured using the Test of Gross Motor Development-2 and perceptions of physical competence were assessed using the Pictorial Scale of Perceived Competence and Social Acceptance for Young Children. Motor skill scores were generally low (percentile ranks ranged from 16 - 24) but perceptions of physical competence were positive (boys = 18.1/24.0, girls = 19.5/24.0). A MANOVA showed a significant overall effect for gender (Wilk's lambda = .84 with F (3, 254) = 15.84, p < 0.001) and univariate F tests were significant for all outcome variables. The relationship between object control skills and perceptions of physical competence among girls was not significant; however all other correlations were modest but significant. Although motor skill levels were quite low, the children generally held positive perceptions of their physical competence. These positive perceptions provide a window of opportunity for fostering skillfulness. The modest relationships between perceptions of competence and motor skill proficiency suggest that the children are beginning to make self-judgments at a young age. Accordingly, opportunities for children to become and feel physically competent need to occur early in their school or preschool life.

Positively Biased Self-Perceptions of Peer Acceptance and Subtypes of Aggression in Children

PubMed Central

Lynch, Rebecca J.; Kistner, Janet A.; Stephens, Haley F.; David-Ferdon, Corinne

2016-01-01

There is a growing body of research linking children’s positively biased self-perceptions with higher levels of aggression. This study extended this area of research by examining prospective associations of positively biased self-perceptions of peer acceptance with overt and relational aggression. In addition, moderating effects of peer rejection were examined to test the “disputed overestimation hypothesis,” which posits that the link between bias and aggression is limited to children who are rejected by their peers. Using a two-wave longitudinal design, measures of peer-rated and self-perceived peer acceptance and peer-rated overt and relational aggression were obtained for 712 children in 3rd through 5th grades (386 girls and 326 boys). Positively biased perceptions led to increases in relational, but not overt, aggression. This pattern was observed even when the effects of gender, race, peer rejection, and overt aggression on relational aggression were controlled. Contrary to the disputed overestimation hypothesis, the prospective associations between bias and aggression did not vary as a function of children’s peer rejection status, thus supporting the view that positive bias predicts future aggressive behavior, regardless of social status. The results are discussed in terms of the comparability with previous findings and practical implications. PMID:26423823

[Perception of residents in world heritage site to the effects of ecological migration: a case study of three migrant resettlement spots in Wulingyuan, Hunan Province of South-central China].

PubMed

Wang, Kai; Ou, Yan; Ge, Quan-Sheng

2012-06-01

Based on the investigation in three typical migrant resettlement spots in Wulingyuan Scenic Area, a demonstration analysis was conducted on the residents' perception to the effects of ecological migration on world heritage site. The residents in the 3 spots had great differences in the positive perception to the economic effects of ecological migration, but less differences in the perception to the negative indices. The residents had high identity with the positive socio-cultural effects, but weak perception to the negative effects. The residents in the 3 resettlement spots had obvious differences in the perception to the effects on resources and environment, but mostly agreed that the negative psychological effects were not so obvious. The negative comments were given to the main migration policies. Age, educational level, monthly income, and proportion of tourism input were the main factors affecting the residents' perception, and the way of resettlement as well as the proportion of tourism input also had important effects on the residents' perception. Migration policy was the dominant factor affecting the integral perception of the residents to ecological migration.

Young Adult Perceptions of the British American Tobacco New Zealand Agree/Disagree Plain Packaging Counter-Campaign.

PubMed

McCool, Judith; Wong-Cornall, Cecilia; Freeman, Becky

2017-10-01

In 2012, British American Tobacco New Zealand (BATNZ) launched a mass media campaign branded "Agree/ Disagree" as a response to the New Zealand government's plans to introduce plain packaging. We examined young adult's views about the campaign to assist tobacco control policymakers in planning future interventions. Interviews with young adults living in the Auckland area were conducted. Interviews covered existing knowledge about plain packaging of tobacco, knowledge about the tobacco industry, and perceptions of specific advertisements included in the campaign. Interview data were analyzed to determine the dominant views about the campaign. Perspectives from 12 interviews reflect the dominant discourse in New Zealand on the benefits of serving economic progress and international trade. Pervasive views about the campaigns reflected perceptions of the risk to the New Zealand image, trade, and economy. Similarly, participants expressed concern about the potential for plain packaging to creep toward other products, such as alcohol. Perceptions of the tobacco industry were mixed but reflect a tolerant view of the ethics of business if viewed to be beneficial to the economy. Participants were broadly accepting of the campaign messages. We identified a tendency toward quasi-libertarian leanings when discussing economics and trade, commercial versus personal responsibility, and the value of freedom (commercial and social). These perspectives were often held simultaneously with conflicting socially responsive values and references to the hegemonic position of "big business." This study affirms the importance of closely monitoring public opinion about tobacco control and of broadening denormalization strategies to reflect the critical role the tobacco industry plays in prolonging the tobacco epidemic. To date there is little evidence on the perceptions young adults hold toward to the tobacco industry and their arguments regarding the introduction of plain packaged cigarettes. Our findings indicate that some young people are attuned to the social discourse regarding the importance of economics, individuality, choice, and freedom as expressed by the tobacco industry. Tobacco control initiatives could challenge core values such as fairness and justice as related to corporate behaviors to retain public support, particularly among young people. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Perception of Emotional Facial Expressions in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) at Behavioural and Brain Metabolic Level.

PubMed

Aho-Özhan, Helena E A; Keller, Jürgen; Heimrath, Johanna; Uttner, Ingo; Kassubek, Jan; Birbaumer, Niels; Ludolph, Albert C; Lulé, Dorothée

2016-01-01

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) primarily impairs motor abilities but also affects cognition and emotional processing. We hypothesise that subjective ratings of emotional stimuli depicting social interactions and facial expressions is changed in ALS. It was found that recognition of negative emotions and ability to mentalize other's intentions is reduced. Processing of emotions in faces was investigated. A behavioural test of Ekman faces expressing six basic emotions was presented to 30 ALS patients and 29 age-, gender and education matched healthy controls. Additionally, a subgroup of 15 ALS patients that were able to lie supine in the scanner and 14 matched healthy controls viewed the Ekman faces during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Affective state and a number of daily social contacts were measured. ALS patients recognized disgust and fear less accurately than healthy controls. In fMRI, reduced brain activity was seen in areas involved in processing of negative emotions replicating our previous results. During processing of sad faces, increased brain activity was seen in areas associated with social emotions in right inferior frontal gyrus and reduced activity in hippocampus bilaterally. No differences in brain activity were seen for any of the other emotional expressions. Inferior frontal gyrus activity for sad faces was associated with increased amount of social contacts of ALS patients. ALS patients showed decreased brain and behavioural responses in processing of disgust and fear and an altered brain response pattern for sadness. The negative consequences of neurodegenerative processes in the course of ALS might be counteracted by positive emotional activity and positive social interactions.

Clear signals or mixed messages: inter-individual emotion congruency modulates brain activity underlying affective body perception

PubMed Central

de Gelder, B.

2016-01-01

The neural basis of emotion perception has mostly been investigated with single face or body stimuli. However, in daily life one may also encounter affective expressions by groups, e.g. an angry mob or an exhilarated concert crowd. In what way is brain activity modulated when several individuals express similar rather than different emotions? We investigated this question using an experimental design in which we presented two stimuli simultaneously, with same or different emotional expressions. We hypothesized that, in the case of two same-emotion stimuli, brain activity would be enhanced, while in the case of two different emotions, one emotion would interfere with the effect of the other. The results showed that the simultaneous perception of different affective body expressions leads to a deactivation of the amygdala and a reduction of cortical activity. It was revealed that the processing of fearful bodies, compared with different-emotion bodies, relied more strongly on saliency and action triggering regions in inferior parietal lobe and insula, while happy bodies drove the occipito-temporal cortex more strongly. We showed that this design could be used to uncover important differences between brain networks underlying fearful and happy emotions. The enhancement of brain activity for unambiguous affective signals expressed by several people simultaneously supports adaptive behaviour in critical situations. PMID:27025242