Encoding and decoding nonverbal cues of emotion.

Subjects ("senders") encoded six emotions twice, first via facial expressions and second via tone of voice. These expressions were recorded and presented for decoding to the senders and an additional group of judges. Results were as follows: (a) the ability to encode and the ability to decode both visual and auditory cues were significantly related; (b) the relationship between encoding and decoding cues of the same emotion appeared low or negative; (c) the ability to decode visual cues was significantly related to the ability to decode auditory cues, but the correlations among encoding (and decoding) scores on different emotions were low; (d) females were slightly better encoders, and significantly better decoders, than males; (e) acquaintance between sender and judge improved decoding scores among males but not among females; (f) auditory decoding scores were higher than visual decoding scores, particularly among males; (g) auditory decoding scores were relatively high if sender and judge were of the same sex, while visual decoding scores were relatively high if sender and judge were of opposite sexes; (h) decoding scores varied according to channel of communication and type of emotion transmitted.     

Perceptual cues in nonverbal vocal expressions of emotion

The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is the most widely used indirect measure of attitudes in social psychology. It has been suggested that artefacts such as salience asymmetries and familiarity can influence performance on the IAT. Chang and Mitchell (2009) Chang, B. and Mitchell, C. J. 2009. Processing fluency as a source of salience asymmetries in the Implicit Association Test. Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 62: 2030–2054. [Taylor &; Francis Online], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar] proposed that the ease with which IAT stimuli are classified (classification fluency) is the common mechanism underlying both of these factors. In the current study, we investigated the effect of classification fluency on the IAT and trialled a measure—the split IAT—for dissociating between the effects of valence and salience in the IAT. Across six experiments, we examined the relationship between target classification fluency and salience asymmetries in the IAT. In the standard IAT, the more fluently classified target category was, all else being equal, compatible with pleasant attributes over unpleasant attributes. Furthermore, the more fluently classified target category was more easily classified with the more salient attribute category in the split IAT, independent of evaluative associations. This suggests that the more fluently classified category is also the more salient target category.     

Enhanced encoding of nonverbal cues in bipolar illness in males

Twenty-five affectively bipolar males were found to possess an enhanced ability to encode nonverbal cues when compared to matched controls. This ability was present during both manic and euthymic phases.     

Perception of facial expressions

Three studies examined the nature of the contributions of each hemisphere to the processing of facial expressions and facial identity. A pair of faces, the members of which differed in either expression or identity, were presented to the right or left field. Subjects were required to compare the members of the pair to each other (experiments 1 and 2) or to a previously presented sample (experiment 3). The results revealed that both face and expression perception show an LVF superiority although the two tasks could be differentiated in terms of overall processing time and the interaction of laterality differences with sex. No clear-cut differences in laterality emerged for processing of positive and negative expressions.     

Impaired reception of nonverbal cues in women with premenstrual tension syndrome

The ability to perceive nonverbal facial cues was tested in 30 White, middle-class females. Pre- and post-menses responses of 15 subjects diagnosed as having Premenstrual Tension Syndrome (PMS) were compared to the responses of age-matched controls. Each subject was asked to interpret videotaped facial cues of individuals engaged in a gambling task. Interpretive ability fluctuated during the menstrual cycle and was significantly impaired during the premenstrual phase.     

Judging the sex of an unseen person from nonverbal cues

In the first study, silent videotapes were made of male and female undergraduates who had been asked to nonverbally treat another person in a sex-stereotyped manner without using proximity or touch cues. Raters who viewed the tapes with one member of the dyad blocked from view were able to guess the sex of the unseen member when watching a male, but not a female. Female raters were more accurate than male raters. In the second study, tapes were made without requesting sex-stereotyped behavior. Raters were barely able to guess the sex of the other person. Thus, although males have a repertoire of nonverbal behaviors which they can use differentially with either sex, they do not necessarily do so in all situations.The authors would like to thank Frances Cherry for helpful comments and criticisms on previous drafts of this article.     

Perception of pictorial depth cues by pigeons

Pigeons were trained to discriminate pictures of intact objects from pictures of objects in which both depth from shading and depth from perspective cues were manipulated. Depth from shading was manipulated either by scrambling or by removing three-dimensional shading cues. Depth from perspective was manipulated either by presenting pictures of objects with a two-dimensional outline (i.e., a square) or with a three-dimensional outline (i.e., a cube). Transfer tests with novel images suggest that pigeons perceive and utilize both types of pictorial depth cues. The implications of these results for our understanding of picture perception in pigeons are discussed.     

Perception of sexual experience: The impact of nonverbal behavior

A study was conducted to determine if nonverbal displays of masculinity and femininity can lead subjects to make inferences about the sexual experience of a person. It was predicted that male and female stimulus persons who displayed nonverbal masculine expressions would be seen as more sexually experienced, and more sexual in general, than those who exhibited feminine expressions. The results strongly supported this prediction. It was also expected that the stimulus persons displaying sex-appropriate behaviors would be evaluated more positively. This prediction was supported only for male stimulus persons.     

Encoding and decoding of nonverbal behavior through facial expressions

Ten males and ten females served as both senders and receivers of nonverbal expressions in an experiment designed to examine various kinds of sending-receiving relationships. While the overall sending-receiving relationship for five types of expressions combined was positive and nearly statistically significant (.10 > p > .05), the category-specific sending-receiving relationships were near zero in magnitude or slightly negative. Sending-receiving relationships that were category specific and involved same-sex communication attempts only were found to be more negative with some being statistically significant. Females were found to be significantly better receivers but not significantly better senders than males. The results were discussed in terms of recent theoretical notions concerning sending and receiving processes.     

Age differences in facial trustworthiness judgement based on multiple facial cues

Multiple facial cues such as facial expression and face gender simultaneously influence facial trustworthiness judgement in adults. The current work was to examine the effect of multiple facial cues on trustworthiness judgement across age groups. Eight-, 10-year-olds, and adults detect trustworthiness from happy and neutral adult faces (female and male faces) in Experiment 1. Experiment 2 included both adult and child faces wearing happy, angry, and neutral expressions. Nine-, 11-, 13-year-olds, and adults had to rate facial trustworthiness with a 7-point Likert scale. The results of Experiments 1 and 2 revealed that facial expression and face gender independently affected facial trustworthiness judgement in children aged 10 and below but simultaneously affected judgement in children aged 11 and above, adolescents, and adults. There was no own-age bias in children and adults. The results showed that children younger than 10 could not process multiple facial cues in the same manner as in older children and adults when judging trustworthiness. The current findings provide evidence for the stable-feature account, but not for the own-age bias account or the expertise account.     

Social influence on metacognitive evaluations: The power of nonverbal cues

Metacognitive evaluations refer to the processes by which people assess their own cognitive operations with respect to their current goal. Little is known about whether this process is susceptible to social influence. Here we investigate whether nonverbal social signals spontaneously influence metacognitive evaluations. Participants performed a two-alternative forced-choice task, which was followed by a face randomly gazing towards or away from the response chosen by the participant. Participants then provided a metacognitive evaluation of their response by rating their confidence in their answer. In Experiment 1, the participants were told that the gaze direction was irrelevant to the task purpose and were advised to ignore it. The results revealed an effect of implicit social information on confidence ratings even though the gaze direction was random and therefore unreliable for task purposes. In addition, nonsocial cues (car) did not elicit this effect. In Experiment 2, the participants were led to believe that cue direction (face or car) reflected a previous participant's response to the same question—that is, the social information provided by the cue was made explicit, yet still objectively unreliable for the task. The results showed a similar social influence on confidence ratings, observed with both cues (car and face) but with an increased magnitude relative to Experiment 1. We additionally showed in Experiment 2 that social information impaired metacognitive accuracy. Together our results strongly suggest an involuntary susceptibility of metacognitive evaluations to nonverbal social information, even when it is implicit (Experiment 1) and unreliable (Experiments 1 and 2).     

The effects of nonverbal cues on gender differences in perceptions of sexual intent

The effects of several nonverbal cues on perceptions of male and female stimulus persons' sexuality were examined. Based on the findings of Abbey (“Sex Differences in Attributions for Friendly Behavior: Do Males Misperceive Females' Friendliness?” Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982, 42, 830–838) and other investigators, we hypothesized that in general males would attribute more sexuality to both male and female targets than would females. Furthermore, we hypothesized that males' and females' perceptions of sexual intent would be most divergent in situations in which the nonverbal cues were most ambiguous (e.g., causal touch, moderate interpersonal distance). To test this hypothesis, the effects of three nonverbalcues were examined: interpersonal distance, eye contact, and touch. Males rated female targets as more seductive, sexy, and promiscuous, and expressed more sexual attraction to the opposite-sexed target, than females did for both ambiguous and nonambiguous nonverbal cues. Males' ratings of the male targets' sexuality were higher than females' ratings in two of the three studies. Also, across the three studies both female and male subjects rated the female target higher than the male target on the sexual traits. The implications of these findings for future research are discussed.     

Cognitive rehabilitation of chronic alcohol abusers

The current literature suggests that individuals who chronically abuse alcohol exhibit a wide variety of cognitive deficits resulting from cerebral dysfunction that is either directly or indirectly related to their alcohol consumption history. Cognitive deficits have been hypothesized as having implications for standard alcohol treatment efficacy as they may directly affect cognitively impaired individuals’ abilities to utilize various treatment modalities. Although evidence is accumulating that suggests this is actually the case, the majority of alcohol treatment programs neither directly consider the impact cognitive deficits have on treatment efficacy nor do they employ cognitive rehabilitation treatment strategies to remediate identified cognitive deficits. Few studies exist that investigate the remediability of neurobehavioral deficits or the efficacy of integrating cognitive rehabilitation strategies into more traditional treatment programs. Empirical investigations conducted to date indicate that some cognitive deficiencies secondary to alcoholism are amenable to cognitive rehabilitation and this remediation is generalizable. Rigorous well-controlled treatment outcome investigations are needed in order to determine the efficacy of cognitive rehabilitation techniques in naturalistic settings using ecological outcome measures. Also, emphasis should be placed on integrating cognitive rehabilitation techniques with proven efficacy into traditional alcoholism treatment programs.     

Consistent left gaze bias in processing different facial cues

While viewing faces, humans often demonstrate a natural gaze bias towards the left visual field, that is, the right side of the viewee’s face is often inspected first and for longer periods. Previous studies have suggested that this gaze asymmetry is a part of the gaze pattern associated with face exploration, but its relation with perceptual processing of facial cues is unclear. In this study we recorded participants’ saccadic eye movements while exploring face images under different task instructions (free viewing, judging familiarity and judging facial expression). We observed a consistent left gaze bias in face viewing irrespective of task demands. The probability of the first fixation and the proportion of overall fixations directed at the left hemiface were indistinguishable across different task instructions or across different facial expressions. It seems that the left gaze bias is an automatic reflection of hemispheric lateralisation in face processing, and is not necessarily correlated with the perceptual processing of a specific type of facial information.     

Perception of relative and absolute age in facial photographs

Longitudinal series of photographs of faces of secondary school students were used to evaluate observers’ ability to perceive age. Information in individual stimuli was manipulated by masking out parts of the photographs, while information provided by the relations among stimuli was manipulated by task conditions. The ability to perceive relative age was assessed in two tasks requiring subjects to order photographs by age. Absolute age perception was studied in a third task requiring age estimates in years to photographs presented one at a time. While judgments were beyond chance accuracy in all combinations of masking and task conditions, a decrease in either type of information generally produced a decrease in accuracy.