Klaus Scherer - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Klaus Scherer

Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Jan 1, 1987

Automatic Face & Gesture …, Jan 1, 2008

Facial expressions are part of emotional reactions. However, humans can voluntarily pose a specif... more Facial expressions are part of emotional reactions. However, humans can voluntarily pose a specific emotional expression without having the corresponding underlying feeling, or voluntarily modify (e.g. reduce or enhance) their spontaneous expression in reaction to an emotional event. Few studies have attempted to distinguish these different processes at the level of the central nervous system (CNS), even though spontaneous and voluntary facial expressions are long thought to rely upon distinct neural circuitries. Here, we review the neural bases of spontaneous and voluntary facial expressions, report the results of a first study assessing the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) before voluntary smiles, and outline a combined EEG/EMG approach for investigating facial expressions at the level of the CNS.

Electroencephalographic (EEG) premotor potentials with negative polarity like the Bereitschaftspo... more Electroencephalographic (EEG) premotor potentials with negative polarity like the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) are known to precede self-paced voluntary movements of the limbs and other body parts. This is however the first report of such premotor potentials before posed smiles. Scalp EEG was recorded in 16 healthy participants performing self-paced unilateral and bilateral smiles and unilateral finger movements. Amplitudes over six central electrodes and voltage distributions over the entire scalp were compared across conditions at time of EMG-onset, thus focusing on the late BP. Results show the presence of a premotor potential before posed smiles with a later onset, symmetrical bilateral distribution, and smaller amplitude at time of movement-onset, compared to finger movements. Future studies should investigate the BP before various types of emotional and non-emotional facial expressions.

Biological psychology, Jan 1, 2010

Results obtained with a novel emotional Go/NoGo task allowing the investigation of facial mimicry... more Results obtained with a novel emotional Go/NoGo task allowing the investigation of facial mimicry (FM) during the production and inhibition of voluntary smiles are discussed. Healthy participants were asked to smile rapidly to happy faces and maintain a neutral expression to neutral faces, or the reverse. Replicating and extending previous results, happy faces induced FM, as shown by stronger and faster zygomatic activation to happy than neutral faces in Go trials, and a greater number of false alarms to happy faces in NoGo trials. Facial mimicry effects remained present during participants’ active inhibition of facial movement. Latencies of FM were short with 126–250 ms in Go trials, and 251–375 ms in NoGo trials. The utility of the Go/NoGo task, which allows the assessment of response inhibition in the domain of facial expression by installing strong prepotent motor responses via short stimulus presentation times and a great number of Go trials, is discussed.

The neurophysiological study of emotion regulation focused on the strategy of reappraisal, i.e. t... more The neurophysiological study of emotion regulation focused on the strategy of reappraisal, i.e. the cognitive reinterpretation of a stimulus. Reappraisal reduces emotional expression, the experience of both negative and positive feelings, and the amplitude of an event-related potential (ERP) – the late positive potential (LPP). In contrast, the strategy of expressive suppression (ES), being the inhibition of emotional expression, has been reported to reduce subjective feelings of positive, but not negative emotion, and was not yet investigated with ERPs. We focused on the LPP to assess the correlates of ES in the context of humor perception. Twenty-two female participants rated sequences of humorous (H) and non-humorous (NH) pictures, while their zygomaticus muscle was recorded. A Spontaneous (SP) condition, in which participants attended naturally to the pictures, resulted in higher ratings of funniness, increased smiling, and increased LPP amplitude for H compared to NH stimuli. An ES condition, in which participants suppressed their facial reactions, resulted in reduced smiling, without affecting subjective ratings. LPP amplitude did not differ between H and NH stimuli during ES, suggesting equal allocation of processing resources to both stimuli. These results suggest that, similarly to reappraisal, ES modifies the way the brain processes positive emotional stimuli.

Individuals often need to negotiate how to distribute jointly produced goods-equally (e.g., 50:50... more Individuals often need to negotiate how to distribute jointly produced goods-equally (e.g., 50:50) or equitably (e.g., proportionally to their contributions). We examined whether people have stable preferences, or whether they switch between equality and equity in different situations. Pairs of anonymous participants first produced a common pie, and then distributed it in an ultimatum game. Results suggest that individuals apply different justice principles depending on their contribution. When they produced less than 50%, proposers divided the pie equally. However, when they produced more than 50%, their offers fell between equality and equity. Responders' ratings of fairness and satisfaction varied similarly; with low production, equality was preferred, whereas with high production, equity was preferred. Nevertheless, equal and equitable offers were generally accepted, and only outright unfair offers were rejected. This suggests that individuals are relatively flexible about which justice principle should be applied, but punish proposers whose offers violate both principles.

Consciousness and Cognition, 2008

In this paper we discuss the issue of the processes potentially underlying the emergence of emoti... more In this paper we discuss the issue of the processes potentially underlying the emergence of emotional consciousness in the light of theoretical considerations and empirical evidence. First, we argue that componential emotion models, and specifically the Component Process Model (CPM), may be better able to account for the emergence of feelings than basic emotion or dimensional models. Second, we advance the hypothesis that consciousness of emotional reactions emerges when lower levels of processing are not sufficient to cope with the event and regulate the emotional process, particularly when the degree of synchronization between the components reaches a critical level and duration. Third, we review recent neuroscience evidence that bolsters our claim of the central importance of the synchronization of neuronal assemblies at different levels of processing.

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 2011

To investigate the perception of emotional facial expressions, researchers rely on shared sets of... more To investigate the perception of emotional facial expressions, researchers rely on shared sets of photos or videos, most often generated by actor portrayals. The drawback of such standardized material is a lack of flexibility and controllability, as it does not allow the systematic parametric manipulation of specific features of facial expressions on the one hand, and of more general properties of the facial identity (age, ethnicity, gender) on the other. To remedy this problem, we developed FACSGen: a novel tool that allows the creation of realistic synthetic 3D facial stimuli, both static and dynamic, based on the Facial Action Coding System. FACSGen provides researchers with total control over facial action units, and corresponding informational cues in 3D synthetic faces. We present four studies validating both the software and the general methodology of systematically generating controlled facial expression patterns for stimulus presentation.

Neural Networks, 2005

While artificial neural networks are regularly employed in modeling the perception of facial and ... more While artificial neural networks are regularly employed in modeling the perception of facial and vocal emotion expression as well as in automatic expression decoding by artificial agents, this approach is yet to be extended to the modeling of emotion elicitation and differentiation. In part, this may be due to the dominance of discrete and dimensional emotion models, which have not encouraged computational modeling. This situation has changed with the advent of appraisal theories of emotion and a number of attempts to develop rule-based models can be found in the literature. However, most of these models operate at a high level of conceptual abstraction and rarely include the underlying neural architecture. In this contribution, an appraisal-based emotion theory, the Component Process Model (CPM), is described that seems particularly suited to modeling with the help of artificial neural network approaches. This is due to its high degree of specificity in postulating underlying mechanisms including efferent physiological and behavioral manifestations as well as to the possibility of linking the theoretical assumptions to underlying neural architectures and dynamic processes. This paper provides a brief overview of the model, suggests constraints imposed by neural circuits, and provides examples on how the temporal unfolding of emotion can be conceptualized and experimentally tested. In addition, it is shown that the specific characteristics of emotion episodes can be profitably explored with the help of non-linear dynamic systems theory. q

Progress in Brain Research, 2006

The vocal expression of human emotions is embedded within language and the study of intonation ha... more The vocal expression of human emotions is embedded within language and the study of intonation has to take into account two interacting levels of information--emotional and semantic meaning. In addition to the discussion of this dual coding system, an extension of Brunswik&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;#39;s lens model is proposed. This model includes the influences of conventions, norms, and display rules (pull effects) and psychobiological mechanisms (push effects) on emotional vocalizations produced by the speaker (encoding) and the reciprocal influences of these two aspects on attributions made by the listener (decoding), allowing the dissociation and systematic study of the production and perception of intonation. Three empirical studies are described as examples of possibilities of dissociating these different phenomena at the behavioral and neurological levels in the study of intonation.

NeuroImage, 2005

Multiple levels of processing are thought to be involved in the appraisal of emotionally relevant... more Multiple levels of processing are thought to be involved in the appraisal of emotionally relevant events, with some processes being engaged relatively independently of attention, whereas other processes may depend on attention and current task goals or context. We conducted an event-related fMRI experiment to examine how processing angry voice prosody, an affectively and socially salient signal, is modulated by voluntary attention. To manipulate attention orthogonally to emotional prosody, we used a dichotic listening paradigm in which meaningless utterances, pronounced with either angry or neutral prosody, were presented simultaneously to both ears on each trial. In two successive blocks, participants selectively attended to either the left or right ear and performed a gender-decision on the voice heard on the target side. Our results revealed a functional dissociation between different brain areas. Whereas the right amygdala and bilateral superior temporal sulcus responded to anger prosody irrespective of whether it was heard from a to-be-attended or to-be-ignored voice, the orbitofrontal cortex and the cuneus in medial occipital cortex showed greater activation to the same emotional stimuli when the angry voice was to-be-attended rather than to-be-ignored. Furthermore, regression analyses revealed a strong correlation between orbitofrontal regions and sensitivity on a behavioral inhibition scale measuring proneness to anxiety reactions. Our results underscore the importance of emotion and attention interactions in social cognition by demonstrating that multiple levels of processing are involved in the appraisal of emotionally relevant cues in voices, and by showing a modulation of some emotional responses by both the current task-demands and individual differences. D

Brain Topography, 2008

It is argued that reliable acoustic profiles of speech under stress can only be found if differen... more It is argued that reliable acoustic profiles of speech under stress can only be found if different types of stress are clearly distinguished and experimentally induced. We report first results of a study with 100 speakers from three language groups, using a computer-based induction procedure that allows distinguishing cognitive load due to task engagement from psychological stress. Findings show significant effects of load, and partly of stress, for speech rate, energy contour, F0, and spectral parameters. It is further suggested that the mean results for the complete sample of speakers do not reflect the amplitude of stress effects on the voice. Future research should isolate and focus on speakers for whom the psychological stress induction has been successful.

Emotion, 2011

Do affective responses to odors vary as a function of culture? To address this question, we devel... more Do affective responses to odors vary as a function of culture? To address this question, we developed two self-report scales in the United Kingdom (Liverpool: LEOS) and in Singapore (city of Singapore: SEOS), following the same procedure as used in the past to develop the Geneva Emotion and Odor Scale (GEOS: Chrea, Grandjean, Delplanque et al., 2009). The final scales were obtained by a three-step reduction of an initial pool of 480 affective terms, retaining only the most relevant terms to describe odor-related subjective affective states and comprised of six (GEOS) or seven affective dimensions (LEOS and SEOS). These included dimensions that were common to the three cultures (Disgust, Happiness Well-being, Sensuality Desire, and Energy), common to the two European samples (Soothing Peacefulness), and dimensions that were culture specific (Sensory Pleasure in Geneva; Nostalgia and Hunger Thirst in Liverpool; Intellectual Stimulation, Spirituality, and Negative Feelings in Singapore). A comparative approach showed that the dimensional organization of odor-related affective terms in a given culture better explained data variability for that culture than data variability for the other cultures, thus highlighting the importance of culturespecific tools in the investigation of odor-related affect.

Neuropsychologia, 2008

The response of attention systems to emotional stimuli has been intensively investigated in the v... more The response of attention systems to emotional stimuli has been intensively investigated in the visual modality. Several findings suggest that neural mechanisms influencing selective attention towards emotional stimuli involve brain systems that are partly independent of cortical networks associated with the control of voluntary attention. To test this hypothesis in the auditory modality, we used a dichotic-listening paradigm in six right-hemisphere patients with left spatial neglect syndrome and left ear extinction during bilateral auditory stimulation. Three different meaningless emotional prosodic utterances (anger, fear, and happiness) were presented to the right or left ear, either alone or paired with another neutral utterance on the other side. Results showed fewer misses for emotional relative to neutral stimuli presented to the left ear, for all emotion categories, including happiness. In addition, we also examined the correlation between the site of brain lesions and the performance of patients for reporting left-ear stimuli. This exploratory anatomical analysis suggested that the relative advantage for emotional over neutral voices may be modulated by the site and extent of brain damage. This modulation consists of reduced influences of emotional prosody in patients with lesions in right ventral prefrontal lobe or right superior temporal cortex. Taken together, our results have provided new evidence that emotional attention mechanisms may be triggered in the auditory modality by negative and positive vocal stimuli.

Emotion, 2009

Emotion recognition ability has been identified as a central component of emotional competence. W... more Emotion recognition ability has been identified as a central component of emotional competence. We describe the development of an instrument that objectively measures this ability on the basis of actor portrayals of dynamic expressions of 10 emotions (2 variants each for 5 emotion families), operationalized as recognition accuracy in 4 presentation modes combining the visual and auditory sense modalities (audio/video, audio only, video only, still picture). Data from a large validation study, including construct validation using related tests (Profile are reported. The results show the utility of a test designed to measure both coarse and fine-grained emotion differentiation and modality-specific skills. Factor analysis of the data suggests 2 separate abilities, visual and auditory recognition, which seem to be largely independent of personality dispositions.