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Enhanced Experience of Emotional Arousal in Response to Dynamic Facial Expressions

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Abstract

In this study, we investigated the emotional effect of dynamic presentation of facial expressions. Dynamic and static facial expressions of negative and positive emotions were presented using computer-morphing (Experiment 1) and videos of natural changes (Experiment 2), as well as other dynamic and static mosaic images. Participants rated the valence and arousal of their emotional response to the stimuli. The participants consistently reported higher arousal responses to dynamic than to static presentation of facial expressions and mosaic images for both valences. Dynamic presentation had no effect on the valence ratings. These results suggest that dynamic presentation of emotional facial expressions enhances the overall emotional experience without a corresponding qualitative change in the experience, although this effect is not specific to facial images.

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Notes

  1. In contrast to this view, some researchers have proposed that arousal indicates the quality of emotional experience, which is different from that of valence (e.g., Russell, 1989). To clarify this issue, we replicated Experiment 1 and measured intensity, instead of arousal, with 15 participants. The results were almost identical to those of Experiment 1: The valence ratings indicated that participants experienced a negative subjective emotion in response to fearful faces and a positive emotion in response to happy faces, and that dynamic presentation had no effect on the valence ratings; The results of the intensity ratings indicated that dynamically presented stimuli were rated as highly intense relative to static stimuli. These results suggest that, at least for emotional experience in response to dynamic faces and their mosaics, arousal and intensity can be used interchangeably.

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Acknowledgements

The authors heartily thank Dr. Robert F. Simons, Dr. Monica Harris, and anonymous reviewers for their helpful advice. This study was supported by Special Coordination Funds for promoting Science and Technology from the Science and Technology Agency of the Japanese government, and by a Research Fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Comparative Study of Cognitive Development (funded by Benesse Corporation), Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Kanrin, Inuyama, Aichi, 484-8506, Japan

    Wataru Sato

  2. Department of Cognitive Psychology in Education, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Sakiko Yoshikawa

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  1. Wataru Sato
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  2. Sakiko Yoshikawa
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Correspondence to Wataru Sato.

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Sato, W., Yoshikawa, S. Enhanced Experience of Emotional Arousal in Response to Dynamic Facial Expressions. J Nonverbal Behav 31, 119–135 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-007-0025-7

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