Does Vocalization Increase the Positive Valence of Emotion?

Purpose: This study aims to determine if the act of voicing can have an effect on mood.
Design: A within-participant reversal paradigm, where each participant served as their own control.
Methods: Following a baseline condition, 40 participants (8 male, 32 female, none disclosed as other) underwent three experimental conditions: breathing, articulating, and voicing. After each condition, participants underwent a picture-viewing emotion-induction paradigm using the International Affective Picture System followed by rating their current mood and arousal.
Results: Immediately following the articulating condition, aversive pictures were rated as less unpleasant compared with the other conditions. Additionally, arousal levels were rated lower immediately following the articulating and voicing conditions in response to the positive pictures.
Conclusions: The findings showed that the act of making speech sounds, not simply voicing by itself, may influence the way we process emotions.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None.
(Copyright © 2024 The Voice Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)