Back to Search
Start Over
The visual analysis of emotional actions
The visual analysis of emotional actions
- Source :
- Social Neuroscience. 1:63-74
- Publication Year :
- 2006
- Publisher :
- Informa UK Limited, 2006.
-
Abstract
- Is the visual analysis of human actions modulated by the emotional content of those actions? This question is motivated by a consideration of the neuroanatomical connections between visual and emotional areas. Specifically, the superior temporal sulcus (STS), known to play a critical role in the visual detection of action, is extensively interconnected with the amygdala, a center for emotion processing. To the extent that amygdala activity influences STS activity, one would expect to find systematic differences in the visual detection of emotional actions. A series of psychophysical studies tested this prediction. Experiment 1 identified point-light walker movies that convincingly depicted five different emotional states: happiness, sadness, neutral, anger, and fear. In Experiment 2, participants performed a walker detection task with these movies. Detection performance was systematically modulated by the emotional content of the gaits. Participants demonstrated the greatest visual sensitivity to angry walkers. The results of Experiment 3 suggest that local velocity cues to anger may account for high false alarm rates to the presence of angry gaits. These results support the hypothesis that the visual analysis of human action depends upon emotion processes.
- Subjects :
- Social Psychology
Movement
media_common.quotation_subject
Emotions
Motion Perception
Poison control
Superior temporal sulcus
Development
Anger
Amygdala
Sadness
Behavioral Neuroscience
medicine.anatomical_structure
Action (philosophy)
Happiness
medicine
Humans
False alarm
Autistic Disorder
Psychology
Gait
Social psychology
Photic Stimulation
media_common
Cognitive psychology
Subjects
Details
- ISSN :
- 17470927 and 17470919
- Volume :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- Social Neuroscience
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....410f403353d6fb37e9d05fe6cd23cbd0
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/17470910600630599