Original source: SimoleonSense.com .
Very interesting research for non verbal communication nerds..
H/T Derick Bownds
Abstract (via PNAS)
Emotional signals are crucial for sharing important information, with conspecifics, for example, to warn humans of danger. Humans use a range of different cues to communicate to others how they feel, including facial, vocal, and gestural signals. We examined the recognition of nonverbal emotional vocalizations, such as screams and laughs, across two dramatically different cultural groups. Western participants were compared to individuals from remote, culturally isolated Namibian villages. Vocalizations communicating the so-called “basic emotions” (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise) were bidirectionally recognized. In contrast, a set of additional emotions was only recognized within, but not across, cultural boundaries. Our findings indicate that a number of primarily negative emotions have vocalizations that can be recognized across cultures, while most positive emotions are communicated with culture-specific signals.
Introduction (via PNAS)
Despite differences in language, culture, and ecology, some human characteristics are similar in people all over the world. Because we share the vast majority of our genetic makeup with all other humans, there is great similarity in the physical features that are typical for our species, even though minor characteristics vary between individuals. Like many physical features, aspects of the human psychology are shared. These psychological universals can inform arguments about what features of the human mind are part of our shared biological heritage and which are predominantly products of culture and language. For example, all human societies have complex systems of communication to convey their thoughts, feelings, and intentions to those around them (1). However, although there are some commonalities between different communicative systems, speakers of different languages cannot understand each others’ words and sentences. Other aspects of communicative systems do not rely on common lexical codes and may be shared across linguistic and cultural borders. Emotional signals are an example of a communicative system that may constitute a psychological universal.
Humans use a range of cues to communicate emotions, including vocalizations, facial expressions, and posture Auditory signals allow for affective communication when the recipient cannot see the sender, for example, across a distance or at night. Infants are sensitive to vocal cues from the very beginning of life, when their visual system is still relatively immature .
Vocal expressions of emotions can occur overlaid on speech in the form of affective prosody. However, humans also make use of a range of nonverbal vocalizations to communicate how they feel, such as screams and laughs. In this study, we investigate whether certain nonverbal emotional vocalizations communicate the same affective states regardless of the listener’s culture. Currently, the only available cross-cultural data of vocal signals come from studies of emotional prosody in speech (6 –8). This work has indicated that listeners can infer some affective states from emotionally inflected speech across cultural boundaries. However, no study to date has investigated emotion recognition from the voice in a population that has had no exposure to other cultural groups through media or personal contact. Furthermore, emotional information overlaid on speech is restricted by several factors, such as the segmental and prosodic structure of the language and constraints on the movement of the articulators. In contrast, nonverbal vocalizations are relatively “pure” expressions of emotions. Without the simultaneous transmission of verbal information, the articulators (e.g., lips, tongue, larynx) can move freely, allowing for the use of a wider range of acoustic cues (9).
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