Unmasking the psychology of recognizing emotions of people wearing masks: The role of empathizing, systemizing, and autistic traits.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of people around the world have been wearing masks. This has negatively affected the reading of facial emotions. In the current study, the ability of participants' emotional recognition of faces and the eye region alone (similar to viewing masked faces) was analyzed in conjunction with psychological factors such as their capacity to empathize, systemize and the degree of autistic traits.

Social Eavesdropping: Can You Hear the Emotionality in a "Hello" That Is Not Meant for You?

The study examined third-party listeners' ability to detect the Hellos spoken to prevalidated happy, neutral, and sad facial expressions. The average detection accuracies from the happy and sad (HS), happy and neutral (HN), and sad and neutral (SN) listening tests followed the average vocal pitch differences between the two sets of Hellos in each of the tests; HS and HN detection accuracies were above chance reflecting the significant pitch differences between the respective Hellos. The SN detection accuracy was at chance reflecting the lack of pitch difference between sad and neutral Hellos.

Are Vocal Pitch Changes in Response to Facial Expressions of Emotions Potential Cues of Empathy? A Preliminary Report.

Previous research has demonstrated that even brief exposures to facial expressions of emotions elicit facial mimicry in receivers in the form of corresponding facial muscle movements. As well, vocal and verbal patterns of speakers converge in conversations, a type of vocal mimicry. There is also evidence of cross-modal mimicry in which emotional vocalizations elicit corresponding facial muscle activity.

The Bouba-Kiki Phenomenon Tested via Schematic Drawings of Facial Expressions: Further Validation of the Internal Simulation Hypothesis.

Sound-shape associations involving consistent matching of nonsense words such as 'bouba' and 'kiki' with curved and angular shapes, respectively, have been replicated in several studies. The purpose of the current study was to examine the robustness of previously noted sound-shape associations when shape variations (angular and curvy) are embedded in schematic expressions of emotions (sad and happy). Results revealed consistent matching tendencies based on sound-emotion expression mapping irrespective of the particular shape of the expressions.

The linguistic and cognitive factors associated with lexical-gustatory synesthesia: A case study.

Past research on lexical-gustatory synesthesia (people who associate words with tastes) has shown that linguistic factors underlie the inducer (word)-concurrent (taste) mappings in these individuals. The developmental cognitive model envisioned by Simner and Haywood (2009), and an extension of it proposed in this paper can be used to understand these linguistic associations. The first aim of the current case study was to test these models by examining the linguistic factors associated with this type of synesthesia.

The relationship between phonological memory, phonological sensitivity, and incidental word learning.

This study investigated the cognitive abilities needed to succeed at incidental word learning, specifically by examining the role of phonological memory and phonological sensitivity in novel word learning by 4-year-olds who were typically developing. Forty 4-year-olds were administered a test of nonword repetition (to investigate phonological memory), rhyming and phoneme alliteration tasks (to investigate phonological sensitivity), and an incidental word learning task (via a computer-based presentation of a cartoon story). A multiple regression analysis revealed that nonword repetition scores did not contribute significantly to incidental word learning.

Fast mapping in healthy young adults: the influence of metamemory.

Several research studies suggest the significant role played by metamemory in lexical abilities of both adults and children. To our knowledge, there have been no studies to date that have explored the role of metamemory (Judgments of Learning) in fast mapping of novel words by adults. One hundred and twelve undergraduate students were given tasks of fast mapping and judgments of learning.

On whether mirror neurons play a significant role in processing affective prosody.

Several behavioral and neuroimaging studies have indicated that both right and left cortical structures and a few subcortical ones are involved in processing affective prosody. Recent investigations have shown that the mirror neuron system plays a crucial role in several higher-level functions such as empathy, theory of mind, language, etc., but no studies so far link the mirror neuron system with affective prosody.

The role of mirror neurons in processing vocal emotions: evidence from psychophysiological data.

Recent evidence suggests that the mirror neuron system may serve as a common neural substrate for processing motor, linguistic, emotional, and other higher-level cognitive information. The current study employed psychophysiological methods to elucidate the role of this system in processing vocal emotions. Skin conductance and heart rate were measured for 25 undergraduate students while they were both listening to emotional vocalizations and also thinking (internal production) about them.