Emotional states, attitudes and intentions are often conveyed by modulations in the tone of voice. Impaired recognition of emotions from a tone of voice (receptive prosody) has been described as characteristic symptoms of schizophrenia. However, the ability to express non-verbal information in speech (expressive prosody) has been understudied. This paper describes a useful technique for quantifying the degree of expressive prosody deficits in schizophrenia, using a semi-automatic method, and evaluates this method's ability to discriminate between patient and control groups. Forty-five medicated patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia were matched with thirty-five healthy comparison subjects. Production of expressive prosodic speech was analyzed using variation in fundamental frequency (F0) measures on an emotionally neutral reading task. Results revealed that patients with schizophrenia exhibited significantly more pauses (p < .001), were slower (p < .001), and showed less pitch variability in speech (p < .05) and fewer variations in syllable timing (p < .001) than control subjects. These features have been associated with «flat» speech prosody. Signal processing algorithms applied to speech were shown to be capable of discriminating between patients and controls with an accuracy of 93.8%. These speech parameters may have a diagnostic and prognosis value and therefore could be used as a dependent measure in clinical trials.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/sjp.2015.85 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Affectivity as stance: multimodal stance-taking in audiovisual documentations of Polish and German parliamentary debates.
Front Psychol
November 2024
Faculty of Modern Languages and Literature, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.
This paper presents a media-aesthetic framework to study affectivity as a stance. This framework opens up a new perspective on multimodal affective stance-taking in the context of specific media ecologies. It exemplifies this new approach with case studies of the official audiovisual documentation of political debates in the German Bundestag and the Polish Sejm.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeuropsychology of social cognition: culture, display rules, and emotional expressivity.
J Clin Exp Neuropsychol
November 2024
Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, USA.
Introduction: We investigated the roles of group ethnicity and display rules of emotions in the neuropsychology of social cognition in Asian American and White participants recruited from a majority-minority college campus.
Method: 128 participants (mean age = 24.9 years) completed: 1) Advanced Clinical Solutions-Social Perception (ACS-SP), which includes separate measures of affect naming of facial expressions and emotional prosody interpretation of audio statements; 2) Display Rule Assessment Inventory (DRAI), a self-report measure of emotional expressivity across four settings (family, close friends, colleagues, and strangers) and in two distinct domains (should/actual) that asks participants what they believe people should do (social value) and what they would actually do (behavioral self-report).
Can acoustic measurements predict gender perception in the voice?
PLoS One
November 2024
Department of Human Development, Universidade Estadual de Campinas-UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil.
Purpose: To determine if there is an association between vocal gender presentation and the gender and context of the listener.
Method: Quantitative and transversal study. 47 speakers of Brazilian Portuguese of different genders were recorded.
Oral Reading Prosody and Comprehension in Persons With Aphasia: A Preliminary Investigation.
Am J Speech Lang Pathol
December 2024
Department of Speech Pathology & Audiology, University of South Alabama, Mobile.
Article Synopsis
- This study examined the reading prosody of individuals with aphasia (PWA) compared to neurotypical controls to see how it affects reading comprehension.
- Six PWA and six matched neurotypical controls read aloud from a paragraph and then answered comprehension questions, with prosodic features analyzed using software.
- Results indicated significant differences in pauses and syllable durations between the groups, suggesting that certain prosodic features in PWA may relate to their comprehension ability, prompting the need for further research with a larger sample size.
A Louder Call for the Integration of Multiple Nonverbal Channels in the Study of Affect.
Affect Sci
September 2024
Department of Psychology, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada.
Article Synopsis
- Affective science is expanding its approach to studying emotions by combining self-reports, language, physiological responses, and nonverbal signals, but often emphasizes facial expressions over other nonverbal cues.
- The Commentary urges researchers to include a wider array of nonverbal behaviors—like gestures, body posture, and vocal tones—in their emotional studies for a more comprehensive understanding.
- The discussion uses vocal cues as an example to highlight the challenges and potential benefits of integrating various nonverbal channels in understanding emotional expression and communication.
Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!