How Do We Recognize Emotion From Movement? Specific Motor Components Contribute to the Recognition of Each Emotion

Frontiers in Psychology

article

Ayelet Melzer¹  Tal Shafir²  Rachelle Palnick Tsachor³ 

[1] Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, The Graduate School of Creative Arts Therapies, University of Haifa;The Emili Sagol Creative Arts Therapies Research Center, University of Haifa;School of Theater and Music, University of Illinois at Chicago, United States

关键词: emotion recognition;    Laban movement analysis;    motor;    emotion;    movement;    bodily emotional expressions;    dance-movement therapy;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fpsyg.2019.01389

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Are there movement features that are recognized as expressing each basic emotion by most people, and what are they? In our previous study we identified sets of Laban movement components that, when moved, elicited the basic emotions of anger, sadness, fear, and happiness. Our current study aimed to investigate if movements composed from those sets would be recognized as expressing those emotions, regardless of any instruction to the mover to portray emotion. Our stimuli included 113 video-clips of five Certified Laban Movement Analysts (CMAs) moving combinations of two to four movement components from each set associated with only one emotion: happiness, sadness, fear, or anger. Each three second clip showed one CMA moving a single combination. The CMAs moved only the combination's required components. Sixty-two physically and mentally healthy men ( n = 31) and women ( n = 31), ages 19–48, watched the clips and rated the perceived emotion and its intensity. To confirm participants' ability to recognize emotions from movement and to compare our stimuli to existing validated emotional expression stimuli, participants rated 50 additional clips of bodily motor expressions of these same emotions validated by Atkinson et al. ( 2004 ). Results showed that for both stimuli types, all emotions were recognized far above chance level. Comparing recognition accuracy of the two clip types revealed better recognition of anger, fear, and neutral emotion from Atkinson's clips of actors expressing emotions, and similar levels of recognition accuracy for happiness and sadness. Further analysis was performed to determine the contribution of specific movement components to the recognition of the studied emotions. Our results indicated that these specific Laban motor components not only enhance feeling the associated emotions when moved, but also contribute to recognition of the associated emotions when being observed, even when the mover was not instructed to portray emotion, indicating that the presence of these movement components alone is sufficient for emotion recognition. This research-based knowledge regarding the relationship between Laban motor components and bodily emotional expressions can be used by dance-movement and drama therapists for better understanding of clients' emotional movements, for creating appropriate interventions, and for enhancing communication with other practitioners regarding bodily emotional expression.

【 授权许可】

CC BY