Article
Recognition of all basic emotions varies in accuracy and reaction time: A new verbal method of measurement
To study different aspects of facial emotion recognition, valid methods are needed. The more widespread methods have some limitations. We propose a more ecological method that consists of presenting dynamic faces and measuring verbal reaction times. We presented 120 video clips depicting a gradual change from a neutral expression to a basic emotion (anger, disgust, fear, happiness, sadness and surprise), and recorded hit rates and reaction times of verbal labelling of emotions. Our results showed that verbal responses to six basic emotions differed in hit rates and reaction times: happiness > surprise > disgust > anger > sadness > fear (this means these emotional responses were more accurate and faster). Generally, our data are in accordance with previous findings, but our differentiation of responses is better than the data from previous experiments on six basic emotions.
When touching different objects, we process their emotional qualities: some objects are pleasant to the touch, while others are not. The neural correlates of affective processing of touch are mostly investigated via stimulation of CT afferents, which innervate only hairy skin and encode affective properties of the stimuli. However, emotional qualities of touch can be processed via glabrous skin as well, despite the absence of CT afferents. In the present fMRI study, we investigated the neural mechanisms of affective processing of touch in glabrous skin. Participants touched various textures, evaluating them on emotional scales (cruel-kind, unpleasant-pleasant). We found that the angular gyrus and supramarginal gyrus are more active for textures evaluated as “cruel” as opposed to “kind” ones. The secondary somatosensory cortex, caudate and superior frontal gyrus are more active for textures evaluated as “unpleasant” as opposed to “pleasant” ones. Overall, the study shows how some affective properties of touch can be processed beyond the CT afferents system.
Cross-modal associations appear when a stimulus from one modality associates with a stimulus from another modality (e.g., when color associates with sound). In the present study we investigated cross-modal correspondences between films and textures. Participants watched fragments of movies with elements of tragedy and comedy. Next, they touched different textures (e.g., silk, marble, velvet) and associated them with the movies. Systematic links were found between films and textures. Films with comic elements were associated with glass pebbles and a slime toy. The study also tested the emotion-mediation hypothesis wherein emotional evaluation mediates cross-modal associations between cinema and textures. It was found that the evaluation of movies and textures on several emotional and semantic scales (e.g., sad, happy, clean, dirty) mediates cross-modal associations.
The paper considers semantic structure of emotion causatives and their interaction with negation, namely, its narrow or wide scope. Emotion causatives are defined as a group of causatives with their specific semantic properties that distinguish them from other groups of causatives. One of those properties concerns their relation with corresponding decausatives, which, unlike causatives, do not license wide scope of negation. There are several factors that enable negation to have scope over the causative element in emotion causatives – their imperfective aspect, generic referential status of the causative NP phrase, agentivity and conativity of the causative. Non-agentive causatives never license the negation of the causative component. Agentive conative causatives license the negation of the causative component more frequently and easily than agentive non-conative causatives, prompting the assumption that in their semantic structures the causative component has different statuses (assertion in the former, presupposition in the latter). It also has different forms for conatives and non-conatives. Conativity vs. non-conativity of emotion causatives is related to the emotion type, with conative synthetic causatives being limited to basic emotions. The greatest degree of conativity and, hence, the assertive status of the causative component characterizes three emotion causatives – zlit’ ‘to make mad’, veselit’ ‘to cheer up’, and pugat’ ‘to frighten’.
Key words: causative, decausative, agentive, conative, intentional, presupposition, assertion, semantic structure, basic emotions
School engagement reflects the degree to which students are invested, motivated and willing to participate in learning at their school and this relates to future academic and professional success. Although school engagement is a primary factor predicting educational dropout or successful school completion in Europe and North America, little is known about school engagement factors in non-English speaking countries. We adapted a 15-item school engagement scale and assessed validity and reliability of the Russian translation on a sample of Russian school-aged children (N = 537, 6-12 years, 46% females) who attended at public schools in Moscow. Results of the final factorial structure that included emotional, cognitive and behavioral components were selected based on its excellent fit indices and principles of parsimony. Component results show that the emotional component has the highest internal consistency and the behavioral component has the lowest. Although, all components are significantly interrelated, we observed no gender differences and no significant correlation with age. Theoretically, our data agree with the notion that children's emotional engagement in schools sets the foundation for learning, participating and succeeding in school activities. Practically, the proposed scale in Russian can be used in educational and clinical settings with Russian speaking children. our data agree with the notion that children's emotional engagement in schools sets the foundation for learning, participating and succeeding in school activities. Practically, the proposed scale in Russian can be used in educational and clinical settings with Russian speaking children. our data agree with the notion that children's emotional engagement in schools sets the foundation for learning, participating and succeeding in school activities. Practically, the proposed scale in Russian can be used in educational and clinical settings with Russian speaking children.
The paper presents corpus-driven semantic analysis of Russian classic elegy introduced in poetic heritage of V. Zhukovsky, E. Baratynsky, and A. Pushkin. Contemporaries criticized classic elegy for eulogizing sadness and disappointment, and even claimed sorrow as a genre feature. This study addresses correlations between common impression of sorrow and actual emotional nominations in lyric of three Russian masters of the classy elegy. Сontrary to all expectations, the most diverse emotional nominations denote joy and happiness, whereas lexemes referring to sorrow and anxiety are less frequent. The analysis also reveals stylistic distinctions between the poets. While emotional nominations of Pushkin's and Zhukovsky's elegies mostly councide, the Baratynsky's elegies demonstrate narrow spectrum of feelings and mostly concentrate around love rather than philosophical meditation and emotional distress.
Four issues are discussed: (1) differences between cognition and emotion; (2) affect, emotion, and motivation differentials, including a neuropsychological model of motivation; (3) mental attention (working memory) as a resource neither affective nor cognitive, but applicable to both; and (4) explication of neuropsychological scheme units, which have neuronal circuits as functional infrastructure, thus helping to clarify the semantics of functional connectivity.
This article explores the intellectual history of the concept of “feeling of justice” and related concepts and the attempts to make them central to legal practice in the context of early 20th century Russia. It starts by tracing the emergence of new modes of thinking about judicial emotion in fin-de-siècle Russian Empire and accounts for both international and local influences on these ideas. It further examines the development of these theories after the 1917 Russian Revolution and notes both continuities and ruptures across this revolutionary divide. Finally, the article explores the attempts to put these radical ideas into practice by focusing on the experimental legal model of “revolutionary justice” that was employed in Soviet Russia between 1917 and 1922 which highlights the discrepancies between bold utopian projects and harsh material realities of the revolutionary period.