Proceedings of the 7th Sound and Music Computing Conference

Proceedings of the SMC2010 - 7th Sound and Music Computing Conference, July 21st - July 24th 2010

A Gaussian mixture regression approach toward modeling the affective dynamics between acoustically-derived vocal arousal score (VC-AS) and internal brain fMRI bold signal response

[[abstract]]Understanding the underlying neuro-perceptual mechanism of humans' ability to decode emotional content in vocal signal is an important research direction. In this paper, we describe our initial research effort into quantitatively modeling the joint dynamics between measures of vocal arousal and blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals. We utilize Gaussian mixture regression approach to predict the invoked BOLD signal response as the subject is exposed to various levels of continuous vocal arousal stimuli. The proposed framework is built upon measures of vocal arousal from acoustically-derived features, and we obtain a reasonable predictive correlation to the true BOLD signal for the seven emotionally-related brain regions. Further experiment also demonstrates that there exists a more explanatory power of using signal-derived arousal measure to the internal BOLD signal responses compared to using human annotated arousal in the construction of Gaussian mixture regression modeling

Attention Restraint, Working Memory Capacity, and Mind Wandering: Do Emotional Valence or Intentionality Matter?

Attention restraint appears to mediate the relationship between working memory capacity (WMC) and mind wandering (Kane et al., 2016). Prior work has identifed two dimensions of mind wandering—emotional valence and intentionality. However, less is known about how WMC and attention restraint correlate with these dimensions. Te current study examined the relationship between WMC, attention restraint, and mind wandering by emotional valence and intentionality. A confrmatory factor analysis demonstrated that WMC and attention restraint were strongly correlated, but only attention restraint was related to overall mind wandering, consistent with prior fndings. However, when examining the emotional valence of mind wandering, attention restraint and WMC were related to negatively and positively valenced, but not neutral, mind wandering. Attention restraint was also related to intentional but not unintentional mind wandering. Tese results suggest that WMC and attention restraint predict some, but not all, types of mind wandering