Models of Emotion

There are alternative models, which are based on the evaluation of certain properties, based on physiology or evolutionary psychology. Classical philosophers have addressed emotions as responses to certain types of events that are related to a subject, causing bodily and behavioral changes. In the last century emotions were neglected, being considered a disturbing factor. Lately, emotions have returned to the attention of philosophers and psychologists, corroborating them with other disciplines such as psychology, neurology, evolutionary biology and even economics. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.28869.0688

Does modularity undermine the pro‐emotion consensus?

There is a growing consensus that emotions contribute positively to human practical rationality. While arguments that defend this position often appeal to the modularity of emotion-generation mechanisms, these arguments are also susceptible to the criticism, e.g. by Jones (2006), that emotional modularity supports pessimism about the prospects of emotions contributing positively to practical rationality here and now. This paper aims to respond to this criticism by demonstrating how models of emotion processing can accommodate the sorts of cognitive influence required to make the pro-emotion position plausible whilst exhibiting key elements of modularity

Looks of Love and Loathing:Cultural Models of Vision and Emotion in Ancient Greek Culture

International audienceThis paper considers the intersection of cultural models of emotion, specifically love and envy, with folk and scientific models of vision in Greek antiquity. Though the role of the eyes in the expression of these emotions can intersect with widespread beliefs in vision as a «haptic», material process, analogous to touch and involving physical contact between perceiver and perceived, none the less the emotional concepts resist absorption into a single over-arching theory of the physical effects of seeing and being seen. The specific cultural models of vision («active», «passive», and «interactive») are enlisted in support of cultural models of emotion where they fit, modified where they fit less well, and ignored when they do not fit at all.Cette étude s’occupe de l’interaction des modèles culturels de l’émotion. Plus particulièrement elle examine l’amour et la jalousie, notamment en rapport avec les modèles populaires et scientifiques de la vision tels qu’ils étaient perçus dans l’antiquité. Alors que le rôle joué par les yeux dans l’expression des émotions s’entrelace avec les croyances largement répandues sur la vision comme processus matériel tactile équivalent au touché et provoquant un contact physique direct entre celui qui perçoit et celui qui est perçu, les concepts émotionnels semblent résister à une théorie unique et globalisante couvrant les effets physiques du regard et de la vue. Les modèles culturels spécifiques de la vision (« active », « passive » ou « interactive ») sont ici catalogués à l’aide des formes culturelles de l’émotion là où ils sont appropriés ; ils sont modifiés là où ils sont moins adéquats, voire négligés quand ils n’ont pas de pertinence

Tracking the affective state of unseen persons.

Emotion recognition is an essential human ability critical for social functioning. It is widely assumed that identifying facial expression is the key to this, and models of emotion recognition have mainly focused on facial and bodily features in static, unnatural conditions. We developed a method called affective tracking to reveal and quantify the enormous contribution of visual context to affect (valence and arousal) perception. When characters' faces and bodies were masked in silent videos, viewers inferred the affect of the invisible characters successfully and in high agreement based solely on visual context. We further show that the context is not only sufficient but also necessary to accurately perceive human affect over time, as it provides a substantial and unique contribution beyond the information available from face and body. Our method (which we have made publicly available) reveals that emotion recognition is, at its heart, an issue of context as much as it is about faces

The morphofunctional approach to emotion modelling in robotics

In this conceptual paper, we discuss two areas of research in robotics, robotic models of emotion and morphofunctional machines, and we explore the scope for potential cross-fertilization between them. We shift the focus in robot models of emotion from information-theoretic aspects of appraisal to the interactive significance of bodily dispositions. Typical emotional phenomena such as arousal and action readiness can be interpreted as morphofunctional processes, and their functionality may be replicated in robotic systems with morphologies that can be modulated for real-time adaptation. We investigate the control requirements for such systems, and present a possible bio-inspired architecture, based on the division of control between neural and endocrine systems in humans and animals. We suggest that emotional epi- sodes can be understood as emergent from the coordination of action control and action-readiness, respectively. This stress on morphology complements existing research on the information-theoretic aspects of emotion

On the importance of both dimensional and discrete models of emotion

We review research on the structure and functions of emotions that has benefitted from a serious consideration of both discrete and dimensional perspectives on emotion. To illustrate this point, we review research that demonstrates: (1) how affective valence within discrete emotions differs as a function of individuals and situations, and how these differences relate to various functions; (2) that anger (and other emotional states) should be considered as a discrete emotion but there are dimensions around and within anger; (3) that similarities exist between approach-related positive and negative discrete emotions and they have unique motivational functions; (4) that discrete emotions and broad dimensions of emotions both have unique functions; and (5) evidence that a "new" discrete emotion with discrete functions exists within a broader emotion family. We hope that this consideration of both discrete and dimensional perspectives on emotion will assist in understanding the functions of emotions

Expanding simulation models of emotional understanding: The case for different modalities, body-state simulation prominence and developmental trajectories

Recent models of emotion recognition suggest that when people perceive an emotional expression, they partially activate the respective emotion in themselves, providing a basis for the recognition of that emotion. Much of the focus of these models and of their evidential basis has been on sensorimotor simulation as a basis for facial expression recognition – the idea, in short, that coming to know what another feels involves simulating in your brain the motor plans and associated sensory representations engaged by the other person’s brain in producing the facial expression that you see. In this review article, we argue that simulation accounts of emotion recognition would benefit from three key extensions. First, that fuller consideration be given to simulation of bodily and vocal expressions, given that the body and voice are also important expressive channels for providing cues to another’s emotional state. Second, that simulation of other aspects of the perceived emotional state, such as changes in the autonomic nervous system and viscera, might have a more prominent role in underpinning emotion recognition than is typically proposed. Sensorimotor simulation models tend to relegate such body-state simulation to a subsidiary role, despite the plausibility of body-state simulation being able to underpin emotion recognition in the absence of typical sensorimotor simulation. Third, that simulation models of emotion recognition be extended to address how embodied processes and emotion recognition abilities develop through the lifespan. It is not currently clear how this system of sensorimotor and body-state simulation develops and in particular how this affects the development of emotion recognition ability. We review recent findings from the emotional body recognition literature and integrate recent evidence regarding the development of mimicry and interoception to significantly expand simulation models of emotion recognition

Computational models of emotion, personality, and social relationships for interactions in games

We present a novel computational model of emotion, personality and social relationships, implemented and evaluated in an existing commercial game (The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim). We argue that Non Player Characters (NPCs) with such capabilities will accommodate a new experience in playing games and provide evidence supporting this. Applying the ERiSA Framework [1, 2] to the Skyrim Creation Kit, we designed a simple quest and 2 unique NPCs to interact with. When the ERiSA framework is used, players reported significant changes in their social relationship with the two NPCs compared to the baseline. Most importantly, the results further indicate that the models provide a new experience in playing games. In particular, players report enhanced emotional attachment to the NPCs and appear to forge relationships with the NPCs. Finally, the implemented models result in significant changes in the game engagement and the game immersion score