Temporal Taylor's scaling of facial electromyography and electrodermal activity in the course of emotional stimulation

High frequency psychophysiological data create a challenge for quantitative modeling based on Big Data tools since they reflect the complexity of processes taking place in human body and its responses to external events. Here we present studies of fluctuations in facial electromyography (fEMG) and electrodermal activity (EDA) massive time series and changes of such signals in the course of emotional stimulation. Zygomaticus major (ZYG, "smiling" muscle) activity, corrugator supercilii (COR, "frowning"bmuscle) activity, and phasic skin conductance (PHSC, sweating) levels of 65 participants were recorded during experiments that involved exposure to emotional stimuli (i.e., IAPS images, reading and writing messages on an artificial online discussion board). Temporal Taylor's fluctuations scaling were found when signals for various participants and during various types of emotional events were compared. Values of scaling exponents were close to 1, suggesting an external origin of system dynamics and/or strong interactions between system's basic elements (e.g., muscle fibres). Our statistical analysis shows that the scaling exponents enable identification of high valence and arousal levels in ZYG and COR signals

Stauroproskynēsis. An Iconographic Theme and its Context

Το παρόν άρθρο πραγματεύεται παραστάσεις Προσκύνησης του Τιμίου Σταυρού από αγγέλους, ένα σπάνιο εικονογραφικό θέμα που εντοπίζεται στις τοιχογραφίες τριών απομακρυσμένων μεταξύ τους μνημείων του ελλαδικού χώρου, στον Άγιο Νικόλαο της Ροδιάς κοντά στην Άρτα, στο ασκητήριο των Αγίων Πατέρων στη Βαράσοβα Αιτωλίας και στην Υπαπαντή Σοφικού Κορινθίας. Εκτός από το προφανές εσχατολογικό τους περιεχόμενο, εξετάζεται το ενδεχόμενο οι τοιχογραφίες αυτές να απηχούν και τις εκκολαπτόμενες πολιτικές φιλοδοξίες, τόσο των Κομνηνοδουκάδων όσο και των Παλαιολόγων μετά τα μέσα του 13ου αιώνα.The present paper focuses on the analysis of a very rare representation of the Veneration of the Cross by angels among the wall paintings of three churches: St. Nicholas tēs Rodias, near Arta, the cave-church of the Holy Fathers, at Varasova and the church of Hypapantē, near Sofiko, Corinthia. Aside from its evident eschatological significance, this iconographic theme could also be conveying an important political and ideological message of members of the ruling Komnenos-Doukas and Palaeologan families during the 13th century

More What Duchenne Smiles Do, Less What They Express

We comment on an article by Sheldon et al. from a previous issue of Perspectives (May 2021). They argued that the presence of positive emotion (Hypothesis 1), the intensity of positive emotion (Hypothesis 2), and chronic positive mood (Hypothesis 3) are reliably signaled by the Duchenne smile (DS). We reexamined the cited literature in support of each hypothesis and show that the study findings were mostly inconclusive, irrelevant, incomplete, and/or misread. In fact, there is no single (empirical) article that would unanimously support the idea that DSs function solely as indicators of felt positive affect. Additional evidence is reviewed, suggesting that DSs can be—and often are—displayed deliberately and in the absence of positive feelings. Although DSs may lead to favorable interpersonal perceptions and positive emotional responses in the observer, we propose a functional view that focuses on what facial actions—here specifically DSs—do rather than what they express

No matter how real: Out-group faces convey less humanness

Past research on real human faces has shown that out-group members are commonly perceived as lacking human qualities, which links them to machines or objects. In this study, we aimed to test whether similar out-group effects generalize to artificial faces. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces and had to decide whether human traits (naturally and uniquely human) as well as emotions (primary and secondary) could or could not be attributed to them. In line with previous research, we found that naturally human traits and secondary emotions were attributed less often to the out-group (Indian) than to the in-group (Caucasian), and this applied to both real and artificial faces. The findings extend prior research and show that artificial stimuli readily evoke intergroup processes. This has implications for the design of animated characters, suggesting that outgroup faces convey less humanness regardless of how life-like their representation is

Facial behavior

: We provide an overview of the current state-of-the-art regarding research on facial behavior from what we hope is a well-balanced historical perspective. Based on a critical discussion of the main theoretical views of nonverbal facial activity (i.e., affect program theory, appraisal theory, dimensional theory, behavioral ecology), we focus on some key issues regarding the cohesion of emotion and expression, including the issue of “genuine smiles.” We argue that some of the challenges faced by the field are a consequence of these theoretical positions, their assumptions, and we discuss how they have generated and shaped research. A clear distinction of encoding and decoding processes may prove beneficial to identify specific problems – for example the use of posed expressions in facial expression research, or the impact of the psychological situation on the perceiver. We argue that knowledge of the functions of facial activity may be central to understanding what facial activity is truly about; this includes a serious consideration of social context at all stages of encoding and decoding. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of recent technical advances and challenges highlighted by the new field of “affective computing” concerned with facial activity