Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2024 Aug 26;5(3):201-208.
doi: 10.1007/s42761-024-00265-x. eCollection 2024 Sep.

A Louder Call for the Integration of Multiple Nonverbal Channels in the Study of Affect

Michele Morningstar  1   2
Affiliations

A Louder Call for the Integration of Multiple Nonverbal Channels in the Study of Affect

Michele Morningstar. Affect Sci. .

Abstract

Affective science has increasingly sought to represent emotional experiences multimodally, measuring affect through a combination of self-report ratings, linguistic output, physiological measures, and/or nonverbal expressions. However, despite widespread recognition that non-facial nonverbal cues are an important facet of expressive behavior, measures of nonverbal expressions commonly focus solely on facial movements. This Commentary represents a call for affective scientists to integrate a larger range of nonverbal cues-including gestures, postures, and vocal cues-alongside facial cues in efforts to represent the experience of emotion and its communication. Using the measurement and analysis of vocal cues as an illustrative case, the Commentary considers challenges, potential solutions, and the theoretical and translational significance of working to integrate multiple nonverbal channels in the study of affect.

Keywords: Emotional expression; Gestures; Multimodal; Nonverbal; Postures; Prosody; Voice.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing InterestsThe authors declare no competing interests.

References

    1. Alpert, M., Pouget, E. R., & Silva, R. R. (2001). Reflections of depression in acoustic measures of the patient’s speech. Journal of Affective Disorders,66(1), 59–69. - PubMed
    1. Aubergé, V., & Cathiard, M. (2003). Can we hear the prosody of smile? Speech Communication,40(1–2), 87–97.
    1. Bachorowski, J. A. (1999). Vocal expression and perception of emotion. Current Directions in Psychological Science,8(2), 53–57.
    1. Banse, R., & Scherer, K. R. (1996). Acoustic profiles in vocal emotion expression. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,70(3), 614–636. - PubMed
    1. Boyatzis, C. J., & Satyaprasad, C. (1994). Children’s facial and gestural decoding and encoding: Relations between skills and with popularity. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior,18(1), 37–55.

LinkOut - more resources