Monday, December 27, 2010

Analysis of facial and vocal expressions

The following features are the ones which are normally displayed by individuals when expressing emotions.The features may differ slightly from each individua but the below mentioned are the common and basic ones.
Happiness
Pushed up cheecks
Feet wrinkles at the sides of sparkling eyes
Smile
slightly raised eyebrows
Fear
Raised eyebrows
Raised upper eyelids
Lips stretched horizontally back to the ears
eyes wide
mouth opened or corners turned down
head down
Surprise
raised eyebrows
Eyes widened
Mouth dropped wide open
head held back or tilted to side
Disgust
eyes and head turned away
Nose wrinkling
Upper lips raised
mouth closed with tongue protruding
Anger
Narrowing of the lips
Eyebrows pulled down
wrinkled forehead
mouth flattened or clenched teeth bared
Eyes wide and staring
Sad
Upper lids usually move down
Loss of focus in the eyes
eyes cast down and tearful
head down

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

research, analysis and idea development (critique2)

mind map

WHAT IS COMMUNICATION?
Communication is a process that involves exchange of information, thoughts, ideas and emotions.
In humans beings communications deeply relies on the capability of experiencing, expressing, and recognizing feelings

EMOTIONS
Communication is not merely an exchange of words. Linguistic elements, paralinguistic elements, non-verbal communicative elements such as facial expressions, co-speech gestures, non-speech sounds (clicks, sighs...) are part of the communication and all convey meaning
Understanding emotions is essential for  human being to be able to use them to influence people during communication. 
The expression of emotions can be crucial in shaping the social interactions by providing people communicating with a rich channel of information about the conversation partner
The richness of emotional communication greatly benefits from the expressiveness of both verbal and nonverbal cues that enable auditory and visual channels of communication. All types of expressive means potentially carry communicative power and better understanding

In communication a person 's emotions can be determined in their speech and facial expression.Speech not only conveys the strictly linguistic content of sentences but also the expression of attitudes and emotions of the speaker.


THE IMPORTANCE OF EXPRESSING EMOTIONS


1.Communication
emotions plays a very crucial role in helping individuals to communicate with others.for example facial expressions and voice can convey a wide range of emotions. if one is happy it signals that something good happened to them,If we look sad or hurt, we are signaling to others that we need their help. 


2.Behavior
Emotions influence one's behavior in several ways. we either use our emotions for expressive means and even for protection purposes
people relied on their emotions for survival purposes.nowadays people use their emotions more for making lifestyle decisions rather than simply staying. 


3.Motivation
Emotions play an important role in motivating, organizing, and sustaining behaviors (Izard, 1971). 



4.Decision Making
Our emotions are a valuable source of information for our everyday needs and activities. Our emotions help us make decisions. 

SPEECH PARAMETERS FOR DETECTING EMOTIONS


The following speech parameters are mainly used to determines one's emotions

1. Pitch: 
voice pitch is certainly a key parameter in the detection of emotion. Pitch variation over a sentence, is used in most languages to give shape to a sentence and indicate its structure, although the way in which this is done varies widely between languages.Pitch is divided into four levels (low, mid, high and extra high


2. voice tone:
voice tone may say more than the actual words being used in a conversation
Your tone of voice may say more than the actual words you use.


3.Tempo:  
this is the speed or the rate at which the speaker talks.the speaking rate can be very crucial in determining the emotion of the speaker for example, fast speaking rate may be associated with anger  and on the other hand slow speaking rate can be associated with calmness

4. voice quality:
 Voice quality is defined by Trask as the characteristic auditory colouring of an individual’s voice, derived from a variety of laryngeal and supralaryngeal features and running continuously through the individual’s speech. A wide range of phonetic variables contributes to the subjective impression of voice quality. voice quality is influenced by the social context and situation and phonetic habits are also a part of our personal style.Voice quality is usually changed to strengthen the impression of emotions


As mentioned above when a person talks there are facial muscles being moved, and this facial muscles are being influenced by the way the person talks hence the overall emotions are being expressed.

facial expression
Another important element in determining emotion is facial expression.One can communicate through facial expressions, like frowning, raising the eyebrow, lip moving, etc. for example, a frowned forehead can indicate anger, a raised eyebrow indicates a state of surprise. Tight lips showcase hesitation, insecurity, keeping a secret.

The speech parameters stated above and facial expressions normally carries six basic emotions which are:
-Happiness
-Sadness
-Anger
-Fear
-Disgust
-Surprise
The above six basic emotions are known to be universal across all cultures and societies [Paul Ekman]


references