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Abstract

The results of three experiments showed that Dutch, Taiwanese, and Japanese adults were able to identify Dutch vocal expressions of emotion beyond chance expectancy. Inspection of the confusion data further revealed that, in addition to symmetrical confusions, there were quite a few confusions that were asymmetrical. The outcomes of a multidimensional scaling finally suggested that confusions were a function of similarity in levels of activity of the emotions concerned rather than, for example, similarity in evaluative meaning. The conclusion was that there are universally recognizable characteristics of vocal patterns of emotion and that these characteristics are primarily related to the activity dimension of emotional meaning.

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Recognition of Vocal Expressions of Emotion

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