Positive emotions in the voice: Towards an ethological understanding

Research output: PhD ThesisPhD-Thesis – Research and graduation external

Abstract

The current thesis examines vocal communication of a wide range of positive emotions, highlights challenges with studying emotions in the voice, and proposes a new framework for establishing valid ways to examine vocal behaviour. Specifically, the aim of this thesis is fourfold: (1) to introduce the human voice and illustrate the richness of vocal signals, (2) to expand on the study of emotional vocal communication by investigating both production and perception of a wide range of positive emotions expressed via the voice, (3) to move towards an objective study of vocal expressions by integrating the study of vocal behaviour with its natural environment, and (4) to introduce a new framework, computational ethology, for large-scale objective examinations of vocal behaviour, and illustrate how it would work in the case of laughter with a proof-of-concept study. Part I of the thesis (Chapters 2-3) introduces the reader to the human voice, and illustrates the richness of vocal signals with a particular focus on laughter. Part II of the thesis (Chapters 4-7) focuses on positive emotions, by explicitly testing how a wide range of positive emotions are expressed through vocal expressions, whether these emotions can be accurately inferred from vocalisations by naive listeners. Part III of the thesis (Chapters 8-10) moves towards understanding vocal expressions as responses to particular types of situations like threat, play, and food. Part IV of the thesis (Chapters 11-12) proposes a new framework for large scale objective examination of vocal behaviour, computational ethology.
Original languageEnglish
Publisher
Publication statusPublished - 2023

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