Simple lines and shapes are associated with, and communicate, distinct emotions

ABSTRACT

We investigated whether lines and shapes that present face-like features would be associated with emotions. In Experiment 1, participants associated concave, convex, or straight lines with the words happy or sad. Participants found it easiest to associate the concave line with happy and the convex line with sad. In Experiment 2, participants rated (valence, pleasantness, liking, and tension) and categorised (valence and emotion words) two convex and concave lines that were paired with six distinct pairs of eyes. The presence of eyes affected participants’ valence ratings and response latencies; more congruent eye–mouth matches produced more consistent ratings and faster reaction times. In Experiment 3, we examined whether dots that resembled eyes would be associated with emotional words. Participants found it easier to match certain sets of dots with specific emotions. These results suggest that facial gestures that are associated with specific emotions can be captured using relatively simple shapes and lines.

KEYWORDS:

• Visual cue
• emoticon
• face
• emotion
• embodied

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. Here it is important to note that these low-level visual features may not necessarily be associated with a specific emotion but rather with more basic components of the emotional experience such as valence and arousal.

2. The “V” and downward-pointing triangle could also be linked to the bared-teeth display (i.e. showing the canine teeth), displayed by many species as a sign of dominance and aggression (Bridget, Waller, & Micheletta, 2013; Maestripieri, 1996; Marsh, Ambady &, Kleck, 2005 ; Mignault & Chaudhuri, 2003).

3. We had intended to use mouse movements as complementary information to simple RTs, however we did not find any significant results of interest in this analysis and therefore have chosen not report hand movement measures here.

Additional information

Funding

Alejandro Salgado-Montejo would like to thank COLCIENCIAS for funding his DPhil. Charles Spence would like to acknowledge AHRC Rethinking the Senses [grant number AH/L007053/1].