Acoustic correlates of emotional dimensions in laughter: Arousal, dominance, and valence

Abstract

Although laughter plays an essential part in emotional vocal communication, little is known about the acoustical correlates that encode different emotional dimensions. In this study we examined the acoustical structure of laughter sounds differing along four emotional dimensions: arousal, dominance, sender's valence, and receiver-directed valence. Correlation of 43 acoustic parameters with individual emotional dimensions revealed that each emotional dimension was associated with a number of vocal cues. Common patterns of cues were found with emotional expression in speech, supporting the hypothesis of a common underlying mechanism for the vocal expression of emotions.

Keywords:

• Laughter
• Emotional dimensions
• Acoustics
• Non-verbal
• Schadenfreude
• Tickling

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Marie Curie Foundation and the German Research Foundation (DFG AL357/1 and WI2101/2).

Notes

¹Findings in this paragraph reported by: Apple, Streeter, and Krauss (1979); Banse and Scherer (1996); Breitenstein, Van Lancker, and Daum (2001); Davitz (1964d); Frick (1985); Huttar (1968); Laukka and Juslin (2005); Mehrabian and Russell (1974); Pereira (2000); Pittam, Gallois, and Callan (1990); Scherer (1974, 1979); Scherer and Oshinsky (1977); Schroeder, Cowie, Douglas-Cowie, Westerdijk, and Gielen (2001); and Williams and Stevens (1972).

²Statements in this paragraph are based on: Apple et al. (1979); Harrigan, Gramata, Lucic, and Margolis (1989); Kehrein (2002); Laukka and Juslin (2005); Pereira (2000); Pollermann (2002); Scherer (1974); Scherer and Oshinsky (1977); Schroeder et al. (2001); and Tusing and Dillard (2000).

³Based on: Hammerschmidt and Jürgens (2007); Kehrein (2002); Laukka and Juslin (2005); Pereira (2000); Scherer (1974); Scherer and Oshinsky (1977); and Schroeder et al. (2001).

⁴It is not clear whether previous studies indeed measured the sender's valence or whether listeners referred to their own emotional state, cf. introduction.

⁵Most of the speech studies used emotional portrayals as well.