A Study of the Judgment of Manual Expression as Presented in Still and Motion Pictures

An Experimental Attempt to Determine the Significance of Unconscious Manual Symbolic Movements

“…T h e question of whether attitudes expressed by our subjects should be considered from the point of view of differential response was pre-settled for us by a highly relevant study ( 1 ). There was no sex difference found in the judgments expressed by subjects of both sexes in that study, in spite of the fact that vocabulary had been uncontrolled.…”

Perception of Emotions in the Hand Movement Quality of Finnish Sign Language

“…Thus, we were able to study whether emotional information is encoded in the hand movement quality in such a way that it has signal value independent of previous experience with this particular mode of communication. Based on the previous studies showing that emotions result in changes in the dynamics of body movements, gait, and hand gestures (e.g., Carmichael et al, 1937;de Meijer, 1989;Montepare et al, 1987Montepare et al, , 1999Sogon & Masutani, 1989;Wallbott, 1998) it was expected that emotions would be decoded by the experimental participants in the present study also. The use of sign movements offered a convenient way to focus only on the quality of the hand movements in emotion recognition.…”

“…from dynamic body movements, gait, and manual gestures (e.g., Carmichael, Roberts, & Wessell, 1937;de Meijer, 1989;Montepare, Goldstein, & Clausen, 1987;Montepare, Koff, Zaitchik, & Albert, 1999;Sogon & Masutani, 1989;Wallbott, 1998). In these studies, emotions have been shown to be associated with different characteristic combinations of trunk, head, arm, hand, and leg movements and postures.…”

“…In an early study on this issue, Carmichael et al (1937), asked an actor to express 35 different attitudes with his hands and arms. The list included expressions of what we today would call basic emotions, such as anger, grief, surprise, and terror; complex emotions like assurance, resignation, and humility; and expressions of other types of attitudes not easily labeled as emotions, e.g., entreaty, quandary, and scolding.…”

The problem of language and accuracy in identification of facial expression

“…5 Lantern slides were made of 35 different hand gestures as they were portrayed by an actor. Their subjects wrote the best single word which seemed to describe the emotional attitudes being expressed.…”