Master of Computer Science (M.C.S.), University of Dayton, 2022, Computer Science

A picture is worth a thousand words. A single image has the power to influence individuals and change their behaviour, whereas a single word does not. Even a barely visible image, displayed on a screen for only a few milliseconds, appears to be capable of changing one's behaviour. In this thesis, we experimentally investigated the relationship between facial expressions and perceived emotions. To this end, we built two datasets, namely, the image dataset for image emotion analysis and the face dataset for expression recognition. During the annotation of the image dataset, both facial expressions and perceived emotions are recorded via a mobile application. We then use a classifier trained on the face dataset to recognize the user's expression and compare it with the perceived emotion.

Committee: Tam Nguyen (Advisor) Subjects: Computer Science

Master of Arts, The Ohio State University, 2022, Communication

People often utilize video games as laboratories for experiential experimentation (Jansz, 2005). Dating simulators, an increasingly popular type of simulative game, are environments well-suited to engaging with self-concepts related to romantic experience. Horror dating simulators, a hybrid subgenre of dating simulators and horror video games, are environments in which the player engages with these themes in a purposefully frightful context. In Study 1 (n = 18), I conducted qualitative interviews to gain insight into user motivations for exposure to fear evoking narratives with central themes of romance. In Study 2 (n = 643), I investigated relationships between narrative, aesthetic presentation, and anticipated outcomes of exposure as they pertain to media genre schema. This includes investigation of how these factors impact users' affective forecasting with horror, dating simulator, and horror dating simulator video games. Implications for media research and schema literature are discussed.

Committee: Teresa Lynch (Advisor); Matthew Grizzard (Committee Member) Subjects: Communication

Master of Science (MS), Wright State University, 2020, Physiology and Neuroscience

This thesis explores the interaction between emotions and visual perception using large scale spatial environment as the medium of this interaction. Emotion has been documented to have an early effect on scene perception (Olofsson, Nordin, Sequeira, & Polich, 2008). Yet, most popularly-used scene stimuli, such as the IAPS or GAPED stimulus sets often depict salient objects embedded in naturalistic backgrounds, or “events” which contain rich social information, such as human faces or bodies. And thus, while previous studies are instrumental to our understanding of the role that social-emotion plays in visual perception, they do not isolate the effect of emotion from the social effects in order to address the specific role that emotion plays in scene recognition – defined here as the recognition of large-scale spatial environments. To address this question, we examined how early emotional valence and arousal impact scene processing, by conducting an Event-Related Potential (ERP) study using a well-controlled set of scene stimuli that reduced the social factor, by focusing on natural scenes which did not contain human faces or actors. The study comprised of two stages. First, we collected affective ratings of 440 natural scene images selected specifically so they will not contain human faces or bodies. Based on these ratings, we divided our scene stimuli into three distinct categories: pleasant, unpleasant, and neutral. In the second stage, we recorded ERPs from a separate group of participants as they viewed a subset of 270 scenes ranked highest in each of their respective categories. Scenes were presented for 200ms, back-masked using white noise, while participants performed an orthogonal fixation task. We found that emotional valence had significant impact on scene perception in which unpleasant scenes had higher P1, N1 and P2 peaks. However, we studied the relative contribution of emotional effect and low-level visual features using dominance analysis which can co (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Assaf Harel Ph.D. (Advisor); Kathrin L. Engisch Ph.D. (Committee Member); Tamera R. Schneider Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Neurosciences; Physiology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2013, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

The goal of this study was to investigate the social cognitive domains of facial affect processing and emotional intelligence in patients who had undergone anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) for the treatment of medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. It was hypothesized that patients who underwent right ATL would perform more poorly than left ATL patients on measures of facial affect processing and emotional intelligence. Additionally, we expected poorer performance on measures of social cognition to predict poorer psychosocial functioning. Participants were sixteen individuals who had undergone ATL at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center. They completed a facial affect processing battery, a performance based emotional intelligence test, neuropsychological measures (memory, attention executive ability, and confrontation naming), and self-report questionnaires of quality of life and psychosocial functioning. Data from 16 participants (8 right ATL; 8 left ATL) were analyzed. Participants with right ATL were less accurate than participants with left ATL in their ability to identify the presence and rate the intensity of emotions in facial expressions. The right ATL group performed more slowly than the left while comparing the relative intensity of emotions depicted in two faces and when rating the intensity of the emotional valance of facial expressions (p < .10 for all comparisons). Despite their slower performance, the right ATL group was significantly more accurate than the left ATL group in their ability to compare the relative intensity of emotions depicted in two faces (p < .10). Poorer ability to rate the relative intensity of emotions depicted in faces and to incorporate one's own emotions into decision making were significantly related to poorer self-reported functioning on multiple domains of quality of life and psychosocial functioning, all p < .05.

Committee: Paula Shear Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Steven Howe Ph.D. (Committee Member); Gerald Matthews Ph.D. (Committee Member); Michael Privitera M.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

PhD, University of Cincinnati, 0, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Previous studies have demonstrated a role for affective processing deficits in the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence (AD) and research has shown that prolonged problematic drinking behaviors have global effects on brain structure and function, including frontolimbic regions underlying affective processing. However, no study to date has examined both functional (fcMRI) and underlying structural connectivity during affective processing in AD. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to characterize fcMRI of brain regions underlying affective processing in individuals with AD and healthy controls. The secondary aim was to determine whether white matter integrity predicts fcMRI in AD. Fourteen abstinent individuals with AD and 14 controls were included in this IRB-approved study. AD participants met criteria for AD in sustained, partial, or full remission; controls had no substance use disorders history. All diagnostic criteria were confirmed by clinical diagnostic interview. The facial affective processing task included fearful and happy expressions. Anatomical, functional, and diffusion tensor imaging data were collected and pre-processed according to previously established protocols. A psychophysiological interaction, fcMRI analysis was then conducted to assess whether the time-series activity in bilateral amygdala seed regions predicted activation in the rest of the brain during fearful and happy faces. In the 14 individuals with AD, functional anisotropy (FA) was calculated to measure white matter integrity. Independent samples t-tests were computed in AFNI to determine fcMRI clusters groups differences and follow up linear regression analyses were conducted in SPSS to include covariates and determine if FA predicted degree of fcMRI in AD. Fearful faces analyses revealed reduced fcMRI compared to controls between left amygdala and left precuneus, right precuneus, right middle frontal gyrus, left postcentral gyrus, right lingual gyrus, ri (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Paula Shear Ph.D. (Committee Chair); Krista M. Lisdahl Ph.D. (Committee Member); James Eliassen Ph.D. (Committee Member) Subjects: Clinical Psychology

MA, University of Cincinnati, 2011, Arts and Sciences: Psychology

Alcohol dependence (AD) has global effects on brain structure and function, including frontolimbic regions regulating affective processing. Preliminary evidence suggests alcohol is associated with blunted limbic response to negative affective stimuli and increased activation to positive affective stimuli. Gender differences have also been found in neural correlates of facial affective processing. No studies to date have characterized the independent and interactive effects of AD and gender on the neuronal correlates of affective processing. Therefore, the current study examined whether AD group status, gender and AD*gender interaction predict brain response to happy and fearful affect during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task. Brain regions that differed by AD status were also examined in relation to mood symptoms and coping strategies. Fourteen abstinent AD individuals (8F, 6M) and 14 healthy controls (9F, 5M), ages 23 to 60, were included in this IRB-approved study. Participants performed a facial affective processing fMRI task. Whole-brain linear regression analyses were performed to extract clusters that yielded significant group, gender, and group-by-gender interaction results for fearful and happy affective processing. Follow-up analyses examined whether brain activation in regions that significantly differed according to AD status or AD*gender interactions significantly predicted depressive symptoms and/or coping styles. Results revealed that during the fearful condition, the AD group demonstrated reduced BOLD response compared with the control group in the right medial frontal gyrus. Gender analyses demonstrated that females had increased BOLD response during fearful faces in left superior temporal gyrus and right inferior frontal gyrus compared to males. Gender moderated the effects of AD in left and right inferior frontal gyri during the fearful condition. During the happy condition AD individuals had increased BOLD response in right tha (open full item for complete abstract)

Committee: Krista Medina PhD (Committee Chair); Robert Anthenelli MD (Committee Member); Paula Shear PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Psychology