AUTHOR=Opladen Vanessa , Tanck Julia A. , Baur Julia , Hartmann Andrea S. , Svaldi Jennifer , Vocks Silja 

TITLE=Body exposure and vocal analysis: validation of fundamental frequency as a correlate of emotional arousal and valence

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychiatry

VOLUME=14

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1087548

DOI=10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1087548

ISSN=1664-0640

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Introduction</title><p>Vocal analysis of fundamental frequency (<italic>f</italic>0) represents a suitable index to assess emotional activation. However, although <italic>f</italic>0 has often been used as an indicator of emotional arousal and different affective states, its psychometric properties are unclear. Specifically, there is uncertainty regarding the validity of the indices of <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>mean</italic></sub> and <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>variabilitymeasures</italic></sub> (<italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>dispersion</italic></sub>, <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>range</italic></sub>, and <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>SD</italic></sub>) and whether higher or lower <italic>f</italic>0 indices are associated with higher arousal in stressful situations. The present study therefore aimed to validate <italic>f</italic>0 as a marker of vocally encoded emotional arousal, valence, and body-related distress during body exposure as a psychological stressor.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p><italic>N</italic> = 73 female participants first underwent a 3-min, non-activating neutral reference condition, followed by a 7-min activating body exposure condition. Participants completed questionnaires on affect (i.e., arousal, valence, body-related distress), and their voice data and heart rate (HR) were recorded continuously. Vocal analyses were performed using Praat, a program for extracting paralinguistic measures from spoken audio.</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>The results revealed no effects for <italic>f</italic>0 and state body dissatisfaction or general affect. <italic>F</italic>0<sub><italic>mean</italic></sub> correlated positively with self-reported arousal and negatively with valence, but was not correlated with HR<sub><italic>mean/maximum</italic></sub>. No correlations with any measure were found for any <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>variabililtymeasures</italic></sub>.</p></sec><sec><title>Discussion</title><p>Given the promising findings regarding <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>mean</italic></sub> for arousal and valence and the inconclusive findings regarding <italic>f</italic>0 as a marker of general affect and body-related distress, it may be assumed that <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>mean</italic></sub> represents a valid global marker of emotional arousal and valence rather than of concrete body-related distress. In view of the present findings regarding the validity of <italic>f</italic>0, it may be suggested that <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>mean</italic></sub>, but not <italic>f</italic>0<sub><italic>variabilitymeasures</italic></sub>, can be used to assess emotional arousal and valence in addition to self-report measures, which is less intrusive than conventional psychophysiological measures.</p></sec>