구성된 정서이론을 지지하는 연구자들은 얼굴 근육 움직임으로부터 정서적 의미를 구성하는 과정에서 정서명칭이 가지는 역할에 주목해 왔으며, 정서명칭의 하향적 영향력을 설명하기 위해 Lupyan의 명칭-피드백 가설(label-feedback hypothesis)을 이론적 근거로 삼았다. 본 연구에서는 Lupyan과 Thompson-Schill (2012)이 물체지각에서 명칭이득효과를 검증하는 데 사용한 패러다임을 적용하여 얼굴표정지각 과정에서 정서명칭 이득효과가 나타나는지를 확인하고자 하였다. 실험참가자는 청각적으로 들려주는 정서적 단서와 연이어 제시되는 얼굴표정의 정서 일치성을 판단하는 과제를 수행하였고, 이때, 단서로 제시되는 청각 자극의 유형은 정서명칭, 정서적 발성, 정서적 행위명칭으로 조작되었다. 그리고 명칭이득효과가 단서와 얼굴표정 표적의 자극 간 시간 간격(inter-stimulus interval [ISI])에 상관없이 지속적으로 관찰되는지 확인하기 위하여 선행연구(Lupyan & Thompson-Schill, 2012)와 같이 참가자 간 변인으로서 ISI를 400ms, 1000ms, 1500ms로 조작하였다. 단서와 표적 얼굴표정의 정서범주 일치 여부에 대한 참가자들의 응답을 신호탐지이론을 적용하여 분석한 결과, 정서명칭 조건에서 다른 두 단서 조건과 비교해 가장 높은 정서판단 민감도가 관찰되었다. 또한, 명칭이득효과는 단서 처리에 주어진 시간, 즉 ISI와는 무관하게 나타났다. 이러한 결과는 정서적 발성과 같은 비언어적 단서나, 정서적 행위명칭과 같은 다른 언어적 단서에 비해 정서명칭은 범주화에 요구되는 개념적 표상을 효과적으로 활성화함으로써 얼굴표정의 정서범주 판단을 보다 정확하게 수행하도록 하는 이득효과를 가짐을 암시한다. 본 연구의 결과는 명칭-피드백 가설을 바탕으로 정서지각에 있어 정서명칭의 특별한 역할을 주장하는 구성된 정서이론을 지지하는 실험적 증거로 해석할 수 있다.
Researchers supporting the theory of constructed emotion have focused on the role of emotion labels in the construction of emotional meaning from facial muscle movements. The label-feedback hypothesis proposed by Lupyan provided a theoretical basis for explaining the top-down influence of emotion labels. This study aimed to investigate the presence of the emotion label advantage effect in facial emotion judgment by adapting the procedure used by Lupyan and Thompson-Schill (2012) in object recognition. Participants performed a task to judge whether the emotions of the auditory cues and the subsequently presented facial expressions matched, with the auditory cues manipulated to be emotion labels, emotional vocalizations, or emotional action labels. To verify whether the label advantage effect persists across different inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) between the cue and target, following the design of Lupyan & Thompson-Schill (2012), ISIs were set at 400ms, 1000ms, and 1500ms as a between-subject variable. The responses were analyzed using signal detection theory. The results showed that emotion labels yielded the highest sensitivity in emotion judgments compared to the other two types of cues. Moreover, this label advantage effect was observed regardless of the time given for cue processing, namely, ISIs. These findings suggest that emotion labels, compared to nonverbal cues like emotional vocalizations or other verbal cues like emotional action labels, effectively activate the conceptual representations required for categorization, thereby facilitating more accurate emotion category judgments in facial expressions. The results of this study can be interpreted as experimental evidence supporting the theory of constructed emotion asserting the unique role of emotion labels in emotion perception based on the label-feedback hypothesis.
Researchers supporting the theory of constructed emotion have focused on the role of emotion labels in the construction of emotional meaning from facial muscle movements. The label-feedback hypothesis proposed by Lupyan provided a theoretical basis for explaining the top-down influence of emotion labels. This study aimed to investigate the presence of the emotion label advantage effect in facial emotion judgment by adapting the procedure used by Lupyan and Thompson-Schill (2012) in object recognition. Participants performed a task to judge whether the emotions of the auditory cues and the subsequently presented facial expressions matched, with the auditory cues manipulated to be emotion labels, emotional vocalizations, or emotional action labels. To verify whether the label advantage effect persists across different inter-stimulus intervals (ISIs) between the cue and target, following the design of Lupyan & Thompson-Schill (2012), ISIs were set at 400ms, 1000ms, and 1500ms as a between-subject variable. The responses were analyzed using signal detection theory. The results showed that emotion labels yielded the highest sensitivity in emotion judgments compared to the other two types of cues. Moreover, this label advantage effect was observed regardless of the time given for cue processing, namely, ISIs. These findings suggest that emotion labels, compared to nonverbal cues like emotional vocalizations or other verbal cues like emotional action labels, effectively activate the conceptual representations required for categorization, thereby facilitating more accurate emotion category judgments in facial expressions. The results of this study can be interpreted as experimental evidence supporting the theory of constructed emotion asserting the unique role of emotion labels in emotion perception based on the label-feedback hypothesis.