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This study investigated whether stress and positive anticipations about tomorrow are associated with emotional experiences the following day, mediated by the preceding night's sleep. Data were from 141 full‐time nurses, utilizing a 14‐day ecological momentary assessment combined with actigraphy sleep monitoring. Each evening, participants rated the anticipated pleasantness or stressfulness of the following day. Each morning, participants reported on their previous night's sleep. Additionally, participants reported their momentary positive affect (PA) and negative affect (NA) three times per day, with daily averages computed. Multilevel mediation models, adjusted for sociodemographics, work shift, workday, and previous day's affect, revealed that days following more stress anticipations were associated with reduced PA and increased NA. Conversely, days following more pleasantness anticipations were associated with increased PA and decreased NA. These within‐person associations were mediated by self‐reported time‐in‐bed, sufficiency, and quality, such that less stressful and more pleasant anticipations were associated with better sleep, and better sleep was subsequently associated with increased PA and decreased NA. No mediation was found by the actigraphy sleep parameters. Findings suggest that emotional states may covary not only with present stimuli but also with anticipation of future events and subjective sleep recovery in the context of those anticipations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food aroma molecules have the potential to influence people's emotions through the olfactory pathway and are anticipated to emerge as a new method for regulating emotional states, owing to their simplicity and high acceptance. Current research on food aroma predominantly centres on the physicochemical properties and formation mechanisms of aroma components, neglecting the effects of aroma molecules in emotional regulation. Moreover, the evaluation of pleasantness, a pivotal dimension of emotions, lacks objective assessment methods. In this study, sensory assessments of pleasantness for 12 aroma compounds were gathered from 45 subjects, and their correlation with the brain's activity responses in the left frontal‐temporal lobe (LFT) and right frontal‐temporal lobe (RFT) using electroencephalogram (EEG) signals was analysed. The results revealed a close relationship between brain activity in the LFT and the perception of aroma pleasantness. Furthermore, a substantial correlation was observed between the α, β and γ frequency bands in the LFT and the subjective pleasantness scores. These findings demonstrate that the LFT plays a critical role in evaluating the pleasantness of aroma molecules, and that changes in the power of the α, β and γ bands serve as important evaluation indicators. Consequently, this method offers a new objective means for assessing pleasantness to find higher pleasantness aroma molecules and the emotional regulation of food aroma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown that anticipation induces more emotions than retrospection, known as temporal emotion asymmetry. However, the majority of previous studies have been confined to Western contexts. Eastern populations tend to emphasize the past more than their Western counterparts and may exhibit distinct forms of temporal emotion asymmetry. Therefore, we conducted an investigation involving Chinese adolescents. Our research encompassed two experiments, investigating Chinese adolescents' temporal emotion asymmetry from a self-perspective (Experiment 1; N = 124) and an other-perspective (Experiment 2; N = 162). Participants were prompted to retrospect and anticipate events that elicited pleasant or unpleasant feelings. The results revealed that, whether from a self-perspective or an other-perspective, retrospection of past positive events elicited greater pleasure than the anticipation of future positive events. However, concerning adverse events, under a self-perspective, anticipation induced more displeasure than retrospection (Experiment 1); under an other-perspective, retrospection induced more displeasure than anticipation (Experiment 2). Our findings provide some support for the construal level theory, fading affect bias, and mobilization-minimization hypothesis of event cognition. Based on these results, retrospection seems to be a potential means for regulating the emotions of Chinese adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sound serves as a potent medium for emotional well-being, with phenomena like the autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) showing a unique capacity for inducing relaxation and alleviating stress. This study aimed to understand how tingling sensations (and, for comparison, pleasant feelings) that such videos induce relate to acoustic features, using a broader range of ASMR videos as stimuli. The sound texture statistics and their timing predictive of tingling and pleasantness were identified through L1-regularized linear regression. Tingling was well-predicted (r = 0.52), predominantly by the envelope of frequencies near 5 kHz in the 1500 to 750 ms period before the response: stronger tingling was associated with a lower amplitude around the 5 kHz frequency range. This finding was further validated using an independent set of ASMR sounds. The prediction of pleasantness was more challenging (r = 0.26), requiring a longer effective time window, threefold that for tingling. These results enhance our understanding of how specific acoustic elements can induce tingling sensations, and how these elements differ from those that induce pleasant feelings. Our findings have potential applications in optimizing ASMR stimuli to improve quality of life and alleviate stress and anxiety, thus expanding the scope of ASMR stimulus production beyond traditional methods. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the typically developing population, social touch experiences are influenced by several factors, including the biological sex of toucher and receiver, the body area wherein the touch is delivered and the social context in which the tactile exchange occurs. However, it is currently unexplored how social touch experiences of autistic adults are modulated by these factors. We sought to address this by utilizing a self-report body-painting task. Our main results show that autistic, compared with non-autistic, adults reported lower levels of pleasantness, erogeneity and appropriateness, specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, sex played a major role in group differences. For instance, although autistic females reported, across social contexts, less pleasantness than both non-autistic females and autistic males, they experienced similar levels of appropriateness in the professional social context, usually deemed as touch-appropriate. Our findings provide new support to the hypothesis that social touch is experienced and possibly conceptualized differently by autistic compared with non-autistic adults. Moreover, by identifying the factors that influence social touch processing in autistic adults, our results might aid the development of support for autistic individuals seeking help in the spheres of social and intimate touch. What is already known about the topic? At least in neurotypical individuals, social touch represents an important channel for emotional communication associated with social bonding and pain/anxiety modulation. Autistic adults report to avoid social touch more and to have different tactile sensitivity than their non-autistic comparisons. What this paper adds? Few studies specifically investigated social touch in autistic individuals, and none of them examined the role of participants' sex, social context in which social touch occurs, and specific body areas being touched. In our study, adult participants reported how pleasant, erogenous and appropriate they would consider touches delivered by another person over their entire body in intimate (date), friendly (dance class) and professional (physiotherapy-massage session) social contexts. Autistic adults reported social touch to be less pleasant, erogenous and appropriate specifically in intimate and friendly social contexts and in body areas typically touched in these situations. Importantly, autistic females seem more at risk to experience unpleasant social touch as, although they considered it more unpleasant than non-autistic females and autistic males, they did consider it similarly appropriate in professional social contexts where touch is normed to be socially appropriate. Implications for practice, research or policy Our results might improve awareness and understanding about autistic adults' different, and often more discomforting, experience of social touch and thus help consider and respect it during everyday social interactions. Our results might also benefit future research investigating, for instance, the neural underpinnings of social touch differences in autism or aiming at developing support for autistic individuals seeking help in the diverse spheres of social touch. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Obesity, a global health challenge, is influenced by biological, behavioral, socioeconomical, and environmental factors. In our technology-driven world, distracted eating is prevalent, yet neurocognitive mechanisms behind it remain poorly understood. This study targets individuals with overweight and obesity, exploring taste perception under distraction comprehensively. Participants formed two distinct groups based on their Body Mass Index (BMI), lean and overweight/obese. During the experiment participants received gustatory stimuli while playing a Tetris game of various difficulty levels. Participants rated taste intensity and pleasantness, with linear mixed models analyzing distraction effects. Results confirmed that high distraction levels reduced perception of taste intensity (p = 0.017) and taste pleasantness (p = 0.022), with variations influenced by gender and weight status. Individuals in the overweight/obese group exhibited most profound intensity changes during distraction (p = 0.01). Taste sensitivity ratings positively correlated with BMI interacting with gender (male r = 0.227, p

A lack of response to voices, and a great interest for music are part of the behavioral expressions, commonly (self-)reported in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These atypical interests for vocal and musical sounds could be attributable to different levels of acoustical noise, quantified in the harmonic-to-noise ratio (HNR). No previous study has investigated explicit auditory pleasantness in ASD comparing vocal and non-vocal sounds, in relation to acoustic noise level. The aim of this study is to objectively evaluate auditory pleasantness. 16 adults on the autism spectrum and 16 neuro-typical (NT) matched adults rated the likeability of vocal and non-vocal sounds, with varying harmonic-to-noise ratio levels. A group by category interaction in pleasantness judgements revealed that participants on the autism spectrum judged vocal sounds as less pleasant than non-vocal sounds; an effect not found for NT participants. A category by HNR level interaction revealed that participants of both groups rated sounds with a high HNR as more pleasant for non-vocal sounds. A significant group by HNR interaction revealed that people on the autism spectrum tended to judge as less pleasant sounds with high HNR and more pleasant those with low HNR than NT participants. Acoustical noise level of sounds alone does not appear to explain atypical interest for voices and greater interest in music in ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we aimed to demonstrate how incidental surprise impacts individuals' risk-taking behavior. Previous empirical studies have shown that incidental surprise can influence risk-taking behavior, but the psychological mechanisms behind this phenomenon have not been explored. Based on the appraisal tendency framework, we propose that surprise affects individuals' risk-taking behavior by influencing their level of pleasantness and risk perception. To test our hypothesis, we conducted a study with 79 participants, comparing their pleasantness, risk perception, and risk-taking behavior under different emotions. Our findings strongly indicate that pleasantness and risk perception jointly contributed to a chain mediation effect when positive (negative) surprise prompted participants to become more (less) willing to take risks. Additionally, we also discovered that the effect of negative surprise on risk-taking behavior was moderated by individuals' risk attitudes. Risk-seeking individuals were less affected by negative surprise than risk-averse ones. Overall, this study sheds light on the psychological mechanisms underlying the impact of incidental surprise on individuals' risk-taking behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, five outdoor open areas were selected as the study sites to investigate the effects of thermal and acoustic environments, physical activity levels, and pleasantness on evaluations of the thermal and acoustic comfort in outdoor open spaces. Survey questionnaires and on-site measurements were used to quantitatively assess human thermal and acoustic comfort in outdoor spaces. The following findings were obtained in this study. The acoustic environment affected the thermal sensation, where reducing excessive outdoor noise levels could enhance thermal comfort. Increasing the physiological equivalent temperature amplified the acoustic sensation. Individuals reported the most comfortable acoustic perception outdoors at a physiological equivalent temperature of 30.1°C. Reducing both the thermal and acoustic indices improved the overall comfort to some extent. Decreasing physical activity levels by an appropriate amount enhanced the thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, and overall comfort. Finally, maintaining a sense of pleasantness was conducive to increasing the thermal comfort, acoustic comfort, and overall comfort. In states of moderate and pleasurable feelings (pleasantness level = 0, 1, 2, 3), increased acoustic comfort and pleasantness combined significantly enhanced the thermal comfort.

Mechanical buckling of a switch or button produces an attractive sensation of touch; however, a method to optimize the haptic pleasantness caused by buckling has not been established and well demonstrated. In this study, we optimized a popping elastic dome toy that provides pleasant haptic sensations when pushed or buckled. Toys with different physical parameters were manufactured following the Box-Behnken design, and their comfort was evaluated by the users. The design parameters that maximize haptic pleasantness were determined using the response surface method. The optimally designed popping toy was equally as comfortable as the best one in the initial specimen set. Further, haptic pleasantness was found to be largely determined by the ease of pushing and haptic feel at the moment of buckling. This approach is expected to improve the haptic sensations of various commercial products such as mechanical switches.

Objectives: Odor hedonic perception is well known to exhibit great variability and to depend on several parameters, i.e. stimulus, context, and subject characteristics. As hedonic perception (pleasant/unpleasant character) of food odors is considered one of the most prominent dimensions in eating behavior, the question of hedonic variability in this context arises. Thus, the aim of the present study was to compare odor hedonic ratings in three populations with regard to diet (i.e. omnivore, vegetarian, and flexitarian diets). Methods: Four categories of odors were compared: meat, vegetable, other food, and non-food odors. Results: The results showed that vegetarian and flexitarian individuals rated meat odors as more unpleasant than omnivores, while no significant difference was found for other categories of odors. Discussion: The question of whether the diet influences the hedonic perception or/and inversely is discussed, regarding several aspects of food consumption such as eating disorders, food education, ... and could further serve to manage eating behaviors. Practical applications: This study evidenced that vegetarians and flexitarians specifically rated meat odors as being more unpleasant than those of omnivores. Because of the growing number of vegetarians and flexitarians in the general population, it could be suggested to take into account the odor hedonic perception (especially regarding food odors) in studies related to diets. Besides, the present results could further serve research in several aspects of food consumption such as eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia ... etc.) or food education as well as the management of eating behaviors, especially in an elderly population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aroma of mint is well‐liked by the public, and key flavor odorants in mint aroma had been found, but how these molecules interact and form a satisfying odor remains a challenge. Quality, intensity, and pleasantness are our most basic perceptions of aromas; both intensity and pleasantness can be quantified. However, compared to intensity, research on pleasantness was lacking. Pleasantness was one of the most important indicators for formulating a satisfying mint flavor, and the study of binary mixtures was fundamental to our understanding of more complex mixtures. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to explore the characteristics of pleasantness as a function of concentration and, at the same time, to investigate the relationship between intensity and pleasantness in binary mixtures. Thirty sensory evaluation volunteers participated in the evaluation of the intensity and pleasantness of six key flavor odorants of mint and five binary mixtures. The results showed that the pleasantness increased first and then decreased or stabilized with the rising of concentration; even though the interactions in binary mixtures were not the same, their pleasantness could be predicted using the intensities of the components by Response Surface Design of Experiments, and the goodness of fit was greater than 0.92, indicating that the models had the great predictive ability. Practical Application: Whether blending flavors or evaluating them, a great deal of experience is required, yet the acquisition of this experience is a long process. Performing these tasks is difficult for the novice, and it helps to quantify the feeling for the flavor and build some mathematical models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While previous research suggests that nostalgia can stimulate future‐oriented motivation and goal pursuit, the presence of conflicting findings complicate our understanding of the psychological and behavioral consequences of nostalgia. This study introduces and empirically validates a theoretical framework for nostalgia through a meta‐analysis of 90 effect sizes and 9757 aggregate samples from 22 experimental studies. Our findings enrich understanding of the effects of nostalgia, showing that compared to a control, nostalgia enhances consumers' sense of pleasantness, self‐continuity, attitudes, and behavioral intentions. We also identify several moderators that shape the effects of nostalgia, namely nostalgia activators, culture, and individual characteristics. Intriguingly, stronger behavioral intentions manifest in response to nostalgic events (rather than objects), realistic (over nonrealistic) scenarios, visual (as opposed to textual) priming, and female‐majority (vs. male‐majority) samples. However, we observe that long‐term (vs. short‐term) oriented cultures exhibit diminished nostalgia effects. Furthermore, we find no significant variations in responses based on age (older vs. younger), type of nostalgic experience (personal vs. collective), and sample type (students vs. nonstudents). Collectively, our meta‐analysis reveals the intricate dynamics of nostalgia, emphasizing its profound impact on consumer behavior as shaped by moderators such as nostalgia activators, culture, and individual characteristics, thereby providing a multifaceted and nuanced understanding of nostalgia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Placebos have often been used to reduce emotional distress but rarely to increase positive feelings. The present study investigated whether a placebo can promote acts of kindness (AoKs) that are associated with emotional well-being. A total of 160 university students were asked to perform an AoK daily for one week. They evaluated their emotional state (feelings of pleasantness, arousal, satisfaction) directly before and after the AoKs. This was monitored via a smartphone app. One group performed each AoK after taking a non-deceptive placebo; the other group received no placebo. Before and after the one-week program, the participants completed three questionnaires that assessed satisfaction with life, positive/negative affect, and flourishing. The participants reported higher pleasantness directly after engaging in an AoK and more satisfaction with life after the program. The motivation to carry out AoKs decreased strongly over the week. However, placebo receivers completed more AoKs than the no-placebo group. The results indicate that placebo treatment can promote the performance of acts of kindness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odor hedonic estimation (pleasant/unpleasant) is considered the first and one of the most important dimensions in odor perception. Although there are several published scales that rate odor hedonicity, most of them use odorants that induce biases related to stimulus properties or test conditions and make difficult clinical or industrial applications. Thus, this study aimed to propose a model of odor hedonic profile (OHP) based on 14 items related to everyday odors without stimulus. The OHP is a self-rating tool based on the hedonic estimate representation and allows the determination of specific profiles, i.e., “conservative,” “neutral,” “liberal,” “negative olfactory alliesthesia,” and “positive olfactory alliesthesia.” It can be useful in dierent contexts (e.g., food studies) and general pathologies (e.g., eating disorders) or pathologies with mood/emotional disturbances (e.g., depression) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is one of the therapies recommended by the World Health Organization (2013) to treat posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Although efficient, repeated exposure to the traumatic memory may reduce its acceptability to patients. The therapy "eye movement and alternate stimulation for brain integration" (MOSAIC in French) was developed to improve acceptability and reduce pain by drawing on the patient's internal resources. MOSAIC therapy focuses on the body sensations that the patient wants to experience and avoids having to relive the traumatic memories. This observational study aimed to compare the clinical efficiency of EMDR and MOSAIC therapy for PTSD and to measure the well-being generated by both therapies. Twenty-six PTSD patients (17 females and 9 males, mean age 37.01 years, SD = 13.06) received treatment by psychiatrists and/or psychologists trained with EMDR or MOSAIC therapy. Both patient groups achieved a significant decrease in PTSD symptoms as measured with the PCL-5. However, fewer sessions were required with the MOSAIC therapy than with EMDR therapy. As expected, the level of well-being experienced by the patient during the therapy, assessed using the Lickert scale, was higher with MOSAIC than with EMDR therapy from the first session. These findings provide the first evidence of the efficacy of MOSAIC therapy treatment, which now needs to be corroborated in a larger randomized clinical trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Although manual pressure, such as that used during a massage, is often associated with pain, it can simultaneously be perceived as pleasant when applied to certain body areas. We hypothesized that stimulation of myofascial trigger points (TPs) leads to simultaneous pain and pleasure. TPs are hyperirritable points located in the taut band of the skeletal muscle. Method: In this study, we measured the muscle tone, muscle stiffness, and pressure pain threshold of TPs and control points in the left brachioradialis muscle of 48 healthy participants. We also applied deep compression to the two points and collected subjective data on pain, pleasantness, unpleasantness, and relief. Result: Greater muscle stiffness was observed in the TPs versus control points (t = 6.55, p < 0.001), and the pain threshold was significantly lower in the TPs (t = -6.21, p < 0.001). Unpleasantness ratings after deep compression were significantly lower in the TPs compared with control points (t = -2.68, p < 0.05). Participants experienced greater relief at the TPs compared with control points (t = 2.01, p < 0.05), although the perceived pain did not differ between the two types of points. Conclusion: We compared the properties of TPs and control points, and found that deep compression at TPs was associated with higher muscle tone and stiffness, lower unpleasantness ratings, and higher relief ratings compared with the control points. These findings suggest that, at least for some TPs, pain and pleasantness are simultaneously elicited by deep pressure stimulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Main effect models contend that perceived social support benefits mental health in the presence and the absence of stressful events, whereas stress-buffering models contend that perceived social support benefits mental health especially when individuals are facing stressful events. We tested these models of how perceived social support impacts mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic and evaluated whether characteristics of everyday social interactions statistically mediated this association – namely, (a) received support, the visible and deliberate assistance provided by others, and (b) pleasantness, the extent to which an interaction is positive, flows easily, and leads individuals to feel understood and validated. 591 United States adults completed a 3-week ecological momentary assessment protocol sampling characteristics of their everyday social interactions that was used to evaluate between-person average values and within-person daily fluctuations in everyday social interaction characteristics. Global measures of perceived social support and pandemic-related stressors were assessed at baseline. Psychiatric symptoms of depression and anxiety were assessed at baseline, at the end of each day of ecological momentary assessment, and at 3-week follow-up. Consistent with a main effect model, higher baseline perceived social support predicted decreases in psychiatric symptoms at 3-week follow-up (β = −.09, p =.001). Contrary to a stress-buffering model, we did not find an interaction of pandemic-stressors × perceived social support. The main effect of perceived social support on mental health was mediated by the pleasantness of everyday social interactions, but not by received support in everyday social interactions. We found evidence for both main effects and stress-buffering effects of within-person fluctuations in interaction pleasantness on daily changes in mental health. Results suggest the importance of everyday social interaction characteristics, especially their pleasantness, in linking perceived social support and mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many investigations on the emotional responses to music focus on the use of music pieces that contain a plethora of characteristics. This multitude of characteristics hampers the detection of the specific acoustic properties that contribute to the evoked emotions. In the present study, we were interested in the potential contribution of specific acoustical parameters of consonance to induced emotions. We, therefore, manipulated consonance by creating auditory stimuli that lacked the complexity of music by being very well defined in terms of their musical and acoustical characteristics. Specifically, Stimulus Set A was manipulated as a function of musical interval and harmonicity, with frequency components that followed and did not follow the harmonic series, and musical intervals that were consonant or dissonant, while Stimulus Set C was based on a previously utilized consonance manipulation in musical pieces. A duration manipulation was also included given the changes that might occur as a stimulus unfolds in time. Using pleasantness ratings, we found that consonant musical intervals—usually perceived as pleasant—were rated as unpleasant when the component tones contained inharmonic frequencies, while dissonant intervals remained unaffected by harmonicity. These results demonstrate, for the first time, that acoustical and psychoacoustical manipulations of consonance interact and contribute to listeners' pleasantness ratings. Α trend was observed for the duration with stimuli becoming more unpleasant as their duration increased. Subsequent qualitative comparison of our stimulus manipulation with musical excerpts showed that our stimuli were, in general, judged as less pleasant and that consonant musical excerpts were judged as more pleasant as duration increased, thus potentially pointing to the role of music completion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Odor hedonic estimation (pleasant/unpleasant) is considered the first and one of the most important dimensions in odor perception. Although there are several published scales that rate odor hedonicity, most of them use odorants that induce biases related to stimulus properties or test conditions and make difficult clinical or industrial applications. Thus, this study aimed to propose a model of odor hedonic profile (OHP) based on 14 items related to everyday odors without stimulus. The OHP is a self-rating tool based on the hedonic estimate representation and allows the determination of specific profiles, i.e., “conservative,” “neutral,” “liberal,” “negative olfactory alliesthesia,” and “positive olfactory alliesthesia.” It can be useful in different contexts (e.g., food studies) and general pathologies (e.g., eating disorders) or pathologies with mood/emotional disturbances (e.g., depression).

To understand the effects of specific elements that may enhance or detract residents’ well-being, it is important to explore the relationships between auditory and visual factors, based on people’s sensory experiences. Although residential environments provide natural experimental conditions to observe these relationships, the complexity of measuring sensory perceptions and their subsequent interpretation constitutes a challenge. This study aims to identify the influence of socio-demographics and residential location characteristics on three latent variables: noise-Sensitivity, sound-Pleasantness, and visual-Liveability in a Latin American city. The methodology is replicable and relies on a digital survey that displays environments in 360-format video and uses sound immersion techniques; it was applied to a sample of household heads in Quito, Ecuador. Based on an efficient experimental design, we selected different residential environments according to acoustic-visual attributes and the proximity to residential, commercial, and recreational land uses. Structural Equation Models (SEM) were estimated using mediating variables. Our results reveal the influence of noise-Sensitivity on sound-Pleasantness and, indirectly, on visual-Liveability. Further analysis shows that the impact of sound and visual perception changes with different socio-demographics and residential location characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In poetry declamation, the appropriate use of prosody to cause pleasure is essential. Among the prosodic parameters, pause is one of the most effective to engage the listeners and provide them with a pleasant experience. The declamation of three poems in two varieties of Portuguese by ten Brazilian Portuguese (BP) speakers and ten European Portuguese (EP) speakers, balanced for gender, was used as a corpus for evaluating the degree of pleasantness by listeners from the same language variety. The distributions of pause duration and inter-pause interval (IPI) both varied greatly across the subjects, being the main source of variability and strongly right-tailed. The evaluation of the degree of pleasantness revealed that pause duration predicts degree of pleasantness in EP, whereas IPI predicts degree of pleasantness in BP. Reciters perform a kind of complex "dance", where sonority between pauses is favored in BP and pause duration in EP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the effects of specific elements that may enhance or detract residents’ well-being, it is important to explore the relationships between auditory and visual factors, based on people’s sensory experiences. Although residential environments provide natural experimental conditions to observe these relationships, the complexity of measuring sensory perceptions and their subsequent interpretation constitutes a challenge. This study aims to identify the influence of socio-demographics and residential location characteristics on three latent variables: noise-Sensitivity, sound-Pleasantness, and visual-Liveability in a Latin American city. The methodology is replicable and relies on a digital survey that displays environments in 360-format video and uses sound immersion techniques; it was applied to a sample of household heads in Quito, Ecuador. Based on an efficient experimental design, we selected different residential environments according to acoustic-visual attributes and the proximity to residential, commercial, and recreational land uses. Structural Equation Models (SEM) were estimated using mediating variables. Our results reveal the influence of noise-Sensitivity on sound-Pleasantness and, indirectly, on visual-Liveability. Further analysis shows that the impact of sound and visual perception changes with different socio-demographics and residential location characteristics.

IntroductionThe amount of educational material delivered to pupils and students through digital screens is increasing. This method of delivering educational materials has become even more prevalent during the COVID-19 pandemic. To be as effective as possible, educational material must be properly designed not only in terms of content, but also in terms of form, e.g., the typeface. The present study investigated the effect of letter shape on readers’ feelings of pleasantness during reading, reading fluency, and text comprehension and memorisation.MethodsTo find out whether age influences the effects of typeface shape on reading measures, we divided the participants into a group of less experienced readers (children) and more experienced readers (adults). Both groups read texts in eight different typefaces: four of them were round or in rounded shape, and four were angular or in pointed shape. With an eye-tracker, the reading speed and the number of regressive saccades were recorded as measures of reading fluency and changes in pupil size as an indicator of emotional response. After reading each text, the participants rated the pleasantness of the typeface, and their comprehension and memorisation of texts were checked by asking two questions about the text content.ResultsWe found that compared to angular letters or letters in pointed shape, round letters or letters in round shape created more pleasant feelings for readers and lead to a faster reading speed. Children, as expected, read more slowly due to less reading experiences, but, interestingly, had a similar number of regressive saccades and did not comprehend or remember the text worse than university students.DiscussionWe concluded that softer typefaces of rounder shapes should be used in educational materials, as they make the reading process easier and thus support the learning process better for both younger and adult readers. The results of our study also showed that a comparison of findings of different studies may depend on the differences among the used letter shapes.

Placebos have often been used to reduce emotional distress but rarely to increase positive feelings. The present study investigated whether a placebo can promote acts of kindness (AoKs) that are associated with emotional well-being. A total of 160 university students were asked to perform an AoK daily for one week. They evaluated their emotional state (feelings of pleasantness, arousal, satisfaction) directly before and after the AoKs. This was monitored via a smartphone app. One group performed each AoK after taking a non-deceptive placebo; the other group received no placebo. Before and after the one-week program, the participants completed three questionnaires that assessed satisfaction with life, positive/negative affect, and flourishing. The participants reported higher pleasantness directly after engaging in an AoK and more satisfaction with life after the program. The motivation to carry out AoKs decreased strongly over the week. However, placebo receivers completed more AoKs than the no-placebo group. The results indicate that placebo treatment can promote the performance of acts of kindness.

Childhood trauma has been shown to contribute to low self-concept, potentially affecting trauma survivors' perception of social evaluations from others. However, there is little evidence for the association between traumatic experience in childhood and adult processing of evaluative verbal cues related to self. Therefore, the present study aimed to address whether and how cognitive and affective responses to self-referential praise and criticism would vary with different forms of childhood trauma. We engaged undergraduates and postgraduates in completing the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and an evaluation task in which participants rated self-related praising and criticizing sentences for pleasantness and truthfulness. These ratings and CTQ scores were subjected to correlation and regression analyses. Positive correlations were found between the pleasantness ratings for criticism and the scores of the CTQ full scale (r90 =.314, p = 0.0011) and two subscales for physical abuse (r90 =.347, p = 0.0004) and physical neglect (r90 =.335, p = 0.0005), indicating that higher scores in the scales were associated with reduced unpleasantness for self-related criticism. The regression analysis further revealed that 14.2% variances of emotional response to criticism could be explained by experience in physical abuse (β =.452, p =.022) and physical neglect (β =.387, p =.027). These findings suggest that childhood exposure to traumatic experience, particularly physical abuse and neglect, leads to attenuated emotional responses to self-referential criticism possibly via the mediation of self-concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When a speaker engages in public speaking, the expression shown while delivering the speech determines the effectiveness of the communication and can be very influential in organizational settings. However, in public speaking, the audience can often see the speaker before the presentation begins. Therefore, the public could hypothetically gain an impression on the basis of the speakers’ expressions even before performing the presentation. With this idea in mind, the goal of this research is to analyze the influence of speakers’ expressions before delivering a speech and during the presentation. The study included two brown-haired/dark-eyed male and female and two blonde-haired/blue-eyed male and female presenters to investigate the effect of appearance and gender. A total of 200 participants looked at the speakers’ pictures with five different expressions before delivering the speech. They then watched videos with the same speakers and similar expressions while delivering the speech. The results showed that happiness was the most pleasant and positive expression, followed by confidence, indifference, shyness, and anger, when the participants watched the speakers before the presentation. However, confidence was considered the most pleasant, credible, and comprehensible expression, followed by happiness, anger, shyness, and indifference, while giving the speech. In both cases, female presenters were perceived as the most pleasant, and brown-haired/dark-eyed speakers were considered the most pleasant, credible, and comprehensible. The speakers’ expressions were perceived as more intense before the speech than during the discourse. This line of research helps understand the influence of these two crucial moments in presentations, and the results may be transferred into practice for public speaking training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This pilot case-control study is aimed to estimate 'musical effort' and 'musical pleasantness' in adults normal hearing (NH) and Unilateral Cochlear Implant (UCI) users via neurophysiological indices and a cognitive-behavioural approach. 7 NH and 7 UCI subjects underwent electroencephalographic (EEG) recording with two EEG indices, Approach Withdrawal (AW) and Workload (WI), and behavioural tests conducted during a forced-choice musical emotion recognition task performed in quiet and noise in two emotional conditions. Musical effort in terms of WI did not vary between conditions and groups. Inversely, for AW, statistically significant differences in noisy conditions were observed between groups, indicating a difficulty for the patients in discriminating the musical pleasantness in noise. However, self-reported data suggest the ability of UCI to cognitively evaluate the stimulus in terms of both auditory difficulty and pleasantness. Findings suggest the possible relevance of the Cochlear Implant in supporting the patients' effort in listening to music in noise, allowing a pleasant enjoyment in the quiet condition. Overall, this study appears worthy of interest and paves the way for further investigation by providing data on the neurophysiological perception of music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Theories on emotional eating are central to our understanding of etiology, maintenance, and treatment of binge eating. Yet, findings on eating changes under induced negative emotions in binge‐eating disorder (BED) are equivocal. Thus, we studied whether food‐cue reactivity is potentiated under negative emotions in BED, which would point toward a causal role of emotional eating in this disorder. Methods: Patients with BED (n = 24) and a control group without eating disorders (CG; n = 69) completed a food picture reactivity task after induction of negative versus neutral emotions. Food‐cue reactivity (self‐reported food pleasantness, desire to eat [DTE], and corrugator supercilii muscle response, electromyogram [EMG]) was measured for low‐ and high‐caloric food pictures. Results: Patients with BED showed emotion‐potentiated food‐cue reactivity compared to controls: Pleasantness and DTE ratings and EMG response were increased in BED during negative emotions. This was independent of caloric content of the images. Conclusions: Food‐cue reactivity in BED was consistent with emotional eating theories and points to a heightened response to all foods regardless of calorie content. The discrepancy of appetitive ratings with the aversive corrugator response points to ambivalent food responses under negative emotions in individuals with BED. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work investigates the relationship between the sensations of pleasantness and wellbeing and the acoustics of poem declamation in two varieties of Portuguese: European and Brazilian. Ten speakers in each variety recited Alberto Caeiro's poem “Quando vier a primavera” to which dataset the declamation by two actors was added. Ten listeners in each variety participated in three perception tests for evaluating the degree of pleasantness and wellbeing of the entire reading in two different sessions by using a 5-degree Likert scale, and for choosing the more pleasant recitation from two recitations of a chunk of the poem. Both reciters and listeners were balanced in gender. A set of 22 prosodic parameters was used for predicting the listeners' evaluations in logistic regression models and linear discriminant analysis. Results showed that the parameters related to pausing and voice quality are the main explanatory variables with a minor role for the F0 median. The actors' recitations are preferred and gender differences are related to reciters, not listeners. Minor differences across the varieties were found.

There have been abundant research efforts on predicting verbal descriptions of odorants through the physicochemical features, physiological signals and E-nose signals. These approaches are interpreted as feature-driven methods in which the information about the inner links among different odor percepts is ignored. Different from that, we propose a perception-driven framework for predicting the missing odor perceptual ratings from other known odor percepts. Specifically, the work emphasizes pleasantness prediction based on level of importance in odor perception. In essence, this approach utilizes the relations among different odor perceptions, exploring the odor perceptual space subsequently. The missing perceptual ratings are predicted with an accuracy higher than 0.5 for more than half of the odor verbal descriptors, and almost half of the descriptors are predicted with a correlation higher than 0.8. The asymmetric clustering structure of odor perceptual space is revealed by feature selection for predicting the missing perceptual ratings. It is found that `pleasantness' is primarily determined by `sweet'.

In poetry declamation, the appropriate use of prosody to cause pleasure is essential. Among the prosodic parameters, pause is one of the most effective to engage the listeners and provide them with a pleasant experience. The declamation of three poems in two varieties of Portuguese by ten Brazilian Portuguese (BP) speakers and ten European Portuguese (EP) speakers, balanced for gender, was used as a corpus for evaluating the degree of pleasantness by listeners from the same language variety. The distributions of pause duration and inter-pause interval (IPI) both varied greatly across the subjects, being the main source of variability and strongly right-tailed. The evaluation of the degree of pleasantness revealed that pause duration predicts degree of pleasantness in EP, whereas IPI predicts degree of pleasantness in BP. Reciters perform a kind of complex “dance”, where sonority between pauses is favored in BP and pause duration in EP.

Music can induce strong emotions and psychological changes. The emotional control and mental health management of college students are greatly affected by gender, family background, grade, and other factors. Through music intervention, this paper explores how music-induced emotions influence the emotional control and mental health management self-efficacy of college students. The results show that positive music promotes the control of positive emotions, as positive music can give full play to active emotions; negative music both controls and enhances the negative emotions of college students; music intervention significantly affects the pleasantness dimension of the mental health of college students, but insignificantly affects the arousal dimension. The research findings lay a basis for further studies on emotional control and mental health management of college students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Endogenous opioids mediate the pleasurable responses to positively reinforcing stimuli such as palatable food. Yet, the reduction or omission of a negative experience can also be rewarding (negative reinforcement). As such, pain relief leads to negative reinforcement and evokes a pleasant feeling in humans. Although it has been shown that the feeling of pleasure associated with positive reinforcement is at least partly mediated through endogenous opioids, it is currently unknown whether similar neurochemical mechanisms are involved in the pleasant feeling evoked by pain relief. In this study, 27 healthy participants completed 2 identical experimental sessions, 1 with placebo and 1 with naltrexone, an endogenous opioid antagonist. Pain relief was induced by superficial cooling after heat stimulation of capsaicin-sensitized skin. Participants rated the relief and pleasantness in response to the cooling. Endogenous opioid blockade by naltrexone decreased relief and pleasantness ratings compared with placebo (P = 0.0027). This study provides evidence that endogenous opioids play a role in mediating the pleasant feeling of pain relief in humans. Clinically, the rewarding nature of pain relief and its underlying mechanisms require consideration because of their potential reinforcing effects on behaviors that might be beneficial short-term but maladaptive long-term. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the valence of an odor to guide rapid approach--avoidance behavior is thought to be one of the core tasks of the olfactory system, and yet little is known of the initial neural mechanisms supporting this process or of its subsequent behavioral manifestation in humans. In two experiments, we measured the functional processing of odor valence perception in the human olfactory bulb (OB)--the first processing stage of the olfactory system--using a noninvasive method as well as assessed the subsequent motor avoidance response. We demonstrate that odor valence perception is associated with both gamma and beta activity in the human OB. Moreover, we show that negative, but not positive, odors initiate an early beta response in the OB, a response that is linked to a preparatory neural motor response in the motor cortex. Finally, in a separate experiment, we show that negative odors trigger a full-body motor avoidance response, manifested as a rapid leaning away from the odor, within the time period predicted by the OB results. Taken together, these results demonstrate that the human OB processes odor valence in a sequential manner in both the gamma and beta frequency bands and suggest that rapid processing of unpleasant odors in the OB might underlie rapid approach--avoidance decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores attitudes toward Jordanian Arabic-accented English among native and non-native speakers of English. Three groups of listeners (native English speakers, Jordanian Arab specialists and non-specialists in English) were asked to rate three groups of speakers (a group of native English speakers and two groups of Jordanian Arabic bilinguals) reading a short story in English on the degree of foreign accentedness, friendliness, pleasantness and clarity. The results showed that the Jordanian Arabic speakers, especially those with a lower level of English, were perceived less favourably than the native speakers. Furthermore, the English native listeners generally had more favourable perceptions than the non-native listeners with regard to the non-native speakers. The degree of foreign-accentedness was highly correlated with attitudes toward non-native speakers, especially among the non-native speakers themselves. The results confirm that a native English accent is preferred over non-native accents.

Background: Slow stroking touch is generally perceived as pleasant and reduces thermal pain. However, the tactile stimuli applied tend to be short-lasting and typically applied to the forearm. This study aimed to compare the effects of a long-lasting brushing stimulus applied to the facial region and the forearm on pressure pain thresholds (PPTs) taken on the hand. Outcome measurements were touch satiety and concurrent mechanical pain thresholds of the hand.Methods: A total of 24 participants were recruited and randomized to receive continuous stroking, utilizing a robotic stimulator, at C-tactile (CT) favorable (3 cm/s) and non-favorable (30 cm/s) velocities applied to the right face or forearm. Ratings of touch pleasantness and unpleasantness and PPTs from the hypothenar muscle of the right hand were collected at the start of stroking and once per minute for 5 min.Results: A reduction in PPTs (increased pain sensitivity) was observed over time (P < 0.001). However, the increase in pain sensitivity was less prominent when the face was stroked compared to the forearm (P = 0.001). Continuous stroking resulted in a significant interaction between region and time (P = 0.008) on pleasantness ratings, with a decline in ratings observed over time for the forearm, but not on the face. Unpleasantness ratings were generally low.Conclusion: We observed touch satiety for 5 min of continuous robotic brushing on the forearm confirming previous studies. However, we did not observe any touch satiety for brushing the face. Mechanical pain sensitivity, measured in the hand, increased over the 5-min period but less so when paired with brushing on the face than with brushing on the forearm. The differential effects of brushing on the face and forearm on touch satiety and pain modulation may be by the differences in the emotional relevance and neuronal pathways involved.

• The study looks into modulation of contingent negative variation (CNV) using odors. • No differences could be found between young and old. • Some personality traits were weakly correlated. • Conclusion, odors have little or no effect on the CNV. Although pleasantness is intrinsically related to the perception of odors it is difficult to objectively assess odor-induced pleasantness. To evaluate the effects of odors of different valences on the contingent negative variation (CNV) in a younger and an older population. Data from 62 participants (27 men, 35 women) were included. Two age groups with Age group 1 (YOUNG) had 30 subjects within age 18–30 years and age group 2 (OLD) had 32 subjects with age >40 years. Pre-testing was performed to acquaint subjects with the experimental tasks and their environment. Subjects received "Sniffin' Sticks" odor identification tests and a standardized medical history to ascertain normosmia. In addition, they also took questionnaires relating to importance of the sense of smell and personality traits. CNV was elicited with two auditory stimuli, S1 followed by S2 at an interval of 2.4 s. Subjects were asked to push a button as fast as possible after they perceived S2. EEG was recorded from 4 positions of the 10–20 system (Fp2, Fz, Cz, and Pz). Four odors plus odorless air was presented in randomized order. The following main results emerged: (1) Consistent with the literature CNV showed a typical topographical distribution with the largest amplitude over the front-central recording sites. (2) 69% of subjects had consistent CNV for all conditions. (3) for some odor conditions CNV amplitudes exhibit a weak relation to odor pleasantness and associations with calmness. (4) CNV amplitude correlated negatively with reaction times. Overall, the results suggest the usefulness of CNV as an electrophysiological measure of cognition. However, in the present context, concomitantly applied odors of different hedonic tones exerted only minor effects on CNV. Thus, we conclude that odors have little or no effect on CNV. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An experience of an environment is multi-sensory. • The Sensory Walk questionnaire measures and characterizes the sensations in a place. • Different sensory experiences were detected in different areas of a restaurant. • The type and intensity of the sensations affect the pleasantness of the experience. Surrounding plays an important role in well-being and affects behaviour. The experience of the environment is multi-sensory, we perceive different visual, auditory, olfactory, and somatosensory cues, but until today, there has not been a method to measure and characterize the sensory experience of a place systematically. The current paper aims to 1) develop the Sensory Walk Questionnaire, and 2) test the questionnaire in a restaurant environment. The Sensory Walk Questionnaire was developed by reviewing literature and interviewing architectural experts. 318 respondents completed the Sensory Walk Questionnaire in Flavoria(R) Research Restaurant. The study showed that the three test areas in the restaurant; the lobby, the dining area and the waste point differed (p < 0.05) in the perceived odour and sound intensity, in the pleasantness of odours, sounds and visual environment, as well as several sensory descriptors used to characterize these locations. The Sensory Walk Questionnaire provides a valuable tool to measure the sensory quality of places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Women with and recovered from AN rated imagined and delivered tactile stimuli as less pleasant than healthy controls. • No specific role of the CT-system in tactile anhedonia in AN was found. • Prior beliefs, alexithymia and interoceptive sensibility predict tactile pleasure. • Tactile anhedonia in AN might persist as a trait even after successful recovery. Disruptions in reward processing and anhedonia have long been observed in Anorexia Nervosa (AN). Interoceptive deficits have also been observed in AN, including reduced tactile pleasure. However, the extent to which this tactile anhedonia is specifically liked to an impairment in a specialised, interoceptive C-tactile system originating at the periphery, or a more top-down mechanism in the processing of tactile pleasantness remains debated. Here, we investigated differences between patients with and recovered from AN (RAN) and healthy controls (HC) in the perception of pleasantness of touch delivered in a CT-optimal versus a CT-non-optimal manner, and in their top-down, anticipatory beliefs about the perceived pleasantness of touch. To this end, we measured the anticipated pleasantness of various materials touching the skin and the perceived pleasantness of light, dynamic touch applied to the forearm of 27 women with AN, 24 women who have recovered and 30 HCs using C Tactile (CT) afferents-optimal (slow) and non-optimal (fast) velocities. Our results showed that both clinical groups anticipated tactile experiences and rated delivered tactile stimuli as less pleasant than HCs, but the latter difference was not related to the CT optimality of the stimulation. Instead, differences in the perception of CT-optimal touch were predicted by differences in top-down beliefs, alexithymia and interoceptive sensibility. Thus, tactile anhedonia in AN might persist as a trait even after otherwise successful recovery of AN and it is not linked to a bottom-up interoceptive deficit in the CT system, but rather to a learned, defective top-down anticipation of tactile pleasantness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]