Work

Pupil Dilation Reflects Emotional Arousal Via Poetic Language

Year: 2022

Type: article

Abstract: as comic poetry (CP), in comparison with non-poetry control stimuli (NP) comprised of slogans that had the same rhythm patterns. Native Japanese speakers without literary training listened to these stimuli while we recorded their pupil diameters. We found that participants' pupils were significantly dilated for CP compared to NP in an early time window. While AP also evoked larger dilations than NP, the latency for AP-related pupil dilation was relatively long. Thus, lay people experience quick and intense arousal in response to funny and humorous words, while aesthetic properties of words may also elicit intense but slower changes in listeners' arousal levels, presumably because they evoke more implicit and subtle emotional effects. This study is the first to provide evidence that poetic language elicits human pupillary dilation. A better understanding of the cognitive and neural substrates for the sensitive awareness of pleasures expressed via poetic language will provide insights for improving mental and physical health. Hence, pupillometry can act as a useful convenient measurement to delineate the sympathetic activation of emotional contexts via language.

Source: Perceptual and Motor Skills

DOI: 10.1177/00315125221126778

Authors: Keiyu Niikuni, Ming Wang, Michiru Makuuchi, Masatoshi Koizumi, Sachiko Kiyama

Institutions: Niigata Seiryo University, Tohoku University, National Rehabilitation Center for Persons with Disabilities, National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics

Language: English

Topic: Aesthetic Perception and Analysis

Subfield: Cognitive Neuroscience

Field: Neuroscience

Domain: Life Sciences

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,250

Funders: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Frontier Research Institute for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Tohoku University