Project description
How emotions are perceived in absence of vision
Facial expressions reveal people's emotional states. From happiness and surprise to fear and disgust, interpretation relies on the detection of salient information. This is a task chiefly accomplished through vision. Affective signals are conveyed through nonverbal communication and can be experienced and perceived exclusively through sight. In this context, the EU-funded LEAS project will investigate how emotions are perceived in absence of vision. Specifically, how do congenitally blind individuals describe emotions through language. To find the answers, LEAS will study how much the representation of emotional bodily sensations depends on sight and whether the stream of affect is differently encoded in the brain of sighted and blind individuals.
Objective
Affective abilities are crucial for social interactions, as understanding, predicting and responding to emotional signals is necessary for the optimal functioning of daily life. Of note, emotion recognition relies on the detection of salient information, a task chiefly accomplished through vision. As a matter of fact, affective signals are largely conveyed through nonverbal communication, and can be perceived exclusively through sight, as the redness on the cheeks when feeling embarrassed. Indeed, previous behavioral evidence and functional brain data point to the crucial role of sight in emotional processing. Therefore, a question naturally arises: how emotions are experienced/perceived in absence of vision? Specifically, how do congenitally blind individuals describe emotions through language? Is their representation of affective states in the body different from a sighted subject? Do they retain the same mechanisms of emotional coding in the brain? To answer these questions, the proposal (1) will explore the emotion ontology of sighted and congenitally blind individuals, revealing to what extent emotion semantics develops independently from the sense of vision; (2) will study how much the representation of emotional bodily sensations depends on sight; (3) will investigate whether the stream of affect is differently encoded in the brain of sighted and blind individuals. The action will adopt an interdisciplinary approach, exploiting methods ranging from computational linguistics to psychological assessment, as well as from behavioral to neuroimaging investigations. The innovative framework here proposed will advance our knowledge of sensory deprivation and emotion by mapping affective states in language, body and brain. Importantly, the current action will highlight factors influencing the psychological wellbeing of visually impaired subjects and provide new insights to foster their inclusion in a society which strongly depends on sight.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2020
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
1348 LOUVAIN LA NEUVE
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.