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Experimental Psychology (Russia)
2025. Vol. 18, no. 4, 47–63
doi:10.17759/exppsy.2025180403
ISSN: 2072-7593 / 2311-7036 (online)

Reconstruction of a fragment of the perceptual space of emotional facial expressions

 
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Abstract

Context and relevance. The current work continues the studies of the perceived relations of emotional facial expressions. Objective. The aim of the research is to reconstruct the perceptual space of basic emotions and transitional expressions between them. The direct comparison paradigm was tested to reconstruct the perceptual space of transitional emotional rows that form a closed figure. Three transitional rows were used. Hypothesis. It was suggested to obtain a two-dimensional model corresponding to a triangle with basic emotions on the vertices, and the transitional expressions located linearly on the edges. Methods and materials. 40 people (M = 21.4 years) took part in the experiment. During the procedure participants rated the degree of expressions similarity on a scale from 1 to 9, where 9 means “very similar”. Results. The assumed two-dimensional triangle model was reconstructed using multidimensional scaling. It was shown that the direct comparison task can be used to create a complete space of emotional expressions. Conclusions. The observed violations of linearity are explained in terms of perceptual magnetic effect. The calculated resolving power of the method can be used to increase the accuracy of reconstruction quality assessment. Prospects for further research aimed at creating a complete space by connecting reconstructed triangles of transitional rows of emotional facial expressions are presented.

General Information

Keywords: emotional facial expressions, direct comparison task, perceived similarity, multidimensional scaling

Journal rubric: Face Science

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2025180403

Received 16.10.2024

Revised 21.04.2025

Accepted

Published

For citation: Fomicheva, A.D. (2025). Reconstruction of a fragment of the perceptual space of emotional facial expressions. Experimental Psychology (Russia), 18(4), 47–63. (In Russ.). https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2025180403

© Fomicheva A.D., 2025

License: CC BY-NC 4.0

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Information About the Authors

Arina D. Fomicheva, Postgraduate student, Laboratory of cognitive processes and mathematical psychology, Institute of Psychology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russian Federation, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2622-1816, e-mail: fomar1999@mail.ru

Contribution of the authors

The author declares no conflict of interest.

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