Quantifying the time course of tantrum anger

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然愤怒是一种重要的情绪，潜在的公开侵略的巨大社会成本，很少有人知道愤怒和行为之间的关系，它是相关的。几乎无处不在的幼儿发脾气提供了一个窗口，可以看到愤怒，这可能是如此强烈，否则无法进行系统的观察。对先前收集的330个发脾气的分析表明，不同愤怒行为的上升和下降反映了愤怒的瞬间水平。我们建议构建一个定量模型，将观察到的每个愤怒行为的时间变化与驱动它们的愤怒强度的变化联系起来。该模型将根据正在收集的更详细的数据集进行测试。 因为所有容易观察到的愤怒行为都已经被纳入模型，所以需要新的衡量发脾气的方法来进行实证检验。为了满足这一需要，同时开辟一个有前途的新的研究领域，我们将声学分析未开发的多样性发脾气 声乐尖叫声、喊叫声、哀鸣声和哭声，由缝在孩子衬衫上的麦克风记录下来，将被DFT数字化和频谱分析。发声概率、持续时间、F0特征和发音困难的时间变化将与从同时录像的行为计算的愤怒轨迹进行比较。我们还将使用父母和儿科专家的FACS编码面部表情和全球愤怒评级来测试该模型。 成功建模的主要好处之一是能够通过愤怒强度来衡量行为，估计总的或最大的发脾气愤怒，以及比较儿童内部和儿童之间的愤怒强度（例如，与发脾气的诱因、父母干预和儿童期精神病理学有关）。该项目还将为分析这类时间进程数据提供一个范例。这项研究的创新性质，以及其新颖的应用声学分析发脾气声乐，合格的R21计划的应用。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Although anger is an important emotion underlying overt aggression of great social cost, little is known about the relations between anger and the behaviors with which it is associated. The almost ubiquitous tantrums of toddlers provide a window onto anger which can be so intense as to be otherwise inaccessible to systematic observation. Analyses of 330 previously collected tantrums suggest that the rise and fall of different angry behaviors reflects the momentary level of anger. We propose to construct a quantitative model which relates the observed temporal variation in each of the angry behaviors to the changing intensity of anger which drives them all. The model will be tested against a more detailed tantrum data set now being collected. Because all the easily observed angry behaviors are already incorporated into the model, new measures of tantrum anger are needed for empirical testing. To meet this need while opening up a promising new area of study, we will acoustically analyze the unexplored diversity of tantrum vocalics. Screams, shouts, whines, and cries, recorded by microphones sewn into the child's shirt, will be digitized and spectrally analyzed by DFT. Temporal changes in vocalic probability, duration, F0 characteristics, and dysphonation will be compared to the anger trajectory calculated from the simultaneously videotaped behaviors. We will also test the model with FACS coded facial expressions and global anger ratings by parents and pediatric experts. Among the major benefits of successful modeling would be the ability to scale behaviors by anger intensity, to estimate total or maximum tantrum anger, and to compare anger intensity within and between children (e.g., related to tantrum triggers, parental intervention, and childhood psychopathology). This project will also provide a paradigm for the analysis of such time course data. The innovative nature of this research, and its novel application of acoustic analysis to tantrum vocalics, qualifies this application for the R21 program.