Shang Xu L&S Social Sciences
Measuring Individual Differences in Emotional Sensitivity
The project investigates how quickly people detect and respond to emotional changes – “emotional sensitivity.”
To do this, we use the Inferential Emotion Tracking task: participants watch video clips and continuously rate the characters’ feelings on scales of valence (positive–negative) and arousal (calm–excited). We calculate the time lag and peak alignment using cross-correlation analysis. Some individuals consistently anticipate shifts in emotion faster, while others lag behind, and these differences may relate to measures like Autism Quotient and Emotional Quotient.
Understanding these individual patterns could shed light on why some people excel at reading subtle social cues, inform interventions for those who struggle with emotion perception (for example, in autism), and guide the design of more empathetic technologies that respond in real time to users’ emotional states.
Message To Sponsor
Thank you for your generous support in this project. Your funding enables us to combine the Inferential Emotion Tracking task with real-world experience sampling to uncover the dynamics of emotional sensitivity and regulation. I deeply appreciate your belief in our work and the opportunity for me to pursue research in the summer.