According to the authors of a new study, the way a person moves his arms and legs while walking can indicate what emotions he is experiencing. Austrian scientists have found that people can estimate the internal state of others from movement patterns, even without other significant signals.
In everyday life, people use various cues to read the emotions of others. These include, for example, facial expressions, i.e. small movements of the eyebrows, eyes or mouth, which can indicate joy, anger, fear, sadness or surprise. Also changes in posture, such as going from an open to a closed posture, can signal interest or stress.
In a new study, Austrian experts focused specifically on walking. The researchers investigated how limb movement is related to emotions and whether these patterns can be purposefully modified. Participants in the experiment watched recordings of actors moving according to pre-given instructions and tried to determine their emotional state.
Before walking, the actors recalled personal experiences causing anger, joy, fear or sadness. When moving, they had reflective marks on their bodies, thanks to which it was possible to create simplified visual records capturing only points of movement. Even from this minimal information, observers were able to recognize emotions better than would be expected by chance.
The results show clear connections. People associated more pronounced arm movements with anger, while limited movements were seen as a sign of sadness. In another experiment, researchers directly adjusted walking style to match different emotions, and participants responded to these changes in the expected way.
“To some extent, the pedestrians’ intended emotions were indeed perceived by observers. Our approach offers a powerful movement analysis model that expands the understanding of emotion assessment from movement.” the authors from the University of Applied Sciences in St. Pölten.
