Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

What is an Emotion-label Word? Emotional Prototypicality (EmoPro) Rating for 1,083 Chinese Emotion Words and Its Relationships with Psycholinguistic Variables

  • Published:
Journal of Psycholinguistic Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The present study offered the emotion prototypicality (EmoPro) ratings for 1,083 Chinese emotion words. EmoPro measures the extent to which an emotion word refers to an emotion. Emotion words with high EmoPro are representative emotion-label words, so EmoPro provides an objective evaluation of defining an emotion-label word. The EmoPro rating results had adequate reliability and validity. The correlation results showed that EmoPro was related to valence, arousal, age of acquisition (AoA), and word frequency, but was not associated with concreteness, familiarity, and imageability. The EmoPro was also predicted by valence, arousal, and AoA. However, EmoPro failed to predict lexical decision performance after considering the contribution of valence, arousal, AoA, and concreteness. The present normative study is of high value for selecting the most typical emotion-label words as stimuli in future affective science and psycholinguistic studies.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Data Availability

The original data will be available upon request. The averaged EmoPro for the words was available in supplementary material.

References

  • Altarriba, J., Bauer, L. M., & Benvenuto, C. (1999). Concreteness, context availability, and imageability ratings and word associations for abstract, concrete, and emotion words. Behavior Research Methods, Instruments, & Computers, 31, 578–602.

  • Chang, Y. N., Hsu, C. H., Tsai, J. L., Chen, C. L., & Lee, C. Y. (2016). A psycholinguistic database for traditional chinese character naming. Behavior Research Methods, 48(1), 112–122.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gu, B., Wang, H., Beltrán, D., Liu, B., Liang, T., Wang, X., & de Vega, M. (2021). Embodied processing of disgust in Mandarin words: An ERP study. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 58, 100981. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2020.100981.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gu, B., Liu, B., Wang, H., de Vega, M., & Beltrán, D. (2022). ERP signatures of pseudowords’ acquired emotional connotations of disgust and sadness. Language Cognition and Neuroscience, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022.2099914.

  • Haro, J., Calvillo, R., Poch, C., Hinojosa, J. A., & Ferré, P. (2022). Your words went straight to my heart: The role of emotional prototypicality in the recognition of emotion-label words. Psychological Research Psychologische Forschung, 87(4), 1075–1084. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00426-022-01723-6.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hinojosa, J. A., Moreno, E., & Ferré, P. (2020). On the limits of affective neurolinguistics: A “universe” that quickly expands. Language Cognition and Neuroscience, 35, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2020.1761988.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Juhasz, B. J., & Yap, M. J. (2013). Sensory experience ratings for over 5,000 mono- and disyllabic words. Behavior Research Methods, 45(1), 160–168. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-012-0242-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Li, W., Xu, Q., Liu, S., Yu, L., Yang, Y., Zhang, L., & He, X. (2022). Emotion concept in perception of facial expressions: Effects of emotion-label words and emotion-laden words. Neuropsychologia, 174, 108345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2022.108345.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Lindquist, K. A. (2017). The role of language in emotion: Existing evidence and future directions. Current Opinion in Psychology, 17, 135–139.

  • Liu, J., Fan, L., & Yin, H. (2019). A bibliometric analysis on cognitive processing of emotional words. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, 35(2), 353–365. https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqz025.

  • Liu, J., Fan, L., Jiang, J., Li, C., Tian, L., Zhang, X., & Feng, W. (2022a). Evidence for dynamic attentional bias toward positive emotion-laden words: A behavioral and electrophysiological study. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022a.966774.

  • Liu, J., Fan, L., Tian, L., Li, C., & Feng, W. (2022b). The neural mechanisms of explicit and implicit processing of chinese emotion-label and emotion-laden words: Evidence from emotional categorisation and emotional Stroop tasks. Language Cognition and Neuroscience, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2022b.2093389.

  • Martin, J., & Altarriba, J. (2017). Effects of Valence on Hemispheric specialization for emotion Word Processing. Language and Speech, 60(4), 597–613. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830916686128.

  • Pérez, M., Stadthagen-Gonzalez, H., Guasch, M., Hinojosa, J. A., Fraga, I., Marin, J., & Ferré, P. (2021). EmoPro – emotional prototypicality for 1286 spanish words: Relationships with affective and psycholinguistic variables. Behavior Research Methods, 53, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-020-01519-9.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Russell, J., & Barrett, L. (1999). Core affect, prototypical emotional episodes, and other things called emotion: Dissecting the elephant. Journal of personality and social psychology, 76, 805–819. https://doi.org/10.1037//0022-3514.76.5.805.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Song, D., & Li, D. (2021). Psycholinguistic norms for 3,783 two-character words in simplified chinese. SAGE Open, 11, 215824402110544. https://doi.org/10.1177/21582440211054495.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sun, C. C., Hendrix, P., Ma, J., & Baayen, R. H. (2018). Chinese lexical database (CLD) A large-scale lexical database for simplified Mandarin Chinese. Behavior Research Methods, 50(6), 2606-2629.

  • Sze, W. P., Liow, R., S. J., & Yap, M. J. (2014). The chinese lexicon project: A repository of lexical decision behavioral responses for 2,500 chinese characters. Behavior Research Methods, 46(1), 263–273. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-013-0355-9.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tsang, Y. K., Huang, J., Lui, M., Xue, M., Chan, Y. W. F., Wang, S., & Chen, H. C. J. B. r. m. (2018). MELD-SCH: A megastudy of lexical decision in simplified chinese. Behavior Research Methods, 50(5), 1763–1777.

  • Tse, C. S., Yap, M. J., Chan, Y. L., Sze, W. P., Shaoul, C., & Lin, D. J. B. (2017). The chinese lexicon project: A megastudy of lexical decision performance for 25,000 + traditional chinese two-character compound words. Behavior Research Methods, 49(4), 1503–1519.

  • Vinson, D., Ponari, M., & Vigliocco, G. (2014). How does emotional content affect lexical processing? Cognition and Emotion, 28(4), 737–746. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.851068.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Y., Zhou, L., & Luo, Y. (2008). The pilot establishment and evaluation of chinese affective words system. J Chinese Mental Health Journal, 22(8), 608–612.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, X., Shangguan, C., & Lu, J. (2019). Time course of emotion effects during emotion-label and emotion-laden word processing. Neuroscience Letters, 699, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neulet.2019.01.028.

  • Wu, C., & Zhang, J. (2020). Emotion word type should be incorporated in affective neurolinguistics: A commentary on Hinojosa, Moreno and Ferré (2019). Language Cognition and Neuroscience, 35(7), 840–843. https://doi.org/10.1080/23273798.2019.1696979.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, C., Zhang, J., & Yuan, Z. (2020). Affective picture processing is modulated by emotion word type in masked priming paradigm: An event-related potential study. Journal of Cognitive Psychology, 32(3), 287–297. https://doi.org/10.1080/20445911.2020.1745816.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu, C., Zhang, J., & Yuan, Z. (2021a). Can masked Emotion-Laden words prime emotion-label words? An ERP test on the mediated account. Frontiers in Psychology, 12(4677). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.721783.

  • Wu, C., Zhang, J., & Yuan, Z. (2021b). Exploring affective priming effect of emotion-label words and Emotion-Laden words: An event-related potential study. Brain Sciences, 11(5), https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050553.

  • Xu, X., & Li, J. J. P. (2020). Concreteness/abstractness ratings for two-character chinese words in MELD-SCH. PloS one, 15(6), e0232133.

  • Xu, X., Li, J., & Chen, H. J. B. R. M. (2021a). Valence and arousal ratings for 11,310 simplified chinese words. Behavior Research Methods, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-021-01607-4.

  • Xu, X., Li, J., & Guo, S. J. B. R. M. (2021b). Age of acquisition ratings for 19,716 simplified chinese words. Behavior Research Methods, 53(2), 558–573.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Yao, Z., Wu, J., Zhang, Y., & Wang, Z. (2016). Norms of valence, arousal, concreteness, familiarity, imageability, and context availability for 1,100 Chinese words. Behavior Research Methods. 49, 1374–1385.

  • Yao, Yu, D., Wang, L., Zhu, X., Guo, J., & Wang, Z. (2016). Effects of valence and arousal on emotional word processing are modulated by concreteness: Behavioral and ERP evidence from a lexical decision task. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 110, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2016.07.499.

  • Yao, Zhu, X., & Luo, W. (2019). Valence makes a stronger contribution than arousal to affective priming. PeerJ, 7, e7777. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.7777.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, D., He, W., Wang, T., Luo, W., Zhu, X., Gu, R., Li, H., Luo, Y. J. (2014). Three stages of emotional word processing: An ERP study with rapid serial visual presentation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 9(12), 1897–1903.

  • Zhang, J., Wu, C., Meng, Y., & Yuan, Z. (2017). Different neural correlates of emotion-label words and Emotion-Laden words: An ERP Study. Frontiers in human neuroscience, 11(455), https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2017.00455.

  • Zhang, J., Teo, T., & Wu, C. (2018). Emotion words modulate early conflict Processing in a Flanker Task: Differentiating emotion-label words and Emotion-Laden words in Second Language. Language and Speech, 62(4), 641–651. https://doi.org/10.1177/0023830918807509.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zhang, J., Wu, C., Yuan, Z., & Meng, Y. (2019). Differentiating emotion-label words and emotion-laden words in emotion conflict: An ERP study. Experimental Brain Research, 237(9), 2423–2430. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-019-05600-4.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Funding

This study was supported by the Shanghai Philosophy and Social Science Planning Project (2020EYY004).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Multilingual Education with AI, School of Education, Shanghai International Studies University, Shanghai, China

    Chenggang Wu

Authors
  1. Chenggang Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Chenggang Wu.

Ethics declarations

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards (IRB code: 20220314).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Informed consent

This study used questionnaires to collect data, and if the participants agreed to finish the questionnaire, this indicated that they agreed to participate the study.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary Material 1

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wu, C. What is an Emotion-label Word? Emotional Prototypicality (EmoPro) Rating for 1,083 Chinese Emotion Words and Its Relationships with Psycholinguistic Variables. J Psycholinguist Res 52, 2229–2237 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-09997-6

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-023-09997-6

Keywords

Search

Navigation