Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?

[EN] Apps are software programs that enable users to optimise their resources in different areas. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the number of apps, whose use has spread in step with their perceived efficacy and reliability. This research focused on the Moodies app, designed for the voice...

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Authors: Arana Martínez, José María; Gordillo León, Fernando; Darias Plasencia, Jeannete; Mestas Hernández, Lilia
Format: Article
Status:Published version
Publication date:2020
Country:España
Institution:Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
Repository:GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
OAI Identifier:oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/167318
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/10366/167318
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:App
Emotions
LIWC
Moodies
Emotion recognition
Prosody
61 Psicología
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author Arana Martínez, José María
author2 Gordillo León, Fernando
Darias Plasencia, Jeannete
Mestas Hernández, Lilia
author2_role author
author
author
author_browse Arana Martínez, José María
Darias Plasencia, Jeannete
Gordillo León, Fernando
Mestas Hernández, Lilia
author_facet Arana Martínez, José María
Gordillo León, Fernando
Darias Plasencia, Jeannete
Mestas Hernández, Lilia
author_role author
collection GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
description [EN] Apps are software programs that enable users to optimise their resources in different areas. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the number of apps, whose use has spread in step with their perceived efficacy and reliability. This research focused on the Moodies app, designed for the voice detection of the speaker's emotions. Yet does it actually gauge emotions, and does it do so consistently over time? Our study therefore used this app to analyse the soundtracks of 34 scenes from different films in four languages, and the output Moodies provided was recorded in a brief text in English, which was processed using the tool Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). The same procedure was then repeated for a second measure. The analysis of the correspondence between the results obtained with Moodies and the interpretation made by LIWC considered the variables Emotion, prompted by scenes in films (disgust, happiness, anger, fear, tenderness, and sadness), Language (English, Spanish, Italian, and French), and the time of the measurement (Listening 1 and 2); an analysis was also conducted of reliability and concurrent criterion validity. The results show that Moodies correctly analyses emotions in dimensional terms (positive vs negative emotion), but not so in categorical terms, as it has difficulties in distinguishing between the emotions of anger and sadness and those of fear and disgust. In terms of reliability, there was a good correlation between listenings (r's Pearson correlation coefficient = .977), albeit with differences in the percentage of words detected (Listening 1 - Listening 2), which ranged between 0.00 and 22.06 (absolute value). It was also noted that language is not a significant variable, although it identifies a higher percentage of emotion words in scenes of fear in Spanish than in any other language. Based on these data as a whole, it may be concluded that Moodies classifies emotion in a more general way than expected and desired.
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instname_str Universidad de Salamanca (USAL)
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
oai_identifier_str oai:gredos.usal.es:10366/167318
publishDate 2020
publishDateSort 2020
publisher Elsevier
publisherStr Elsevier
reponame_str GREDOS. Repositorio Institucional de la Universidad de Salamanca
spelling Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work? Arana Martínez, José María Gordillo León, Fernando Darias Plasencia, Jeannete Mestas Hernández, Lilia App Emotions LIWC Moodies Emotion recognition Prosody 61 Psicología [EN] Apps are software programs that enable users to optimise their resources in different areas. Recent years have seen a huge increase in the number of apps, whose use has spread in step with their perceived efficacy and reliability. This research focused on the Moodies app, designed for the voice detection of the speaker's emotions. Yet does it actually gauge emotions, and does it do so consistently over time? Our study therefore used this app to analyse the soundtracks of 34 scenes from different films in four languages, and the output Moodies provided was recorded in a brief text in English, which was processed using the tool Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC). The same procedure was then repeated for a second measure. The analysis of the correspondence between the results obtained with Moodies and the interpretation made by LIWC considered the variables Emotion, prompted by scenes in films (disgust, happiness, anger, fear, tenderness, and sadness), Language (English, Spanish, Italian, and French), and the time of the measurement (Listening 1 and 2); an analysis was also conducted of reliability and concurrent criterion validity. The results show that Moodies correctly analyses emotions in dimensional terms (positive vs negative emotion), but not so in categorical terms, as it has difficulties in distinguishing between the emotions of anger and sadness and those of fear and disgust. In terms of reliability, there was a good correlation between listenings (r's Pearson correlation coefficient = .977), albeit with differences in the percentage of words detected (Listening 1 - Listening 2), which ranged between 0.00 and 22.06 (absolute value). It was also noted that language is not a significant variable, although it identifies a higher percentage of emotion words in scenes of fear in Spanish than in any other language. Based on these data as a whole, it may be concluded that Moodies classifies emotion in a more general way than expected and desired. Elsevier http://hdl.handle.net/10366/167318
spellingShingle Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
Arana Martínez, José María
App
Emotions
LIWC
Moodies
Emotion recognition
Prosody
61 Psicología
status_str publishedVersion
title Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
title_full Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
title_fullStr Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
title_full_unstemmed Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
title_short Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
title_sort Analysis of the efficacy and reliability of the Moodies app for detecting emotions through speech: Does it actually work?
topic App
Emotions
LIWC
Moodies
Emotion recognition
Prosody
61 Psicología
topic_facet App
Emotions
LIWC
Moodies
Emotion recognition
Prosody
61 Psicología
url http://hdl.handle.net/10366/167318