Department of Psychology, TU Braunschweig, Clinical Psychology, Psychotherapy, and Assessment, Humboldtstrasse 33, Braunschweig, Germany.
J Fam Psychol. 2013 Apr;27(2):212-20. doi: 10.1037/a0031887. Epub 2013 Mar 4.
The human voice is one of the sounds most frequently experienced by human beings. During couple conflict, higher fundamental frequency (f0), a physical property of human speech, has been linked to an increased risk of divorce, less beneficial response to couple therapy, and higher levels of dysfunctional communication behavior. F0 is generally considered to be a measure of emotional arousal, but it is not currently clear whether this interpretation is appropriate for understanding spouses' f0 during couple interaction. The goal of the current article is to clarify what forms of information are encoded in f0 during couple conflict by examining the relations between f0 range, physiological variables, and communication behavior during the conflict discussions of 67 German couples. In line with evolutionary models of speech production, associations emerged in the expected directions between f0 and: (a) physiological variables (e.g., heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol); (b) self-reported communication behavior; and (c) observationally coded communication behavior. Additionally, simultaneous examination of physiological variables and observationally coded communication behaviors revealed that associations between both sets of variables and f0 range were largely independent of one another. Furthermore, women's range of f0 was significantly greater than men's range of f0. With regard to social signaling theories, f0 range can be understood as a nonverbal transmission of distress. Implications for future research on and use of f0 are discussed.
人类的声音是人类最常听到的声音之一。在夫妻冲突中，基频（f0）较高，这是人类言语的一个物理属性，与离婚风险增加、夫妻治疗效果降低、以及沟通行为失调程度较高有关。f0 通常被认为是情绪唤醒的一种衡量标准，但目前尚不清楚这一解释是否适用于理解配偶在夫妻互动中 f0 的情况。本文的目的是通过检查 67 对德国夫妇在冲突讨论期间 f0 与 f0 范围、生理变量和沟通行为之间的关系，来阐明在夫妻冲突期间 f0 中编码了哪些形式的信息。与言语产生的进化模型一致，f0 与：（a）生理变量（如心率、血压和皮质醇）；（b）自我报告的沟通行为；以及（c）观察编码的沟通行为之间出现了预期方向的关联。此外，同时检查生理变量和观察编码的沟通行为表明，这两组变量与 f0 范围之间的关联在很大程度上是相互独立的。此外，女性的 f0 范围明显大于男性的 f0 范围。就社会信号理论而言，f0 范围可以被理解为痛苦的非言语传递。本文讨论了未来关于 f0 的研究和使用的意义。
