Marcello Mortillaro
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Senior researcher
University of Geneva
Supervisor/PI: Didier Maurice Grandjean
General Information
My work focuses on EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE and the NONVERBAL EXPRESSION OF EMOTIONS.
I study how Emotional intelligence can be measured in real-world settings and how it can impact different professional domains.
My research on nonverbal behavior revolves around 1) the role of context in emotion perception and 2) how different expressive modalities combine to convey an emotional meaning. I adopt an appraisal perspective to study emotion expressions, and I consider expressive cues as potential efferent effects of emotion appraisals.
I am the head Applied Affective Sciences research unit and I am responsible for several basic and applied research projects done in collaboration with external partners.
Contact: Marcello.Mortillaro@unige.ch
I completed a Ph.D. course in Psychology of Communication and Linguistic Processes at the Catholic University of Milan in 2007. My work focused on emotion expression and ANS correlates of emotion episodes. My thesis was entitled "Multicomponential analysis of emotional experience. Study of expressive and physiological components and their implications for affective computing". The goal was to study how facial and vocal expressions are related to modifications in the ANS activity in consequence of the experience of an emotion.
The same year, I joined the Swiss Center for Affective Sciences as a Post-doctoral researcher with the goal of studying emotion expression from a multimodal point of view.
In 2012 I was nominated Senior Scientist and I became the Head of the Applied Affective Sciences research unit
Research Themes
Emotional Intelligence
After the development of the Geneva Emotional Competence Test (Schlegel & Mortillaro, 2019), I am now studying the role of Emotional Intelligence in different domains, including sports, health care, and hospitality. This line of research includes studies about interventions to improve emotional competencies, longitudinal studies in the context of hospitality services, and the development of new assessment tools.
Multimodal expression of emotion:
I am interested in how different expressive modalities are jointly used during an emotional episode and how perception is influenced by unimodal and multimodal information. A particular feature of multimodal emotion expression is the way in which the different expressive modalities recruited during an emotion episode are timely used. With this respect, I am interested in how the degree of temporal synchronization influences the perception of emotional authenticity.
Nonverbal correlates of emotional appraisals
Planned studies include the investigation of the links between specific expressive features (vocal, facial, and gestures) and emotion appraisals.
Emotion Assessment
We are developing instruments that can be used to assess emotional responses in several application settings and collaborating with researchers in the affective computing domain.
Current and Past Projects
"Measuring emotional intelligence in the workplace: Development of a new test"
The aim of this project is to develop and validate a new test to measure emotional intelligence in the context of job-related tasks. Emotional intelligence tests that are currently available have been criticized for their methodological approaches and for being generic and based on self-report measures. Conversely, this test will be a performance-based test that will include scenarios taken from real work situations.
"Automatic detection of subtle positive emotions from facial expressions"
This is a collaborative research project between GfK, Fraunhofer IIS and the University of Geneva (UNIGE) aimed at developing a semi-automatic tool for detecting subtle emotions in response to audio-visual stimuli.
"I can cope with that!: The effect of stress on emotion components: appraisal, expression, and physiology."
In this project, we investigated the appraisals that are typically involved in the experience of a series of emotions. Furthermore, the influence of stress on appraisals and other emotional components was investigated. The hypothesis is that stress can bias individuals’ evaluations by reducing his or her estimation of the sense of control on the situation (i.e., the coping potential).
"Emotional factors in ethical choices".
This project addressed the relationship between different appraisals in the experience of different positive affective states and the role of emotion appraisals in ethical decisions. In particular, we investigated how moral emotions are experienced in the context of socially responsible behavior. More generally, the project investigated how emotions can influence decisions about ethical issues.
Research field
Nonverbal behavior - Emotional Intelligence - Behavior Change
List of publications
2025
Scientific articles
- Voelker, J., Schlegel, K., & Mortillaro, M. (2025). Personality Traits and Cognitive Abilities in Conflict Management: Preliminary Insights from a Situational Judgment Test of Emotional Intelligence [Article scientifique]. Journal of Intelligence, 13(11), 143. Journal of intelligence. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence13110143
- Schlegel, K., Sommer, N. R., & Mortillaro, M. (2025). Large language models are proficient in solving and creating emotional intelligence tests [Scientific Article]. Communications Psychology, 3(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44271-025-00258-x
- Gillioz, C., Nicolet-Dit-Felix, M., Delplanque, S., Mortillaro, M., Sander, D., & Fiori, M. (2025). How do emotionally intelligent individuals react to other people’s emotions? A study on emotional and facial reactions [Scientific Article]. BMC Psychology, 13(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-025-02425-5
Masters
- Paçarizi, A. (2025). Impact des fresques artistiques sur la perception de l’environnement et la satisfaction des patient.e.s et du personnel en centre psychiatrique ambulatoire (p. 111) [Master].
2024
Scientific articles
- Ding, C., Ramdas, M., & Mortillaro, M. (2024). Editorial: Emotional intelligence in applied settings: approaches to its theoretical model, measurement, and application [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1387152. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1387152
- Dukes, D., Audrin, C., Clement, F., & Mortillaro, M. (2024). Comparing competing characterizations suggests there might be more than one type of interest [Scientific Article]. Scientific Reports, 14(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-70751-6
Masters
- Gomes-Da-Fonseca, S. S. (2024). Effet de la posture de fierté sur le sentiment d’auto-efficacité (p. 75) [Master].
- Paupe, M. (2024). Influence de l’intelligence émotionnelle sur le style de leadership et sa perception en milieu professionnel (p. 66) [Master].
- Clergeot, E. M. C. (2024). L"influence des compétences émotionnelles et de la qualité des relations familiales sur l"intelligence émotionnelle perçue (p. 72) [Master].
- Belskikh, I. (2024). Caractéristiques individuelles et l’expérience émotionnelle (p. 66) [Master].
2023
Scientific articles
- Mortillaro, M., & Schlegel, K. (2023). Embracing the Emotion in Emotional Intelligence Measurement: Insights from Emotion Theory and Research [Scientific Article]. Journal of Intelligence, 11(11), 210. https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence11110210
- Nicolet-dit-Félix, M., Gillioz, C., Mortillaro, M., Sander, D., & Fiori, M. (2023). Emotional intelligence and attentional bias to emotional faces: Evidence of hypersensitivity towards emotion information [Scientific Article]. Personality and Individual Differences, 201, 111917. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111917
- Voelker, J., Blal, I., & Mortillaro, M. (2023). Emotional intelligence matters in hospitality education: contributions of emotional intelligence, fluid ability, and personality to hospitality grades [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1148863. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1148863
2022
Scientific articles
- Abo Foul, Y., Eitan, R., Mortillaro, M., & Aviezer, H. (2022). Perceiving dynamic emotions expressed simultaneously in the face and body minimizes perceptual differences between young and older adults [Scientific Article]. The Journals of Gerontology. Series B, Psychological Sciences and Social Sciences, 77(1), 84–93. https://doi.org/10.1093/geronb/gbab064
2021
Scientific articles
- Seuss, D., Hassan, T., Dieckmann, A., Unfried, M., Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., & Garbas, J.-U. (2021). Automatic estimation of action unit intensities and inference of emotional appraisals [Scientific Article]. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAFFC.2021.3077590
- Simonet, D. V., Miller, K. E., Askew, K. L., Sumner, K. E., Mortillaro, M., & Schlegel, K. (2021). How multidimensional is emotional intelligence? Bifactor modeling of global and broad emotional abilities of the Geneva Emotional Competence Test [Scientific Article]. Journal of Intelligence, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/jintelligence9010014
- Scherer, K. R., Dieckmann, A., Unfried, M., Ellgring, H., & Mortillaro, M. (2021). Investigating Appraisal-Driven Facial Expression and Inference in Emotion Communication [Scientific Article]. Emotion, 21(1), 73–95. https://doi.org/10.1037/emo0000693
Masters
- Chollet, F. (2021). Le comportement non-verbal en négociation [Master].
- Bonanno, J. (2021). Le rôle des compétences émotionnelles dans le sport [Master].
- Aref, M. (2021). La reconnaissance d’émotions positives et négatives exprimées par des Japonais et des Suisses dans les modalités auditive, visuelle et audio-visuelle [Master].
- Aguirre, C. (2021). Le rôle des compétences émotionnelles et du stress sur la performance à la négociation [Master].
2020
Scientific articles
- Shaham, G., Mortillaro, M., & Aviezer, H. (2020). Automatic facial reactions to facial, body, and vocal expressions: a stimulus-response compatibility study [Scientific Article]. Psychophysiology, 57(12), e13684. https://doi.org/10.1111/psyp.13684
Proceedings chapters
- Tisserand, Y., Aylett, R., Mortillaro, M., & Rudrauf, D. (2020). Real-time simulation of virtual humans” emotional facial expressions, harnessing autonomic physiological and musculoskeletal control [Chapitre d’actes]. In Proceedings of the 20th ACM International conference on intelligent virtual agents, IVA 2020. Proceedings of the 20th ACM International conference on intelligent virtual agents, IVA 2020. Association for Computing Machinery. https://doi.org/10.1145/3383652.3423904
Doctoral thesis
- Berrocal Rojas, A. F. (2020). Peer-ceived Momentary Assessment: Empirical examination of a peer supported sensing method to augment personal sensing in human computer interaction [Doctoral Thesis]. https://doi.org/10.13097/archive-ouverte/unige:142042
Masters
- Lassoued, F. (2020). Les compétences émotionnelles : la gestion des émotions d’autrui dans un contexte de négociation [Master].
- Villanueva Carnalla, S. P. (2020). Contextual effects on the perception of emotions from different expressive modalities [Master].
2019
Scientific articles
- Scherer, K. R., Ellgring, H., Dieckmann, A., Unfried, M., & Mortillaro, M. (2019). Dynamic Facial Expression of Emotion and Observer Inference [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in Psychology, 10, 508. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00508
- Schlegel, K., & Mortillaro, M. (2019). The Geneva Emotional Competence Test (GECo): An ability measure of workplace emotional intelligence [Scientific Article]. Journal of Applied Psychology, 104(4), 559–580. https://doi.org/10.1037/apl0000365
- Schuller, B., Weninger, F., Zhang, Y., Ringeval, F., Batliner, A., Steidl, S., Eyben, F., Marchi, E., Vinciarelli, A., Scherer, K. R., Chetouani, M., & Mortillaro, M. (2019). Affective and behavioural computing: Lessons learnt from the First Computational Paralinguistics Challenge [Scientific Article]. Computer Speech and Language, 53, 156–180. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csl.2018.02.004
Proceedings chapters
- Seuss, D., Dieckmann, A., Hassan, T., Garbas, J.-U., Ellgring, J. H., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2019). Emotion expression from different angles: a video database for facial expressions of actors shot by a camera array [Proceedings Chapter]. In 2019 8th International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII) (pp. 35–41). https://doi.org/10.1109/ACII.2019.8925458
2018
Scientific articles
- Soleymani, M., & Mortillaro, M. (2018). Behavioral and Physiological Responses to Visual Interest and Appraisals: Multimodal Analysis and Automatic Recognition [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in ICT, 5(17). https://doi.org/10.3389/fict.2018.00017
- Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., Rotondi, I., Sergi, I., & Trznadel, S. (2018). Appraisal-Driven Facial Actions as Building Blocks for Emotion Inference [Scientific Article]. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 114(3), 358–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspa0000107
- Mortillaro, M., & Dukes, D. (2018). Jumping for joy: the importance of the body and of dynamics in the expression and recognition of positive emotions [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(763). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00763
2017
Scientific articles
- Dukes, D., Clement, F., Audrin, C., & Mortillaro, M. (2017). Looking beyond the static face in emotion recognition: The informative case of interest [Scientific Article]. Visual Cognition, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1080/13506285.2017.1341441
Book chapters
- Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2017). Facial Expression Is Driven by Appraisal and Generates Appraisal Inference [Book Chapter]. In Russell, J.A. & Fernandez-Dols, J.M. (Ed.), The science of Facial Expression (pp. 353–373). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780190613501.003.0019
2015
Book chapters
- Mortillaro, M., Meuleman, B., & Scherer, K. R. (2015). Automated Recognition of Emotion Appraisals [Book Chapter]. In J. Vallverdu (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Synthesizing Human Emotion in Intelligent Systems and Robotics. Information Science Reference. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-4666-7278-9.ch016
Proceedings chapters
- Glowinski, D., Mortillaro, M., Scherer, K. R., Dael, N., Volpe, G., & Camurri, A. (2015). Towards a Minimal Representation of Affective Gestures (Extended Abstract) [Proceedings Chapter]. In 2015 International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII). 2015 International Conference on Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction (ACII), Xi’an (China). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ACII.2015.7344616
Dictionary / Encyclopedia articles
- Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2015). Emotions: Methods of Assessment [Dictionary / Encyclopedia contribution]. In International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-097086-8.25058-7
2014
Scientific articles
- Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2014). Stressed Out: How Stress Develops and How to Cope with it [Scientific Article]. GfK Marketing Intelligence Review, 6(1), 16–21. https://doi.org/10.2478/gfkmir-2014-0003
- Visch, V. T., Goudbeek, M. B., & Mortillaro, M. (2014). Robust anger: Recognition of deteriorated dynamic bodily emotion expressions [Scientific Article]. Cognition and Emotion, 28(5), 936–946. https://doi.org/10.1080/02699931.2013.865595
2013
Scientific articles
- Weninger, F., Eyben, F., Schuller, B., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2013). On the Acoustics of Emotion in Audio: What Speech, Music, and Sound have in Common [Scientific Article]. Frontiers in Psychology, 4(292). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2013.00292
- Scherer, K. R., Mortillaro, M., & Mehu, M. (2013). Understanding the Mechanisms Underlying the Production of Facial Expression of Emotion: A Componential Perspective [Scientific Article]. Emotion Review, 5(1), 47–53. https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073912451504
Book chapters
- Mortillaro, M., Ricci-bitti, P. E., Belleli, G., & Galati, D. (2013). Pride is not created equal: Variations between Northern and Southern Italy [Book Chapter]. In J.J.R. Fontaine, K.R. Scherer & C. Soriano (Ed.), Components of Emotional Meaning: A sourcebook. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199592746.003.0025
- Mortillaro, M., Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2013). The evolutionary origin of multimodal synchronization and emotional expression [Book Chapter]. In E. Altenmüller, S. Schmidt & E. Zimmermann (Ed.), Evolution of emotional communication: From sounds in nonhuman mammals to speech and music in man. Oxford University Press.
Proceedings chapters
- Schuller, B., Steidl, S., Batliner, A., Vinciarelli, A., Scherer, K. R., Ringeval, F., Chetouani, M., Weninger, F., Eyben, F., Marchi, E., Mortillaro, M., Salamin, H., Polychroniou, A., Valente, F., & Kim, S. (2013). The INTERSPEECH 2013 Computational Paralinguistics Challenge: Social Signals, Conflict, Emotion, Autism [Chapter / Article (individual contribution to proceedings)]. In Interpeech 2013. Interpeech 2013.
2012
Scientific articles
- Mortillaro, M., Meuleman, B., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Advocating a Componential Appraisal Model to Guide Emotion Recognition [Scientific Article]. International Journal of Synthetic Emotions, 3(1), 18–32. https://doi.org/10.4018/jse.2012010102
- Mehu, M., Mortillaro, M., Banziger Flykt, T., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Reliable Facial Muscle Activation Enhances Recognizability and Credibility of Emotional Expression [Scientific Article]. Emotion, 12(4), 701–715. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026717
- Dael, N., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Emotion expression in body action and posture [Scientific Article]. Emotion, 12(5), 1085–1101. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025737
- Dael, N., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). The Body Action and Posture Coding System (BAP): Development and Reliability [Scientific Article]. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 36(2), 97–121. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10919-012-0130-0
- Banziger Flykt, T., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2012). Introducing the Geneva Multimodal Expression Corpus for Experimental Research on Emotion Perception [Scientific Article]. Emotion, 12(5), 1161–1179. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025827
2011
Scientific articles
- Glowinski, D., Dael, N., Camurri, A., Volpe, G., Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2011). Toward a Minimal Representation of Affective Gestures [Scientific Article]. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, 2(2), 106–118. https://doi.org/10.1109/T-AFFC.2011.7
- Mortillaro, M., Mehu, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2011). Subtly Different Positive Emotions Can Be Distinguished by Their Facial Expressions [Scientific Article]. Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2(3), 262–271. https://doi.org/10.1177/1948550610389080
- Scherer, K. R., Clark-Polner, E. P., & Mortillaro, M. (2011). In the eye of the beholder? Universality and cultural specificity in the expression and perception of emotion [Scientific Article]. International Journal of Psychology, 46(6), 401–435. https://doi.org/10.1080/00207594.2011.626049
2010
Book chapters
- Mantovani, F., Confalonieri, L., Mortillaro, M., Realdon, O., Zurloni, V., & Anolli, L. (2010). The potential of affective computing in e-learning: The journey from theory to practice in the “Myself” project [Book Chapter]. In A. Tzanavari & N. Tsapatsoulis (Ed.), Affective, Interactive and Cognitive Methods for E-Learning Design: Creating an Optimal Education Experience. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-940-3.ch014
Proceedings chapters
- Mohammadi, G., Vinciarelli, A., & Mortillaro, M. (2010). The Voice of Personality: Mapping Nonverbal Vocal Behavior into Trait Attributions [Proceedings Chapter]. In SSPW′10 - Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Social Signal Processing Workshop. SSPW′10 - Proceedings of the 2010 ACM Social Signal Processing Workshop, Firenze, Italy. ACM. https://doi.org/10.1145/1878116.1878123
2009
Dictionary / Encyclopedia articles
- Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2009). Bodily expression of emotion [Dictionary / Encyclopedia contribution]. In D. Sander & K.R. Scherer (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences. Oxford University Press.
- Mortillaro, M., & Scherer, K. R. (2009). Multimodal expression of emotion [Dictionary / Encyclopedia contribution]. In D. Sander & K.R. Scherer (Ed.), The Oxford Companion to Emotion and the Affective Sciences. Oxford University Press.
2008
Scientific articles
- Castellano, G., Mortillaro, M., Camurri, A., Volpe, G., & Scherer, K. R. (2008). Automated Analysis of Body Movement in Emotionally Expressive Piano Performances [Scientific Article]. Music Perception, 26(2), 103–120. https://doi.org/10.1525/mp.2008.26.2.103
Book chapters
- Anolli, L., Mantovani, F., Balestra, M., Kommers, P., Robotti, O., Salamin, A.-D., Agliati, A., Realdon, O., Zurloni, V., Confalonieri, L., Mortillaro, M., Vescovo, A., Venturini, P., Wetterling, J., & Tarocchi, A. (2008). Experiential learning and affective computing for training soft-skills: Myself project [Book Chapter]. In T.T. Kidd & H. Song (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Instructional Systems and Technology. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-865-9.ch026
- Anolli, L., Mortillaro, M., Zurloni, V., Confalonieri, L., & Mantovani, F. (2008). "Affective computing" e apprendimento: analisi di dispositivi per il riconoscimento automatico delle emozioni all"interno di piattaforme di e-learning [Book Chapter]. In E. Magno Caldognetto & F. Cavicchio (Ed.), Aspetti emotivi e relazionali nell" e-learning. Firenze University Press.
- Zurloni, V., Mantovani, F., Mortillaro, M., Vescovo, A., & Anolli, L. (2008). Addressing Emotions within E-Learning Systems [Book Chapter]. In T.T. Kidd & H. Song (Ed.), Handbook of Research on Instructional Systems and Technology. Vol. 2. IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-59904-865-9.ch057
2006
Book chapters
- Mantovani, F., Agliati, A., Mortillaro, M., Vescovo, A., & Zurloni, V. (2006). Communication – Presence Roundtrip: Travelling along Theoretical, Methodological and Applicative Connections [Book Chapter]. In G. Riva, M. T. Anguera, B.K. Wiederhold & F. Mantovani (Ed.), From Communication to Presence. IOS Press.
- Realdon, O., Zurloni, V., Confalonieri, L., Mortillaro, M., & Mantovani, F. (2006). Learning Communication Skills through Computer-based Interactive Simulations [Book Chapter]. In G. Riva, M.T. Anguera, B.K. Wiederhold, & F. Mantovani (Ed.), From Communication to Presence: Cognition, Emotions and Culture towards the Ultimate Communicative Experience. IOS Press.
2005
Book chapters
- Anolli, L., Mantovani, F., Mortillaro, M., Vescovo, A., Agliati, A., Confalonieri, L., Realdon, O., Zurloni, V., & Sacchi, A. (2005). A Multimodal Database as a Background for Emotional Synthesis, Recognition and Training in E-Learning Systems [Book Chapter]. In Tao, J.; Tan, T.& Picard, R.W. (Ed.), Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction. ACII 2005. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/11573548_73