Facial Expressions In Response Research Articles

Cryptic Emotions and the Emergence of a Metatheory of Mind in Popular Filmmaking.

Hollywood movies can be deeply engaging and easy to understand. To succeed in this manner, feature‐length movies employ many editing techniques with strong psychological underpinnings. We explore the origins and development of one of these, the reaction shot. This shot typically shows a single, unspeaking character with modest facial expression in response to an event or to the behavior or speech of another character. In a sample of movies from 1940 to 2010, we show that the prevalence of one type of these shots—which we call the cryptic reaction shot—has grown dramatically. These shots are designed to enhance viewers’ emotional involvement with characters. They depict a facial gesture that reflects a slightly negative and slightly aroused emotional state. Their use at the end of conversations, and typically at the end of scenes, helps to leave viewers in a state of speculation about what the character is thinking and what her thoughts may mean for the ongoing narrative.

Dogs and humans respond to emotionally competent stimuli by producing different facial actions

The commonality of facial expressions of emotion has been studied in different species since Darwin, with most of the research focusing on closely related primate species. However, it is unclear to what extent there exists common facial expression in species more phylogenetically distant, but sharing a need for common interspecific emotional understanding. Here we used the objective, anatomically-based tools, FACS and DogFACS (Facial Action Coding Systems), to quantify and compare human and domestic dog facial expressions in response to emotionally-competent stimuli associated with different categories of emotional arousal. We sought to answer two questions: Firstly, do dogs display specific discriminatory facial movements in response to different categories of emotional stimuli? Secondly, do dogs display similar facial movements to humans when reacting in emotionally comparable contexts? We found that dogs displayed distinctive facial actions depending on the category of stimuli. However, dogs produced different facial movements to humans in comparable states of emotional arousal. These results refute the commonality of emotional expression across mammals, since dogs do not display human-like facial expressions. Given the unique interspecific relationship between dogs and humans, two highly social but evolutionarily distant species sharing a common environment, these findings give new insight into the origin of emotion expression.

Intelligent emotion and behavior based on topological consciousness and adaptive resonance theory in a companion robot

Abstract Companion or ‘pet’ robots can be expected to be an important part of a future in which robots contribute to our lives in many ways. An understanding of emotional interactions would be essential to such robots’ behavior. To improve the cognitive and behavior systems of such robots, we propose the use of an artificial topological consciousness that uses a synthetic neurotransmitter and motivation, including a biologically inspired emotion system. A fundamental aspect of a companion robot is a cross-communication system that enables natural interactions between humans and the robot. This paper focuses on three points in the development of our proposed framework: (1) the organization of the behavior including inside-state emotion regarding the phylogenetic consciousness-based architecture; (2) a method whereby the robot can have empathy toward its human user’s expressions of emotion; and (3) a method that enables the robot to select a facial expression in response to the human user, providing instant human-like ‘emotion’ and based on emotional intelligence (EI) that uses a biologically inspired topological online method to express, for example, encouragement or being delighted. We also demonstrate the performance of the artificial consciousness based on the complexity level and a robot’s social expressions that are designed to enhance the users affinity with the robot.

Chemosensory anxiety cues enhance the perception of fearful faces – An fMRI study

Recent evidence suggests that humans can communicate emotion via chemosensory signals. Olfactory cues signaling anxiety can bias the perception of ambiguous stimuli, but the underlying neurobiological mechanisms of this effect are currently unknown. Here, we investigated the brain responses to subtle changes in facial expressions in response to anxiety chemosensory cues. Ten healthy individuals donated their sweat in two situations: while anticipating an important oral examination (anxiety condition) and during physical exercise (control condition). Subsequently, 24 participants completed a parametrically morphed (neutral to fearful) emotion recognition task under exposure to the olfactory cues of anxiety and sports, in the fMRI scanner. Behaviorally, the participants rated more discernible fearful faces as more fearful and neutral faces as more neutral under exposure to the anxiety cues. For brain response, under exposure to the anxiety cues, increased fearfulness of the face corresponded to increased activity in the left insula and the left middle occipital gyrus extending into fusiform gyrus. Moreover, with higher subjective ratings of facial fearfulness, participants additionally showed increased activity in the left hippocampus. These results suggest that chemosensory anxiety cues facilitate processing of socially relevant fearful stimuli and boost memory retrieval due to enhanced emotional context.

Differentiating facial incongruity and flatness in schizophrenia, using structured light camera data.

Incongruity between emotional experience and its outwardly expression is one of the prominent symptoms in schizophrenia. Though widely reported and used in clinical evaluation, this symptom is inadequately defined in the literature and may be confused with mere affect flattening. In this study we used structured-light depth camera and dedicated software to automatically measure facial activity of schizophrenia patients and healthy individuals during an emotionally evocative task. We defined novel measures for the congruence of emotional experience and emotional expression and for Flat Affect, compared them between patients and controls, and examined their consistency with clinical evaluation. We found incongruity in schizophrenia to be manifested in a less specific range of facial expressions in response to similar emotional stimuli, while the emotional experience remains intact. Our study also suggests that when taking into consideration affect flatness, no contextually inappropriate facial expressions are evident.

Facial Expression Reactions to Feedback in a Human-Computer Interaction—Does Gender Matter?

The present study investigated facial expressions as reactions to positive and negative feedback during a human-computer interaction. Thirty subjects interacted in natural language with a computer system while conducting a mental task, which was designed in the style of a Wizard of Oz scenario. During six different experimental sequences from a well-known memory paradigm (“Concentration”), the wizard produced different feedback as a manipulative tactic to alter the users’ reactions, e.g., praising the subject was assumed to exert a positive influence on the subjects’ moods. To analyze the impact of various feedback on the emotional reaction, facial expressions from all subjects were coded with the Facial Expression Coding System (FACES). In general, the outcomes yielded more negative facial expressions in response to positive feedback as compared with negative feedback. Furthermore, a gender difference was evident: women showed significantly more negative facial expressions in response to praise (“Your performance is improving”) than men. The study and results show that when considering future companion technologies, it is important to carefully investigate users’ reactions to feedback, since paradoxical reactions may ensue.

Fetal facial expression in response to intravaginal music emission.

This study compared fetal response to musical stimuli applied intravaginally (intravaginal music [IVM]) with application via emitters placed on the mother’s abdomen (abdominal music [ABM]). Responses were quantified by recording facial movements identified on 3D/4D ultrasound. One hundred and six normal pregnancies between 14 and 39 weeks of gestation were randomized to 3D/4D ultrasound with: (a) ABM with standard headphones (flute monody at 98.6 dB); (b) IVM with a specially designed device emitting the same monody at 53.7 dB; or (c) intravaginal vibration (IVV; 125 Hz) at 68 dB with the same device. Facial movements were quantified at baseline, during stimulation, and for 5 minutes after stimulation was discontinued. In fetuses at a gestational age of >16 weeks, IVM-elicited mouthing (MT) and tongue expulsion (TE) in 86.7% and 46.6% of fetuses, respectively, with significant differences when compared with ABM and IVV (p = 0.002 and p = 0.004, respectively). There were no changes from baseline in ABM and IVV. TE occurred ≥5 times in 5 minutes in 13.3% with IVM. IVM was related with higher occurrence of MT (odds ratio = 10.980; 95% confidence interval = 3.105–47.546) and TE (odds ratio = 10.943; 95% confidence interval = 2.568–77.037). The frequency of TE with IVM increased significantly with gestational age (p = 0.024). Fetuses at 16–39 weeks of gestation respond to intravaginally emitted music with repetitive MT and TE movements not observed with ABM or IVV. Our findings suggest that neural pathways participating in the auditory–motor system are developed as early as gestational week 16. These findings might contribute to diagnostic methods for prenatal hearing screening, and research into fetal neurological stimulation.

Facial mimicry in its social setting.

In interpersonal encounters, individuals often exhibit changes in their own facial expressions in response to emotional expressions of another person. Such changes are often called facial mimicry. While this tendency first appeared to be an automatic tendency of the perceiver to show the same emotional expression as the sender, evidence is now accumulating that situation, person, and relationship jointly determine whether and for which emotions such congruent facial behavior is shown. We review the evidence regarding the moderating influence of such factors on facial mimicry with a focus on understanding the meaning of facial responses to emotional expressions in a particular constellation. From this, we derive recommendations for a research agenda with a stronger focus on the most common forms of encounters, actual interactions with known others, and on assessing potential mediators of facial mimicry. We conclude that facial mimicry is modulated by many factors: attention deployment and sensitivity, detection of valence, emotional feelings, and social motivations. We posit that these are the more proximal causes of changes in facial mimicry due to changes in its social setting.

Emotional Processing, Recognition, Empathy and Evoked Facial Expression in Eating Disorders: An Experimental Study to Map Deficits in Social Cognition.

BackgroundDifficulties in social cognition have been identified in eating disorders (EDs), but the exact profile of these abnormalities is unclear. The aim of this study is to examine distinct processes of social-cognition in this patient group, including attentional processing and recognition, empathic reaction and evoked facial expression in response to discrete vignettes of others displaying positive (i.e. happiness) or negative (i.e. sadness and anger) emotions.MethodOne hundred and thirty-eight female participants were included in the study: 73 healthy controls (HCs) and 65 individuals with an ED (49 with Anorexia Nervosa and 16 with Bulimia Nervosa). Self-report and behavioural measures were used.ResultsParticipants with EDs did not display specific abnormalities in emotional processing, recognition and empathic response to others’ basic discrete emotions. However, they had poorer facial expressivity and a tendency to turn away from emotional displays.ConclusionTreatments focusing on the development of non-verbal emotional communication skills might be of benefit for patients with EDs.

Facial Expression in Response to Smell and Taste Stimuli in Small and Appropriate for Gestational Age Newborns.

Small for gestational age newborns can later suffer from eating difficulties and slow growth. Nutritional preferences can be influenced by changes in sensory perception of smell and taste. To determine whether these could be detected at birth, the authors examined the different recognition pattern of smell and taste in small for gestational age newborns compared to appropriate for gestational age controls, as expressed by gusto-facial and naso-facial reflexes. The authors performed video analysis of facial expressions of 10 small for gestational age and 12 control newborns exposed to various tastes and smells. No difference in the facial recognition patterns for taste or smell was demonstrated between small for gestational age and controls, except for perception of distilled water. Newborns show recognizable patterns of facial expression in response to taste and smell stimuli. Perception of taste and smell in small for gestational age newborns is not different from controls, as measured by the method of facial recognition.

Predicting advertising effectiveness by facial expressions in response to amusing persuasive stimuli.

We present a psychophysiological study of facial expressions of happiness (FEH) produced by advertisements using the FaceReader system (Noldus, 2013) for automatic analysis of facial expressions of basic emotions (FEBE; Ekman, 1972). FaceReader scores were associated with self-reports of the advertisement’s effectiveness. Building on work describing the role of emotions in marketing research, we examined the relationship between the patterns of the FEBE and the perceived amusement of the advertisements, attitude toward the advertisement (AAD) and attitude toward the brand (AB). Differences were observed between FEH scores in response to high-, medium-, and low-amusing video advertisements (AVAs). Positive correlations were found between FEH and AAD and FEH and AB in high- and medium- but not in low-AVAs. As hypothesized, other basic emotions (sadness, anger, surprise, fear, and disgust) did not predict advertisement amusement or advertisements’ effectiveness. FaceReader enabled a detailed analysis of more than 120,000 frames of video-recordings contributing to an identification of global patterns of facial reactions to amusing persuasive stimuli. For amusing commercials, context-specific FEH features were found to be the major indicators of advertisement effectiveness. The study used video-recordings of participants in their natural environments obtained through a crowd-sourcing platform. The naturalistic design of the study strengthened its ecological validity and demonstrated the robustness of the software algorithms even under austere conditions. Our findings provide first evidence for the applicability of FaceReader methodology in the basic consumer science research.

Involvement of the mirror neuron system in blunted affect in schizophrenia

Blunted affect is a relatively enduring schizophrenic symptom and its presence brings about poor functioning and outcomes. Functional impairment in the mirror neuron system which is involved in both motor execution and imitation may be a neural basis of blunted affect, but it is not proved yet. Fifteen patients with schizophrenia and 16 healthy controls performed the facial expression task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. The task was to reproduce facial expressions in response to the face or word stimuli for happiness, sadness, and meaningless expression. Brain activities during facial expressions in patients compared with controls and their relationship with affective flattening were analyzed. Compared to controls, patients exhibited decreased activity in the widespread dorsal frontal regions and increased activity in the ventral frontal and subcortical regions. Patients also demonstrated significant negative correlation of the severity of affective flattening with activities in the mirror neuron system, such as the premotor cortex, motor cortex, and inferior parietal lobule. Emotional expression in patients with schizophrenia may be related to hypoactivity of the dorsal system and hyperactivity of the ventral system. An imbalance of these two systems may contribute to blunted affect. Directly addressing blunted affect using emotional expression provides a new perspective that functional disturbance of the mirror neuron system may play an important role in manifestation of blunted affect in schizophrenia.

The Emperor Jones

The Emperor Jones

A two-dimensional facial-affect estimation system for human–robot interaction using facial expression parameters

A social robot should be able to autonomously interpret human affect and adapt its behavior accordingly in order for successful social human–robot interaction to take place. This paper presents a modular non-contact automated affect-estimation system that employs support vector regression over a set of novel facial expression parameters to estimate a person’s affective states using a valence-arousal two-dimensional model of affect. The proposed system captures complex and ambiguous emotions that are prevalent in real-world scenarios by utilizing a continuous two-dimensional model, rather than a traditional discrete categorical model for affect. As the goal is to incorporate this recognition system in robots, real-time estimation of spontaneous natural facial expressions in response to environmental and interactive stimuli is an objective. The proposed system can be combined with affect detection techniques using other modes, such as speech, body language and/or physiological signals, etc., in order to develop an accurate multi-modal affect estimation system for social HRI applications. Experiments presented herein demonstrate the system’s ability to successfully estimate the affect of a diverse group of unknown individuals exhibiting spontaneous natural facial expressions.

A longitudinal analysis of the development of infant facial expressions in response to acute pain: Immediate and regulatory expressions

Facial expressions during infancy are important to examine, as infants do not have the language skills to describe their experiences. This is particularly vital in the context of pain, where infants depend solely on their caregivers for relief. The objective of the current study was to investigate the development of negative infant facial expressions in response to immunization pain over the first year of life. Infant facial expressions were examined longitudinally using a subsample of 100 infants that were each videotaped during their 2-, 4-, 6-, and 12-month routine immunization appointments. Infant facial expressions were coded using BabyFACS (facial action coding system) for the first minute after a painful needle prick. Facial expressions were examined with a catalogue of the most commonly occurring facial expressions. Results demonstrated that clear differences were seen over ages. Infants display a variety of facial expressions with some of the components of adult pain expressions immediately after the needle and they abate shortly after. However, infants did not display adult expressions of discrete negative emotions. Instead, infants displayed a variety of generalized pain and distress faces aimed at gaining caregiver aid. The development of nonverbal communication in infants, particularly facial expressions, remains an important area of inquiry. Further study into accurately measuring infant negative emotions, pain, and distress is warranted.

Facial expressions in response to a highly surprising event exceeding the field of vision: a test of Darwin's theory of surprise

According to the affect program theory of facial displays, the evolutionary core of the human emotion system consists of a small set of discrete emotion mechanisms that comprise motor programs for emotion-specific facial displays. However, research on surprise has found that surprising events often fail to elicit the associated facial expression (widened eyes, raised eyebrows, mouth opening). The present study tested a refined Darwinian account of the facial expression of surprise, according to which surprising events cause widened eyes and raised eyebrows if they exceed the field of vision, as these facial changes increase the visual field and facilitate visual search. To test this hypothesis, we staged a surprising event that engulfed the field of vision: When the participants left the laboratory, they unexpectedly found themselves in a new room, a small chamber with bold green walls and a red office chair. In addition, to explore the role of social context for the expression of surprise, in two of three experimental conditions, a stranger or a friend they had brought to the experiment was sitting on the chair. The results provided no support for the Darwinian account of the facial expression of surprise. A complete expression of surprise was observed in 5% of the participants, and the individual components of the expression were shown only by a minority, regardless of social context. These findings reinforce doubts about the adequacy of affect program theory for the case of surprise.

Recognition of Self-Generated Facial Emotions Is Impaired in Schizophrenia

Individuals with schizophrenia have difficulties in recognizing facial emotions in others. This study investigated whether this impairment also exists for self-generated expressions. Nineteen patients with schizophrenia and 19 comparison subjects were filmed while producing facial expressions in response to a visual model or a written sentence. After 2 months, all subjects were asked to rate their own emotional expressions. These ratings were compared with the evaluations of 12 healthy independent raters. With respect to the comparison subjects, the patients produced less expressive responses and were less able to recognize their own expressions. Moreover, patients were totally unaware of these impairments.

Increased sensitivity for angry faces in depressive disorder following 2 weeks of 2-Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to the right parietal cortex

According to the cognitive neuropsychological hypothesis of antidepressant action, the onset of subjectively experienced therapeutic effects to treatment is preceded by favourable changes in psychological functioning that can be measured by implicit methods. The aim of this study was to examine additional data to explore this hypothesis in an intention-to-treat repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) study targeting the right parietal cortex. Changes in depression scores from baseline and the sensitivity for recognizing emotional facial expressions were studied in 28 patients with depressive disorder receiving ten sessions of real (n=14) or sham (n=14) rTMS treatments in a double-blind, sham-controlled design. In the patient group results showed significantly higher sensitivity for recognizing angry facial expressions in response to receiving real compared to receiving sham rTMS treatment. Overall mood improvement was similar across real and sham rTMS treatments. However, the sensitivity for recognizing angry facial expressions was correlated to the percentage decrease in depression scores. These results provide the first preliminary support for the cognitive neuropsychological hypothesis of antidepressant action in rTMS treatment.

Effects of damping head movement and facial expression in dyadic conversation using real–time facial expression tracking and synthesized avatars

When people speak with one another, they tend to adapt their head movements and facial expressions in response to each others' head movements and facial expressions. We present an experiment in which confederates' head movements and facial expressions were motion tracked during videoconference conversations, an avatar face was reconstructed in real time, and naive participants spoke with the avatar face. No naive participant guessed that the computer generated face was not video. Confederates' facial expressions, vocal inflections and head movements were attenuated at 1 min intervals in a fully crossed experimental design. Attenuated head movements led to increased head nods and lateral head turns, and attenuated facial expressions led to increased head nodding in both naive participants and confederates. Together, these results are consistent with a hypothesis that the dynamics of head movements in dyadicconversation include a shared equilibrium. Although both conversational partners were blind to the manipulation, when apparent head movement of one conversant was attenuated, both partners responded by increasing the velocity of their head movements.

When frustration is repeated: Behavioral and emotion responses during extinction over time.

Persistence of instrumental responding and negative facial expressions in response to repeated goal blockage was studied in 53 4-month-old infants. All participants experienced 2 sessions comprising baseline (no stimulation), contingency (stimulation resulting from infant action), and extinction (no stimulation) on consecutive days. Performance criteria identified 2 groups of infants, those who learned in Session 1 (Learning Group 1) and those who learned in Session 2 (Learning Group 2). Individual differences in instrumental responses and facial expression during extinction were compared as a function of learning group. Across sessions, the repetition of extinction for Learning Group 1 was associated with both a persistent instrumental response and anger expressions. The level of instrumental response and anger expression was equivalent to that observed for Learning Group 2 but only in Session 2, the day on which that group learned. Sadness and anger/sadness blended expressions were initially more common in Learning Group 2, but these expressions were attenuated given another exposure to the contingency in Session 2. Implications for the relations among infant emotion, cognition, and behavior are discussed.