Scientific publications
Read about the research that supports the FaceReader Ecosystem
Over the past 20+ years, our facial coding platform and its embedded technologies have been the subject as well as the preferred instrument for numerous accredited scientific studies. Below we present a comprehensive overview of the literature that has emerged from these studies, highlighting and validating the cutting-edge technology of FaceReader Online.
2018
33 citations
Emotional expressions by sports teams: An analysis of World Cup soccer player portraits
Hopfensitz & Mantilla
Emotion display serves as incentives or deterrents for others in many social interactions. We study the portrayal of anger and happiness, two emotions associated with dominance, and its relationship to team performance in a high-stakes environment. We analyze 4,318 pictures of players from 304 participating teams in twelve editions of the FIFA Soccer World Cup and use automated face-reading to evaluate the display of anger and happiness. We observe that the display of both anger and happiness is positively correlated with team performance in the World Cup. Teams whose players display more anger, an emotion associated with competitiveness, concede fewer goals. Teams whose players display more happiness, an emotion associated with confidence, score more goals. We show that this result is driven by less than half the players in a team.
2018
44 citations
The effects of robot facial emotional expressions and gender on child–robot interaction in a field study
Cameron, Millings, Fernando, Collins, Moore, Sharkey, Evers, Prescott
Emotions and emotional expression significantly influence social interactions, making them crucial in the development of social robots. This study investigated how life-like affective facial expressions in the humanoid robot Zeno affect children’s behavior and attitudes toward the robot. Findings reveal that robot expressions have varying effects based on participant gender. Male participants interacting with a responsive, facially expressive robot exhibited positive affective responses and reported greater liking toward the robot compared to those interacting with the same robot maintaining a neutral expression. Female participants showed no significant differences across conditions. The study discusses broader implications regarding gender differences in human–robot interaction, emphasizing the importance of the robot’s gender appearance and advancing the understanding of how interactions with expressive robots could lead to task-appropriate symbiotic relationships.
2018
35 citations
Conveying facial expressions to blind and visually impaired persons through a wearable vibrotactile device
H.P. Buimer, M. Bittner, T. Kostelijk, T.M. van der Geest, A. Nemri, R. J. A. van Wezel and Y. Zhao
In face-to-face social interactions, blind and visually impaired persons lack access to nonverbal cues like facial expressions, body posture, and gestures, which may lead to impaired interpersonal communication. In this study, a wearable sensory substitution device consisting of a head-mounted camera and a haptic belt was evaluated to determine whether vibrotactile cues around the waist could be used to convey facial expressions to users and whether such a device is desired by VIPs for use in daily living situations. Ten VIPs and 10 sighted persons participated in the study, in which validated sets of pictures, silent videos, and videos with audio of facial expressions were presented to the participant. A control measurement was first performed to determine how accurately participants could identify facial expressions while relying on their functional senses. After a short training, participants were asked to determine facial expressions while wearing the emotion feedback system. VIPs using the device showed significant improvements in their ability to determine which facial expressions were shown. A significant increase in accuracy of 44.4% was found across all types of stimuli when comparing the scores of the control and supported phases. The greatest improvements achieved with the support of the SSD were found for silent stimuli . SPs also showed consistent, though not statistically significant, improvements while supported. Overall, our study shows that vibrotactile cues are well suited to convey facial expressions to VIPs in real-time. Participants became skilled with the device after a short training session. Further testing and development of the SSD is required to improve its accuracy and aesthetics for potential daily use.
2017
39 citations
The Emotional, Cognitive, Physiological, and Performance Effects of Variable Time Delay in Robotic Teleoperation
Yang & Dorneich
The study investigates the impact of intermittent and variable time delays on operators during robotic teleoperation tasks. Participants navigated a remote-controlled robot through mazes of varying complexity while identifying targets. Introducing feedback lag led to increased frustration, anger, and cognitive workload, while decreasing usability and task performance. The effects of variable time delay were more pronounced than those of task complexity, and their combined impact was additive. Understanding these emotional and physiological responses is crucial for designing robotic systems that can effectively mitigate negative operator states.
2017
41 citations
Computerised analysis of facial emotion expression in eating disorders
Leppanen, Dapelo, Davies, Lang, Treasure, Tchanturia
Problems with social-emotional processing are known to be an important contributor to the development and maintenance of eating disorders . Diminished facial communication of emotion has been frequently reported in individuals with anorexia nervosa . Less is known about facial expressivity in bulimia nervosa and in people who have recovered from AN . This study aimed to pilot the use of computerised facial expression analysis software to investigate emotion expression across the ED spectrum and recovery in a large sample of participants. 297 participants with AN, BN, RecAN, and healthy controls were recruited. Participants watched film clips designed to elicit happy or sad emotions, and facial expressions were then analysed using FaceReader. The finding mirrored those from previous work showing that healthy control and RecAN participants expressed significantly more positive emotions during the positive clip compared to the AN group. There were no differences in emotion expression during the sad film clip. These findings support the use of computerised methods to analyse emotion expression in EDs. The findings also demonstrate that reduced positive emotion expression is likely to be associated with the acute stage of AN illness, with individuals with BN showing an intermediate profile.
2017
49 citations
Facial reactions to violent and comedy films: Association with callous– unemotional traits and impulsive aggression
Fanti, Kyranides, Panayiotou
The study investigated facial reactions to violent and comedy films among individuals with varying levels of callous–unemotional traits and impulsive aggression . In Experiment 1, 82 participants’ facial expressions were recorded while watching these films, analyzed using FaceReader software. Results indicated that individuals with elevated CU traits exhibited reduced expressions of sadness and disgust during violent films, suggesting lower empathic concern for victims’ distress. Conversely, impulsive aggressors displayed more angry facial expressions when viewing both film types. Experiment 2, involving 86 participants, measured facial reactions via electromyography, confirming reduced corrugator muscle activity in response to violent films among those high in CU traits. Further analysis suggested that sympathy for victims mediated the relationship between CU traits and diminished facial reactions to violent films.