Department of Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany.
Business School, Pforzheim University of Applied Sciences, Pforzheim, Germany.
Cogn Emot. 2021 Aug;35(5):874-889. doi: 10.1080/02699931.2021.1902786. Epub 2021 Mar 25.
Decoding someone's facial expressions provides insights into his or her emotional experience. Recently, Automatic Facial Coding (AFC) software has been developed to provide measurements of emotional facial expressions. Previous studies provided first evidence for the sensitivity of such systems to detect facial responses in study participants. In the present experiment, we set out to generalise these results to affective responses as they can occur in variable social interactions. Thus, we presented facial expressions (happy, neutral, angry) and instructed participants (N = 64) to either actively mimic, to look at them passively ( = 21), or to inhibit their own facial reaction ( = 22). A video stream for AFC and an electromyogram (EMG) of the zygomaticus and corrugator muscles were registered continuously. In the mimicking condition, both AFC and EMG differentiated well between facial expressions in response to the different emotional pictures. In the passive viewing and in the inhibition condition AFC did not detect changes in facial expressions whereas EMG was still highly sensitive. Although only EMG is sensitive when participants intend to conceal their facial reactions, these data extend previous findings that Automatic Facial Coding is a promising tool for the detection of intense facial reaction.
解读他人的面部表情可以深入了解其情绪体验。最近，自动面部编码 (AFC) 软件已经被开发出来，用于测量情感面部表情。之前的研究首次提供了证据，证明这些系统能够检测研究参与者的面部反应。在本实验中，我们旨在将这些结果推广到情感反应，因为它们可能发生在可变的社会互动中。因此，我们呈现了（快乐、中性、愤怒）面部表情，并指示参与者（N=64）主动模仿、被动观看（=21）或抑制自己的面部反应（=22）。AFC 的视频流和颧大肌和皱眉肌的肌电图（EMG）被连续记录。在模仿条件下，AFC 和 EMG 都能很好地区分不同情绪图片的面部表情。在被动观察和抑制条件下，AFC 无法检测到面部表情的变化，而 EMG 仍然非常敏感。尽管只有 EMG 在参与者试图隐藏自己的面部反应时才敏感，但这些数据扩展了之前的发现，即自动面部编码是检测强烈面部反应的一种有前途的工具。
