What is facial expression analysis and how does it help identify emotions?

In our previous posts, we’ve talked about how facial expressions can be measured using electromyography or automated facial movement coding software. 🖥️ Today, DSEC Lab volunteer Logan Goldring explains how one of those programs works! How do we quantify facial expressions? 📏 Flip through these slides to find out!

📢 Something to note: our lab is currently using this type of software to understand how teenagers and adults express their emotions. 🎭 Visit the link in bio if you are interested in being a participant for this study! 🤝

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How does intensity of someone's voice affect how we interpret their emotions?

Think back to the last time you felt angry: how did you express it? Like all emotions, anger can be expressed with high emotional intensity (screaming, yelling 🤬) or with low emotional intensity (seething, annoyance 😠). How easy is it for listeners to recognize that someone is feeling angry at these different levels of intensity? 📈 And, what about other emotions? This post covers the findings from one of our recent studies looking at how emotional intensity affects the way listeners interpret vocal expressions of emotion. We found that listeners’ ability to correctly say what emotion the speaker was feeling improved with increasing emotional intensity… but that this pattern was different for different emotions. 🧮 Interesting, no? Tell us what you think in the comments below! 👇 (Special thanks to former @DSECLab Honours student Julia Stratton for preparing this post!)

Differences between children and adolescents in how accurately they recognize emotions

As we develop, our ability to understand others’ emotional states based on their nonverbal cues continues to grow. 📈 But, it seems that the capacity to interpret facial expressions of emotion develops earlier than the same ability with vocal expressions! Because this skill is still developing throughout adolescence, it might be especially hard for youth to make sense of others’ tone of voice. 🔊

Check out our post to learn more about these findings! (A big shout out to Reem Atallah for creating this post!) Any questions? Leave a comment below! 👇

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