The temporal and semantic structure of dynamic conversational facial expressions

• Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Douglas W. Cunningham
• Fachliche Zuordnung: Allgemeine, Kognitive und Mathematische Psychologie
• Förderung: Förderung von 2010 bis 2014
• Projektkennung: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Projektnummer 168575988

Humans can and do actively use their faces to convey a wide-range of information on a daily basis. Much of the previous research into facial expressions, however, has focused on a very small subset of expressions, using a few of the so-called universal expressions (these are happiness, sadness, fear, anger, disgust, contehipt, and surprise according to Ekman, 1971). Little to nothing is known about how the vast majority of facial expressions are produced or perceived. Moreover, nearly all research on facial expressions has used static stimuli, despite the fact that In real-life our faces are rarely static. Recent research in our and other labs has shown that dynamic facial expressions are recognized more readily and easily than static expressions, and have some forni of informalion that is not available at any given instant. The overarching aim of this project is to provide a precise characterization of the structure of dynamic facial expressions. To accomplish this, three parallel lines of research will be conducted ranging from a characterization of low-level motion information to an elucidation of the higher-level semantic structure underiying the facial expression space.

• DFG-Verfahren: Sachbeihilfen