Authors:

Pollick, F.E., Hill, H., CALDER, A.J.& Paterson, H.

Reference:

Year of publication:

2003

CBU number:

5585

Abstract:

We examined how the recognition of facial emotion was influenced by manipultaion of both spatial and temporal properties of 3D point-light displays of facial motion. We started with the measurement of 3D position of multiple locations on the face during posed expressions of anger, happiness, sadness and surprise and then manipulated the spatial and temporal properties of the measurements to obtain new versions of the movements. In two experiments we examined recognition of these original and modified facial expressions. In Experiment 1 we manipulated the spatial properties of the facial movement and in Experiment 2 we manipulated the temporal properties. The results of Experiment 1 showed that exaggeration of facial expressions relative to a mixed neutral expression resulted in enhanced ratings of emotional intensity of that emotion. The results of Experiment 2 showed that changing the duration of an expression had a small effect on ratings of emotional intensity, with a trend for expressions with shorter durations to have lower ratings of intensity. The results are discussed within the context of theories of encoding as a related to caricature and emotion.