FACIAL SURFACE IMAGING IN BEHAVIORAL ASSESSMENT

A COST-EFFECTIVE VIDEO IMAGE ANALYSIS SYSTEM WILL BE DEVELOPED, USING A STANDARD PERSONAL COMPUTER TO PROVIDE A COMPREHENSIVE SET OF MEASUREMENTS FROM THE FACE FOR USE IN STUDYING EMOTIONS AND OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL PROCESSES. ITS OPERATION INVOLVES DIGITIZING VIDEOTAPE RECORDINGS OF THE FACE AND AUTOMATING DETECTION OF FEATURES NECESSARY FOR APPROPRIATE SCORING AND ANALYSIS. MEASURES TO BE IMPLEMENTED IN THE FINAL SYSTEM COULD ULTIMATELY INCLUDE VARIOUS ASPECTS OF FACIAL EXPRESSION, EYE MOVEMENTS, SKIN COLOR AND HUE, TEMPERATURE, AND PULSE WAVE AMPLITUDE AND FREQUENCY. THIS PRODUCT WILL HAVE THE FOLLOWING ADVANTAGES: (1) IT WILLPROVIDE FOR ASSESSING A COMPREHENSIVE RANGE OF FACIAL ACTIVITY THAT IS EITHER CURRENTLY UNAVAILABLE OR REQUIRES THE USE OF EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT AND TECHNIQUES; (2) IT WILL ENABLE RESEARCHERS TO RECORD, NONINTRUSIVELY, THE FULL RANGEOF MEASURES IN NATURAL AND LABORATORY ENVIRONMENTS; (3) IT WILL PERMIT AUTOMATED MEASUREMENT OF FACIAL MOVEMENTS, RELATIVE TO CURRENT PROTOCOLS; (4) IT WILL STANDARDIZE MEASUREMENT TECHNIQUES; AND (5) IT WILL HAVE A LOW COST. ALGORITHMS FOR FEATURE IDENTIFICATION AND SCORING WILL BE DEVELOPED AND VALIDATED. PERFORMANCE WILL BE EVALUATED TO DEMONSTRATE THAT THE SYSTEM CAN IDENTIFY LANDMARKS AND DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN VARIOUS FACIAL EXPRESSIONS. IN PHASE II, THE FULL SYSTEM WILL BE IMPLEMENTED, USING INEXPENSIVE PERSONAL COMPUTER AND VIDEO COMPONENTS.