A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions
Abstract Facial expressions are thought to be complex visual signals, critical for communication between social agents. Most prior work aimed at understanding how facial expressions are recognized has relied on stimulus databases featuring posed facial expressions, designed to represent putative emo...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2023-04-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32659-5 |
| _version_ | 1797850084020322304 |
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| author | Houqiu Long Natalie Peluso Chris I. Baker Shruti Japee Jessica Taubert |
| author_facet | Houqiu Long Natalie Peluso Chris I. Baker Shruti Japee Jessica Taubert |
| author_sort | Houqiu Long |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Facial expressions are thought to be complex visual signals, critical for communication between social agents. Most prior work aimed at understanding how facial expressions are recognized has relied on stimulus databases featuring posed facial expressions, designed to represent putative emotional categories (such as ‘happy’ and ‘angry’). Here we use an alternative selection strategy to develop the Wild Faces Database (WFD); a set of one thousand images capturing a diverse range of ambient facial behaviors from outside of the laboratory. We characterized the perceived emotional content in these images using a standard categorization task in which participants were asked to classify the apparent facial expression in each image. In addition, participants were asked to indicate the intensity and genuineness of each expression. While modal scores indicate that the WFD captures a range of different emotional expressions, in comparing the WFD to images taken from other, more conventional databases, we found that participants responded more variably and less specifically to the wild-type faces, perhaps indicating that natural expressions are more multiplexed than a categorical model would predict. We argue that this variability can be employed to explore latent dimensions in our mental representation of facial expressions. Further, images in the WFD were rated as less intense and more genuine than images taken from other databases, suggesting a greater degree of authenticity among WFD images. The strong positive correlation between intensity and genuineness scores demonstrating that even the high arousal states captured in the WFD were perceived as authentic. Collectively, these findings highlight the potential utility of the WFD as a new resource for bridging the gap between the laboratory and real world in studies of expression recognition. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-09T18:55:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-26c1940cfcaf43c491b5c342500ef4db |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-2322 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-09T18:55:43Z |
| publishDate | 2023-04-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Reports |
| spelling | doaj.art-26c1940cfcaf43c491b5c342500ef4db2023-04-09T11:13:01ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222023-04-0113111210.1038/s41598-023-32659-5A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressionsHouqiu Long0Natalie Peluso1Chris I. Baker2Shruti Japee3Jessica Taubert4The School of Psychology, The University of QueenslandThe School of Psychology, The University of QueenslandLaboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental HealthLaboratory of Brain and Cognition, National Institute of Mental HealthThe School of Psychology, The University of QueenslandAbstract Facial expressions are thought to be complex visual signals, critical for communication between social agents. Most prior work aimed at understanding how facial expressions are recognized has relied on stimulus databases featuring posed facial expressions, designed to represent putative emotional categories (such as ‘happy’ and ‘angry’). Here we use an alternative selection strategy to develop the Wild Faces Database (WFD); a set of one thousand images capturing a diverse range of ambient facial behaviors from outside of the laboratory. We characterized the perceived emotional content in these images using a standard categorization task in which participants were asked to classify the apparent facial expression in each image. In addition, participants were asked to indicate the intensity and genuineness of each expression. While modal scores indicate that the WFD captures a range of different emotional expressions, in comparing the WFD to images taken from other, more conventional databases, we found that participants responded more variably and less specifically to the wild-type faces, perhaps indicating that natural expressions are more multiplexed than a categorical model would predict. We argue that this variability can be employed to explore latent dimensions in our mental representation of facial expressions. Further, images in the WFD were rated as less intense and more genuine than images taken from other databases, suggesting a greater degree of authenticity among WFD images. The strong positive correlation between intensity and genuineness scores demonstrating that even the high arousal states captured in the WFD were perceived as authentic. Collectively, these findings highlight the potential utility of the WFD as a new resource for bridging the gap between the laboratory and real world in studies of expression recognition.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32659-5 |
| spellingShingle | Houqiu Long Natalie Peluso Chris I. Baker Shruti Japee Jessica Taubert A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions Scientific Reports |
| title | A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| title_full | A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| title_fullStr | A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| title_full_unstemmed | A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| title_short | A database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| title_sort | database of heterogeneous faces for studying naturalistic expressions |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-32659-5 |
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