Dimensional Information-Theoretic Measurement of Facial Emotion Expressions in Schizophrenia

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Jihun Hamm

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Altered facial expressions of emotions are characteristic impairments in schizophrenia. Ratings of affect have traditionally been limited to clinical rating scales and facial muscle movement analysis, which require extensive training and have limitations based on methodology and ecological validity. To improve reliable assessment of dynamic facial expression changes, we have developed automated measurements of facial emotion expressions based on information-theoretic measures of expressivity of ambiguity and distinctiveness of facial expressions. These measures were examined in matched groups of persons with schizophrenia (n=28 and healthy controls (n=26 who underwent video acquisition to assess expressivity of basic emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust in evoked conditions. Persons with schizophrenia scored higher on ambiguity, the measure of conditional entropy within the expression of a single emotion, and they scored lower on distinctiveness, the measure of mutual information across expressions of different emotions. The automated measures compared favorably with observer-based ratings. This method can be applied for delineating dynamic emotional expressivity in healthy and clinical populations.

Horizontal information drives the behavioural signatures of face processing

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Valerie Goffaux

2010-09-01

Full Text Available Recent psychophysical evidence indicates that the vertical arrangement of horizontal information is particularly important for encoding facial identity. In this paper we extend this notion to examine the role that information at different (particularly cardinal orientations might play in a number of established phenomena each a behavioural “signature” of face processing. In particular we consider (a the face inversion effect (FIE, (b the facial identity after-effect, (c face-matching across viewpoint, and (d interactive, so-called holistic, processing of face parts. We report that filtering faces to remove all but the horizontal information largely preserves these effects but conversely, retaining vertical information generally diminishes or abolishes them. We conclude that preferential processing of horizontal information is a central feature of human face processing that supports many of the behavioural signatures of this critical visual operation.

Towards Real-Time Facial Landmark Detection in Depth Data Using Auxiliary Information

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Connah Kendrick

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Modern facial motion capture systems employ a two-pronged approach for capturing and rendering facial motion. Visual data (2D is used for tracking the facial features and predicting facial expression, whereas Depth (3D data is used to build a series of expressions on 3D face models. An issue with modern research approaches is the use of a single data stream that provides little indication of the 3D facial structure. We compare and analyse the performance of Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN using visual, Depth and merged data to identify facial features in real-time using a Depth sensor. First, we review the facial landmarking algorithms and its datasets for Depth data. We address the limitation of the current datasets by introducing the Kinect One Expression Dataset (KOED. Then, we propose the use of CNNs for the single data stream and merged data streams for facial landmark detection. We contribute to existing work by performing a full evaluation on which streams are the most effective for the field of facial landmarking. Furthermore, we improve upon the existing work by extending neural networks to predict into 3D landmarks in real-time with additional observations on the impact of using 2D landmarks as auxiliary information. We evaluate the performance by using Mean Square Error (MSE and Mean Average Error (MAE. We observe that the single data stream predicts accurate facial landmarks on Depth data when auxiliary information is used to train the network. The codes and dataset used in this paper will be made available.

The role of spatial frequency information in the decoding of facial expressions of pain: a novel hybrid task.

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Wang, Shan; Eccleston, Christopher; Keogh, Edmund

2017-11-01

Spatial frequency (SF) information contributes to the recognition of facial expressions, including pain. Low-SF encodes facial configuration and structure and often dominates over high-SF information, which encodes fine details in facial features. This low-SF preference has not been investigated within the context of pain. In this study, we investigated whether perpetual preference differences exist for low-SF and high-SF pain information. A novel hybrid expression paradigm was used in which 2 different expressions, one containing low-SF information and the other high-SF information, were combined in a facial hybrid. Participants are instructed to identify the core expression contained within the hybrid, allowing for the measurement of SF information preference. Three experiments were conducted (46 participants in each) that varied the expressions within the hybrid faces: respectively pain-neutral, pain-fear, and pain-happiness. In order to measure the temporal aspects of image processing, each hybrid image was presented for 33, 67, 150, and 300 ms. As expected, identification of pain and other expressions was dominated by low-SF information across the 3 experiments. The low-SF preference was largest when the presentation of hybrid faces was brief and reduced as the presentation duration increased. A sex difference was also found in experiment 1. For women, the low-SF preference was dampened by high-SF pain information, when viewing low-SF neutral expressions. These results not only confirm the role that SF information has in the recognition of pain in facial expressions but suggests that in some situations, there may be sex differences in how pain is communicated.

Judgments of facial attractiveness as a combination of facial parts information over time: Social and aesthetic factors.

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Saegusa, Chihiro; Watanabe, Katsumi

2016-02-01

Facial attractiveness can be judged on the basis of visual information acquired in a very short duration, but the absolute level of attractiveness changes depending on the duration of the observation. However, how information from individual facial parts contributes to the judgment of whole-face attractiveness is unknown. In the current study, we examined how contributions of facial parts to the judgment of whole-face attractiveness would change over time. In separate sessions, participants evaluated the attractiveness of whole faces, as well as of the eyes, nose, and mouth after observing them for 20, 100, and 1,000 ms. Correlation and multiple regression analyses indicated that the eyes made a consistently high contribution to whole-face attractiveness, even with an observation duration of 20 ms, whereas the contribution of other facial parts increased as the observation duration grew longer. When the eyes were averted, the attractiveness ratings for the whole face were decreased marginally. In addition, the contribution advantage of the eyes at the 20-ms observation duration was diminished. We interpret these results to indicate that (a) eye gaze signals social attractiveness at the early stage (perhaps in combination with emotional expression), (b) other facial parts start contributing to the judgment of whole-face attractiveness by forming aesthetic attractiveness, and (c) there is a dynamic interplay between social and aesthetic attractiveness. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Facial Emotion and Identity Processing Development in 5- to 15-Year-Old Children

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Patrick eJohnston

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Most developmental studies of emotional face processing to date have focussed on infants and very young children. Additionally, studies that examine emotional face processing in older children do not distinguish development in emotion and identity face processing from more generic age-related cognitive improvement. In this study, we developed a paradigm that measures processing of facial expression in comparison to facial identity and complex visual stimuli. The three matching tasks were developed (i.e., facial emotion matching, facial identity matching and butterfly wing matching to include stimuli of similar level of discriminability and to be equated for task difficulty in earlier samples of young adults. Ninety two children aged 5 to 15 years and a new group of 24 young adults completed these three matching tasks. Young children were highly adept at the butterfly wing task relative to their performance on both face-related tasks. More importantly, in older children, development of facial emotion discrimination ability lagged behind that of facial identity discrimination.

A neuroendocrine account of facial mimicry and its dynamic modulation

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Kraaijenvanger, Eline J.; Hofman, Dennis; Bos, Peter A.

2017-01-01

Facial expressions are considered central in conveying information about one's emotional state. During social encounters, facial expressions of another individual are often automatically imitated by the observer, a process referred to as ‘facial mimicry’. This process is assumed to facilitate

Perception of global facial geometry is modulated through experience

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Meike Ramon

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Identification of personally familiar faces is highly efficient across various viewing conditions. While the presence of robust facial representations stored in memory is considered to aid this process, the mechanisms underlying invariant identification remain unclear. Two experiments tested the hypothesis that facial representations stored in memory are associated with differential perceptual processing of the overall facial geometry. Subjects who were personally familiar or unfamiliar with the identities presented discriminated between stimuli whose overall facial geometry had been manipulated to maintain or alter the original facial configuration (see Barton, Zhao & Keenan, 2003. The results demonstrate that familiarity gives rise to more efficient processing of global facial geometry, and are interpreted in terms of increased holistic processing of facial information that is maintained across viewing distances.

Facial Recognition in Uncontrolled Conditions for Information Security

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Qinghan Xiao

2010-01-01

Full Text Available With the increasing use of computers nowadays, information security is becoming an important issue for private companies and government organizations. Various security technologies have been developed, such as authentication, authorization, and auditing. However, once a user logs on, it is assumed that the system would be controlled by the same person. To address this flaw, we developed a demonstration system that uses facial recognition technology to periodically verify the identity of the user. If the authenticated user's face disappears, the system automatically performs a log-off or screen-lock operation. This paper presents our further efforts in developing image preprocessing algorithms and dealing with angled facial images. The objective is to improve the accuracy of facial recognition under uncontrolled conditions. To compare the results with others, the frontal pose subset of the Face Recognition Technology (FERET database was used for the test. The experiments showed that the proposed algorithms provided promising results.

Facial Recognition in Uncontrolled Conditions for Information Security

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Xiao, Qinghan; Yang, Xue-Dong

2010-12-01

With the increasing use of computers nowadays, information security is becoming an important issue for private companies and government organizations. Various security technologies have been developed, such as authentication, authorization, and auditing. However, once a user logs on, it is assumed that the system would be controlled by the same person. To address this flaw, we developed a demonstration system that uses facial recognition technology to periodically verify the identity of the user. If the authenticated user's face disappears, the system automatically performs a log-off or screen-lock operation. This paper presents our further efforts in developing image preprocessing algorithms and dealing with angled facial images. The objective is to improve the accuracy of facial recognition under uncontrolled conditions. To compare the results with others, the frontal pose subset of the Face Recognition Technology (FERET) database was used for the test. The experiments showed that the proposed algorithms provided promising results.

Poor sleep quality predicts deficient emotion information processing over time in early adolescence.

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Soffer-Dudek, Nirit; Sadeh, Avi; Dahl, Ronald E; Rosenblat-Stein, Shiran

2011-11-01

There is deepening understanding of the effects of sleep on emotional information processing. Emotion information processing is a key aspect of social competence, which undergoes important maturational and developmental changes in adolescence; however, most research in this area has focused on adults. Our aim was to test the links between sleep and emotion information processing during early adolescence. Sleep and facial information processing were assessed objectively during 3 assessment waves, separated by 1-year lags. Data were obtained in natural environments-sleep was assessed in home settings, and facial information processing was assessed at school. 94 healthy children (53 girls, 41 boys), aged 10 years at Time 1. N/A. Facial information processing was tested under neutral (gender identification) and emotional (emotional expression identification) conditions. Sleep was assessed in home settings using actigraphy for 7 nights at each assessment wave. Waking > 5 min was considered a night awakening. Using multilevel modeling, elevated night awakenings and decreased sleep efficiency significantly predicted poor performance only in the emotional information processing condition (e.g., b = -1.79, SD = 0.52, confidence interval: lower boundary = -2.82, upper boundary = -0.076, t(416.94) = -3.42, P = 0.001). Poor sleep quality is associated with compromised emotional information processing during early adolescence, a sensitive period in socio-emotional development.

Impaired holistic coding of facial expression and facial identity in congenital prosopagnosia.

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Palermo, Romina; Willis, Megan L; Rivolta, Davide; McKone, Elinor; Wilson, C Ellie; Calder, Andrew J

2011-04-01

We test 12 individuals with congenital prosopagnosia (CP), who replicate a common pattern of showing severe difficulty in recognising facial identity in conjunction with normal recognition of facial expressions (both basic and 'social'). Strength of holistic processing was examined using standard expression composite and identity composite tasks. Compared to age- and sex-matched controls, group analyses demonstrated that CPs showed weaker holistic processing, for both expression and identity information. Implications are (a) normal expression recognition in CP can derive from compensatory strategies (e.g., over-reliance on non-holistic cues to expression); (b) the split between processing of expression and identity information may take place after a common stage of holistic processing; and (c) contrary to a recent claim, holistic processing of identity is functionally involved in face identification ability. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unconscious Processing of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder

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Xiaozhe Peng

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD is characterized by impairments in social communication and the avoidance of social contact. Facial expression processing is the basis of social communication. However, few studies have investigated how individuals with IGD process facial expressions, and whether they have deficits in emotional facial processing remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore these two issues by investigating the time course of emotional facial processing in individuals with IGD. A backward masking task was used to investigate the differences between individuals with IGD and normal controls (NC in the processing of subliminally presented facial expressions (sad, happy, and neutral with event-related potentials (ERPs. The behavioral results showed that individuals with IGD are slower than NC in response to both sad and neutral expressions in the sad–neutral context. The ERP results showed that individuals with IGD exhibit decreased amplitudes in ERP component N170 (an index of early face processing in response to neutral expressions compared to happy expressions in the happy–neutral expressions context, which might be due to their expectancies for positive emotional content. The NC, on the other hand, exhibited comparable N170 amplitudes in response to both happy and neutral expressions in the happy–neutral expressions context, as well as sad and neutral expressions in the sad–neutral expressions context. Both individuals with IGD and NC showed comparable ERP amplitudes during the processing of sad expressions and neutral expressions. The present study revealed that individuals with IGD have different unconscious neutral facial processing patterns compared with normal individuals and suggested that individuals with IGD may expect more positive emotion in the happy–neutral expressions context.Highlights:• The present study investigated whether the unconscious processing of facial expressions is influenced by

Unconscious Processing of Facial Expressions in Individuals with Internet Gaming Disorder.

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Peng, Xiaozhe; Cui, Fang; Wang, Ting; Jiao, Can

2017-01-01

Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD) is characterized by impairments in social communication and the avoidance of social contact. Facial expression processing is the basis of social communication. However, few studies have investigated how individuals with IGD process facial expressions, and whether they have deficits in emotional facial processing remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to explore these two issues by investigating the time course of emotional facial processing in individuals with IGD. A backward masking task was used to investigate the differences between individuals with IGD and normal controls (NC) in the processing of subliminally presented facial expressions (sad, happy, and neutral) with event-related potentials (ERPs). The behavioral results showed that individuals with IGD are slower than NC in response to both sad and neutral expressions in the sad-neutral context. The ERP results showed that individuals with IGD exhibit decreased amplitudes in ERP component N170 (an index of early face processing) in response to neutral expressions compared to happy expressions in the happy-neutral expressions context, which might be due to their expectancies for positive emotional content. The NC, on the other hand, exhibited comparable N170 amplitudes in response to both happy and neutral expressions in the happy-neutral expressions context, as well as sad and neutral expressions in the sad-neutral expressions context. Both individuals with IGD and NC showed comparable ERP amplitudes during the processing of sad expressions and neutral expressions. The present study revealed that individuals with IGD have different unconscious neutral facial processing patterns compared with normal individuals and suggested that individuals with IGD may expect more positive emotion in the happy-neutral expressions context. • The present study investigated whether the unconscious processing of facial expressions is influenced by excessive online gaming. A validated

Monkeys preferentially process body information while viewing affective displays.

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Bliss-Moreau, Eliza; Moadab, Gilda; Machado, Christopher J

2017-08-01

Despite evolutionary claims about the function of facial behaviors across phylogeny, rarely are those hypotheses tested in a comparative context-that is, by evaluating how nonhuman animals process such behaviors. Further, while increasing evidence indicates that humans make meaning of faces by integrating contextual information, including that from the body, the extent to which nonhuman animals process contextual information during affective displays is unknown. In the present study, we evaluated the extent to which rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta) process dynamic affective displays of conspecifics that included both facial and body behaviors. Contrary to hypotheses that they would preferentially attend to faces during affective displays, monkeys looked for longest, most frequently, and first at conspecifics' bodies rather than their heads. These findings indicate that macaques, like humans, attend to available contextual information during the processing of affective displays, and that the body may also be providing unique information about affective states. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Neuropsychology of facial expressions. The role of consciousness in processing emotional faces

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Michela Balconi

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Neuropsychological studies have underlined the significant presence of distinct brain correlates deputed to analyze facial expression of emotion. It was observed that some cerebral circuits were considered as specific for emotional face comprehension as a function of conscious vs. unconscious processing of emotional information. Moreover, the emotional content of faces (i.e. positive vs. negative; more or less arousing may have an effect in activating specific cortical networks. Between the others, recent studies have explained the contribution of hemispheres in comprehending face, as a function of type of emotions (mainly related to the distinction positive vs. negative and of specific tasks (comprehending vs. producing facial expressions. Specifically, ERPs (event-related potentials analysis overview is proposed in order to comprehend how face may be processed by an observer and how he can make face a meaningful construct even in absence of awareness. Finally, brain oscillations is considered in order to explain the synchronization of neural populations in response to emotional faces when a conscious vs. unconscious processing is activated

Enhancing facial features by using clear facial features

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Rofoo, Fanar Fareed Hanna

2017-09-01

The similarity of features between individuals of same ethnicity motivated the idea of this project. The idea of this project is to extract features of clear facial image and impose them on blurred facial image of same ethnic origin as an approach to enhance a blurred facial image. A database of clear images containing 30 individuals equally divided to five different ethnicities which were Arab, African, Chines, European and Indian. Software was built to perform pre-processing on images in order to align the features of clear and blurred images. And the idea was to extract features of clear facial image or template built from clear facial images using wavelet transformation to impose them on blurred image by using reverse wavelet. The results of this approach did not come well as all the features did not align together as in most cases the eyes were aligned but the nose or mouth were not aligned. Then we decided in the next approach to deal with features separately but in the result in some cases a blocky effect was present on features due to not having close matching features. In general the available small database did not help to achieve the goal results, because of the number of available individuals. The color information and features similarity could be more investigated to achieve better results by having larger database as well as improving the process of enhancement by the availability of closer matches in each ethnicity.

The MPI facial expression database--a validated database of emotional and conversational facial expressions.

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Kathrin Kaulard

Full Text Available The ability to communicate is one of the core aspects of human life. For this, we use not only verbal but also nonverbal signals of remarkable complexity. Among the latter, facial expressions belong to the most important information channels. Despite the large variety of facial expressions we use in daily life, research on facial expressions has so far mostly focused on the emotional aspect. Consequently, most databases of facial expressions available to the research community also include only emotional expressions, neglecting the largely unexplored aspect of conversational expressions. To fill this gap, we present the MPI facial expression database, which contains a large variety of natural emotional and conversational expressions. The database contains 55 different facial expressions performed by 19 German participants. Expressions were elicited with the help of a method-acting protocol, which guarantees both well-defined and natural facial expressions. The method-acting protocol was based on every-day scenarios, which are used to define the necessary context information for each expression. All facial expressions are available in three repetitions, in two intensities, as well as from three different camera angles. A detailed frame annotation is provided, from which a dynamic and a static version of the database have been created. In addition to describing the database in detail, we also present the results of an experiment with two conditions that serve to validate the context scenarios as well as the naturalness and recognizability of the video sequences. Our results provide clear evidence that conversational expressions can be recognized surprisingly well from visual information alone. The MPI facial expression database will enable researchers from different research fields (including the perceptual and cognitive sciences, but also affective computing, as well as computer vision to investigate the processing of a wider range of natural

Holistic face processing can inhibit recognition of forensic facial composites.

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McIntyre, Alex H; Hancock, Peter J B; Frowd, Charlie D; Langton, Stephen R H

2016-04-01

Facial composite systems help eyewitnesses to show the appearance of criminals. However, likenesses created by unfamiliar witnesses will not be completely accurate, and people familiar with the target can find them difficult to identify. Faces are processed holistically; we explore whether this impairs identification of inaccurate composite images and whether recognition can be improved. In Experiment 1 (n = 64) an imaging technique was used to make composites of celebrity faces more accurate and identification was contrasted with the original composite images. Corrected composites were better recognized, confirming that errors in production of the likenesses impair identification. The influence of holistic face processing was explored by misaligning the top and bottom parts of the composites (cf. Young, Hellawell, & Hay, 1987). Misalignment impaired recognition of corrected composites but identification of the original, inaccurate composites significantly improved. This effect was replicated with facial composites of noncelebrities in Experiment 2 (n = 57). We conclude that, like real faces, facial composites are processed holistically: recognition is impaired because unlike real faces, composites contain inaccuracies and holistic face processing makes it difficult to perceive identifiable features. This effect was consistent across composites of celebrities and composites of people who are personally familiar. Our findings suggest that identification of forensic facial composites can be enhanced by presenting composites in a misaligned format. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Interactions between facial emotion and identity in face processing: evidence based on redundancy gains.

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Yankouskaya, Alla; Booth, David A; Humphreys, Glyn

2012-11-01

Interactions between the processing of emotion expression and form-based information from faces (facial identity) were investigated using the redundant-target paradigm, in which we specifically tested whether identity and emotional expression are integrated in a superadditive manner (Miller, Cognitive Psychology 14:247-279, 1982). In Experiments 1 and 2, participants performed emotion and face identity judgments on faces with sad or angry emotional expressions. Responses to redundant targets were faster than responses to either single target when a universal emotion was conveyed, and performance violated the predictions from a model assuming independent processing of emotion and face identity. Experiment 4 showed that these effects were not modulated by varying interstimulus and nontarget contingencies, and Experiment 5 demonstrated that the redundancy gains were eliminated when faces were inverted. Taken together, these results suggest that the identification of emotion and facial identity interact in face processing.

Fluid Intelligence and Automatic Neural Processes in Facial Expression Perception

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Liu, Tongran; Xiao, Tong; Li, Xiaoyan

2015-01-01

The relationship between human fluid intelligence and social-emotional abilities has been a topic of considerable interest. The current study investigated whether adolescents with different intellectual levels had different automatic neural processing of facial expressions. Two groups of adolescent...... males were enrolled: a high IQ group and an average IQ group. Age and parental socioeconomic status were matched between the two groups. Participants counted the numbers of the central cross changes while paired facial expressions were presented bilaterally in an oddball paradigm. There were two.......2). Participants were required to concentrate on the primary task of counting the central cross changes and to ignore the expressions to ensure that facial expression processing was automatic. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were obtained during the tasks. The visual mismatch negativity (vMMN) components were...

Facial decoding in schizophrenia is underpinned by basic visual processing impairments.

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Belge, Jan-Baptist; Maurage, Pierre; Mangelinckx, Camille; Leleux, Dominique; Delatte, Benoît; Constant, Eric

2017-09-01

Schizophrenia is associated with a strong deficit in the decoding of emotional facial expression (EFE). Nevertheless, it is still unclear whether this deficit is specific for emotions or due to a more general impairment for any type of facial processing. This study was designed to clarify this issue. Thirty patients suffering from schizophrenia and 30 matched healthy controls performed several tasks evaluating the recognition of both changeable (i.e. eyes orientation and emotions) and stable (i.e. gender, age) facial characteristics. Accuracy and reaction times were recorded. Schizophrenic patients presented a performance deficit (accuracy and reaction times) in the perception of both changeable and stable aspects of faces, without any specific deficit for emotional decoding. Our results demonstrate a generalized face recognition deficit in schizophrenic patients, probably caused by a perceptual deficit in basic visual processing. It seems that the deficit in the decoding of emotional facial expression (EFE) is not a specific deficit of emotion processing, but is at least partly related to a generalized perceptual deficit in lower-level perceptual processing, occurring before the stage of emotion processing, and underlying more complex cognitive dysfunctions. These findings should encourage future investigations to explore the neurophysiologic background of these generalized perceptual deficits, and stimulate a clinical approach focusing on more basic visual processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender differences in the motivational processing of facial beauty☆

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Levy, Boaz; Ariely, Dan; Mazar, Nina; Chi, Won; Lukas, Scott; Elman, Igor

2013-01-01

Gender may be involved in the motivational processing of facial beauty. This study applied a behavioral probe, known to activate brain motivational regions, to healthy heterosexual subjects. Matched samples of men and women were administered two tasks: (a) key pressing to change the viewing time of average or beautiful female or male facial images, and (b) rating the attractiveness of these images. Men expended more effort (via the key-press task) to extend the viewing time of the beautiful female faces. Women displayed similarly increased effort for beautiful male and female images, but the magnitude of this effort was substantially lower than that of men for beautiful females. Heterosexual facial attractiveness ratings were comparable in both groups. These findings demonstrate heterosexual specificity of facial motivational targets for men, but not for women. Moreover, heightened drive for the pursuit of heterosexual beauty in the face of regular valuational assessments, displayed by men, suggests a gender-specific incentive sensitization phenomenon. PMID:24282336

Dissociating Face Identity and Facial Expression Processing Via Visual Adaptation

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Hong Xu

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Face identity and facial expression are processed in two distinct neural pathways. However, most of the existing face adaptation literature studies them separately, despite the fact that they are two aspects from the same face. The current study conducted a systematic comparison between these two aspects by face adaptation, investigating how top- and bottom-half face parts contribute to the processing of face identity and facial expression. A real face (sad, “Adam” and its two size-equivalent face parts (top- and bottom-half were used as the adaptor in separate conditions. For face identity adaptation, the test stimuli were generated by morphing Adam's sad face with another person's sad face (“Sam”. For facial expression adaptation, the test stimuli were created by morphing Adam's sad face with his neutral face and morphing the neutral face with his happy face. In each trial, after exposure to the adaptor, observers indicated the perceived face identity or facial expression of the following test face via a key press. They were also tested in a baseline condition without adaptation. Results show that the top- and bottom-half face each generated a significant face identity aftereffect. However, the aftereffect by top-half face adaptation is much larger than that by the bottom-half face. On the contrary, only the bottom-half face generated a significant facial expression aftereffect. This dissociation of top- and bottom-half face adaptation suggests that face parts play different roles in face identity and facial expression. It thus provides further evidence for the distributed systems of face perception.

The MPI Facial Expression Database — A Validated Database of Emotional and Conversational Facial Expressions

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Kaulard, Kathrin; Cunningham, Douglas W.; Bülthoff, Heinrich H.; Wallraven, Christian

2012-01-01

The ability to communicate is one of the core aspects of human life. For this, we use not only verbal but also nonverbal signals of remarkable complexity. Among the latter, facial expressions belong to the most important information channels. Despite the large variety of facial expressions we use in daily life, research on facial expressions has so far mostly focused on the emotional aspect. Consequently, most databases of facial expressions available to the research community also include only emotional expressions, neglecting the largely unexplored aspect of conversational expressions. To fill this gap, we present the MPI facial expression database, which contains a large variety of natural emotional and conversational expressions. The database contains 55 different facial expressions performed by 19 German participants. Expressions were elicited with the help of a method-acting protocol, which guarantees both well-defined and natural facial expressions. The method-acting protocol was based on every-day scenarios, which are used to define the necessary context information for each expression. All facial expressions are available in three repetitions, in two intensities, as well as from three different camera angles. A detailed frame annotation is provided, from which a dynamic and a static version of the database have been created. In addition to describing the database in detail, we also present the results of an experiment with two conditions that serve to validate the context scenarios as well as the naturalness and recognizability of the video sequences. Our results provide clear evidence that conversational expressions can be recognized surprisingly well from visual information alone. The MPI facial expression database will enable researchers from different research fields (including the perceptual and cognitive sciences, but also affective computing, as well as computer vision) to investigate the processing of a wider range of natural facial expressions

Facial Sports Injuries

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... Marketplace Find an ENT Doctor Near You Facial Sports Injuries Facial Sports Injuries Patient Health Information News ... should receive immediate medical attention. Prevention Of Facial Sports Injuries The best way to treat facial sports ...

The relative contributions of facial shape and surface information to perceptions of attractiveness and dominance.

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Jaimie S Torrance

Full Text Available Although many studies have investigated the facial characteristics that influence perceptions of others' attractiveness and dominance, the majority of these studies have focused on either the effects of shape information or surface information alone. Consequently, the relative contributions of facial shape and surface characteristics to attractiveness and dominance perceptions are unclear. To address this issue, we investigated the relationships between ratings of original versions of faces and ratings of versions in which either surface information had been standardized (i.e., shape-only versions or shape information had been standardized (i.e., surface-only versions. For attractiveness and dominance judgments of both male and female faces, ratings of shape-only and surface-only versions independently predicted ratings of the original versions of faces. The correlations between ratings of original and shape-only versions and between ratings of original and surface-only versions differed only in two instances. For male attractiveness, ratings of original versions were more strongly related to ratings of surface-only than shape-only versions, suggesting that surface information is particularly important for men's facial attractiveness. The opposite was true for female physical dominance, suggesting that shape information is particularly important for women's facial physical dominance. In summary, our results indicate that both facial shape and surface information contribute to judgments of others' attractiveness and dominance, suggesting that it may be important to consider both sources of information in research on these topics.

The relative contributions of facial shape and surface information to perceptions of attractiveness and dominance.

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Torrance, Jaimie S; Wincenciak, Joanna; Hahn, Amanda C; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2014-01-01

Although many studies have investigated the facial characteristics that influence perceptions of others' attractiveness and dominance, the majority of these studies have focused on either the effects of shape information or surface information alone. Consequently, the relative contributions of facial shape and surface characteristics to attractiveness and dominance perceptions are unclear. To address this issue, we investigated the relationships between ratings of original versions of faces and ratings of versions in which either surface information had been standardized (i.e., shape-only versions) or shape information had been standardized (i.e., surface-only versions). For attractiveness and dominance judgments of both male and female faces, ratings of shape-only and surface-only versions independently predicted ratings of the original versions of faces. The correlations between ratings of original and shape-only versions and between ratings of original and surface-only versions differed only in two instances. For male attractiveness, ratings of original versions were more strongly related to ratings of surface-only than shape-only versions, suggesting that surface information is particularly important for men's facial attractiveness. The opposite was true for female physical dominance, suggesting that shape information is particularly important for women's facial physical dominance. In summary, our results indicate that both facial shape and surface information contribute to judgments of others' attractiveness and dominance, suggesting that it may be important to consider both sources of information in research on these topics.

Speech Signal and Facial Image Processing for Obstructive Sleep Apnea Assessment

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Fernando Espinoza-Cuadros

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA is a common sleep disorder characterized by recurring breathing pauses during sleep caused by a blockage of the upper airway (UA. OSA is generally diagnosed through a costly procedure requiring an overnight stay of the patient at the hospital. This has led to proposing less costly procedures based on the analysis of patients’ facial images and voice recordings to help in OSA detection and severity assessment. In this paper we investigate the use of both image and speech processing to estimate the apnea-hypopnea index, AHI (which describes the severity of the condition, over a population of 285 male Spanish subjects suspected to suffer from OSA and referred to a Sleep Disorders Unit. Photographs and voice recordings were collected in a supervised but not highly controlled way trying to test a scenario close to an OSA assessment application running on a mobile device (i.e., smartphones or tablets. Spectral information in speech utterances is modeled by a state-of-the-art low-dimensional acoustic representation, called i-vector. A set of local craniofacial features related to OSA are extracted from images after detecting facial landmarks using Active Appearance Models (AAMs. Support vector regression (SVR is applied on facial features and i-vectors to estimate the AHI.

Development of the Korean Facial Emotion Stimuli: Korea University Facial Expression Collection 2nd Edition

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Sun-Min Kim

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Background: Developing valid emotional facial stimuli for specific ethnicities creates ample opportunities to investigate both the nature of emotional facial information processing in general and clinical populations as well as the underlying mechanisms of facial emotion processing within and across cultures. Given that most entries in emotional facial stimuli databases were developed with western samples, and given that very few of the eastern emotional facial stimuli sets were based strictly on the Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System, developing valid emotional facial stimuli of eastern samples remains a high priority.Aims: To develop and examine the psychometric properties of six basic emotional facial stimuli recruiting professional Korean actors and actresses based on the Ekman’s Facial Action Coding System for the Korea University Facial Expression Collection-Second Edition (KUFEC-II.Materials And Methods: Stimulus selection was done in two phases. First, researchers evaluated the clarity and intensity of each stimulus developed based on the Facial Action Coding System. Second, researchers selected a total of 399 stimuli from a total of 57 actors and actresses, which were then rated on accuracy, intensity, valence, and arousal by 75 independent raters.Conclusion: The hit rates between the targeted and rated expressions of the KUFEC-II were all above 80%, except for fear (50% and disgust (63%. The KUFEC-II appears to be a valid emotional facial stimuli database, providing the largest set of emotional facial stimuli. The mean intensity score was 5.63 (out of 7, suggesting that the stimuli delivered the targeted emotions with great intensity. All positive expressions were rated as having a high positive valence, whereas all negative expressions were rated as having a high negative valence. The KUFEC II is expected to be widely used in various psychological studies on emotional facial expression. KUFEC-II stimuli can be obtained through

Can We Distinguish Emotions from Faces? Investigation of Implicit and Explicit Processes of Peak Facial Expressions.

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Xiao, Ruiqi; Li, Xianchun; Li, Lin; Wang, Yanmei

2016-01-01

Most previous studies on facial expression recognition have focused on the moderate emotions; to date, few studies have been conducted to investigate the explicit and implicit processes of peak emotions. In the current study, we used transiently peak intense expression images of athletes at the winning or losing point in competition as materials, and investigated the diagnosability of peak facial expressions at both implicit and explicit levels. In Experiment 1, participants were instructed to evaluate isolated faces, isolated bodies, and the face-body compounds, and eye-tracking movement was recorded. The results revealed that the isolated body and face-body congruent images were better recognized than isolated face and face-body incongruent images, indicating that the emotional information conveyed by facial cues was ambiguous, and the body cues influenced facial emotion recognition. Furthermore, eye movement records showed that the participants displayed distinct gaze patterns for the congruent and incongruent compounds. In Experiment 2A, the subliminal affective priming task was used, with faces as primes and bodies as targets, to investigate the unconscious emotion perception of peak facial expressions. The results showed that winning face prime facilitated reaction to winning body target, whereas losing face prime inhibited reaction to winning body target, suggesting that peak facial expressions could be perceived at the implicit level. In general, the results indicate that peak facial expressions cannot be consciously recognized but can be perceived at the unconscious level. In Experiment 2B, revised subliminal affective priming task and a strict awareness test were used to examine the validity of unconscious perception of peak facial expressions found in Experiment 2A. Results of Experiment 2B showed that reaction time to both winning body targets and losing body targets was influenced by the invisibly peak facial expression primes, which indicated the

Putting the face in context: Body expressions impact facial emotion processing in human infants

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Purva Rajhans

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Body expressions exert strong contextual effects on facial emotion perception in adults. Specifically, conflicting body cues hamper the recognition of emotion from faces, as evident on both the behavioral and neural level. We examined the developmental origins of the neural processes involved in emotion perception across body and face in 8-month-old infants by measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs. We primed infants with body postures (fearful, happy that were followed by either congruent or incongruent facial expressions. Our results revealed that body expressions impact facial emotion processing and that incongruent body cues impair the neural discrimination of emotional facial expressions. Priming effects were associated with attentional and recognition memory processes, as reflected in a modulation of the Nc and Pc evoked at anterior electrodes. These findings demonstrate that 8-month-old infants possess neural mechanisms that allow for the integration of emotion across body and face, providing evidence for the early developmental emergence of context-sensitive facial emotion perception.

The integration of visual context information in facial emotion recognition in 5- to 15-year-olds.

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Theurel, Anne; Witt, Arnaud; Malsert, Jennifer; Lejeune, Fleur; Fiorentini, Chiara; Barisnikov, Koviljka; Gentaz, Edouard

2016-10-01

The current study investigated the role of congruent visual context information in the recognition of facial emotional expression in 190 participants from 5 to 15years of age. Children performed a matching task that presented pictures with different facial emotional expressions (anger, disgust, happiness, fear, and sadness) in two conditions: with and without a visual context. The results showed that emotions presented with visual context information were recognized more accurately than those presented in the absence of visual context. The context effect remained steady with age but varied according to the emotion presented and the gender of participants. The findings demonstrated for the first time that children from the age of 5years are able to integrate facial expression and visual context information, and this integration improves facial emotion recognition. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Putting the face in context: Body expressions impact facial emotion processing in human infants.

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Rajhans, Purva; Jessen, Sarah; Missana, Manuela; Grossmann, Tobias

2016-06-01

Body expressions exert strong contextual effects on facial emotion perception in adults. Specifically, conflicting body cues hamper the recognition of emotion from faces, as evident on both the behavioral and neural level. We examined the developmental origins of the neural processes involved in emotion perception across body and face in 8-month-old infants by measuring event-related brain potentials (ERPs). We primed infants with body postures (fearful, happy) that were followed by either congruent or incongruent facial expressions. Our results revealed that body expressions impact facial emotion processing and that incongruent body cues impair the neural discrimination of emotional facial expressions. Priming effects were associated with attentional and recognition memory processes, as reflected in a modulation of the Nc and Pc evoked at anterior electrodes. These findings demonstrate that 8-month-old infants possess neural mechanisms that allow for the integration of emotion across body and face, providing evidence for the early developmental emergence of context-sensitive facial emotion perception. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Neurocognition and symptoms identify links between facial recognition and emotion processing in schizophrenia: meta-analytic findings.

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Ventura, Joseph; Wood, Rachel C; Jimenez, Amy M; Hellemann, Gerhard S

2013-12-01

In schizophrenia patients, one of the most commonly studied deficits of social cognition is emotion processing (EP), which has documented links to facial recognition (FR). But, how are deficits in facial recognition linked to emotion processing deficits? Can neurocognitive and symptom correlates of FR and EP help differentiate the unique contribution of FR to the domain of social cognition? A meta-analysis of 102 studies (combined n=4826) in schizophrenia patients was conducted to determine the magnitude and pattern of relationships between facial recognition, emotion processing, neurocognition, and type of symptom. Meta-analytic results indicated that facial recognition and emotion processing are strongly interrelated (r=.51). In addition, the relationship between FR and EP through voice prosody (r=.58) is as strong as the relationship between FR and EP based on facial stimuli (r=.53). Further, the relationship between emotion recognition, neurocognition, and symptoms is independent of the emotion processing modality - facial stimuli and voice prosody. The association between FR and EP that occurs through voice prosody suggests that FR is a fundamental cognitive process. The observed links between FR and EP might be due to bottom-up associations between neurocognition and EP, and not simply because most emotion recognition tasks use visual facial stimuli. In addition, links with symptoms, especially negative symptoms and disorganization, suggest possible symptom mechanisms that contribute to FR and EP deficits. © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Magnetic resonance imaging of facial muscles

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Farrugia, M.E. [Department of Clinical Neurology, University of Oxford, Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford (United Kingdom)], E-mail: m.e.farrugia@doctors.org.uk; Bydder, G.M. [Department of Radiology, University of California, San Diego, CA 92103-8226 (United States); Francis, J.M.; Robson, M.D. [OCMR, Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Oxford, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford (United Kingdom)

2007-11-15

Facial and tongue muscles are commonly involved in patients with neuromuscular disorders. However, these muscles are not as easily accessible for biopsy and pathological examination as limb muscles. We have previously investigated myasthenia gravis patients with MuSK antibodies for facial and tongue muscle atrophy using different magnetic resonance imaging sequences, including ultrashort echo time techniques and image analysis tools that allowed us to obtain quantitative assessments of facial muscles. This imaging study had shown that facial muscle measurement is possible and that useful information can be obtained using a quantitative approach. In this paper we aim to review in detail the methods that we applied to our study, to enable clinicians to study these muscles within the domain of neuromuscular disease, oncological or head and neck specialties. Quantitative assessment of the facial musculature may be of value in improving the understanding of pathological processes occurring within facial muscles in certain neuromuscular disorders.

Magnetic resonance imaging of facial muscles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farrugia, M.E.; Bydder, G.M.; Francis, J.M.; Robson, M.D.

2007-01-01

Facial and tongue muscles are commonly involved in patients with neuromuscular disorders. However, these muscles are not as easily accessible for biopsy and pathological examination as limb muscles. We have previously investigated myasthenia gravis patients with MuSK antibodies for facial and tongue muscle atrophy using different magnetic resonance imaging sequences, including ultrashort echo time techniques and image analysis tools that allowed us to obtain quantitative assessments of facial muscles. This imaging study had shown that facial muscle measurement is possible and that useful information can be obtained using a quantitative approach. In this paper we aim to review in detail the methods that we applied to our study, to enable clinicians to study these muscles within the domain of neuromuscular disease, oncological or head and neck specialties. Quantitative assessment of the facial musculature may be of value in improving the understanding of pathological processes occurring within facial muscles in certain neuromuscular disorders

The face is not an empty canvas: how facial expressions interact with facial appearance.

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Hess, Ursula; Adams, Reginald B; Kleck, Robert E

2009-12-12

Faces are not simply blank canvases upon which facial expressions write their emotional messages. In fact, facial appearance and facial movement are both important social signalling systems in their own right. We here provide multiple lines of evidence for the notion that the social signals derived from facial appearance on the one hand and facial movement on the other interact in a complex manner, sometimes reinforcing and sometimes contradicting one another. Faces provide information on who a person is. Sex, age, ethnicity, personality and other characteristics that can define a person and the social group the person belongs to can all be derived from the face alone. The present article argues that faces interact with the perception of emotion expressions because this information informs a decoder's expectations regarding an expresser's probable emotional reactions. Facial appearance also interacts more directly with the interpretation of facial movement because some of the features that are used to derive personality or sex information are also features that closely resemble certain emotional expressions, thereby enhancing or diluting the perceived strength of particular expressions.

Schizophrenia and processing of facial emotions : Sex matters

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Scholten, MRM; Aleman, A; Montagne, B; Kahn, RS

2005-01-01

The aim of this study was to examine sex differences in emotion processing in patients with schizophrenia and control subjects. To this end, 53 patients with schizophrenia (28 men and 25 women), and 42 controls (21 men and 21 women) were assessed with the use of a facial affect recognition morphing

Do facial movements express emotions or communicate motives?

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Parkinson, Brian

2005-01-01

This article addresses the debate between emotion-expression and motive-communication approaches to facial movements, focusing on Ekman's (1972) and Fridlund's (1994) contrasting models and their historical antecedents. Available evidence suggests that the presence of others either reduces or increases facial responses, depending on the quality and strength of the emotional manipulation and on the nature of the relationship between interactants. Although both display rules and social motives provide viable explanations of audience "inhibition" effects, some audience facilitation effects are less easily accommodated within an emotion-expression perspective. In particular, emotion is not a sufficient condition for a corresponding "expression," even discounting explicit regulation, and, apparently, "spontaneous" facial movements may be facilitated by the presence of others. Further, there is no direct evidence that any particular facial movement provides an unambiguous expression of a specific emotion. However, information communicated by facial movements is not necessarily extrinsic to emotion. Facial movements not only transmit emotion-relevant information but also contribute to ongoing processes of emotional action in accordance with pragmatic theories.

Processing of Facial Emotion in Bipolar Depression and Euthymia.

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Robinson, Lucy J; Gray, John M; Burt, Mike; Ferrier, I Nicol; Gallagher, Peter

2015-10-01

Previous studies of facial emotion processing in bipolar disorder (BD) have reported conflicting findings. In independently conducted studies, we investigate facial emotion labeling in euthymic and depressed BD patients using tasks with static and dynamically morphed images of different emotions displayed at different intensities. Study 1 included 38 euthymic BD patients and 28 controls. Participants completed two tasks: labeling of static images of basic facial emotions (anger, disgust, fear, happy, sad) shown at different expression intensities; the Eyes Test (Baron-Cohen, Wheelwright, Hill, Raste, & Plumb, 2001), which involves recognition of complex emotions using only the eye region of the face. Study 2 included 53 depressed BD patients and 47 controls. Participants completed two tasks: labeling of "dynamic" facial expressions of the same five basic emotions; the Emotional Hexagon test (Young, Perret, Calder, Sprengelmeyer, & Ekman, 2002). There were no significant group differences on any measures of emotion perception/labeling, compared to controls. A significant group by intensity interaction was observed in both emotion labeling tasks (euthymia and depression), although this effect did not survive the addition of measures of executive function/psychomotor speed as covariates. Only 2.6-15.8% of euthymic patients and 7.8-13.7% of depressed patients scored below the 10th percentile of the controls for total emotion recognition accuracy. There was no evidence of specific deficits in facial emotion labeling in euthymic or depressed BD patients. Methodological variations-including mood state, sample size, and the cognitive demands of the tasks-may contribute significantly to the variability in findings between studies.

Learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information for expression-robust 3D face recognition

KAUST Repository

Li, Huibin

2011-10-01

This paper proposes a novel approach for 3D face recognition by learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information. To comprehensively describe 3D facial surface, three components, in X, Y, and Z-plane respectively, of normal vector are encoded locally to their corresponding normal pattern histograms. They are finally fed to a sparse representation classifier enhanced by learning based spatial weights. Experimental results achieved on the FRGC v2.0 database prove that the proposed encoded normal information is much more discriminative than original normal information. Moreover, the patch based weights learned using the FRGC v1.0 and Bosphorus datasets also demonstrate the importance of each facial physical component for 3D face recognition. © 2011 IEEE.

Learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information for expression-robust 3D face recognition

KAUST Repository

Li, Huibin; Di, Huang; Morvan, Jean-Marie; Chen, Liming

2011-01-01

This paper proposes a novel approach for 3D face recognition by learning weighted sparse representation of encoded facial normal information. To comprehensively describe 3D facial surface, three components, in X, Y, and Z-plane respectively

Korelasi indeks morfologi wajah dengan sudut interinsisal dan tinggi wajah secara sefalometri (Cephalometric correlation of facial morphology index with interincisal angle and facial height

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Pricillia Priska Sianita K

2013-12-01

Full Text Available Background: In a disaster or criminal case, comprehensive information is needed for identification process of each victim. Especially for some cases that only leave skull without any information that could help the identification process, including face reconstruction that will be needed. One way of identifications is specific face characteristic, race, some head-neck measurements, such as facial morphology index, interincisal angle and facial height. Purpose: The aim of study was to determine the correlation of facial morphology index with interincisal angle and facial height through cephalometric measurement. Methods: The samples were cephalogram of 31 subjects (Deutro-Malayid race who met the inclusive criteria. Cephalometric analysis were done to all samples and followed by Pearson Correlation statistical test. Results: The correlation was found between facial morphology index and facial height, but no correlation between facial morphology index and interincisal angle. Conclusion: The study showed that the cephalometric measurement of facial morphology index and facial height could be used as the additional information for identification process.Latar belakang: Dalam bencana alam atau kasus kriminal informasi yang komprehensif diperlukan untuk proses identifikasi masing korban. Khususnya pada beberapa kasus yang hanya meninggalkan tengkorak tanpa informasi yang dapat membantu proses identifikasi, termasuk rekonstruksi wajah yang akan dibutuhkan. Salah satu cara identifikasi karakteristik wajah tertentu, ras, beberapa pengukuran kepala leher, seperti indeks morfologi wajah, sudut interincisal dan tinggi wajah. Tujuan: Penelitian ini bertujuan meneliti korelasi indeks morfologi wajah dengan sudut interincisal dan tinggi wajah melalui pengukuran sefalometrik. Metode: Sampel penelitian adalah cephalogram dari 31 subyek ras Deutro - Malayid ras yang memenuhi kriteria inklusif. Analisis cephalometri dilakukan pada semua sampel dan dilanjutkan

Processing of individual items during ensemble coding of facial expressions

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Huiyun Li

2016-09-01

Full Text Available There is growing evidence that human observers are able to extract the mean emotion or other type of information from a set of faces. The most intriguing aspect of this phenomenon is that observers often fail to identify or form a representation for individual faces in a face set. However, most of these results were based on judgments under limited processing resource. We examined a wider range of exposure time and observed how the relationship between the extraction of a mean and representation of individual facial expressions would change. The results showed that with an exposure time of 50 milliseconds for the faces, observers were more sensitive to mean representation over individual representation, replicating the typical findings in the literature. With longer exposure time, however, observers were able to extract both individual and mean representation more accurately. Furthermore, diffusion model analysis revealed that the mean representation is also more prone to suffer from the noise accumulated in redundant processing time and leads to a more conservative decision bias, whereas individual representations seem more resistant to this noise. Results suggest that the encoding of emotional information from multiple faces may take two forms: single face processing and crowd face processing.

Spatiotemporal neural network dynamics for the processing of dynamic facial expressions

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Sato, Wataru; Kochiyama, Takanori; Uono, Shota

2015-01-01

The dynamic facial expressions of emotion automatically elicit multifaceted psychological activities; however, the temporal profiles and dynamic interaction patterns of brain activities remain unknown. We investigated these issues using magnetoencephalography. Participants passively observed dynamic facial expressions of fear and happiness, or dynamic mosaics. Source-reconstruction analyses utilizing functional magnetic-resonance imaging data revealed higher activation in broad regions of the bilateral occipital and temporal cortices in response to dynamic facial expressions than in response to dynamic mosaics at 150–200 ms and some later time points. The right inferior frontal gyrus exhibited higher activity for dynamic faces versus mosaics at 300–350 ms. Dynamic causal-modeling analyses revealed that dynamic faces activated the dual visual routes and visual–motor route. Superior influences of feedforward and feedback connections were identified before and after 200 ms, respectively. These results indicate that hierarchical, bidirectional neural network dynamics within a few hundred milliseconds implement the processing of dynamic facial expressions. PMID:26206708

Spatiotemporal neural network dynamics for the processing of dynamic facial expressions.

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Sato, Wataru; Kochiyama, Takanori; Uono, Shota

2015-07-24

The dynamic facial expressions of emotion automatically elicit multifaceted psychological activities; however, the temporal profiles and dynamic interaction patterns of brain activities remain unknown. We investigated these issues using magnetoencephalography. Participants passively observed dynamic facial expressions of fear and happiness, or dynamic mosaics. Source-reconstruction analyses utilizing functional magnetic-resonance imaging data revealed higher activation in broad regions of the bilateral occipital and temporal cortices in response to dynamic facial expressions than in response to dynamic mosaics at 150-200 ms and some later time points. The right inferior frontal gyrus exhibited higher activity for dynamic faces versus mosaics at 300-350 ms. Dynamic causal-modeling analyses revealed that dynamic faces activated the dual visual routes and visual-motor route. Superior influences of feedforward and feedback connections were identified before and after 200 ms, respectively. These results indicate that hierarchical, bidirectional neural network dynamics within a few hundred milliseconds implement the processing of dynamic facial expressions.

Does dynamic information about the speaker's face contribute to semantic speech processing? ERP evidence.

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Hernández-Gutiérrez, David; Abdel Rahman, Rasha; Martín-Loeches, Manuel; Muñoz, Francisco; Schacht, Annekathrin; Sommer, Werner

2018-07-01

Face-to-face interactions characterize communication in social contexts. These situations are typically multimodal, requiring the integration of linguistic auditory input with facial information from the speaker. In particular, eye gaze and visual speech provide the listener with social and linguistic information, respectively. Despite the importance of this context for an ecological study of language, research on audiovisual integration has mainly focused on the phonological level, leaving aside effects on semantic comprehension. Here we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the influence of facial dynamic information on semantic processing of connected speech. Participants were presented with either a video or a still picture of the speaker, concomitant to auditory sentences. Along three experiments, we manipulated the presence or absence of the speaker's dynamic facial features (mouth and eyes) and compared the amplitudes of the semantic N400 elicited by unexpected words. Contrary to our predictions, the N400 was not modulated by dynamic facial information; therefore, semantic processing seems to be unaffected by the speaker's gaze and visual speech. Even though, during the processing of expected words, dynamic faces elicited a long-lasting late posterior positivity compared to the static condition. This effect was significantly reduced when the mouth of the speaker was covered. Our findings may indicate an increase of attentional processing to richer communicative contexts. The present findings also demonstrate that in natural communicative face-to-face encounters, perceiving the face of a speaker in motion provides supplementary information that is taken into account by the listener, especially when auditory comprehension is non-demanding. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Appraisals Generate Specific Configurations of Facial Muscle Movements in a Gambling Task: Evidence for the Component Process Model of Emotion.

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Gentsch, Kornelia; Grandjean, Didier; Scherer, Klaus R

2015-01-01

Scherer's Component Process Model provides a theoretical framework for research on the production mechanism of emotion and facial emotional expression. The model predicts that appraisal results drive facial expressions, which unfold sequentially and cumulatively over time. In two experiments, we examined facial muscle activity changes (via facial electromyography recordings over the corrugator, cheek, and frontalis regions) in response to events in a gambling task. These events were experimentally manipulated feedback stimuli which presented simultaneous information directly affecting goal conduciveness (gambling outcome: win, loss, or break-even) and power appraisals (Experiment 1 and 2), as well as control appraisal (Experiment 2). We repeatedly found main effects of goal conduciveness (starting ~600 ms), and power appraisals (starting ~800 ms after feedback onset). Control appraisal main effects were inconclusive. Interaction effects of goal conduciveness and power appraisals were obtained in both experiments (Experiment 1: over the corrugator and cheek regions; Experiment 2: over the frontalis region) suggesting amplified goal conduciveness effects when power was high in contrast to invariant goal conduciveness effects when power was low. Also an interaction of goal conduciveness and control appraisals was found over the cheek region, showing differential goal conduciveness effects when control was high and invariant effects when control was low. These interaction effects suggest that the appraisal of having sufficient control or power affects facial responses towards gambling outcomes. The result pattern suggests that corrugator and frontalis regions are primarily related to cognitive operations that process motivational pertinence, whereas the cheek region would be more influenced by coping implications. Our results provide first evidence demonstrating that cognitive-evaluative mechanisms related to goal conduciveness, control, and power appraisals affect

Differences in holistic processing do not explain cultural differences in the recognition of facial expression.

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Yan, Xiaoqian; Young, Andrew W; Andrews, Timothy J

2017-12-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the causes of the own-race advantage in facial expression perception. In Experiment 1, we investigated Western Caucasian and Chinese participants' perception and categorization of facial expressions of six basic emotions that included two pairs of confusable expressions (fear and surprise; anger and disgust). People were slightly better at identifying facial expressions posed by own-race members (mainly in anger and disgust). In Experiment 2, we asked whether the own-race advantage was due to differences in the holistic processing of facial expressions. Participants viewed composite faces in which the upper part of one expression was combined with the lower part of a different expression. The upper and lower parts of the composite faces were either aligned or misaligned. Both Chinese and Caucasian participants were better at identifying the facial expressions from the misaligned images, showing interference on recognizing the parts of the expressions created by holistic perception of the aligned composite images. However, this interference from holistic processing was equivalent across expressions of own-race and other-race faces in both groups of participants. Whilst the own-race advantage in recognizing facial expressions does seem to reflect the confusability of certain emotions, it cannot be explained by differences in holistic processing.

Neural Temporal Dynamics of Facial Emotion Processing: Age Effects and Relationship to Cognitive Function

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Xiaoyan Liao

2017-06-01

Full Text Available This study used event-related potentials (ERPs to investigate the effects of age on neural temporal dynamics of processing task-relevant facial expressions and their relationship to cognitive functions. Negative (sad, afraid, angry, and disgusted, positive (happy, and neutral faces were presented to 30 older and 31 young participants who performed a facial emotion categorization task. Behavioral and ERP indices of facial emotion processing were analyzed. An enhanced N170 for negative faces, in addition to intact right-hemispheric N170 for positive faces, was observed in older adults relative to their younger counterparts. Moreover, older adults demonstrated an attenuated within-group N170 laterality effect for neutral faces, while younger adults showed the opposite pattern. Furthermore, older adults exhibited sustained temporo-occipital negativity deflection over the time range of 200–500 ms post-stimulus, while young adults showed posterior positivity and subsequent emotion-specific frontal negativity deflections. In older adults, decreased accuracy for labeling negative faces was positively correlated with Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scores, and accuracy for labeling neutral faces was negatively correlated with age. These findings suggest that older people may exert more effort in structural encoding for negative faces and there are different response patterns for the categorization of different facial emotions. Cognitive functioning may be related to facial emotion categorization deficits observed in older adults. This may not be attributable to positivity effects: it may represent a selective deficit for the processing of negative facial expressions in older adults.

Direction of Amygdala-Neocortex Interaction During Dynamic Facial Expression Processing.

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Sato, Wataru; Kochiyama, Takanori; Uono, Shota; Yoshikawa, Sakiko; Toichi, Motomi

2017-03-01

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion strongly elicit multifaceted emotional, perceptual, cognitive, and motor responses. Neuroimaging studies revealed that some subcortical (e.g., amygdala) and neocortical (e.g., superior temporal sulcus and inferior frontal gyrus) brain regions and their functional interaction were involved in processing dynamic facial expressions. However, the direction of the functional interaction between the amygdala and the neocortex remains unknown. To investigate this issue, we re-analyzed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 2 studies and magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 1 study. First, a psychophysiological interaction analysis of the fMRI data confirmed the functional interaction between the amygdala and neocortical regions. Then, dynamic causal modeling analysis was used to compare models with forward, backward, or bidirectional effective connectivity between the amygdala and neocortical networks in the fMRI and MEG data. The results consistently supported the model of effective connectivity from the amygdala to the neocortex. Further increasing time-window analysis of the MEG demonstrated that this model was valid after 200 ms from the stimulus onset. These data suggest that emotional processing in the amygdala rapidly modulates some neocortical processing, such as perception, recognition, and motor mimicry, when observing dynamic facial expressions of emotion. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Spontaneous Facial Mimicry Is Enhanced by the Goal of Inferring Emotional States: Evidence for Moderation of "Automatic" Mimicry by Higher Cognitive Processes.

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Murata, Aiko; Saito, Hisamichi; Schug, Joanna; Ogawa, Kenji; Kameda, Tatsuya

2016-01-01

A number of studies have shown that individuals often spontaneously mimic the facial expressions of others, a tendency known as facial mimicry. This tendency has generally been considered a reflex-like "automatic" response, but several recent studies have shown that the degree of mimicry may be moderated by contextual information. However, the cognitive and motivational factors underlying the contextual moderation of facial mimicry require further empirical investigation. In this study, we present evidence that the degree to which participants spontaneously mimic a target's facial expressions depends on whether participants are motivated to infer the target's emotional state. In the first study we show that facial mimicry, assessed by facial electromyography, occurs more frequently when participants are specifically instructed to infer a target's emotional state than when given no instruction. In the second study, we replicate this effect using the Facial Action Coding System to show that participants are more likely to mimic facial expressions of emotion when they are asked to infer the target's emotional state, rather than make inferences about a physical trait unrelated to emotion. These results provide convergent evidence that the explicit goal of understanding a target's emotional state affects the degree of facial mimicry shown by the perceiver, suggesting moderation of reflex-like motor activities by higher cognitive processes.

The role of the cannabinoid receptor in adolescents' processing of facial expressions.

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Ewald, Anais; Becker, Susanne; Heinrich, Angela; Banaschewski, Tobias; Poustka, Luise; Bokde, Arun; Büchel, Christian; Bromberg, Uli; Cattrell, Anna; Conrod, Patricia; Desrivières, Sylvane; Frouin, Vincent; Papadopoulos-Orfanos, Dimitri; Gallinat, Jürgen; Garavan, Hugh; Heinz, Andreas; Walter, Henrik; Ittermann, Bernd; Gowland, Penny; Paus, Tomáš; Martinot, Jean-Luc; Paillère Martinot, Marie-Laure; Smolka, Michael N; Vetter, Nora; Whelan, Rob; Schumann, Gunter; Flor, Herta; Nees, Frauke

2016-01-01

The processing of emotional faces is an important prerequisite for adequate social interactions in daily life, and might thus specifically be altered in adolescence, a period marked by significant changes in social emotional processing. Previous research has shown that the cannabinoid receptor CB1R is associated with longer gaze duration and increased brain responses in the striatum to happy faces in adults, yet, for adolescents, it is not clear whether an association between CBR1 and face processing exists. In the present study we investigated genetic effects of the two CB1R polymorphisms, rs1049353 and rs806377, on the processing of emotional faces in healthy adolescents. They participated in functional magnetic resonance imaging during a Faces Task, watching blocks of video clips with angry and neutral facial expressions, and completed a Morphed Faces Task in the laboratory where they looked at different facial expressions that switched from anger to fear or sadness or from happiness to fear or sadness, and labelled them according to these four emotional expressions. A-allele versus GG-carriers in rs1049353 displayed earlier recognition of facial expressions changing from anger to sadness or fear, but not for expressions changing from happiness to sadness or fear, and higher brain responses to angry, but not neutral, faces in the amygdala and insula. For rs806377 no significant effects emerged. This suggests that rs1049353 is involved in the processing of negative facial expressions with relation to anger in adolescence. These findings add to our understanding of social emotion-related mechanisms in this life period. © 2015 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Functional integration of the posterior superior temporal sulcus correlates with facial expression recognition.

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Wang, Xu; Song, Yiying; Zhen, Zonglei; Liu, Jia

2016-05-01

Face perception is essential for daily and social activities. Neuroimaging studies have revealed a distributed face network (FN) consisting of multiple regions that exhibit preferential responses to invariant or changeable facial information. However, our understanding about how these regions work collaboratively to facilitate facial information processing is limited. Here, we focused on changeable facial information processing, and investigated how the functional integration of the FN is related to the performance of facial expression recognition. To do so, we first defined the FN as voxels that responded more strongly to faces than objects, and then used a voxel-based global brain connectivity method based on resting-state fMRI to characterize the within-network connectivity (WNC) of each voxel in the FN. By relating the WNC and performance in the "Reading the Mind in the Eyes" Test across participants, we found that individuals with stronger WNC in the right posterior superior temporal sulcus (rpSTS) were better at recognizing facial expressions. Further, the resting-state functional connectivity (FC) between the rpSTS and right occipital face area (rOFA), early visual cortex (EVC), and bilateral STS were positively correlated with the ability of facial expression recognition, and the FCs of EVC-pSTS and OFA-pSTS contributed independently to facial expression recognition. In short, our study highlights the behavioral significance of intrinsic functional integration of the FN in facial expression processing, and provides evidence for the hub-like role of the rpSTS for facial expression recognition. Hum Brain Mapp 37:1930-1940, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Discrimination of gender using facial image with expression change

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Kuniyada, Jun; Fukuda, Takahiro; Terada, Kenji

2005-12-01

By carrying out marketing research, the managers of large-sized department stores or small convenience stores obtain the information such as ratio of men and women of visitors and an age group, and improve their management plan. However, these works are carried out in the manual operations, and it becomes a big burden to small stores. In this paper, the authors propose a method of men and women discrimination by extracting difference of the facial expression change from color facial images. Now, there are a lot of methods of the automatic recognition of the individual using a motion facial image or a still facial image in the field of image processing. However, it is very difficult to discriminate gender under the influence of the hairstyle and clothes, etc. Therefore, we propose the method which is not affected by personality such as size and position of facial parts by paying attention to a change of an expression. In this method, it is necessary to obtain two facial images with an expression and an expressionless. First, a region of facial surface and the regions of facial parts such as eyes, nose, and mouth are extracted in the facial image with color information of hue and saturation in HSV color system and emphasized edge information. Next, the features are extracted by calculating the rate of the change of each facial part generated by an expression change. In the last step, the values of those features are compared between the input data and the database, and the gender is discriminated. In this paper, it experimented for the laughing expression and smile expression, and good results were provided for discriminating gender.

Scattered Data Processing Approach Based on Optical Facial Motion Capture

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Qiang Zhang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In recent years, animation reconstruction of facial expressions has become a popular research field in computer science and motion capture-based facial expression reconstruction is now emerging in this field. Based on the facial motion data obtained using a passive optical motion capture system, we propose a scattered data processing approach, which aims to solve the common problems of missing data and noise. To recover missing data, given the nonlinear relationships among neighbors with the current missing marker, we propose an improved version of a previous method, where we use the motion of three muscles rather than one to recover the missing data. To reduce the noise, we initially apply preprocessing to eliminate impulsive noise, before our proposed three-order quasi-uniform B-spline-based fitting method is used to reduce the remaining noise. Our experiments showed that the principles that underlie this method are simple and straightforward, and it delivered acceptable precision during reconstruction.

Gender Differences in the Motivational Processing of Facial Beauty

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Levy, Boaz; Ariely, Dan; Mazar, Nina; Chi, Won; Lukas, Scott; Elman, Igor

2008-01-01

Gender may be involved in the motivational processing of facial beauty. This study applied a behavioral probe, known to activate brain motivational regions, to healthy heterosexual subjects. Matched samples of men and women were administered two tasks: (a) key pressing to change the viewing time of average or beautiful female or male facial…

Facial Expression Recognition

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Pantic, Maja; Li, S.; Jain, A.

2009-01-01

Facial expression recognition is a process performed by humans or computers, which consists of: 1. Locating faces in the scene (e.g., in an image; this step is also referred to as face detection), 2. Extracting facial features from the detected face region (e.g., detecting the shape of facial

Revisiting the Relationship between the Processing of Gaze Direction and the Processing of Facial Expression

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Ganel, Tzvi

2011-01-01

There is mixed evidence on the nature of the relationship between the perception of gaze direction and the perception of facial expressions. Major support for shared processing of gaze and expression comes from behavioral studies that showed that observers cannot process expression or gaze and ignore irrelevant variations in the other dimension.…

Exploring the nature of facial affect processing deficits in schizophrenia

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Wout, Mascha van 't; Aleman, Andre; Kessels, Roy P. C.; Cahn, Wiepke; Haan, Edward H. F. de; Kahn, Rene S.

2007-01-01

Schizophrenia has been associated with deficits in facial affect processing, especially negative emotions. However, the exact nature of the deficit remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether schizophrenia patients have problems in automatic allocation of attention as

Exploring the nature of facial affect processing deficits in schizophrenia.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wout, M. van 't; Aleman, A.; Kessels, R.P.C.; Cahn, W.; Haan, E.H.F. de; Kahn, R.S.

2007-01-01

Schizophrenia has been associated with deficits in facial affect processing, especially negative emotions. However, the exact nature of the deficit remains unclear. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether schizophrenia patients have problems in automatic allocation of attention as

Developmental changes in the primacy of facial cues for emotion recognition.

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Leitzke, Brian T; Pollak, Seth D

2016-04-01

There have been long-standing differences of opinion regarding the influence of the face relative to that of contextual information on how individuals process and judge facial expressions of emotion. However, developmental changes in how individuals use such information have remained largely unexplored and could be informative in attempting to reconcile these opposing views. The current study tested for age-related differences in how individuals prioritize viewing emotional faces versus contexts when making emotion judgments. To do so, we asked 4-, 8-, and 12-year-old children as well as college students to categorize facial expressions of emotion that were presented with scenes that were either congruent or incongruent with the facial displays. During this time, we recorded participants' gaze patterns via eye tracking. College students directed their visual attention primarily to the face, regardless of contextual information. Children, however, divided their attention between both the face and the context as sources of emotional information depending on the valence of the context. These findings reveal a developmental shift in how individuals process and integrate emotional cues. (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved).

Recognition of facial expressions and prosodic cues with graded emotional intensities in adults with Asperger syndrome.

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Doi, Hirokazu; Fujisawa, Takashi X; Kanai, Chieko; Ohta, Haruhisa; Yokoi, Hideki; Iwanami, Akira; Kato, Nobumasa; Shinohara, Kazuyuki

2013-09-01

This study investigated the ability of adults with Asperger syndrome to recognize emotional categories of facial expressions and emotional prosodies with graded emotional intensities. The individuals with Asperger syndrome showed poorer recognition performance for angry and sad expressions from both facial and vocal information. The group difference in facial expression recognition was prominent for stimuli with low or intermediate emotional intensities. In contrast to this, the individuals with Asperger syndrome exhibited lower recognition accuracy than typically-developed controls mainly for emotional prosody with high emotional intensity. In facial expression recognition, Asperger and control groups showed an inversion effect for all categories. The magnitude of this effect was less in the Asperger group for angry and sad expressions, presumably attributable to reduced recruitment of the configural mode of face processing. The individuals with Asperger syndrome outperformed the control participants in recognizing inverted sad expressions, indicating enhanced processing of local facial information representing sad emotion. These results suggest that the adults with Asperger syndrome rely on modality-specific strategies in emotion recognition from facial expression and prosodic information.

How do we update faces? Effects of gaze direction and facial expressions on working memory updating

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Caterina eArtuso

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The aim of the study was to investigate how the biological binding between different facial dimensions, and their social and communicative relevance, may impact updating processes in working memory (WM. We focused on WM updating because it plays a key role in ongoing processing. Gaze direction and facial expression are crucial and changeable components of face processing. Direct gaze enhances the processing of approach-oriented facial emotional expressions (e.g. joy, while averted gaze enhances the processing of avoidance-oriented facial emotional expressions (e.g. fear. Thus, the way in which these two facial dimensions are combined communicates to the observer important behavioral and social information. Updating of these two facial dimensions and their bindings has not been investigated before, despite the fact that they provide a piece of social information essential for building and maintaining an internal ongoing representation of our social environment. In Experiment 1 we created a task in which the binding between gaze direction and facial expression was manipulated: high binding conditions (e.g. joy-direct gaze were compared to low binding conditions (e.g. joy-averted gaze. Participants had to study and update continuously a number of faces, displaying different bindings between the two dimensions. In Experiment 2 we tested whether updating was affected by the social and communicative value of the facial dimension binding; to this end, we manipulated bindings between eye and hair color, two less communicative facial dimensions. Two new results emerged. First, faster response times were found in updating combinations of facial dimensions highly bound together. Second, our data showed that the ease of the ongoing updating processing varied depending on the communicative meaning of the binding that had to be updated. The results are discussed with reference to the role of WM updating in social cognition and appraisal processes.

How do we update faces? Effects of gaze direction and facial expressions on working memory updating.

Science.gov (United States)

Artuso, Caterina; Palladino, Paola; Ricciardelli, Paola

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate how the biological binding between different facial dimensions, and their social and communicative relevance, may impact updating processes in working memory (WM). We focused on WM updating because it plays a key role in ongoing processing. Gaze direction and facial expression are crucial and changeable components of face processing. Direct gaze enhances the processing of approach-oriented facial emotional expressions (e.g., joy), while averted gaze enhances the processing of avoidance-oriented facial emotional expressions (e.g., fear). Thus, the way in which these two facial dimensions are combined communicates to the observer important behavioral and social information. Updating of these two facial dimensions and their bindings has not been investigated before, despite the fact that they provide a piece of social information essential for building and maintaining an internal ongoing representation of our social environment. In Experiment 1 we created a task in which the binding between gaze direction and facial expression was manipulated: high binding conditions (e.g., joy-direct gaze) were compared to low binding conditions (e.g., joy-averted gaze). Participants had to study and update continuously a number of faces, displaying different bindings between the two dimensions. In Experiment 2 we tested whether updating was affected by the social and communicative value of the facial dimension binding; to this end, we manipulated bindings between eye and hair color, two less communicative facial dimensions. Two new results emerged. First, faster response times were found in updating combinations of facial dimensions highly bound together. Second, our data showed that the ease of the ongoing updating processing varied depending on the communicative meaning of the binding that had to be updated. The results are discussed with reference to the role of WM updating in social cognition and appraisal processes.

Facial transplantation for massive traumatic injuries.

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Alam, Daniel S; Chi, John J

2013-10-01

This article describes the challenges of facial reconstruction and the role of facial transplantation in certain facial defects and injuries. This information is of value to surgeons assessing facial injuries with massive soft tissue loss or injury. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Emotional facial expression detection in the peripheral visual field.

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Dimitri J Bayle

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: In everyday life, signals of danger, such as aversive facial expressions, usually appear in the peripheral visual field. Although facial expression processing in central vision has been extensively studied, this processing in peripheral vision has been poorly studied. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using behavioral measures, we explored the human ability to detect fear and disgust vs. neutral expressions and compared it to the ability to discriminate between genders at eccentricities up to 40°. Responses were faster for the detection of emotion compared to gender. Emotion was detected from fearful faces up to 40° of eccentricity. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the human ability to detect facial expressions presented in the far periphery up to 40° of eccentricity. The increasing advantage of emotion compared to gender processing with increasing eccentricity might reflect a major implication of the magnocellular visual pathway in facial expression processing. This advantage may suggest that emotion detection, relative to gender identification, is less impacted by visual acuity and within-face crowding in the periphery. These results are consistent with specific and automatic processing of danger-related information, which may drive attention to those messages and allow for a fast behavioral reaction.

Identification and intensity of disgust: Distinguishing visual, linguistic and facial expressions processing in Parkinson disease.

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Sedda, Anna; Petito, Sara; Guarino, Maria; Stracciari, Andrea

2017-07-14

Most of the studies since now show an impairment for facial displays of disgust recognition in Parkinson disease. A general impairment in disgust processing in patients with Parkinson disease might adversely affect their social interactions, given the relevance of this emotion for human relations. However, despite the importance of faces, disgust is also expressed through other format of visual stimuli such as sentences and visual images. The aim of our study was to explore disgust processing in a sample of patients affected by Parkinson disease, by means of various tests tackling not only facial recognition but also other format of visual stimuli through which disgust can be recognized. Our results confirm that patients are impaired in recognizing facial displays of disgust. Further analyses show that patients are also impaired and slower for other facial expressions, with the only exception of happiness. Notably however, patients with Parkinson disease processed visual images and sentences as controls. Our findings show a dissociation within different formats of visual stimuli of disgust, suggesting that Parkinson disease is not characterized by a general compromising of disgust processing, as often suggested. The involvement of the basal ganglia-frontal cortex system might spare some cognitive components of emotional processing, related to memory and culture, at least for disgust. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Spatially generalizable representations of facial expressions: Decoding across partial face samples.

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Greening, Steven G; Mitchell, Derek G V; Smith, Fraser W

2018-04-01

A network of cortical and sub-cortical regions is known to be important in the processing of facial expression. However, to date no study has investigated whether representations of facial expressions present in this network permit generalization across independent samples of face information (e.g., eye region vs mouth region). We presented participants with partial face samples of five expression categories in a rapid event-related fMRI experiment. We reveal a network of face-sensitive regions that contain information about facial expression categories regardless of which part of the face is presented. We further reveal that the neural information present in a subset of these regions: dorsal prefrontal cortex (dPFC), superior temporal sulcus (STS), lateral occipital and ventral temporal cortex, and even early visual cortex, enables reliable generalization across independent visual inputs (faces depicting the 'eyes only' vs 'eyes removed'). Furthermore, classification performance was correlated to behavioral performance in STS and dPFC. Our results demonstrate that both higher (e.g., STS, dPFC) and lower level cortical regions contain information useful for facial expression decoding that go beyond the visual information presented, and implicate a key role for contextual mechanisms such as cortical feedback in facial expression perception under challenging conditions of visual occlusion. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Magnetoencephalographic study on facial movements

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Kensaku eMiki

2014-07-01

Full Text Available In this review, we introduced our three studies that focused on facial movements. In the first study, we examined the temporal characteristics of neural responses elicited by viewing mouth movements, and assessed differences between the responses to mouth opening and closing movements and an averting eyes condition. Our results showed that the occipitotemporal area, the human MT/V5 homologue, was active in the perception of both mouth and eye motions. Viewing mouth and eye movements did not elicit significantly different activity in the occipitotemporal area, which indicated that perception of the movement of facial parts may be processed in the same manner, and this is different from motion in general. In the second study, we investigated whether early activity in the occipitotemporal region evoked by eye movements was influenced by a face contour and/or features such as the mouth. Our results revealed specific information processing for eye movements in the occipitotemporal region, and this activity was significantly influenced by whether movements appeared with the facial contour and/or features, in other words, whether the eyes moved, even if the movement itself was the same. In the third study, we examined the effects of inverting the facial contour (hair and chin and features (eyes, nose, and mouth on processing for static and dynamic face perception. Our results showed the following: (1 In static face perception, activity in the right fusiform area was affected more by the inversion of features while that in the left fusiform area was affected more by a disruption in the spatial relationship between the contour and features, and (2 In dynamic face perception, activity in the right occipitotemporal area was affected by the inversion of the facial contour.

Automatic three-dimensional quantitative analysis for evaluation of facial movement.

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Hontanilla, B; Aubá, C

2008-01-01

The aim of this study is to present a new 3D capture system of facial movements called FACIAL CLIMA. It is an automatic optical motion system that involves placing special reflecting dots on the subject's face and video recording with three infrared-light cameras the subject performing several face movements such as smile, mouth puckering, eye closure and forehead elevation. Images from the cameras are automatically processed with a software program that generates customised information such as 3D data on velocities and areas. The study has been performed in 20 healthy volunteers. The accuracy of the measurement process and the intrarater and interrater reliabilities have been evaluated. Comparison of a known distance and angle with those obtained by FACIAL CLIMA shows that this system is accurate to within 0.13 mm and 0.41 degrees . In conclusion, the accuracy of the FACIAL CLIMA system for evaluation of facial movements is demonstrated and also the high intrarater and interrater reliability. It has advantages with respect to other systems that have been developed for evaluation of facial movements, such as short calibration time, short measuring time, easiness to use and it provides not only distances but also velocities and areas. Thus the FACIAL CLIMA system could be considered as an adequate tool to assess the outcome of facial paralysis reanimation surgery. Thus, patients with facial paralysis could be compared between surgical centres such that effectiveness of facial reanimation operations could be evaluated.

The Relationship of the Facial Nerve to the Condylar Process: A Cadaveric Study with Implications for Open Reduction Internal Fixation

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H. P. Barham

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. The mandibular condyle is the most common site of mandibular fracture. Surgical treatment of condylar fractures by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF demands direct visualization of the fracture. This project aimed to investigate the anatomic relationship of the tragus to the facial nerve and condylar process. Materials and Methods. Twelve fresh hemicadavers heads were used. An extended retromandibular/preauricular approach was utilized, with the incision being based parallel to the posterior edge of the ramus. Measurements were obtained from the tragus to the facial nerve and condylar process. Results. The temporozygomatic division of the facial nerve was encountered during each approach, crossing the mandible at the condylar neck. The mean tissue depth separating the facial nerve from the condylar neck was 5.5 mm (range: 3.5 mm–7 mm, SD 1.2 mm. The upper division of the facial nerve crossed the posterior border of the condylar process on average 2.31 cm (SD 0.10 cm anterior to the tragus. Conclusions. This study suggests that the temporozygomatic division of the facial nerve will be encountered in most approaches to the condylar process. As visualization of the relationship of the facial nerve to condyle is often limited, recognition that, on average, 5.5 mm of tissue separates condylar process from nerve should help reduce the incidence of facial nerve injury during this procedure.

Facial infiltrative lipomatosis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haloi, A.K.; Ditchfield, M.; Pennington, A.; Philips, R.

2006-01-01

Although there are multiple case reports and small series concerning facial infiltrative lipomatosis, there is no composite radiological description of the condition. Radiological evaluation of facial infiltrative lipomatosis using plain film, sonography, CT and MRI. We radiologically evaluated four patients with facial infiltrative lipomatosis. Initial plain radiographs of the face were acquired in all patients. Three children had an initial sonographic examination to evaluate the condition, followed by MRI. One child had a CT and then MRI. One child had abnormalities on plain radiographs. Sonographically, the lesions were seen as ill-defined heterogeneously hypoechoic areas with indistinct margins. On CT images, the lesions did not have a homogeneous fat density but showed some relatively more dense areas in deeper parts of the lesions. MRI provided better delineation of the exact extent of the process and characterization of facial infiltrative lipomatosis. Facial infiltrative lipomatosis should be considered as a differential diagnosis of vascular or lymphatic malformation when a child presents with unilateral facial swelling. MRI is the most useful single imaging modality to evaluate the condition, as it provides the best delineation of the exact extent of the process. (orig.)

A comparison of facial emotion processing in neurological and psychiatric conditions

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Benoit eBediou

2012-04-01

Full Text Available Investigating the relative severity of emotion recognition deficit across different clinical and high-risk populations has potential implications not only for the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of these diseases, but also for our understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms of emotion perception itself. We reanalyzed data from 4 studies in which we examined facial expression and gender recognition using the same tasks and stimuli. We used a standardized and bias-corrected measure of effect size (Cohen’s D to assess the extent of impairments in frontotemporal dementia (FTD, Parkinson’s disease treated by L-DOPA (PD-ON or not (PD-OFF, amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI, Alzheimer’s disease at mild dementia stage (AD, major depressive disorder (MDD, remitted schizophrenia (SCZ-rem, first-episode schizophrenia before (SCZ-OFF and after (SCZ-ON medication, as well as unaffected siblings of partients with schizophrenia (SIB. Analyses revealed a pattern of differential impairment of emotion (but not gender recognition, consistent with the extent of impairment of the fronto-temporal neural networks involved in the processing of faces and facial expressions. Our transnosographic approach combining clinical and high-risk populations with the impact of medication brings new information on the trajectory of impaired emotion perception in neuropsychiatric conditions, and on the neural networks and neurotransmitter systems subserving emotion perception.

Contributions of feature shapes and surface cues to the recognition of facial expressions.

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Sormaz, Mladen; Young, Andrew W; Andrews, Timothy J

2016-10-01

Theoretical accounts of face processing often emphasise feature shapes as the primary visual cue to the recognition of facial expressions. However, changes in facial expression also affect the surface properties of the face. In this study, we investigated whether this surface information can also be used in the recognition of facial expression. First, participants identified facial expressions (fear, anger, disgust, sadness, happiness) from images that were manipulated such that they varied mainly in shape or mainly in surface properties. We found that the categorization of facial expression is possible in either type of image, but that different expressions are relatively dependent on surface or shape properties. Next, we investigated the relative contributions of shape and surface information to the categorization of facial expressions. This employed a complementary method that involved combining the surface properties of one expression with the shape properties from a different expression. Our results showed that the categorization of facial expressions in these hybrid images was equally dependent on the surface and shape properties of the image. Together, these findings provide a direct demonstration that both feature shape and surface information make significant contributions to the recognition of facial expressions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

[Prosopagnosia and facial expression recognition].

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Koyama, Shinichi

2014-04-01

This paper reviews clinical neuropsychological studies that have indicated that the recognition of a person's identity and the recognition of facial expressions are processed by different cortical and subcortical areas of the brain. The fusiform gyrus, especially the right fusiform gyrus, plays an important role in the recognition of identity. The superior temporal sulcus, amygdala, and medial frontal cortex play important roles in facial-expression recognition. Both facial recognition and facial-expression recognition are highly intellectual processes that involve several regions of the brain.

Neural bases of different cognitive strategies for facial affect processing in schizophrenia.

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Fakra, Eric; Salgado-Pineda, Pilar; Delaveau, Pauline; Hariri, Ahmad R; Blin, Olivier

2008-03-01

To examine the neural basis and dynamics of facial affect processing in schizophrenic patients as compared to healthy controls. Fourteen schizophrenic patients and fourteen matched controls performed a facial affect identification task during fMRI acquisition. The emotional task included an intuitive emotional condition (matching emotional faces) and a more cognitively demanding condition (labeling emotional faces). Individual analysis for each emotional condition, and second-level t-tests examining both within-, and between-group differences, were carried out using a random effects approach. Psychophysiological interactions (PPI) were tested for variations in functional connectivity between amygdala and other brain regions as a function of changes in experimental conditions (labeling versus matching). During the labeling condition, both groups engaged similar networks. During the matching condition, schizophrenics failed to activate regions of the limbic system implicated in the automatic processing of emotions. PPI revealed an inverse functional connectivity between prefrontal regions and the left amygdala in healthy volunteers but there was no such change in patients. Furthermore, during the matching condition, and compared to controls, patients showed decreased activation of regions involved in holistic face processing (fusiform gyrus) and increased activation of regions associated with feature analysis (inferior parietal cortex, left middle temporal lobe, right precuneus). Our findings suggest that schizophrenic patients invariably adopt a cognitive approach when identifying facial affect. The distributed neocortical network observed during the intuitive condition indicates that patients may resort to feature-based, rather than configuration-based, processing and may constitute a compensatory strategy for limbic dysfunction.

EXPRESS METHOD OF BARCODE GENERATION FROM FACIAL IMAGES

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G. A. Kukharev

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In the paper a method of generating of standard type linear barcodes from facial images is proposed. The method is based on use of the histogram of facial image brightness, averaging the histogram on a limited number of intervals, quantization of results in a range of decimal numbers from 0 to 9 and table conversion into the final barcode. The proposed solution is computationally low-cost and not requires the use of specialized software on image processing that allows generating of facial barcodes in mobile systems, and thus the proposed method can be interpreted as an express method. Results of tests on the Face94 and CUHK Face Sketch FERET Databases showed that the proposed method is a new solution for use in the real-world practice and ensures the stability of generated barcodes in changes of scale, pose and mirroring of a facial image, and also changes of a facial expression and shadows on faces from local lighting. The proposed method is based on generating of a standard barcode directly from the facial image, and thus contains the subjective information about a person's face.

Automatic Processing of Changes in Facial Emotions in Dysphoria: A Magnetoencephalography Study.

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Xu, Qianru; Ruohonen, Elisa M; Ye, Chaoxiong; Li, Xueqiao; Kreegipuu, Kairi; Stefanics, Gabor; Luo, Wenbo; Astikainen, Piia

2018-01-01

It is not known to what extent the automatic encoding and change detection of peripherally presented facial emotion is altered in dysphoria. The negative bias in automatic face processing in particular has rarely been studied. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) to record automatic brain responses to happy and sad faces in dysphoric (Beck's Depression Inventory ≥ 13) and control participants. Stimuli were presented in a passive oddball condition, which allowed potential negative bias in dysphoria at different stages of face processing (M100, M170, and M300) and alterations of change detection (visual mismatch negativity, vMMN) to be investigated. The magnetic counterpart of the vMMN was elicited at all stages of face processing, indexing automatic deviance detection in facial emotions. The M170 amplitude was modulated by emotion, response amplitudes being larger for sad faces than happy faces. Group differences were found for the M300, and they were indexed by two different interaction effects. At the left occipital region of interest, the dysphoric group had larger amplitudes for sad than happy deviant faces, reflecting negative bias in deviance detection, which was not found in the control group. On the other hand, the dysphoric group showed no vMMN to changes in facial emotions, while the vMMN was observed in the control group at the right occipital region of interest. Our results indicate that there is a negative bias in automatic visual deviance detection, but also a general change detection deficit in dysphoria.

When the mask falls: the role of facial motor resonance in memory for emotional language.

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Baumeister, Jenny-Charlotte; Rumiati, Raffaella Ida; Foroni, Francesco

2015-02-01

The recognition and interpretation of emotional information (e.g., about happiness) has been shown to elicit, amongst other bodily reactions, spontaneous facial expressions occurring in accordance to the relevant emotion (e.g. a smile). Theories of embodied cognition act on the assumption that such embodied simulations are not only an accessorial, but a crucial factor in the processing of emotional information. While several studies have confirmed the importance of facial motor resonance during the initial recognition of emotional information, its role at later stages of processing, such as during memory for emotional content, remains unexplored. The present study bridges this gap by exploring the impact of facial motor resonance on the retrieval of emotional stimuli. In a novel approach, the specific effects of embodied simulations were investigated at different stages of emotional memory processing (during encoding and/or retrieval). Eighty participants underwent a memory task involving emotional and neutral words consisting of an encoding and retrieval phase. Depending on the experimental condition, facial muscles were blocked by a hardening facial mask either during encoding, during retrieval, during both encoding and retrieval, or were left free to resonate (control). The results demonstrate that not only initial recognition but also memory of emotional items benefits from embodied simulations occurring during their encoding and retrieval. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automatic processing of facial affects in patients with borderline personality disorder: associations with symptomatology and comorbid disorders.

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Donges, Uta-Susan; Dukalski, Bibiana; Kersting, Anette; Suslow, Thomas

2015-01-01

Instability of affects and interpersonal relations are important features of borderline personality disorder (BPD). Interpersonal problems of individuals suffering from BPD might develop based on abnormalities in the processing of facial affects and high sensitivity to negative affective expressions. The aims of the present study were to examine automatic evaluative shifts and latencies as a function of masked facial affects in patients with BPD compared to healthy individuals. As BPD comorbidity rates for mental and personality disorders are high, we investigated also the relationships of affective processing characteristics with specific borderline symptoms and comorbidity. Twenty-nine women with BPD and 38 healthy women participated in the study. The majority of patients suffered from additional Axis I disorders and/or additional personality disorders. In the priming experiment, angry, happy, neutral, or no facial expression was briefly presented (for 33 ms) and masked by neutral faces that had to be evaluated. Evaluative decisions and response latencies were registered. Borderline-typical symptomatology was assessed with the Borderline Symptom List. In the total sample, valence-congruent evaluative shifts and delays of evaluative decision due to facial affect were observed. No between-group differences were obtained for evaluative decisions and latencies. The presence of comorbid anxiety disorders was found to be positively correlated with evaluative shifting owing to masked happy primes, regardless of baseline-neutral or no facial expression condition. The presence of comorbid depressive disorder, paranoid personality disorder, and symptoms of social isolation and self-aggression were significantly correlated with response delay due to masked angry faces, regardless of baseline. In the present affective priming study, no abnormalities in the automatic recognition and processing of facial affects were observed in BPD patients compared to healthy individuals

Emotional facial expressions reduce neural adaptation to face identity.

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Gerlicher, Anna M V; van Loon, Anouk M; Scholte, H Steven; Lamme, Victor A F; van der Leij, Andries R

2014-05-01

In human social interactions, facial emotional expressions are a crucial source of information. Repeatedly presented information typically leads to an adaptation of neural responses. However, processing seems sustained with emotional facial expressions. Therefore, we tested whether sustained processing of emotional expressions, especially threat-related expressions, would attenuate neural adaptation. Neutral and emotional expressions (happy, mixed and fearful) of same and different identity were presented at 3 Hz. We used electroencephalography to record the evoked steady-state visual potentials (ssVEP) and tested to what extent the ssVEP amplitude adapts to the same when compared with different face identities. We found adaptation to the identity of a neutral face. However, for emotional faces, adaptation was reduced, decreasing linearly with negative valence, with the least adaptation to fearful expressions. This short and straightforward method may prove to be a valuable new tool in the study of emotional processing.

Face Processing and Facial Emotion Recognition in Adults with Down Syndrome

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Barisnikov, Koviljka; Hippolyte, Loyse; Van der Linden, Martial

2008-01-01

Face processing and facial expression recognition was investigated in 17 adults with Down syndrome, and results were compared with those of a child control group matched for receptive vocabulary. On the tasks involving faces without emotional content, the adults with Down syndrome performed significantly worse than did the controls. However, their…

Subliminal and supraliminal processing of facial expression of emotions: brain oscillation in the left/right frontal area.

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Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-03-26

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral) under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms) vs. subliminal (30 ms) stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition). The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types.

Subliminal and Supraliminal Processing of Facial Expression of Emotions: Brain Oscillation in the Left/Right Frontal Area

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Michela Balconi

2012-03-01

Full Text Available The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects looked at six facial expressions of emotions (anger, fear, surprise, disgust, happiness, sadness, and neutral under two different conditions: supraliminal (200 ms vs. subliminal (30 ms stimulation (140 target-mask pairs for each condition. The results showed that conscious/unconscious processing and the significance of the stimulus can modulate the alpha power. Moreover, it was found that there was an increased right frontal activity for negative emotions vs. an increased left response for positive emotion. The significance of facial expressions was adduced to elucidate cortical different responses to emotional types.

The implicit processing of categorical and dimensional strategies: an fMRI study of facial emotion perception

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Matsuda, Yoshi-Taka; Fujimura, Tomomi; Katahira, Kentaro; Okada, Masato; Ueno, Kenichi; Cheng, Kang; Okanoya, Kazuo

2013-01-01

Our understanding of facial emotion perception has been dominated by two seemingly opposing theories: the categorical and dimensional theories. However, we have recently demonstrated that hybrid processing involving both categorical and dimensional perception can be induced in an implicit manner (Fujimura etal., 2012). The underlying neural mechanisms of this hybrid processing remain unknown. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that separate neural loci might intrinsically encode categorical and dimensional processing functions that serve as a basis for hybrid processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure neural correlates while subjects passively viewed emotional faces and performed tasks that were unrelated to facial emotion processing. Activity in the right fusiform face area (FFA) increased in response to psychologically obvious emotions and decreased in response to ambiguous expressions, demonstrating the role of the FFA in categorical processing. The amygdala, insula and medial prefrontal cortex exhibited evidence of dimensional (linear) processing that correlated with physical changes in the emotional face stimuli. The occipital face area and superior temporal sulcus did not respond to these changes in the presented stimuli. Our results indicated that distinct neural loci process the physical and psychological aspects of facial emotion perception in a region-specific and implicit manner. PMID:24133426

The implicit processing of categorical and dimensional strategies: an fMRI study of facial emotion perception

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Yoshi-Taka eMatsuda

2013-09-01

Full Text Available Our understanding of facial emotion perception has been dominated by two seemingly opposing theories: the categorical and dimensional theories. However, we have recently demonstrated that hybrid processing involving both categorical and dimensional perception can be induced in an implicit manner (Fujimura et al., 2012. The underlying neural mechanisms of this hybrid processing remain unknown. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that separate neural loci might intrinsically encode categorical and dimensional processing functions that serve as a basis for hybrid processing. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI to measure neural correlates while subjects passively viewed emotional faces and performed tasks that were unrelated to facial emotion processing. Activity in the right fusiform face area (FFA increased in response to psychologically obvious emotions and decreased in response to ambiguous expressions, demonstrating the role of the FFA in categorical processing. The amygdala, insula and medial prefrontal cortex exhibited evidence of dimensional (linear processing that correlated with physical changes in the emotional face stimuli. The occipital face area and superior temporal sulcus did not respond to these changes in the presented stimuli. Our results indicated that distinct neural loci process the physical and psychological aspects of facial emotion perception in a region-specific and implicit manner.

Neural processing of high and low spatial frequency information in faces changes across development: qualitative changes in face processing during adolescence.

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Peters, Judith C; Vlamings, Petra; Kemner, Chantal

2013-05-01

Face perception in adults depends on skilled processing of interattribute distances ('configural' processing), which is disrupted for faces presented in inverted orientation (face inversion effect or FIE). Children are not proficient in configural processing, and this might relate to an underlying immaturity to use facial information in low spatial frequency (SF) ranges, which capture the coarse information needed for configural processing. We hypothesized that during adolescence a shift from use of high to low SF information takes place. Therefore, we studied the influence of SF content on neural face processing in groups of children (9-10 years), adolescents (14-15 years) and young adults (21-29 years) by measuring event-related potentials (ERPs) to upright and inverted faces which varied in SF content. Results revealed that children show a neural FIE in early processing stages (i.e. P1; generated in early visual areas), suggesting a superficial, global facial analysis. In contrast, ERPs of adults revealed an FIE at later processing stages (i.e. N170; generated in face-selective, higher visual areas). Interestingly, adolescents showed FIEs in both processing stages, suggesting a hybrid developmental stage. Furthermore, adolescents and adults showed FIEs for stimuli containing low SF information, whereas such effects were driven by both low and high SF information in children. These results indicate that face processing has a protracted maturational course into adolescence, and is dependent on changes in SF processing. During adolescence, sensitivity to configural cues is developed, which aids the fast and holistic processing that is so special for faces. © 2013 Federation of European Neuroscience Societies and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

An fMRI study of facial emotion processing in patients with schizophrenia.

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Gur, Raquel E; McGrath, Claire; Chan, Robin M; Schroeder, Lee; Turner, Travis; Turetsky, Bruce I; Kohler, Christian; Alsop, David; Maldjian, Joseph; Ragland, J Daniel; Gur, Ruben C

2002-12-01

Emotion processing deficits are notable in schizophrenia. The authors evaluated cerebral blood flow response in schizophrenia patients during facial emotion processing to test the hypothesis of diminished limbic activation related to emotional relevance of facial stimuli. Fourteen patients with schizophrenia and 14 matched comparison subjects viewed facial displays of happiness, sadness, anger, fear, and disgust as well as neutral faces. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal changes as the subjects alternated between tasks of discriminating emotional valence (positive versus negative) and age (over 30 versus under 30) of the faces with an interleaved crosshair reference condition. The groups did not differ in performance on either task. For both tasks, healthy participants showed activation in the fusiform gyrus, occipital lobe, and inferior frontal cortex relative to the resting baseline condition. The increase was greater in the amygdala and hippocampus during the emotional valence discrimination task than during the age discrimination task. In the patients with schizophrenia, minimal focal response was observed for all tasks relative to the resting baseline condition. Contrasting patients and comparison subjects on the emotional valence discrimination task revealed voxels in the left amygdala and bilateral hippocampus in which the comparison subjects had significantly greater activation. Failure to activate limbic regions during emotional valence discrimination may explain emotion processing deficits in patients with schizophrenia. While the lack of limbic recruitment did not significantly impair simple valence discrimination performance in this clinically stable group, it may impact performance of more demanding tasks.

Automatic change detection to facial expressions in adolescents

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Liu, Tongran; Xiao, Tong; Jiannong, Shi

2016-01-01

Adolescence is a critical period for the neurodevelopment of social-emotional processing, wherein the automatic detection of changes in facial expressions is crucial for the development of interpersonal communication. Two groups of participants (an adolescent group and an adult group) were...... in facial expressions between the two age groups. The current findings demonstrated that the adolescent group featured more negative vMMN amplitudes than the adult group in the fronto-central region during the 120–200 ms interval. During the time window of 370–450 ms, only the adult group showed better...... automatic processing on fearful faces than happy faces. The present study indicated that adolescent’s posses stronger automatic detection of changes in emotional expression relative to adults, and sheds light on the neurodevelopment of automatic processes concerning social-emotional information....

Facial Expression Recognition By Using Fisherface Methode With Backpropagation Neural Network

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Zaenal Abidin

2011-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract— In daily lives, especially in interpersonal communication, face often used for expression. Facial expressions give information about the emotional state of the person. A facial expression is one of the behavioral characteristics. The components of a basic facial expression analysis system are face detection, face data extraction, and facial expression recognition. Fisherface method with backpropagation artificial neural network approach can be used for facial expression recognition. This method consists of two-stage process, namely PCA and LDA. PCA is used to reduce the dimension, while the LDA is used for features extraction of facial expressions. The system was tested with 2 databases namely JAFFE database and MUG database. The system correctly classified the expression with accuracy of 86.85%, and false positive 25 for image type I of JAFFE, for image type II of JAFFE 89.20% and false positive 15,  for type III of JAFFE 87.79%, and false positive for 16. The image of MUG are 98.09%, and false positive 5. Keywords— facial expression, fisherface method, PCA, LDA, backpropagation neural network.

Emotion Unchained: Facial Expression Modulates Gaze Cueing under Cognitive Load.

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Pecchinenda, Anna; Petrucci, Manuel

2016-01-01

Direction of eye gaze cues spatial attention, and typically this cueing effect is not modulated by the expression of a face unless top-down processes are explicitly or implicitly involved. To investigate the role of cognitive control on gaze cueing by emotional faces, participants performed a gaze cueing task with happy, angry, or neutral faces under high (i.e., counting backward by 7) or low cognitive load (i.e., counting forward by 2). Results show that high cognitive load enhances gaze cueing effects for angry facial expressions. In addition, cognitive load reduces gaze cueing for neutral faces, whereas happy facial expressions and gaze affected object preferences regardless of load. This evidence clearly indicates a differential role of cognitive control in processing gaze direction and facial expression, suggesting that under typical conditions, when we shift attention based on social cues from another person, cognitive control processes are used to reduce interference from emotional information.

Asians' Facial Responsiveness to Basic Tastes by Automated Facial Expression Analysis System.

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Zhi, Ruicong; Cao, Lianyu; Cao, Gang

2017-03-01

Growing evidence shows that consumer choices in real life are mostly driven by unconscious mechanisms rather than conscious. The unconscious process could be measured by behavioral measurements. This study aims to apply automatic facial expression analysis technique for consumers' emotion representation, and explore the relationships between sensory perception and facial responses. Basic taste solutions (sourness, sweetness, bitterness, umami, and saltiness) with 6 levels plus water were used, which could cover most of the tastes found in food and drink. The other contribution of this study is to analyze the characteristics of facial expressions and correlation between facial expressions and perceptive hedonic liking for Asian consumers. Up until now, the facial expression application researches only reported for western consumers, while few related researches investigated the facial responses during food consuming for Asian consumers. Experimental results indicated that facial expressions could identify different stimuli with various concentrations and different hedonic levels. The perceived liking increased at lower concentrations and decreased at higher concentrations, while samples with medium concentrations were perceived as the most pleasant except sweetness and bitterness. High correlations were founded between perceived intensities of bitterness, umami, saltiness, and facial reactions of disgust and fear. Facial expression disgust and anger could characterize emotion "dislike," and happiness could characterize emotion "like," while neutral could represent "neither like nor dislike." The identified facial expressions agree with the perceived sensory emotions elicited by basic taste solutions. The correlation analysis between hedonic levels and facial expression intensities obtained in this study are in accordance with that discussed for western consumers. © 2017 Institute of Food Technologists®.

Contralateral botulinum toxin injection to improve facial asymmetry after acute facial paralysis.

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Kim, Jin

2013-02-01

The application of botulinum toxin to the healthy side of the face in patients with long-standing facial paralysis has been shown to be a minimally invasive technique that improves facial symmetry at rest and during facial motion, but our experience using botulinum toxin therapy for facial sequelae prompted the idea that botulinum toxin might be useful in acute cases of facial paralysis, leading to improve facial asymmetry. In cases in which medical or surgical treatment options are limited because of existing medical problems or advanced age, most patients with acute facial palsy are advised to await spontaneous recovery or are informed that no effective intervention exists. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of botulinum toxin treatment for facial asymmetry in 18 patients after acute facial palsy who could not be optimally treated by medical or surgical management because of severe medical or other problems. From 2009 to 2011, nine patients with Bell's palsy, 5 with herpes zoster oticus and 4 with traumatic facial palsy (10 men and 8 women; age range, 22-82 yr; mean, 50.8 yr) participated in this study. Botulinum toxin A (Botox; Allergan Incorporated, Irvine, CA, USA) was injected using a tuberculin syringe with a 27-gauge needle. The amount injected per site varied from 2.5 to 3 U, and the total dose used per patient was 32 to 68 U (mean, 47.5 +/- 8.4 U). After administration of a single dose of botulinum toxin A on the nonparalyzed side of 18 patients with acute facial paralysis, marked relief of facial asymmetry was observed in 8 patients within 1 month of injection. Decreased facial asymmetry and strengthened facial function on the paralyzed side led to an increased HB and SB grade within 6 months after injection. Use of botulinum toxin after acute facial palsy cases is of great value. Such therapy decreases the relative hyperkinesis contralateral to the paralysis, leading to greater symmetric function. Especially in patients with medical

Effects of task demands on the early neural processing of fearful and happy facial expressions.

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Itier, Roxane J; Neath-Tavares, Karly N

2017-05-15

Task demands shape how we process environmental stimuli but their impact on the early neural processing of facial expressions remains unclear. In a within-subject design, ERPs were recorded to the same fearful, happy and neutral facial expressions presented during a gender discrimination, an explicit emotion discrimination and an oddball detection tasks, the most studied tasks in the field. Using an eye tracker, fixation on the face nose was enforced using a gaze-contingent presentation. Task demands modulated amplitudes from 200 to 350ms at occipito-temporal sites spanning the EPN component. Amplitudes were more negative for fearful than neutral expressions starting on N170 from 150 to 350ms, with a temporo-occipital distribution, whereas no clear effect of happy expressions was seen. Task and emotion effects never interacted in any time window or for the ERP components analyzed (P1, N170, EPN). Thus, whether emotion is explicitly discriminated or irrelevant for the task at hand, neural correlates of fearful and happy facial expressions seem immune to these task demands during the first 350ms of visual processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Impaired Emotional Mirroring in Parkinson’s Disease—A Study on Brain Activation during Processing of Facial Expressions

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Anna Pohl

2017-12-01

Full Text Available BackgroundAffective dysfunctions are common in patients with Parkinson’s disease, but the underlying neurobiological deviations have rarely been examined. Parkinson’s disease is characterized by a loss of dopamine neurons in the substantia nigra resulting in impairment of motor and non-motor basal ganglia-cortical loops. Concerning emotional deficits, some studies provide evidence for altered brain processing in limbic- and lateral-orbitofrontal gating loops. In a second line of evidence, human premotor and inferior parietal homologs of mirror neuron areas were involved in processing and understanding of emotional facial expressions. We examined deviations in brain activation during processing of facial expressions in patients and related these to emotion recognition accuracy.Methods13 patients and 13 healthy controls underwent an emotion recognition task and a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI measurement. In the Emotion Hexagon test, participants were presented with blends of two emotions and had to indicate which emotion best described the presented picture. Blended pictures with three levels of difficulty were included. During fMRI scanning, participants observed video clips depicting emotional, non-emotional, and neutral facial expressions or were asked to produce these facial expressions themselves.ResultsPatients performed slightly worse in the emotion recognition task, but only when judging the most ambiguous facial expressions. Both groups activated inferior frontal and anterior inferior parietal homologs of mirror neuron areas during observation and execution of the emotional facial expressions. During observation, responses in the pars opercularis of the right inferior frontal gyrus, in the bilateral inferior parietal lobule and in the bilateral supplementary motor cortex were decreased in patients. Furthermore, in patients, activation of the right anterior inferior parietal lobule was positively related to accuracy in

Cradling Side Preference Is Associated with Lateralized Processing of Baby Facial Expressions in Females

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Huggenberger, Harriet J.; Suter, Susanne E.; Reijnen, Ester; Schachinger, Hartmut

2009-01-01

Women's cradling side preference has been related to contralateral hemispheric specialization of processing emotional signals; but not of processing baby's facial expression. Therefore, 46 nulliparous female volunteers were characterized as left or non-left holders (HG) during a doll holding task. During a signal detection task they were then…

(Social) Cognitive skills and social information processing in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities

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van Nieuwenhuijzen, M.; Vriens, A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the unique contributions of (social) cognitive skills such as inhibition, working memory, perspective taking, facial emotion recognition, and interpretation of situations to the variance in social information processing in children with mild to borderline

Effects of Early Neglect Experience on Recognition and Processing of Facial Expressions: A Systematic Review

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Victoria Doretto

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Child neglect is highly prevalent and associated with a series of biological and social consequences. Early neglect may alter the recognition of emotional faces, but its precise impact remains unclear. We aim to review and analyze data from recent literature about recognition and processing of facial expressions in individuals with history of childhood neglect. Methods: We conducted a systematic review using PubMed, PsycINFO, ScIELO and EMBASE databases in the search of studies for the past 10 years. Results: In total, 14 studies were selected and critically reviewed. A heterogeneity was detected across methods and sample frames. Results were mixed across studies. Different forms of alterations to perception of facial expressions were found across 12 studies. There was alteration to the recognition and processing of both positive and negative emotions, but for emotional face processing there was predominance in alteration toward negative emotions. Conclusions: This is the first review to examine specifically the effects of early neglect experience as a prevalent condition of child maltreatment. The results of this review are inconclusive due to methodological diversity, implement of distinct instruments and differences in the composition of the samples. Despite these limitations, some studies support our hypothesis that individuals with history of early negligence may present alteration to the ability to perceive face expressions of emotions. The article brings relevant information that can help in the development of more effective therapeutic strategies to reduce the impact of neglect on the cognitive and emotional development of the child.

Quantitative facial asymmetry: using three-dimensional photogrammetry to measure baseline facial surface symmetry.

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Taylor, Helena O; Morrison, Clinton S; Linden, Olivia; Phillips, Benjamin; Chang, Johnny; Byrne, Margaret E; Sullivan, Stephen R; Forrest, Christopher R

2014-01-01

subjectively, can be easily and reproducibly measured using three-dimensional photogrammetry. The RMSD for facial asymmetry of healthy volunteers clusters at approximately 0.80 ± 0.24 mm. Patients with facial asymmetry due to a pathologic process can be differentiated from normative facial asymmetry based on their RMSDs.

The Associations between Visual Attention and Facial Expression Identification in Patients with Schizophrenia.

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Lin, I-Mei; Fan, Sheng-Yu; Huang, Tiao-Lai; Wu, Wan-Ting; Li, Shi-Ming

2013-12-01

Visual search is an important attention process that precedes the information processing. Visual search also mediates the relationship between cognition function (attention) and social cognition (such as facial expression identification). However, the association between visual attention and social cognition in patients with schizophrenia remains unknown. The purposes of this study were to examine the differences in visual search performance and facial expression identification between patients with schizophrenia and normal controls, and to explore the relationship between visual search performance and facial expression identification in patients with schizophrenia. Fourteen patients with schizophrenia (mean age=46.36±6.74) and 15 normal controls (mean age=40.87±9.33) participated this study. The visual search task, including feature search and conjunction search, and Japanese and Caucasian Facial Expression of Emotion were administered. Patients with schizophrenia had worse visual search performance both in feature search and conjunction search than normal controls, as well as had worse facial expression identification, especially in surprised and sadness. In addition, there were negative associations between visual search performance and facial expression identification in patients with schizophrenia, especially in surprised and sadness. However, this phenomenon was not showed in normal controls. Patients with schizophrenia who had visual search deficits had the impairment on facial expression identification. Increasing ability of visual search and facial expression identification may improve their social function and interpersonal relationship.

Eyewitnesses memory for faces in actual criminal cases: An archival analysis of positive facial composites

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Renan Benigno Saraiva

Full Text Available Facial composites are crucial in the criminal justice system. In this archival study, we investigated the assumption that the success of facial composites depends partly on variables related to the crime, which either impairs or facilitates mnemonic processes. When a facial composite is successful in taking an offender to court it is sometimes archived as a positive facial composite, including a photo of the culprit and information about the crime. A total of 88 positive facial composites were investigated. The accuracy of facial composites was tested as a function of five variables related to the crime: type of crime, presence of weapon, retention interval, exposure duration, and disguise. Participants judged the resemblance of the perpetrators' photo with their correspondent facial composite. The results pointed out that only exposure duration was significantly associated with facial composites accuracy. Possible implications and future directions for research using archived facial composites are discussed.

Computer Aided Facial Prosthetics Manufacturing System

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Peng H.K.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Facial deformities can impose burden to the patient. There are many solutions for facial deformities such as plastic surgery and facial prosthetics. However, current fabrication method of facial prosthetics is high-cost and time consuming. This study aimed to identify a new method to construct a customized facial prosthetic. A 3D scanner, computer software and 3D printer were used in this study. Results showed that the new developed method can be used to produce a customized facial prosthetics. The advantages of the developed method over the conventional process are low cost, reduce waste of material and pollution in order to meet the green concept.

Facial Feature Extraction Using Frequency Map Series in PCNN

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Rencan Nie

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Pulse coupled neural network (PCNN has been widely used in image processing. The 3D binary map series (BMS generated by PCNN effectively describes image feature information such as edges and regional distribution, so BMS can be treated as the basis of extracting 1D oscillation time series (OTS for an image. However, the traditional methods using BMS did not consider the correlation of the binary sequence in BMS and the space structure for every map. By further processing for BMS, a novel facial feature extraction method is proposed. Firstly, consider the correlation among maps in BMS; a method is put forward to transform BMS into frequency map series (FMS, and the method lessens the influence of noncontinuous feature regions in binary images on OTS-BMS. Then, by computing the 2D entropy for every map in FMS, the 3D FMS is transformed into 1D OTS (OTS-FMS, which has good geometry invariance for the facial image, and contains the space structure information of the image. Finally, by analyzing the OTS-FMS, the standard Euclidean distance is used to measure the distances for OTS-FMS. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of OTS-FMS in facial recognition, and it shows better recognition performance than other feature extraction methods.

Positive facial expressions during retrieval of self-defining memories.

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Gandolphe, Marie Charlotte; Nandrino, Jean Louis; Delelis, Gérald; Ducro, Claire; Lavallee, Audrey; Saloppe, Xavier; Moustafa, Ahmed A; El Haj, Mohamad

2017-11-14

In this study, we investigated, for the first time, facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories (i.e., those vivid and emotionally intense memories of enduring concerns or unresolved conflicts). Participants self-rated the emotional valence of their Self-defining memories and autobiographical retrieval was analyzed with a facial analysis software. This software (Facereader) synthesizes the facial expression information (i.e., cheek, lips, muscles, eyebrow muscles) to describe and categorize facial expressions (i.e., neutral, happy, sad, surprised, angry, scared, and disgusted facial expressions). We found that participants showed more emotional than neutral facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories. We also found that participants showed more positive than negative facial expressions during the retrieval of Self-defining memories. Interestingly, participants attributed positive valence to the retrieved memories. These findings are the first to demonstrate the consistency between facial expressions and the emotional subjective experience of Self-defining memories. These findings provide valuable physiological information about the emotional experience of the past.

Event-related theta synchronization predicts deficit in facial affect recognition in schizophrenia.

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Csukly, Gábor; Stefanics, Gábor; Komlósi, Sarolta; Czigler, István; Czobor, Pál

2014-02-01

Growing evidence suggests that abnormalities in the synchronized oscillatory activity of neurons in schizophrenia may lead to impaired neural activation and temporal coding and thus lead to neurocognitive dysfunctions, such as deficits in facial affect recognition. To gain an insight into the neurobiological processes linked to facial affect recognition, we investigated both induced and evoked oscillatory activity by calculating the Event Related Spectral Perturbation (ERSP) and the Inter Trial Coherence (ITC) during facial affect recognition. Fearful and neutral faces as well as nonface patches were presented to 24 patients with schizophrenia and 24 matched healthy controls while EEG was recorded. The participants' task was to recognize facial expressions. Because previous findings with healthy controls showed that facial feature decoding was associated primarily with oscillatory activity in the theta band, we analyzed ERSP and ITC in this frequency band in the time interval of 140-200 ms, which corresponds to the N170 component. Event-related theta activity and phase-locking to facial expressions, but not to nonface patches, predicted emotion recognition performance in both controls and patients. Event-related changes in theta amplitude and phase-locking were found to be significantly weaker in patients compared with healthy controls, which is in line with previous investigations showing decreased neural synchronization in the low frequency bands in patients with schizophrenia. Neural synchrony is thought to underlie distributed information processing. Our results indicate a less effective functioning in the recognition process of facial features, which may contribute to a less effective social cognition in schizophrenia. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Orientations for the successful categorization of facial expressions and their link with facial features.

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Duncan, Justin; Gosselin, Frédéric; Cobarro, Charlène; Dugas, Gabrielle; Blais, Caroline; Fiset, Daniel

2017-12-01

Horizontal information was recently suggested to be crucial for face identification. In the present paper, we expand on this finding and investigate the role of orientations for all the basic facial expressions and neutrality. To this end, we developed orientation bubbles to quantify utilization of the orientation spectrum by the visual system in a facial expression categorization task. We first validated the procedure in Experiment 1 with a simple plaid-detection task. In Experiment 2, we used orientation bubbles to reveal the diagnostic-i.e., task relevant-orientations for the basic facial expressions and neutrality. Overall, we found that horizontal information was highly diagnostic for expressions-surprise excepted. We also found that utilization of horizontal information strongly predicted performance level in this task. Despite the recent surge of research on horizontals, the link with local features remains unexplored. We were thus also interested in investigating this link. In Experiment 3, location bubbles were used to reveal the diagnostic features for the basic facial expressions. Crucially, Experiments 2 and 3 were run in parallel on the same participants, in an interleaved fashion. This way, we were able to correlate individual orientation and local diagnostic profiles. Our results indicate that individual differences in horizontal tuning are best predicted by utilization of the eyes.

Expression-dependent susceptibility to face distortions in processing of facial expressions of emotion.

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Guo, Kun; Soornack, Yoshi; Settle, Rebecca

2018-03-05

Our capability of recognizing facial expressions of emotion under different viewing conditions implies the existence of an invariant expression representation. As natural visual signals are often distorted and our perceptual strategy changes with external noise level, it is essential to understand how expression perception is susceptible to face distortion and whether the same facial cues are used to process high- and low-quality face images. We systematically manipulated face image resolution (experiment 1) and blur (experiment 2), and measured participants' expression categorization accuracy, perceived expression intensity and associated gaze patterns. Our analysis revealed a reasonable tolerance to face distortion in expression perception. Reducing image resolution up to 48 × 64 pixels or increasing image blur up to 15 cycles/image had little impact on expression assessment and associated gaze behaviour. Further distortion led to decreased expression categorization accuracy and intensity rating, increased reaction time and fixation duration, and stronger central fixation bias which was not driven by distortion-induced changes in local image saliency. Interestingly, the observed distortion effects were expression-dependent with less deterioration impact on happy and surprise expressions, suggesting this distortion-invariant facial expression perception might be achieved through the categorical model involving a non-linear configural combination of local facial features. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Gender discrimination and prediction on the basis of facial metric information.

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Fellous, J M

1997-07-01

Horizontal and vertical facial measurements are statistically independent. Discriminant analysis shows that five of such normalized distances explain over 95% of the gender differences of "training" samples and predict the gender of 90% novel test faces exhibiting various facial expressions. The robustness of the method and its results are assessed. It is argued that these distances (termed fiducial) are compatible with those found experimentally by psychophysical and neurophysiological studies. In consequence, partial explanations for the effects observed in these experiments can be found in the intrinsic statistical nature of the facial stimuli used.

Response inhibition is modulated by functional cerebral asymmetries for facial expression perception

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sebastian eOcklenburg

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The efficacy of executive functions is critically modulated by information processing in earlier cognitive stages. For example, initial processing of verbal stimuli in the language-dominant left-hemisphere leads to more efficient response inhibition than initial processing of verbal stimuli in the non-dominant right hemisphere. However, it is unclear whether this organizational principle is specific for the language system, or a general principle that also applies to other types of lateralized cognition. To answer this question, we investigated the neurophysiological correlates of early attentional processes, facial expression perception and response inhibition during tachistoscopic presentation of facial ‘Go’ and ‘Nogo’ stimuli in the left and the right visual field. Participants committed fewer false alarms after Nogo-stimulus presentation in the left compared to the right visual field. This right-hemispheric asymmetry on the behavioral level was also reflected in the neurophysiological correlates of face perception, specifically in a right-sided asymmetry in the N170 amplitude. Moreover, the right-hemispheric dominance for facial expression processing also affected event-related potentials typically related to response inhibition, namely the Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3. These findings show that an effect of hemispheric asymmetries in early information processing on the efficacy of higher cognitive functions is not limited to left-hemispheric language functions, but can be generalized to predominantly right-hemispheric functions.

Do autistics perceive facial expressions in a piecemeal fashion?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hendriks, A.W.C.J.; Benson, P.J.; Jonkers, M.; Rietberg, S.

2002-01-01

Whilst people with autism process many types of visual information at a level commensurate with their age, studies have shown that they have difficulty interpreting facial expressions. One of the reasons could be that autistics suffer from weak central coherence, ie a failure to integrate parts of

Incongruence Between Observers’ and Observed Facial Muscle Activation Reduces Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions From Video Stimuli

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tanja S. H. Wingenbach

2018-06-01

Full Text Available According to embodied cognition accounts, viewing others’ facial emotion can elicit the respective emotion representation in observers which entails simulations of sensory, motor, and contextual experiences. In line with that, published research found viewing others’ facial emotion to elicit automatic matched facial muscle activation, which was further found to facilitate emotion recognition. Perhaps making congruent facial muscle activity explicit produces an even greater recognition advantage. If there is conflicting sensory information, i.e., incongruent facial muscle activity, this might impede recognition. The effects of actively manipulating facial muscle activity on facial emotion recognition from videos were investigated across three experimental conditions: (a explicit imitation of viewed facial emotional expressions (stimulus-congruent condition, (b pen-holding with the lips (stimulus-incongruent condition, and (c passive viewing (control condition. It was hypothesised that (1 experimental condition (a and (b result in greater facial muscle activity than (c, (2 experimental condition (a increases emotion recognition accuracy from others’ faces compared to (c, (3 experimental condition (b lowers recognition accuracy for expressions with a salient facial feature in the lower, but not the upper face area, compared to (c. Participants (42 males, 42 females underwent a facial emotion recognition experiment (ADFES-BIV while electromyography (EMG was recorded from five facial muscle sites. The experimental conditions’ order was counter-balanced. Pen-holding caused stimulus-incongruent facial muscle activity for expressions with facial feature saliency in the lower face region, which reduced recognition of lower face region emotions. Explicit imitation caused stimulus-congruent facial muscle activity without modulating recognition. Methodological implications are discussed.

Incongruence Between Observers' and Observed Facial Muscle Activation Reduces Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions From Video Stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Wingenbach, Tanja S H; Brosnan, Mark; Pfaltz, Monique C; Plichta, Michael M; Ashwin, Chris

2018-01-01

According to embodied cognition accounts, viewing others' facial emotion can elicit the respective emotion representation in observers which entails simulations of sensory, motor, and contextual experiences. In line with that, published research found viewing others' facial emotion to elicit automatic matched facial muscle activation, which was further found to facilitate emotion recognition. Perhaps making congruent facial muscle activity explicit produces an even greater recognition advantage. If there is conflicting sensory information, i.e., incongruent facial muscle activity, this might impede recognition. The effects of actively manipulating facial muscle activity on facial emotion recognition from videos were investigated across three experimental conditions: (a) explicit imitation of viewed facial emotional expressions (stimulus-congruent condition), (b) pen-holding with the lips (stimulus-incongruent condition), and (c) passive viewing (control condition). It was hypothesised that (1) experimental condition (a) and (b) result in greater facial muscle activity than (c), (2) experimental condition (a) increases emotion recognition accuracy from others' faces compared to (c), (3) experimental condition (b) lowers recognition accuracy for expressions with a salient facial feature in the lower, but not the upper face area, compared to (c). Participants (42 males, 42 females) underwent a facial emotion recognition experiment (ADFES-BIV) while electromyography (EMG) was recorded from five facial muscle sites. The experimental conditions' order was counter-balanced. Pen-holding caused stimulus-incongruent facial muscle activity for expressions with facial feature saliency in the lower face region, which reduced recognition of lower face region emotions. Explicit imitation caused stimulus-congruent facial muscle activity without modulating recognition. Methodological implications are discussed.

Incongruence Between Observers’ and Observed Facial Muscle Activation Reduces Recognition of Emotional Facial Expressions From Video Stimuli

Science.gov (United States)

Wingenbach, Tanja S. H.; Brosnan, Mark; Pfaltz, Monique C.; Plichta, Michael M.; Ashwin, Chris

2018-01-01

According to embodied cognition accounts, viewing others’ facial emotion can elicit the respective emotion representation in observers which entails simulations of sensory, motor, and contextual experiences. In line with that, published research found viewing others’ facial emotion to elicit automatic matched facial muscle activation, which was further found to facilitate emotion recognition. Perhaps making congruent facial muscle activity explicit produces an even greater recognition advantage. If there is conflicting sensory information, i.e., incongruent facial muscle activity, this might impede recognition. The effects of actively manipulating facial muscle activity on facial emotion recognition from videos were investigated across three experimental conditions: (a) explicit imitation of viewed facial emotional expressions (stimulus-congruent condition), (b) pen-holding with the lips (stimulus-incongruent condition), and (c) passive viewing (control condition). It was hypothesised that (1) experimental condition (a) and (b) result in greater facial muscle activity than (c), (2) experimental condition (a) increases emotion recognition accuracy from others’ faces compared to (c), (3) experimental condition (b) lowers recognition accuracy for expressions with a salient facial feature in the lower, but not the upper face area, compared to (c). Participants (42 males, 42 females) underwent a facial emotion recognition experiment (ADFES-BIV) while electromyography (EMG) was recorded from five facial muscle sites. The experimental conditions’ order was counter-balanced. Pen-holding caused stimulus-incongruent facial muscle activity for expressions with facial feature saliency in the lower face region, which reduced recognition of lower face region emotions. Explicit imitation caused stimulus-congruent facial muscle activity without modulating recognition. Methodological implications are discussed. PMID:29928240

Cognitive behavioural therapy attenuates the enhanced early facial stimuli processing in social anxiety disorders: an ERP investigation.

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Cao, Jianqin; Liu, Quanying; Li, Yang; Yang, Jun; Gu, Ruolei; Liang, Jin; Qi, Yanyan; Wu, Haiyan; Liu, Xun

2017-07-28

Previous studies of patients with social anxiety have demonstrated abnormal early processing of facial stimuli in social contexts. In other words, patients with social anxiety disorder (SAD) tend to exhibit enhanced early facial processing when compared to healthy controls. Few studies have examined the temporal electrophysiological event-related potential (ERP)-indexed profiles when an individual with SAD compares faces to objects in SAD. Systematic comparisons of ERPs to facial/object stimuli before and after therapy are also lacking. We used a passive visual detection paradigm with upright and inverted faces/objects, which are known to elicit early P1 and N170 components, to study abnormal early face processing and subsequent improvements in this measure in patients with SAD. Seventeen patients with SAD and 17 matched control participants performed a passive visual detection paradigm task while undergoing EEG. The healthy controls were compared to patients with SAD pre-therapy to test the hypothesis that patients with SAD have early hypervigilance to facial cues. We compared patients with SAD before and after therapy to test the hypothesis that the early hypervigilance to facial cues in patients with SAD can be alleviated. Compared to healthy control (HC) participants, patients with SAD had more robust P1-N170 slope but no amplitude effects in response to both upright and inverted faces and objects. Interestingly, we found that patients with SAD had reduced P1 responses to all objects and faces after therapy, but had selectively reduced N170 responses to faces, and especially inverted faces. Interestingly, the slope from P1 to N170 in patients with SAD was flatter post-therapy than pre-therapy. Furthermore, the amplitude of N170 evoked by the facial stimuli was correlated with scores on the interaction anxiousness scale (IAS) after therapy. Our results did not provide electrophysiological support for the early hypervigilance hypothesis in SAD to faces, but

Altering sensorimotor feedback disrupts visual discrimination of facial expressions.

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Wood, Adrienne; Lupyan, Gary; Sherrin, Steven; Niedenthal, Paula

2016-08-01

Looking at another person's facial expression of emotion can trigger the same neural processes involved in producing the expression, and such responses play a functional role in emotion recognition. Disrupting individuals' facial action, for example, interferes with verbal emotion recognition tasks. We tested the hypothesis that facial responses also play a functional role in the perceptual processing of emotional expressions. We altered the facial action of participants with a gel facemask while they performed a task that involved distinguishing target expressions from highly similar distractors. Relative to control participants, participants in the facemask condition demonstrated inferior perceptual discrimination of facial expressions, but not of nonface stimuli. The findings suggest that somatosensory/motor processes involving the face contribute to the visual perceptual-and not just conceptual-processing of facial expressions. More broadly, our study contributes to growing evidence for the fundamentally interactive nature of the perceptual inputs from different sensory modalities.

Dermatological Feasibility of Multimodal Facial Color Imaging Modality for Cross-Evaluation of Facial Actinic Keratosis

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Bae, Youngwoo; Son, Taeyoon; Nelson, J. Stuart; Kim, Jae-Hong; Choi, Eung Ho; Jung, Byungjo

2010-01-01

Background/Purpose Digital color image analysis is currently considered as a routine procedure in dermatology. In our previous study, a multimodal facial color imaging modality (MFCIM), which provides a conventional, parallel- and cross-polarization, and fluorescent color image, was introduced for objective evaluation of various facial skin lesions. This study introduces a commercial version of MFCIM, DermaVision-PRO, for routine clinical use in dermatology and demonstrates its dermatological feasibility for cross-evaluation of skin lesions. Methods/Results Sample images of subjects with actinic keratosis or non-melanoma skin cancers were obtained at four different imaging modes. Various image analysis methods were applied to cross-evaluate the skin lesion and, finally, extract valuable diagnostic information. DermaVision-PRO is potentially a useful tool as an objective macroscopic imaging modality for quick prescreening and cross-evaluation of facial skin lesions. Conclusion DermaVision-PRO may be utilized as a useful tool for cross-evaluation of widely distributed facial skin lesions and an efficient database management of patient information. PMID:20923462

Emotional voices in context: a neurobiological model of multimodal affective information processing.

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Brück, Carolin; Kreifelts, Benjamin; Wildgruber, Dirk

2011-12-01

Just as eyes are often considered a gateway to the soul, the human voice offers a window through which we gain access to our fellow human beings' minds - their attitudes, intentions and feelings. Whether in talking or singing, crying or laughing, sighing or screaming, the sheer sound of a voice communicates a wealth of information that, in turn, may serve the observant listener as valuable guidepost in social interaction. But how do human beings extract information from the tone of a voice? In an attempt to answer this question, the present article reviews empirical evidence detailing the cerebral processes that underlie our ability to decode emotional information from vocal signals. The review will focus primarily on two prominent classes of vocal emotion cues: laughter and speech prosody (i.e. the tone of voice while speaking). Following a brief introduction, behavioral as well as neuroimaging data will be summarized that allows to outline cerebral mechanisms associated with the decoding of emotional voice cues, as well as the influence of various context variables (e.g. co-occurring facial and verbal emotional signals, attention focus, person-specific parameters such as gender and personality) on the respective processes. Building on the presented evidence, a cerebral network model will be introduced that proposes a differential contribution of various cortical and subcortical brain structures to the processing of emotional voice signals both in isolation and in context of accompanying (facial and verbal) emotional cues. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Emotional voices in context: A neurobiological model of multimodal affective information processing

Science.gov (United States)

Brück, Carolin; Kreifelts, Benjamin; Wildgruber, Dirk

2011-12-01

Just as eyes are often considered a gateway to the soul, the human voice offers a window through which we gain access to our fellow human beings' minds - their attitudes, intentions and feelings. Whether in talking or singing, crying or laughing, sighing or screaming, the sheer sound of a voice communicates a wealth of information that, in turn, may serve the observant listener as valuable guidepost in social interaction. But how do human beings extract information from the tone of a voice? In an attempt to answer this question, the present article reviews empirical evidence detailing the cerebral processes that underlie our ability to decode emotional information from vocal signals. The review will focus primarily on two prominent classes of vocal emotion cues: laughter and speech prosody (i.e. the tone of voice while speaking). Following a brief introduction, behavioral as well as neuroimaging data will be summarized that allows to outline cerebral mechanisms associated with the decoding of emotional voice cues, as well as the influence of various context variables (e.g. co-occurring facial and verbal emotional signals, attention focus, person-specific parameters such as gender and personality) on the respective processes. Building on the presented evidence, a cerebral network model will be introduced that proposes a differential contribution of various cortical and subcortical brain structures to the processing of emotional voice signals both in isolation and in context of accompanying (facial and verbal) emotional cues.

Neural processing of fearful and happy facial expressions during emotion-relevant and emotion-irrelevant tasks: a fixation-to-feature approach

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Neath-Tavares, Karly N.; Itier, Roxane J.

2017-01-01

Research suggests an important role of the eyes and mouth for discriminating facial expressions of emotion. A gaze-contingent procedure was used to test the impact of fixation to facial features on the neural response to fearful, happy and neutral facial expressions in an emotion discrimination (Exp.1) and an oddball detection (Exp.2) task. The N170 was the only eye-sensitive ERP component, and this sensitivity did not vary across facial expressions. In both tasks, compared to neutral faces, responses to happy expressions were seen as early as 100–120ms occipitally, while responses to fearful expressions started around 150ms, on or after the N170, at both occipital and lateral-posterior sites. Analyses of scalp topographies revealed different distributions of these two emotion effects across most of the epoch. Emotion processing interacted with fixation location at different times between tasks. Results suggest a role of both the eyes and mouth in the neural processing of fearful expressions and of the mouth in the processing of happy expressions, before 350ms. PMID:27430934

Subliminal and Supraliminal Processing of Facial Expression of Emotions: Brain Oscillation in the Left/Right Frontal Area

OpenAIRE

Balconi, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara

2012-01-01

The unconscious effects of an emotional stimulus have been highlighted by a vast amount of research, whereover it remains questionable whether it is possible to assign a specific function to cortical brain oscillations in the unconscious perception of facial expressions of emotions. Alpha band variation was monitored within the right- and left-cortical side when subjects consciously (supraliminal stimulation) or unconsciously (subliminal stimulation) processed facial patterns. Twenty subjects...

People with chronic facial pain perform worse than controls at a facial emotion recognition task, but it is not all about the emotion.

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von Piekartz, H; Wallwork, S B; Mohr, G; Butler, D S; Moseley, G L

2015-04-01

Alexithymia, or a lack of emotional awareness, is prevalent in some chronic pain conditions and has been linked to poor recognition of others' emotions. Recognising others' emotions from their facial expression involves both emotional and motor processing, but the possible contribution of motor disruption has not been considered. It is possible that poor performance on emotional recognition tasks could reflect problems with emotional processing, motor processing or both. We hypothesised that people with chronic facial pain would be less accurate in recognising others' emotions from facial expressions, would be less accurate in a motor imagery task involving the face, and that performance on both tasks would be positively related. A convenience sample of 19 people (15 females) with chronic facial pain and 19 gender-matched controls participated. They undertook two tasks; in the first task, they identified the facial emotion presented in a photograph. In the second, they identified whether the person in the image had a facial feature pointed towards their left or right side, a well-recognised paradigm to induce implicit motor imagery. People with chronic facial pain performed worse than controls at both tasks (Facially Expressed Emotion Labelling (FEEL) task P facial pain were worse than controls at both the FEEL emotion recognition task and the left/right facial expression task and performance covaried within participants. We propose that disrupted motor processing may underpin or at least contribute to the difficulty that facial pain patients have in emotion recognition and that further research that tests this proposal is warranted. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

(Social) Cognitive Skills and Social Information Processing in Children with Mild to Borderline Intellectual Disabilities

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van Nieuwenhuijzen, M.; Vriens, A.

2012-01-01

The purpose of this study was to examine the unique contributions of (social) cognitive skills such as inhibition, working memory, perspective taking, facial emotion recognition, and interpretation of situations to the variance in social information processing in children with mild to borderline intellectual disabilities. Respondents were 79…

Perceptual and affective mechanisms in facial expression recognition: An integrative review.

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Calvo, Manuel G; Nummenmaa, Lauri

2016-09-01

Facial expressions of emotion involve a physical component of morphological changes in a face and an affective component conveying information about the expresser's internal feelings. It remains unresolved how much recognition and discrimination of expressions rely on the perception of morphological patterns or the processing of affective content. This review of research on the role of visual and emotional factors in expression recognition reached three major conclusions. First, behavioral, neurophysiological, and computational measures indicate that basic expressions are reliably recognized and discriminated from one another, albeit the effect may be inflated by the use of prototypical expression stimuli and forced-choice responses. Second, affective content along the dimensions of valence and arousal is extracted early from facial expressions, although this coarse affective representation contributes minimally to categorical recognition of specific expressions. Third, the physical configuration and visual saliency of facial features contribute significantly to expression recognition, with "emotionless" computational models being able to reproduce some of the basic phenomena demonstrated in human observers. We conclude that facial expression recognition, as it has been investigated in conventional laboratory tasks, depends to a greater extent on perceptual than affective information and mechanisms.

Multivariate Pattern Classification of Facial Expressions Based on Large-Scale Functional Connectivity.

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Liang, Yin; Liu, Baolin; Li, Xianglin; Wang, Peiyuan

2018-01-01

It is an important question how human beings achieve efficient recognition of others' facial expressions in cognitive neuroscience, and it has been identified that specific cortical regions show preferential activation to facial expressions in previous studies. However, the potential contributions of the connectivity patterns in the processing of facial expressions remained unclear. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study explored whether facial expressions could be decoded from the functional connectivity (FC) patterns using multivariate pattern analysis combined with machine learning algorithms (fcMVPA). We employed a block design experiment and collected neural activities while participants viewed facial expressions of six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise). Both static and dynamic expression stimuli were included in our study. A behavioral experiment after scanning confirmed the validity of the facial stimuli presented during the fMRI experiment with classification accuracies and emotional intensities. We obtained whole-brain FC patterns for each facial expression and found that both static and dynamic facial expressions could be successfully decoded from the FC patterns. Moreover, we identified the expression-discriminative networks for the static and dynamic facial expressions, which span beyond the conventional face-selective areas. Overall, these results reveal that large-scale FC patterns may also contain rich expression information to accurately decode facial expressions, suggesting a novel mechanism, which includes general interactions between distributed brain regions, and that contributes to the human facial expression recognition.

Regional Brain Responses Are Biased Toward Infant Facial Expressions Compared to Adult Facial Expressions in Nulliparous Women.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Bingbing; Cheng, Gang; Zhang, Dajun; Wei, Dongtao; Qiao, Lei; Wang, Xiangpeng; Che, Xianwei

2016-01-01

Recent neuroimaging studies suggest that neutral infant faces compared to neutral adult faces elicit greater activity in brain areas associated with face processing, attention, empathic response, reward, and movement. However, whether infant facial expressions evoke larger brain responses than adult facial expressions remains unclear. Here, we performed event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging in nulliparous women while they were presented with images of matched unfamiliar infant and adult facial expressions (happy, neutral, and uncomfortable/sad) in a pseudo-randomized order. We found that the bilateral fusiform and right lingual gyrus were overall more activated during the presentation of infant facial expressions compared to adult facial expressions. Uncomfortable infant faces compared to sad adult faces evoked greater activation in the bilateral fusiform gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate cortex-thalamus, and precuneus. Neutral infant faces activated larger brain responses in the left fusiform gyrus compared to neutral adult faces. Happy infant faces compared to happy adult faces elicited larger responses in areas of the brain associated with emotion and reward processing using a more liberal threshold of p facial expressions compared to adult facial expressions among nulliparous women, and this bias may be modulated by individual differences in Interest-In-Infants and perspective taking ability.

Remnants and changes in facial emotion processing in women with remitted borderline personality disorder: an EEG study.

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Schneider, Isabella; Bertsch, Katja; Izurieta Hidalgo, Natalie A; Müller, Laura E; Schmahl, Christian; Herpertz, Sabine C

2017-09-27

According to longitudinal studies, most individuals with borderline personality disorder (BPD) achieve remission. Since BPD is characterized by disturbed emotion recognition, this study investigated behavioral and electrophysiological correlates of facial emotion classification and processing in remitted BPD. 32 women with remitted BPD (rBPD), 32 women with current BPD (cBPD), and 28 healthy women (HC) participated in an emotion classification paradigm comprising blends of angry and happy faces while behavioral and electroencephalographic (event-related potentials) data were recorded. rBPD demonstrated a convergence in behavior towards HC in terms of responses and reaction times. They evaluated maximally ambiguous faces more positively and exhibited faster reaction times when classifying predominantly happy faces compared to cBPD. Group × facial emotion interaction effects were found in early electrophysiological processes with post hoc tests indicating differences between rBPD and cBPD but not between rBPD and HC. However, BPD-like impairments were still found in rBPD in later processing (P300). Our results suggest a reduction in negativity bias in rBPD on the behavioral level and a normalization of earlier stages of facial processing on the neural level, while alterations in later, more cognitive processing do not remit. Early processing may be more state-like, while later impairments may be more trait-like. Further research may need to focus on these stable components.

Emotion unfolded by motion: a role for parietal lobe in decoding dynamic facial expressions.

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Sarkheil, Pegah; Goebel, Rainer; Schneider, Frank; Mathiak, Klaus

2013-12-01

Facial expressions convey important emotional and social information and are frequently applied in investigations of human affective processing. Dynamic faces may provide higher ecological validity to examine perceptual and cognitive processing of facial expressions. Higher order processing of emotional faces was addressed by varying the task and virtual face models systematically. Blood oxygenation level-dependent activation was assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging in 20 healthy volunteers while viewing and evaluating either emotion or gender intensity of dynamic face stimuli. A general linear model analysis revealed that high valence activated a network of motion-responsive areas, indicating that visual motion areas support perceptual coding for the motion-based intensity of facial expressions. The comparison of emotion with gender discrimination task revealed increased activation of inferior parietal lobule, which highlights the involvement of parietal areas in processing of high level features of faces. Dynamic emotional stimuli may help to emphasize functions of the hypothesized 'extended' over the 'core' system for face processing.

Toward a universal, automated facial measurement tool in facial reanimation.

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Hadlock, Tessa A; Urban, Luke S

2012-01-01

To describe a highly quantitative facial function-measuring tool that yields accurate, objective measures of facial position in significantly less time than existing methods. Facial Assessment by Computer Evaluation (FACE) software was designed for facial analysis. Outputs report the static facial landmark positions and dynamic facial movements relevant in facial reanimation. Fifty individuals underwent facial movement analysis using Photoshop-based measurements and the new software; comparisons of agreement and efficiency were made. Comparisons were made between individuals with normal facial animation and patients with paralysis to gauge sensitivity to abnormal movements. Facial measurements were matched using FACE software and Photoshop-based measures at rest and during expressions. The automated assessments required significantly less time than Photoshop-based assessments.FACE measurements easily revealed differences between individuals with normal facial animation and patients with facial paralysis. FACE software produces accurate measurements of facial landmarks and facial movements and is sensitive to paralysis. Given its efficiency, it serves as a useful tool in the clinical setting for zonal facial movement analysis in comprehensive facial nerve rehabilitation programs.

Automated facial recognition of manually generated clay facial approximations: Potential application in unidentified persons data repositories.

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Parks, Connie L; Monson, Keith L

2018-01-01

This research examined how accurately 2D images (i.e., photographs) of 3D clay facial approximations were matched to corresponding photographs of the approximated individuals using an objective automated facial recognition system. Irrespective of search filter (i.e., blind, sex, or ancestry) or rank class (R 1 , R 10 , R 25 , and R 50 ) employed, few operationally informative results were observed. In only a single instance of 48 potential match opportunities was a clay approximation matched to a corresponding life photograph within the top 50 images (R 50 ) of a candidate list, even with relatively small gallery sizes created from the application of search filters (e.g., sex or ancestry search restrictions). Increasing the candidate lists to include the top 100 images (R 100 ) resulted in only two additional instances of correct match. Although other untested variables (e.g., approximation method, 2D photographic process, and practitioner skill level) may have impacted the observed results, this study suggests that 2D images of manually generated clay approximations are not readily matched to life photos by automated facial recognition systems. Further investigation is necessary in order to identify the underlying cause(s), if any, of the poor recognition results observed in this study (e.g., potential inferior facial feature detection and extraction). Additional inquiry exploring prospective remedial measures (e.g., stronger feature differentiation) is also warranted, particularly given the prominent use of clay approximations in unidentified persons casework. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Enhanced subliminal emotional responses to dynamic facial expressions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wataru eSato

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Emotional processing without conscious awareness plays an important role in human social interaction. Several behavioral studies reported that subliminal presentation of photographs of emotional facial expressions induces unconscious emotional processing. However, it was difficult to elicit strong and robust effects using this method. We hypothesized that dynamic presentations of facial expressions would enhance subliminal emotional effects and tested this hypothesis with two experiments. Fearful or happy facial expressions were presented dynamically or statically in either the left or the right visual field for 20 (Experiment 1 and 30 (Experiment 2 ms. Nonsense target ideographs were then presented, and participants reported their preference for them. The results consistently showed that dynamic presentations of emotional facial expressions induced more evident emotional biases toward subsequent targets than did static ones. These results indicate that dynamic presentations of emotional facial expressions induce more evident unconscious emotional processing.

A study on facial expressions recognition

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Xu, Jingjing

2017-09-01

In terms of communication, postures and facial expressions of such feelings like happiness, anger and sadness play important roles in conveying information. With the development of the technology, recently a number of algorithms dealing with face alignment, face landmark detection, classification, facial landmark localization and pose estimation have been put forward. However, there are a lot of challenges and problems need to be fixed. In this paper, a few technologies have been concluded and analyzed, and they all relate to handling facial expressions recognition and poses like pose-indexed based multi-view method for face alignment, robust facial landmark detection under significant head pose and occlusion, partitioning the input domain for classification, robust statistics face formalization.

Characterization of p75+ ectomesenchymal stem cells from rat embryonic facial process tissue

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wen, Xiujie; Liu, Luchuan; Deng, Manjing; Zhang, Li; Liu, Rui; Xing, Yongjun; Zhou, Xia; Nie, Xin

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs) were found to migrate to rat facial processes at E11.5. ► We successfully sorted p75NTR positive EMSCs (p75 + EMSCs). ► p75 + EMSCs up to nine passages showed relative stable proliferative activity. ► We examined the in vitro multilineage potential of p75 + EMSCs. ► p75 + EMSCs provide an in vitro model for tooth morphogenesis. -- Abstract: Several populations of stem cells, including those from the dental pulp and periodontal ligament, have been isolated from different parts of the tooth and periodontium. The characteristics of such stem cells have been reported as well. However, as a common progenitor of these cells, ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), derived from the cranial neural crest have yet to be fully characterized. The aim of this study was to better understand the characteristics of EMSCs isolated from rat embryonic facial processes. Immunohistochemical staining showed that EMSCs had migrated to rat facial processes at E11.5, while the absence of epithelial invagination or tooth-like epithelium suggested that any epithelial–mesenchymal interactions were limited at this stage. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), a typical neural crest marker, was used to select p75NTR-positive EMSCs (p75 + EMSCs), which were found to show a homogeneous fibroblast-like morphology and little change in the growth curve, proliferation capacity, and cell phenotype during cell passage. They also displayed the capacity to differentiate into diverse cell types under chemically defined conditions in vitro. p75 + EMSCs proved to be homogeneous, stable in vitro and potentially capable of multiple lineages, suggesting their potential for application in dental or orofacial tissue engineering.

Judging emotional congruency: Explicit attention to situational context modulates processing of facial expressions of emotion.

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Diéguez-Risco, Teresa; Aguado, Luis; Albert, Jacobo; Hinojosa, José Antonio

2015-12-01

The influence of explicit evaluative processes on the contextual integration of facial expressions of emotion was studied in a procedure that required the participants to judge the congruency of happy and angry faces with preceding sentences describing emotion-inducing situations. Judgments were faster on congruent trials in the case of happy faces and on incongruent trials in the case of angry faces. At the electrophysiological level, a congruency effect was observed in the face-sensitive N170 component that showed larger amplitudes on incongruent trials. An interactive effect of congruency and emotion appeared on the LPP (late positive potential), with larger amplitudes in response to happy faces that followed anger-inducing situations. These results show that the deliberate intention to judge the contextual congruency of facial expressions influences not only processes involved in affective evaluation such as those indexed by the LPP but also earlier processing stages that are involved in face perception. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Recognizing Facial Slivers.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilad-Gutnick, Sharon; Harmatz, Elia Samuel; Tsourides, Kleovoulos; Yovel, Galit; Sinha, Pawan

2018-07-01

We report here an unexpectedly robust ability of healthy human individuals ( n = 40) to recognize extremely distorted needle-like facial images, challenging the well-entrenched notion that veridical spatial configuration is necessary for extracting facial identity. In face identification tasks of parametrically compressed internal and external features, we found that the sum of performances on each cue falls significantly short of performance on full faces, despite the equal visual information available from both measures (with full faces essentially being a superposition of internal and external features). We hypothesize that this large deficit stems from the use of positional information about how the internal features are positioned relative to the external features. To test this, we systematically changed the relations between internal and external features and found preferential encoding of vertical but not horizontal spatial relationships in facial representations ( n = 20). Finally, we employ magnetoencephalography imaging ( n = 20) to demonstrate a close mapping between the behavioral psychometric curve and the amplitude of the M250 face familiarity, but not M170 face-sensitive evoked response field component, providing evidence that the M250 can be modulated by faces that are perceptually identifiable, irrespective of extreme distortions to the face's veridical configuration. We theorize that the tolerance to compressive distortions has evolved from the need to recognize faces across varying viewpoints. Our findings help clarify the important, but poorly defined, concept of facial configuration and also enable an association between behavioral performance and previously reported neural correlates of face perception.

Impaired recognition of facial emotions from low-spatial frequencies in Asperger syndrome.

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Kätsyri, Jari; Saalasti, Satu; Tiippana, Kaisa; von Wendt, Lennart; Sams, Mikko

2008-01-01

The theory of 'weak central coherence' [Happe, F., & Frith, U. (2006). The weak coherence account: Detail-focused cognitive style in autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 36(1), 5-25] implies that persons with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) have a perceptual bias for local but not for global stimulus features. The recognition of emotional facial expressions representing various different levels of detail has not been studied previously in ASDs. We analyzed the recognition of four basic emotional facial expressions (anger, disgust, fear and happiness) from low-spatial frequencies (overall global shapes without local features) in adults with an ASD. A group of 20 participants with Asperger syndrome (AS) was compared to a group of non-autistic age- and sex-matched controls. Emotion recognition was tested from static and dynamic facial expressions whose spatial frequency contents had been manipulated by low-pass filtering at two levels. The two groups recognized emotions similarly from non-filtered faces and from dynamic vs. static facial expressions. In contrast, the participants with AS were less accurate than controls in recognizing facial emotions from very low-spatial frequencies. The results suggest intact recognition of basic facial emotions and dynamic facial information, but impaired visual processing of global features in ASDs.

Sound-induced facial synkinesis following facial nerve paralysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ma, Ming-San; van der Hoeven, Johannes H.; Nicolai, Jean-Philippe A.; Meek, Marcel F.

Facial synkinesis (or synkinesia) (FS) occurs frequently after paresis or paralysis of the facial nerve and is in most cases due to aberrant regeneration of (branches of) the facial nerve. Patients suffer from inappropriate and involuntary synchronous facial muscle contractions. Here we describe two

[Facial palsy].

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Cavoy, R

2013-09-01

Facial palsy is a daily challenge for the clinicians. Determining whether facial nerve palsy is peripheral or central is a key step in the diagnosis. Central nervous lesions can give facial palsy which may be easily differentiated from peripheral palsy. The next question is the peripheral facial paralysis idiopathic or symptomatic. A good knowledge of anatomy of facial nerve is helpful. A structure approach is given to identify additional features that distinguish symptomatic facial palsy from idiopathic one. The main cause of peripheral facial palsies is idiopathic one, or Bell's palsy, which remains a diagnosis of exclusion. The most common cause of symptomatic peripheral facial palsy is Ramsay-Hunt syndrome. Early identification of symptomatic facial palsy is important because of often worst outcome and different management. The prognosis of Bell's palsy is on the whole favorable and is improved with a prompt tapering course of prednisone. In Ramsay-Hunt syndrome, an antiviral therapy is added along with prednisone. We also discussed of current treatment recommendations. We will review short and long term complications of peripheral facial palsy.

Decoding facial expressions based on face-selective and motion-sensitive areas.

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Liang, Yin; Liu, Baolin; Xu, Junhai; Zhang, Gaoyan; Li, Xianglin; Wang, Peiyuan; Wang, Bin

2017-06-01

Humans can easily recognize others' facial expressions. Among the brain substrates that enable this ability, considerable attention has been paid to face-selective areas; in contrast, whether motion-sensitive areas, which clearly exhibit sensitivity to facial movements, are involved in facial expression recognition remained unclear. The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study used multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to explore facial expression decoding in both face-selective and motion-sensitive areas. In a block design experiment, participants viewed facial expressions of six basic emotions (anger, disgust, fear, joy, sadness, and surprise) in images, videos, and eyes-obscured videos. Due to the use of multiple stimulus types, the impacts of facial motion and eye-related information on facial expression decoding were also examined. It was found that motion-sensitive areas showed significant responses to emotional expressions and that dynamic expressions could be successfully decoded in both face-selective and motion-sensitive areas. Compared with static stimuli, dynamic expressions elicited consistently higher neural responses and decoding performance in all regions. A significant decrease in both activation and decoding accuracy due to the absence of eye-related information was also observed. Overall, the findings showed that emotional expressions are represented in motion-sensitive areas in addition to conventional face-selective areas, suggesting that motion-sensitive regions may also effectively contribute to facial expression recognition. The results also suggested that facial motion and eye-related information played important roles by carrying considerable expression information that could facilitate facial expression recognition. Hum Brain Mapp 38:3113-3125, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Sound-induced facial synkinesis following facial nerve paralysis.

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Ma, Ming-San; van der Hoeven, Johannes H; Nicolai, Jean-Philippe A; Meek, Marcel F

2009-08-01

Facial synkinesis (or synkinesia) (FS) occurs frequently after paresis or paralysis of the facial nerve and is in most cases due to aberrant regeneration of (branches of) the facial nerve. Patients suffer from inappropriate and involuntary synchronous facial muscle contractions. Here we describe two cases of sound-induced facial synkinesis (SFS) after facial nerve injury. As far as we know, this phenomenon has not been described in the English literature before. Patient A presented with right hemifacial palsy after lesion of the facial nerve due to skull base fracture. He reported involuntary muscle activity at the right corner of the mouth, specifically on hearing ringing keys. Patient B suffered from left hemifacial palsy following otitis media and developed involuntary muscle contraction in the facial musculature specifically on hearing clapping hands or a trumpet sound. Both patients were evaluated by means of video, audio and EMG analysis. Possible mechanisms in the pathophysiology of SFS are postulated and therapeutic options are discussed.

[A text-book case of tropical facial elephantiasis].

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Dilu, N-J; Sokolo, R

2007-02-01

Tropical facial elephantiasis is a nosological entity which can arise from various underlying causes: von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis, lymphatic and cutaneodermal filarioses, deep mycosis. We report an exceptional case of tropical facial elephantiasis caused by onchocercosis and entomophtoromycosis (rhinophycomycosis). The patient's facial morphology was noted "hippopotamus-face" or "dog-face". Onchocercosis and entomophtoromycosis are two diseases known to cause facial elephantiasis. We have not however been able to find any case report in the literature of co-morbidity nor any information on factors predictive of concomitant occurrence.

Facial dynamics and emotional expressions in facial aging treatments.

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Michaud, Thierry; Gassia, Véronique; Belhaouari, Lakhdar

2015-03-01

Facial expressions convey emotions that form the foundation of interpersonal relationships, and many of these emotions promote and regulate our social linkages. Hence, the facial aging symptomatological analysis and the treatment plan must of necessity include knowledge of the facial dynamics and the emotional expressions of the face. This approach aims to more closely meet patients' expectations of natural-looking results, by correcting age-related negative expressions while observing the emotional language of the face. This article will successively describe patients' expectations, the role of facial expressions in relational dynamics, the relationship between facial structures and facial expressions, and the way facial aging mimics negative expressions. Eventually, therapeutic implications for facial aging treatment will be addressed. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Agency and facial emotion judgment in context.

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Ito, Kenichi; Masuda, Takahiko; Li, Liman Man Wai

2013-06-01

Past research showed that East Asians' belief in holism was expressed as their tendencies to include background facial emotions into the evaluation of target faces more than North Americans. However, this pattern can be interpreted as North Americans' tendency to downplay background facial emotions due to their conceptualization of facial emotion as volitional expression of internal states. Examining this alternative explanation, we investigated whether different types of contextual information produce varying degrees of effect on one's face evaluation across cultures. In three studies, European Canadians and East Asians rated the intensity of target facial emotions surrounded with either affectively salient landscape sceneries or background facial emotions. The results showed that, although affectively salient landscapes influenced the judgment of both cultural groups, only European Canadians downplayed the background facial emotions. The role of agency as differently conceptualized across cultures and multilayered systems of cultural meanings are discussed.

Facial and semantic emotional interference: A pilot study on the behavioral and cortical responses to the dual valence association task

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Petroni Agustín

2011-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Integration of compatible or incompatible emotional valence and semantic information is an essential aspect of complex social interactions. A modified version of the Implicit Association Test (IAT called Dual Valence Association Task (DVAT was designed in order to measure conflict resolution processing from compatibility/incompatibly of semantic and facial valence. The DVAT involves two emotional valence evaluative tasks which elicits two forms of emotional compatible/incompatible associations (facial and semantic. Methods Behavioural measures and Event Related Potentials were recorded while participants performed the DVAT. Results Behavioural data showed a robust effect that distinguished compatible/incompatible tasks. The effects of valence and contextual association (between facial and semantic stimuli showed early discrimination in N170 of faces. The LPP component was modulated by the compatibility of the DVAT. Conclusions Results suggest that DVAT is a robust paradigm for studying the emotional interference effect in the processing of simultaneous information from semantic and facial stimuli.

Is empathy necessary to comprehend the emotional faces? The empathic effect on attentional mechanisms (eye movements), cortical correlates (N200 event-related potentials) and facial behaviour (electromyography) in face processing.

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Balconi, Michela; Canavesio, Ylenia

2016-01-01

The present research explored the effect of social empathy on processing emotional facial expressions. Previous evidence suggested a close relationship between emotional empathy and both the ability to detect facial emotions and the attentional mechanisms involved. A multi-measure approach was adopted: we investigated the association between trait empathy (Balanced Emotional Empathy Scale) and individuals' performance (response times; RTs), attentional mechanisms (eye movements; number and duration of fixations), correlates of cortical activation (event-related potential (ERP) N200 component), and facial responsiveness (facial zygomatic and corrugator activity). Trait empathy was found to affect face detection performance (reduced RTs), attentional processes (more scanning eye movements in specific areas of interest), ERP salience effect (increased N200 amplitude), and electromyographic activity (more facial responses). A second important result was the demonstration of strong, direct correlations among these measures. We suggest that empathy may function as a social facilitator of the processes underlying the detection of facial emotion, and a general "facial response effect" is proposed to explain these results. We assumed that empathy influences cognitive and the facial responsiveness, such that empathic individuals are more skilful in processing facial emotion.

Multiracial Facial Golden Ratio and Evaluation of Facial Appearance.

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Mohammad Khursheed Alam

Full Text Available This study aimed to investigate the association of facial proportion and its relation to the golden ratio with the evaluation of facial appearance among Malaysian population. This was a cross-sectional study with 286 randomly selected from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM Health Campus students (150 females and 136 males; 100 Malaysian Chinese, 100 Malaysian Malay and 86 Malaysian Indian, with the mean age of 21.54 ± 1.56 (Age range, 18-25. Facial indices obtained from direct facial measurements were used for the classification of facial shape into short, ideal and long. A validated structured questionnaire was used to assess subjects' evaluation of their own facial appearance. The mean facial indices of Malaysian Indian (MI, Malaysian Chinese (MC and Malaysian Malay (MM were 1.59 ± 0.19, 1.57 ± 0.25 and 1.54 ± 0.23 respectively. Only MC showed significant sexual dimorphism in facial index (P = 0.047; P<0.05 but no significant difference was found between races. Out of the 286 subjects, 49 (17.1% were of ideal facial shape, 156 (54.5% short and 81 (28.3% long. The facial evaluation questionnaire showed that MC had the lowest satisfaction with mean score of 2.18 ± 0.97 for overall impression and 2.15 ± 1.04 for facial parts, compared to MM and MI, with mean score of 1.80 ± 0.97 and 1.64 ± 0.74 respectively for overall impression; 1.75 ± 0.95 and 1.70 ± 0.83 respectively for facial parts.1 Only 17.1% of Malaysian facial proportion conformed to the golden ratio, with majority of the population having short face (54.5%; 2 Facial index did not depend significantly on races; 3 Significant sexual dimorphism was shown among Malaysian Chinese; 4 All three races are generally satisfied with their own facial appearance; 5 No significant association was found between golden ratio and facial evaluation score among Malaysian population.

Diagnosis and surgical outcomes of intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma showing normal facial nerve function.

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Lee, D W; Byeon, H K; Chung, H P; Choi, E C; Kim, S-H; Park, Y M

2013-07-01

The findings of intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma (FNS) using preoperative diagnostic tools, including ultrasonography (US)-guided fine needle aspiration biopsy, computed tomography (CT) scan, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), were analyzed to determine if there are any useful findings that might suggest the presence of a lesion. Treatment guidelines are suggested. The medical records of 15 patients who were diagnosed with an intraparotid FNS were retrospectively analyzed. US and CT scans provide clinicians with only limited information; gadolinium enhanced T1-weighted images from MRI provide more specific findings. Tumors could be removed successfully with surgical exploration, preserving facial nerve function at the same time. Gadolinium-enhanced T1-weighted MRI showed more characteristic findings for the diagnosis of intraparotid FNS. Intraparotid FNS without facial palsy can be diagnosed with MRI preoperatively, and surgical exploration is a suitable treatment modality which can remove the tumor and preserve facial nerve function. Crown Copyright © 2013. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Multiracial Facial Golden Ratio and Evaluation of Facial Appearance.

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Alam, Mohammad Khursheed; Mohd Noor, Nor Farid; Basri, Rehana; Yew, Tan Fo; Wen, Tay Hui

2015-01-01

This study aimed to investigate the association of facial proportion and its relation to the golden ratio with the evaluation of facial appearance among Malaysian population. This was a cross-sectional study with 286 randomly selected from Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) Health Campus students (150 females and 136 males; 100 Malaysian Chinese, 100 Malaysian Malay and 86 Malaysian Indian), with the mean age of 21.54 ± 1.56 (Age range, 18-25). Facial indices obtained from direct facial measurements were used for the classification of facial shape into short, ideal and long. A validated structured questionnaire was used to assess subjects' evaluation of their own facial appearance. The mean facial indices of Malaysian Indian (MI), Malaysian Chinese (MC) and Malaysian Malay (MM) were 1.59 ± 0.19, 1.57 ± 0.25 and 1.54 ± 0.23 respectively. Only MC showed significant sexual dimorphism in facial index (P = 0.047; Pmean score of 2.18 ± 0.97 for overall impression and 2.15 ± 1.04 for facial parts, compared to MM and MI, with mean score of 1.80 ± 0.97 and 1.64 ± 0.74 respectively for overall impression; 1.75 ± 0.95 and 1.70 ± 0.83 respectively for facial parts. 1) Only 17.1% of Malaysian facial proportion conformed to the golden ratio, with majority of the population having short face (54.5%); 2) Facial index did not depend significantly on races; 3) Significant sexual dimorphism was shown among Malaysian Chinese; 4) All three races are generally satisfied with their own facial appearance; 5) No significant association was found between golden ratio and facial evaluation score among Malaysian population.

Peripheral facial nerve dysfunction: CT evaluation

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Disbro, M.A.; Harnsberger, H.R.; Osborn, A.G.

1985-06-01

Peripheral facial nerve dysfunction may have a clinically apparent or occult cause. The authors reviewed the clinical and radiographic records of 36 patients with peripheral facial nerve dysfunction to obtain information on the location of the suspected lesion and the number, sequence, and type of radiographic evaluations performed. Inadequate clinical evaluations before computed tomography (CT) was done and unnecessary CT examinations were also noted. They have suggested a practical clinical and radiographic scheme to evaluate progressive peripheral facial dysfunction with no apparent cause. If this scheme is applied, unnecessary radiologic tests and delays in diagnosis and treatment may be avoided.

A Brief Review of Facial Emotion Recognition Based on Visual Information.

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Ko, Byoung Chul

2018-01-30

Facial emotion recognition (FER) is an important topic in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence owing to its significant academic and commercial potential. Although FER can be conducted using multiple sensors, this review focuses on studies that exclusively use facial images, because visual expressions are one of the main information channels in interpersonal communication. This paper provides a brief review of researches in the field of FER conducted over the past decades. First, conventional FER approaches are described along with a summary of the representative categories of FER systems and their main algorithms. Deep-learning-based FER approaches using deep networks enabling "end-to-end" learning are then presented. This review also focuses on an up-to-date hybrid deep-learning approach combining a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the spatial features of an individual frame and long short-term memory (LSTM) for temporal features of consecutive frames. In the later part of this paper, a brief review of publicly available evaluation metrics is given, and a comparison with benchmark results, which are a standard for a quantitative comparison of FER researches, is described. This review can serve as a brief guidebook to newcomers in the field of FER, providing basic knowledge and a general understanding of the latest state-of-the-art studies, as well as to experienced researchers looking for productive directions for future work.

Traumatic facial nerve neuroma with facial palsy presenting in infancy.

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Clark, James H; Burger, Peter C; Boahene, Derek Kofi; Niparko, John K

2010-07-01

To describe the management of traumatic neuroma of the facial nerve in a child and literature review. Sixteen-month-old male subject. Radiological imaging and surgery. Facial nerve function. The patient presented at 16 months with a right facial palsy and was found to have a right facial nerve traumatic neuroma. A transmastoid, middle fossa resection of the right facial nerve lesion was undertaken with a successful facial nerve-to-hypoglossal nerve anastomosis. The facial palsy improved postoperatively. A traumatic neuroma should be considered in an infant who presents with facial palsy, even in the absence of an obvious history of trauma. The treatment of such lesion is complex in any age group but especially in young children. Symptoms, age, lesion size, growth rate, and facial nerve function determine the appropriate management.

The impact of high trait social anxiety on neural processing of facial emotion expressions in females.

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Felmingham, Kim L; Stewart, Laura F; Kemp, Andrew H; Carr, Andrea R

2016-05-01

A cognitive model of social anxiety predicts that an early attentional bias leads to greater cognitive processing of social threat signals, whereas the vigilance-avoidance model predicts there will be subsequent reduction in cognitive processing. This study tests these models by examining neural responses to social threat stimuli using Event-related potentials (ERP). 19 women with high trait social anxiety and 19 women with low trait social anxiety viewed emotional expressions (angry, disgusted, happy and neutral) in a passive viewing task whilst ERP responses were recorded. The HSA group revealed greater automatic attention, or hypervigilance, to all facial expressions, as indexed by greater N1 amplitude compared to the LSA group. They also showed greater sustained attention and elaborative processing of all facial expressions, indexed by significantly increased P2 and P3 amplitudes compared to the LSA group. These results support cognitive models of social anxiety, but are not consistent with predictions of the vigilance-avoidance model. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Neural mechanism for judging the appropriateness of facial affect.

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Kim, Ji-Woong; Kim, Jae-Jin; Jeong, Bum Seok; Ki, Seon Wan; Im, Dong-Mi; Lee, Soo Jung; Lee, Hong Shick

2005-12-01

Questions regarding the appropriateness of facial expressions in particular situations arise ubiquitously in everyday social interactions. To determine the appropriateness of facial affect, first of all, we should represent our own or the other's emotional state as induced by the social situation. Then, based on these representations, we should infer the possible affective response of the other person. In this study, we identified the brain mechanism mediating special types of social evaluative judgments of facial affect in which the internal reference is related to theory of mind (ToM) processing. Many previous ToM studies have used non-emotional stimuli, but, because so much valuable social information is conveyed through nonverbal emotional channels, this investigation used emotionally salient visual materials to tap ToM. Fourteen right-handed healthy subjects volunteered for our study. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activation during the judgmental task for the appropriateness of facial affects as opposed to gender matching tasks. We identified activation of a brain network, which includes both medial frontal cortex, left temporal pole, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left thalamus during the judgmental task for appropriateness of facial affect compared to the gender matching task. The results of this study suggest that the brain system involved in ToM plays a key role in judging the appropriateness of facial affect in an emotionally laden situation. In addition, our result supports that common neural substrates are involved in performing diverse kinds of ToM tasks irrespective of perceptual modalities and the emotional salience of test materials.

Fearful gaze cueing: gaze direction and facial expression independently influence overt orienting responses in 12-month-olds.

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Reiko Matsunaka

Full Text Available Gaze direction cues and facial expressions have been shown to influence object processing in infants. For example, infants around 12 months of age utilize others' gaze directions and facial expressions to regulate their own behaviour toward an ambiguous target (i.e., social referencing. However, the mechanism by which social signals influence overt orienting in infants is unclear. The present study examined the effects of static gaze direction cues and facial expressions (neutral vs. fearful on overt orienting using a gaze-cueing paradigm in 6- and 12-month-old infants. Two experiments were conducted: in Experiment 1, a face with a leftward or rightward gaze direction was used as a cue, and a face with a forward gaze direction was added in Experiment 2. In both experiments, an effect of facial expression was found in 12-month-olds; no effect was found in 6-month-olds. Twelve-month-old infants exhibited more rapid overt orienting in response to fearful expressions than neutral expressions, irrespective of gaze direction. These findings suggest that gaze direction information and facial expressions independently influence overt orienting in infants, and the effect of facial expression emerges earlier than that of static gaze direction. Implications for the development of gaze direction and facial expression processing systems are discussed.

Elevated responses to constant facial emotions in different faces in the human amygdala: an fMRI study of facial identity and expression

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Weiller Cornelius

2004-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Human faces provide important signals in social interactions by inferring two main types of information, individual identity and emotional expression. The ability to readily assess both, the variability and consistency among emotional expressions in different individuals, is central to one's own interpretation of the imminent environment. A factorial design was used to systematically test the interaction of either constant or variable emotional expressions with constant or variable facial identities in areas involved in face processing using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results Previous studies suggest a predominant role of the amygdala in the assessment of emotional variability. Here we extend this view by showing that this structure activated to faces with changing identities that display constant emotional expressions. Within this condition, amygdala activation was dependent on the type and intensity of displayed emotion, with significant responses to fearful expressions and, to a lesser extent so to neutral and happy expressions. In contrast, the lateral fusiform gyrus showed a binary pattern of increased activation to changing stimulus features while it was also differentially responsive to the intensity of displayed emotion when processing different facial identities. Conclusions These results suggest that the amygdala might serve to detect constant facial emotions in different individuals, complementing its established role for detecting emotional variability.

Human amygdala response to dynamic facial expressions of positive and negative surprise.

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Vrticka, Pascal; Lordier, Lara; Bediou, Benoît; Sander, David

2014-02-01

Although brain imaging evidence accumulates to suggest that the amygdala plays a key role in the processing of novel stimuli, only little is known about its role in processing expressed novelty conveyed by surprised faces, and even less about possible interactive encoding of novelty and valence. Those investigations that have already probed human amygdala involvement in the processing of surprised facial expressions either used static pictures displaying negative surprise (as contained in fear) or "neutral" surprise, and manipulated valence by contextually priming or subjectively associating static surprise with either negative or positive information. Therefore, it still remains unresolved how the human amygdala differentially processes dynamic surprised facial expressions displaying either positive or negative surprise. Here, we created new artificial dynamic 3-dimensional facial expressions conveying surprise with an intrinsic positive (wonderment) or negative (fear) connotation, but also intrinsic positive (joy) or negative (anxiety) emotions not containing any surprise, in addition to neutral facial displays either containing ("typical surprise" expression) or not containing ("neutral") surprise. Results showed heightened amygdala activity to faces containing positive (vs. negative) surprise, which may either correspond to a specific wonderment effect as such, or to the computation of a negative expected value prediction error. Findings are discussed in the light of data obtained from a closely matched nonsocial lottery task, which revealed overlapping activity within the left amygdala to unexpected positive outcomes. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Characterization of p75{sup +} ectomesenchymal stem cells from rat embryonic facial process tissue

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Wen, Xiujie; Liu, Luchuan; Deng, Manjing; Zhang, Li; Liu, Rui; Xing, Yongjun; Zhou, Xia [Department of Stomatology, Daping Hospital and Research Institute of Surgery, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042 (China); Nie, Xin, E-mail: dr.xinnie@gmail.com [Department of Stomatology, Daping Hospital and Research Institute of Surgery, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing 400042 (China)

2012-10-12

Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs) were found to migrate to rat facial processes at E11.5. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We successfully sorted p75NTR positive EMSCs (p75{sup +} EMSCs). Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer p75{sup +} EMSCs up to nine passages showed relative stable proliferative activity. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer We examined the in vitro multilineage potential of p75{sup +} EMSCs. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer p75{sup +}EMSCs provide an in vitro model for tooth morphogenesis. -- Abstract: Several populations of stem cells, including those from the dental pulp and periodontal ligament, have been isolated from different parts of the tooth and periodontium. The characteristics of such stem cells have been reported as well. However, as a common progenitor of these cells, ectomesenchymal stem cells (EMSCs), derived from the cranial neural crest have yet to be fully characterized. The aim of this study was to better understand the characteristics of EMSCs isolated from rat embryonic facial processes. Immunohistochemical staining showed that EMSCs had migrated to rat facial processes at E11.5, while the absence of epithelial invagination or tooth-like epithelium suggested that any epithelial-mesenchymal interactions were limited at this stage. The p75 neurotrophin receptor (p75NTR), a typical neural crest marker, was used to select p75NTR-positive EMSCs (p75{sup +} EMSCs), which were found to show a homogeneous fibroblast-like morphology and little change in the growth curve, proliferation capacity, and cell phenotype during cell passage. They also displayed the capacity to differentiate into diverse cell types under chemically defined conditions in vitro. p75{sup +} EMSCs proved to be homogeneous, stable in vitro and potentially capable of multiple lineages, suggesting their potential for application in dental or orofacial tissue engineering.

Processing of emotional facial expressions in Korsakoff's syndrome.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Montagne, B.; Kessels, R.P.C.; Wester, A.J.; Haan, E.H.F. de

2006-01-01

Interpersonal contacts depend to a large extent on understanding emotional facial expressions of others. Several neurological conditions may affect proficiency in emotional expression recognition. It has been shown that chronic alcoholics are impaired in labelling emotional expressions. More

Facial identification in very low-resolution images simulating prosthetic vision.

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Chang, M H; Kim, H S; Shin, J H; Park, K S

2012-08-01

Familiar facial identification is important to blind or visually impaired patients and can be achieved using a retinal prosthesis. Nevertheless, there are limitations in delivering the facial images with a resolution sufficient to distinguish facial features, such as eyes and nose, through multichannel electrode arrays used in current visual prostheses. This study verifies the feasibility of familiar facial identification under low-resolution prosthetic vision and proposes an edge-enhancement method to deliver more visual information that is of higher quality. We first generated a contrast-enhanced image and an edge image by applying the Sobel edge detector and blocked each of them by averaging. Then, we subtracted the blocked edge image from the blocked contrast-enhanced image and produced a pixelized image imitating an array of phosphenes. Before subtraction, every gray value of the edge images was weighted as 50% (mode 2), 75% (mode 3) and 100% (mode 4). In mode 1, the facial image was blocked and pixelized with no further processing. The most successful identification was achieved with mode 3 at every resolution in terms of identification index, which covers both accuracy and correct response time. We also found that the subjects recognized a distinctive face especially more accurately and faster than the other given facial images even under low-resolution prosthetic vision. Every subject could identify familiar faces even in very low-resolution images. And the proposed edge-enhancement method seemed to contribute to intermediate-stage visual prostheses.

Colesteatoma causando paralisia facial Cholesteatoma causing facial paralysis

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José Ricardo Gurgel Testa

2003-10-01

Full Text Available A paralisia facial causada pelo colesteatoma é pouco freqüente. As porções do nervo mais acometidas são a timpânica e a região do 2º joelho. Nos casos de disseminação da lesão colesteatomatosa para o epitímpano anterior, o gânglio geniculado é o segmento do nervo facial mais sujeito à injúria. A etiopatogenia pode estar ligada à compressão do nervo pelo colesteatoma seguida de diminuição do seu suprimento vascular como também pela possível ação de substâncias neurotóxicas produzidas pela matriz do tumor ou pelas bactérias nele contidas. OBJETIVO: Avaliar a incidência, as características clínicas e o tratamento da paralisia facial decorrente da lesão colesteatomatosa. FORMA DE ESTUDO: Clínico retrospectivo. MATERIAL E MÉTODO: Estudo retrospectivo envolvendo dez casos de paralisia facial por colesteatoma selecionados através de levantamento de 206 descompressões do nervo facial com diferentes etiologias, realizadas na UNIFESP-EPM nos últimos dez anos. RESULTADOS: A incidência de paralisia facial por colesteatoma neste estudo foi de 4,85%,com predominância do sexo feminino (60%. A idade média dos pacientes foi de 39 anos. A duração e o grau da paralisia (inicial juntamente com a extensão da lesão foram importantes em relação à recuperação funcional do nervo facial. CONCLUSÃO: O tratamento cirúrgico precoce é fundamental para que ocorra um resultado funcional mais adequado. Nos casos de ruptura ou intensa fibrose do tecido nervoso, o enxerto de nervo (auricular magno/sural e/ou a anastomose hipoglosso-facial podem ser sugeridas.Facial paralysis caused by cholesteatoma is uncommon. The portions most frequently involved are horizontal (tympanic and second genu segments. When cholesteatomas extend over the anterior epitympanic space, the facial nerve is placed in jeopardy in the region of the geniculate ganglion. The aetiology can be related to compression of the nerve followed by impairment of its

Aggressive osteoblastoma in mastoid process of temporal bone with facial palsy

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Manoj Jain

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Osteoblastoma is an uncommon primary bone tumor with a predilection for posterior elements of spine. Its occurrence in temporal bone and middle ear is extremely rare. Clinical symptoms are non-specific and cranial nerve involvement is uncommon. The cytomorphological features of osteoblastoma are not very well defined and the experience is limited to only few reports. We report an interesting and rare case of aggressive osteoblastoma, with progressive hearing loss and facial palsy, involving the mastoid process of temporal bone and middle ear along with the description of cyto-morphological features.

Visual Working Memory Capacity for Emotional Facial Expressions

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Domagoj Švegar

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The capacity of visual working memory is limited to no more than four items. At the same time, it is limited not only by the number of objects, but also by the total amount of information that needs to be memorized, and the relation between the information load per object and the number of objects that can be stored into visual working memory is inverse. The objective of the present experiment was to compute visual working memory capacity for emotional facial expressions, and in order to do so, change detection tasks were applied. Pictures of human emotional facial expressions were presented to 24 participants in 1008 experimental trials, each of which began with a presentation of a fixation mark, which was followed by a short simultaneous presentation of six emotional facial expressions. After that, a blank screen was presented, and after such inter-stimulus interval, one facial expression was presented at one of previously occupied locations. Participants had to answer if the facial expression presented at test is different or identical as the expression presented at that same location before the retention interval. Memory capacity was estimated through accuracy of responding, by the formula constructed by Pashler (1988, adopted from signal detection theory. It was found that visual working memory capacity for emotional facial expressions equals 3.07, which is high compared to capacity for facial identities and other visual stimuli. The obtained results were explained within the framework of evolutionary psychology.

Sex Hormones and Processing of Facial Expressions of Emotion: A Systematic Literature Review

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Flávia L. Osório

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background: We systematically reviewed the literature to determine the influence of sex hormones on facial emotion processing (FEP in healthy women at different phases of life.Methods: Searches were performed in PubMed, Web of Science, PsycINFO, LILACS, and SciELO. Twenty-seven articles were included in the review and allocated into five different categories according to their objectives and sample characteristics (menstrual cycle, oral contraceptives, pregnancy/postpartum, testosterone, and progesterone.Results: Despite the limited number of studies in some categories and the existence of inconsistencies in the results of interest, the findings of the review suggest that FEP may be enhanced during the follicular phase. Studies with women taking oral contraceptives showed reduced recognition accuracy and decreased responsiveness of different brain structures during FEP tasks. Studies with pregnant women and women in the postpartum showed that hormonal changes are associated with alterations in FEP and in brain functioning that could indicate the existence of a hypervigilant state in new and future mothers. Exogenous administration of testosterone enhanced the recognition of threatening facial expressions and the activation of brain structures involved in the processing of emotional stimuli.Conclusions: We conclude that sex hormones affect FEP in women, which may have an impact in adaptive processes of the species and in the onset of mood symptoms associated with the premenstrual syndrome.

Shared Gaussian Process Latent Variable Model for Multi-view Facial Expression Recognition

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eleftheriadis, Stefanos; Rudovic, Ognjen; Pantic, Maja

Facial-expression data often appear in multiple views either due to head-movements or the camera position. Existing methods for multi-view facial expression recognition perform classification of the target expressions either by using classifiers learned separately for each view or by using a single

Marker optimization for facial motion acquisition and deformation.

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Le, Binh H; Zhu, Mingyang; Deng, Zhigang

2013-11-01

A long-standing problem in marker-based facial motion capture is what are the optimal facial mocap marker layouts. Despite its wide range of potential applications, this problem has not yet been systematically explored to date. This paper describes an approach to compute optimized marker layouts for facial motion acquisition as optimization of characteristic control points from a set of high-resolution, ground-truth facial mesh sequences. Specifically, the thin-shell linear deformation model is imposed onto the example pose reconstruction process via optional hard constraints such as symmetry and multiresolution constraints. Through our experiments and comparisons, we validate the effectiveness, robustness, and accuracy of our approach. Besides guiding minimal yet effective placement of facial mocap markers, we also describe and demonstrate its two selected applications: marker-based facial mesh skinning and multiresolution facial performance capture.

Women and men integrate facial information differently in appraising the beauty of a face

OpenAIRE

Gill, Daniel

2017-01-01

Facial beauty plays a crucial role in social interactions, particularly in mating and reproduction. Therefore, the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms used for facial beauty assessment should be susceptible to different evolutionary and cultural pressures across genders and thus shape different observational appraising strategies. Using a novel approach, I evaluated the observers' subjective and unique importance given to specific facial attributes: eyes, nose, lips, and hair, and their spati...

Automatic prediction of facial trait judgments: appearance vs. structural models.

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Mario Rojas

Full Text Available Evaluating other individuals with respect to personality characteristics plays a crucial role in human relations and it is the focus of attention for research in diverse fields such as psychology and interactive computer systems. In psychology, face perception has been recognized as a key component of this evaluation system. Multiple studies suggest that observers use face information to infer personality characteristics. Interactive computer systems are trying to take advantage of these findings and apply them to increase the natural aspect of interaction and to improve the performance of interactive computer systems. Here, we experimentally test whether the automatic prediction of facial trait judgments (e.g. dominance can be made by using the full appearance information of the face and whether a reduced representation of its structure is sufficient. We evaluate two separate approaches: a holistic representation model using the facial appearance information and a structural model constructed from the relations among facial salient points. State of the art machine learning methods are applied to a derive a facial trait judgment model from training data and b predict a facial trait value for any face. Furthermore, we address the issue of whether there are specific structural relations among facial points that predict perception of facial traits. Experimental results over a set of labeled data (9 different trait evaluations and classification rules (4 rules suggest that a prediction of perception of facial traits is learnable by both holistic and structural approaches; b the most reliable prediction of facial trait judgments is obtained by certain type of holistic descriptions of the face appearance; and c for some traits such as attractiveness and extroversion, there are relationships between specific structural features and social perceptions.

DisFace: A Database of Human Facial Disorders

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Paramjit Kaur

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Face is an integral part of human body by which an individual communicates in the society. Its importance can be highlighted by the fact that a person deprived of face cannot sustain in the living world. In the past few decades, human face has gained attention of several researchers, whether it is related to facial anthropometry, facial disorder, face transplantation or face reconstruction. Several researches have also shown the correlation between neuropsychiatry disorders and human face and also that how face recognition abilities are correlated with these disorders. Currently, several databases exist which contain the facial images of several individuals captured from different sources. The advantage of these databases is that the images in these databases can be used for testing and training purpose. However, in current date no such database exists which would provide not only facial images of individuals; but also the literature concerning the human face, list of several genes controlling human face, list of facial disorders and various tools which work on facial images. Thus, the current research aims at developing a database of human facial disorders using bioinformatics approach. The database will contain information about facial diseases, medications, symptoms, findings, etc. The information will be extracted from several other databases like OMIM, PubChem, Radiopedia, Medline Plus, FDA, etc. and links to them will also be provided. Initially, the diseases specific for human face have been obtained from already created published corpora of literature using text mining approach. Becas tool was used to obtain the specific task.  A dataset will be created and stored in the form of database. It will be a database containing cross-referenced index of human facial diseases, medications, symptoms, signs, etc. Thus, a database on human face with complete existing information about human facial disorders will be developed. The novelty of the

The role of great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy in facial nerve damage.

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Sun, Yan; Liu, Limei; Han, Yuechen; Xu, Lei; Zhang, Daogong; Wang, Haibo

2015-01-01

Facial nerve is easy to be damaged, and there are many reconstructive methods for facial nerve reconstructive, such as facial nerve end to end anastomosis, the great auricular nerve graft, the sural nerve graft, or hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis. However, there is still little study about great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy. The aim of the present study was to identify the role of great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy and the mechanism. Rat models of facial nerve cut (FC), facial nerve end to end anastomosis (FF), facial-great auricular neurorrhaphy (FG), and control (Ctrl) were established. Apex nasi amesiality observation, electrophysiology and immunofluorescence assays were employed to investigate the function and mechanism. In apex nasi amesiality observation, it was found apex nasi amesiality of FG group was partly recovered. Additionally, electrophysiology and immunofluorescence assays revealed that facial-great auricular neurorrhaphy could transfer nerve impulse and express AChR which was better than facial nerve cut and worse than facial nerve end to end anastomosis. The present study indicated that great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy is a substantial solution for facial lesion repair, as it is efficiently preventing facial muscles atrophy by generating neurotransmitter like ACh.

A Brief Review of Facial Emotion Recognition Based on Visual Information

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2018-01-01

Facial emotion recognition (FER) is an important topic in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence owing to its significant academic and commercial potential. Although FER can be conducted using multiple sensors, this review focuses on studies that exclusively use facial images, because visual expressions are one of the main information channels in interpersonal communication. This paper provides a brief review of researches in the field of FER conducted over the past decades. First, conventional FER approaches are described along with a summary of the representative categories of FER systems and their main algorithms. Deep-learning-based FER approaches using deep networks enabling “end-to-end” learning are then presented. This review also focuses on an up-to-date hybrid deep-learning approach combining a convolutional neural network (CNN) for the spatial features of an individual frame and long short-term memory (LSTM) for temporal features of consecutive frames. In the later part of this paper, a brief review of publicly available evaluation metrics is given, and a comparison with benchmark results, which are a standard for a quantitative comparison of FER researches, is described. This review can serve as a brief guidebook to newcomers in the field of FER, providing basic knowledge and a general understanding of the latest state-of-the-art studies, as well as to experienced researchers looking for productive directions for future work. PMID:29385749

A Brief Review of Facial Emotion Recognition Based on Visual Information

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Byoung Chul Ko

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Facial emotion recognition (FER is an important topic in the fields of computer vision and artificial intelligence owing to its significant academic and commercial potential. Although FER can be conducted using multiple sensors, this review focuses on studies that exclusively use facial images, because visual expressions are one of the main information channels in interpersonal communication. This paper provides a brief review of researches in the field of FER conducted over the past decades. First, conventional FER approaches are described along with a summary of the representative categories of FER systems and their main algorithms. Deep-learning-based FER approaches using deep networks enabling “end-to-end” learning are then presented. This review also focuses on an up-to-date hybrid deep-learning approach combining a convolutional neural network (CNN for the spatial features of an individual frame and long short-term memory (LSTM for temporal features of consecutive frames. In the later part of this paper, a brief review of publicly available evaluation metrics is given, and a comparison with benchmark results, which are a standard for a quantitative comparison of FER researches, is described. This review can serve as a brief guidebook to newcomers in the field of FER, providing basic knowledge and a general understanding of the latest state-of-the-art studies, as well as to experienced researchers looking for productive directions for future work.

Impaired social brain network for processing dynamic facial expressions in autism spectrum disorders

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Sato Wataru

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Impairment of social interaction via facial expressions represents a core clinical feature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD. However, the neural correlates of this dysfunction remain unidentified. Because this dysfunction is manifested in real-life situations, we hypothesized that the observation of dynamic, compared with static, facial expressions would reveal abnormal brain functioning in individuals with ASD. We presented dynamic and static facial expressions of fear and happiness to individuals with high-functioning ASD and to age- and sex-matched typically developing controls and recorded their brain activities using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI. Result Regional analysis revealed reduced activation of several brain regions in the ASD group compared with controls in response to dynamic versus static facial expressions, including the middle temporal gyrus (MTG, fusiform gyrus, amygdala, medial prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus (IFG. Dynamic causal modeling analyses revealed that bi-directional effective connectivity involving the primary visual cortex–MTG–IFG circuit was enhanced in response to dynamic as compared with static facial expressions in the control group. Group comparisons revealed that all these modulatory effects were weaker in the ASD group than in the control group. Conclusions These results suggest that weak activity and connectivity of the social brain network underlie the impairment in social interaction involving dynamic facial expressions in individuals with ASD.

MRI of the facial nerve in idiopathic facial palsy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saatci, I.; Sahintuerk, F.; Sennaroglu, L.; Boyvat, F.; Guersel, B.; Besim, A.

1996-01-01

The purpose of this prospective study was to define the enhancement pattern of the facial nerve in idiopathic facial paralysis (Bell's palsy) on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with routine doses of gadolinium-DTPA (0.1 mmol/kg). Using 0.5 T imager, 24 patients were examined with a mean interval time of 13.7 days between the onset of symptoms and the MR examination. Contralateral asymptomatic facial nerves constituted the control group and five of the normal facial nerves (20.8%) showed enhancement confined to the geniculate ganglion. Hence, contrast enhancement limited to the geniculate ganglion in the abnormal facial nerve (3 of 24) was referred to a equivocal. Not encountered in any of the normal facial nerves, enhancement of other segments alone or associated with geniculate ganglion enhancement was considered to be abnormal and noted in 70.8% of the symptomatic facial nerves. The most frequently enhancing segments were the geniculate ganglion and the distal intracanalicular segment. (orig.)

MRI of the facial nerve in idiopathic facial palsy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Saatci, I. [Dept. of Radiology, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey); Sahintuerk, F. [Dept. of Radiology, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey); Sennaroglu, L. [Dept. of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey); Boyvat, F. [Dept. of Radiology, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey); Guersel, B. [Dept. of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey); Besim, A. [Dept. of Radiology, Hacettepe Univ., Hospital Sihhiye, Ankara (Turkey)

1996-10-01

The purpose of this prospective study was to define the enhancement pattern of the facial nerve in idiopathic facial paralysis (Bell`s palsy) on magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with routine doses of gadolinium-DTPA (0.1 mmol/kg). Using 0.5 T imager, 24 patients were examined with a mean interval time of 13.7 days between the onset of symptoms and the MR examination. Contralateral asymptomatic facial nerves constituted the control group and five of the normal facial nerves (20.8%) showed enhancement confined to the geniculate ganglion. Hence, contrast enhancement limited to the geniculate ganglion in the abnormal facial nerve (3 of 24) was referred to a equivocal. Not encountered in any of the normal facial nerves, enhancement of other segments alone or associated with geniculate ganglion enhancement was considered to be abnormal and noted in 70.8% of the symptomatic facial nerves. The most frequently enhancing segments were the geniculate ganglion and the distal intracanalicular segment. (orig.)

Do different fairness contexts and facial emotions motivate 'irrational' social decision-making in major depression? An exploratory patient study.

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Radke, Sina; Schäfer, Ina C; Müller, Bernhard W; de Bruijn, Ellen R A

2013-12-15

Although 'irrational' decision-making has been linked to depression, the contribution of biases in information processing to these findings remains unknown. To investigate the impact of cognitive biases and aberrant processing of facial emotions on social decision-making, we manipulated both context-related and emotion-related information in a modified Ultimatum Game. Unfair offers were (1) paired with different unselected alternatives, establishing the context in which an offer was made, and (2) accompanied by emotional facial expressions of proposers. Responder behavior was assessed in patients with major depressive disorder and healthy controls. In both groups alike, rejection rates were highest following unambiguous signals of unfairness, i.e. an angry proposer face or when an unfair distribution had deliberately been chosen over an equal split. However, depressed patients showed overall higher rejection rates than healthy volunteers, without exhibiting differential processing biases. This suggests that depressed patients were, as healthy individuals, basing their decisions on informative, salient features and differentiating between (i) fair and unfair offers, (ii) alternatives to unfair offers and (iii) proposers' facial emotions. Although more fundamental processes, e.g. reduced reward sensitivity, might underlie increased rejection in depression, the current study provides insight into mechanisms that shape fairness considerations in both depressed and healthy individuals. © 2013 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facial paralysis

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... otherwise healthy, facial paralysis is often due to Bell palsy . This is a condition in which the facial ... speech, or occupational therapist. If facial paralysis from Bell palsy lasts for more than 6 to 12 months, ...

Lateralization for Processing Facial Emotions in Gay Men, Heterosexual Men, and Heterosexual Women.

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Rahman, Qazi; Yusuf, Sifat

2015-07-01

This study tested whether male sexual orientation and gender nonconformity influenced functional cerebral lateralization for the processing of facial emotions. We also tested for the effects of sex of poser and emotion displayed on putative differences. Thirty heterosexual men, 30 heterosexual women, and 40 gay men completed measures of demographic variables, recalled childhood gender nonconformity (CGN), IQ, and the Chimeric Faces Test (CFT). The CFT depicts vertically split chimeric faces, formed with one half showing a neutral expression and the other half showing an emotional expression and performance is measured using a "laterality quotient" (LQ) score. We found that heterosexual men were significantly more right-lateralized when viewing female faces compared to heterosexual women and gay men, who did not differ significantly from each other. Heterosexual women and gay men were more left-lateralized for processing female faces. There were no significant group differences in lateralization for male faces. These results remained when controlling for age and IQ scores. There was no significant effect of CGN on LQ scores. These data suggest that gay men are feminized in some aspects of functional cerebral lateralization for facial emotion. The results were discussed in relation to the selectivity of functional lateralization and putative brain mechanisms underlying sexual attraction towards opposite-sex and same-sex targets.

Culture shapes 7-month-olds' perceptual strategies in discriminating facial expressions of emotion.

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Geangu, Elena; Ichikawa, Hiroko; Lao, Junpeng; Kanazawa, So; Yamaguchi, Masami K; Caldara, Roberto; Turati, Chiara

2016-07-25

Emotional facial expressions are thought to have evolved because they play a crucial role in species' survival. From infancy, humans develop dedicated neural circuits [1] to exhibit and recognize a variety of facial expressions [2]. But there is increasing evidence that culture specifies when and how certain emotions can be expressed - social norms - and that the mature perceptual mechanisms used to transmit and decode the visual information from emotional signals differ between Western and Eastern adults [3-5]. Specifically, the mouth is more informative for transmitting emotional signals in Westerners and the eye region for Easterners [4], generating culture-specific fixation biases towards these features [5]. During development, it is recognized that cultural differences can be observed at the level of emotional reactivity and regulation [6], and to the culturally dominant modes of attention [7]. Nonetheless, to our knowledge no study has explored whether culture shapes the processing of facial emotional signals early in development. The data we report here show that, by 7 months, infants from both cultures visually discriminate facial expressions of emotion by relying on culturally distinct fixation strategies, resembling those used by the adults from the environment in which they develop [5]. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Unsupervised learning of facial emotion decoding skills.

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Huelle, Jan O; Sack, Benjamin; Broer, Katja; Komlewa, Irina; Anders, Silke

2014-01-01

Research on the mechanisms underlying human facial emotion recognition has long focussed on genetically determined neural algorithms and often neglected the question of how these algorithms might be tuned by social learning. Here we show that facial emotion decoding skills can be significantly and sustainably improved by practice without an external teaching signal. Participants saw video clips of dynamic facial expressions of five different women and were asked to decide which of four possible emotions (anger, disgust, fear, and sadness) was shown in each clip. Although no external information about the correctness of the participant's response or the sender's true affective state was provided, participants showed a significant increase of facial emotion recognition accuracy both within and across two training sessions two days to several weeks apart. We discuss several similarities and differences between the unsupervised improvement of facial decoding skills observed in the current study, unsupervised perceptual learning of simple stimuli described in previous studies and practice effects often observed in cognitive tasks.

Processing of Facial Expressions of Emotions by Adults with Down Syndrome and Moderate Intellectual Disability

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Carvajal, Fernando; Fernandez-Alcaraz, Camino; Rueda, Maria; Sarrion, Louise

2012-01-01

The processing of facial expressions of emotions by 23 adults with Down syndrome and moderate intellectual disability was compared with that of adults with intellectual disability of other etiologies (24 matched in cognitive level and 26 with mild intellectual disability). Each participant performed 4 tasks of the Florida Affect Battery and an…

Facial Cosmetic Surgery

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... to find out more. Facial Cosmetic Surgery Facial Cosmetic Surgery Extensive education and training in surgical procedures ... to find out more. Facial Cosmetic Surgery Facial Cosmetic Surgery Extensive education and training in surgical procedures ...

Mineralocorticoid receptor haplotype, oral contraceptives and emotional information processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Hamstra, D A; de Kloet, E R; van Hemert, A M; de Rijk, R H; Van der Does, A J W

2015-02-12

Oral contraceptives (OCs) affect mood in some women and may have more subtle effects on emotional information processing in many more users. Female carriers of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) haplotype 2 have been shown to be more optimistic and less vulnerable to depression. To investigate the effects of oral contraceptives on emotional information processing and a possible moderating effect of MR haplotype. Cross-sectional study in 85 healthy premenopausal women of West-European descent. We found significant main effects of oral contraceptives on facial expression recognition, emotional memory and decision-making. Furthermore, carriers of MR haplotype 1 or 3 were sensitive to the impact of OCs on the recognition of sad and fearful faces and on emotional memory, whereas MR haplotype 2 carriers were not. Different compounds of OCs were included. No hormonal measures were taken. Most naturally cycling participants were assessed in the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle. Carriers of MR haplotype 2 may be less sensitive to depressogenic side-effects of OCs. Copyright © 2015 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Effect of a Facial Muscle Exercise Device on Facial Rejuvenation.

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Hwang, Ui-Jae; Kwon, Oh-Yun; Jung, Sung-Hoon; Ahn, Sun-Hee; Gwak, Gyeong-Tae

2018-01-20

The efficacy of facial muscle exercises (FMEs) for facial rejuvenation is controversial. In the majority of previous studies, nonquantitative assessment tools were used to assess the benefits of FMEs. This study examined the effectiveness of FMEs using a Pao (MTG, Nagoya, Japan) device to quantify facial rejuvenation. Fifty females were asked to perform FMEs using a Pao device for 30 seconds twice a day for 8 weeks. Facial muscle thickness and cross-sectional area were measured sonographically. Facial surface distance, surface area, and volumes were determined using a laser scanning system before and after FME. Facial muscle thickness, cross-sectional area, midfacial surface distances, jawline surface distance, and lower facial surface area and volume were compared bilaterally before and after FME using a paired Student t test. The cross-sectional areas of the zygomaticus major and digastric muscles increased significantly (right: P jawline surface distances (right: P = 0.004, left: P = 0.003) decreased significantly after FME using the Pao device. The lower facial surface areas (right: P = 0.005, left: P = 0.006) and volumes (right: P = 0.001, left: P = 0.002) were also significantly reduced after FME using the Pao device. FME using the Pao device can increase facial muscle thickness and cross-sectional area, thus contributing to facial rejuvenation. © 2018 The American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery, Inc.

Serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphism affects detection of facial expressions.

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Ai Koizumi

Full Text Available Previous studies have demonstrated that the serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR affects the recognition of facial expressions and attention to them. However, the relationship between 5-HTTLPR and the perceptual detection of others' facial expressions, the process which takes place prior to emotional labeling (i.e., recognition, is not clear. To examine whether the perceptual detection of emotional facial expressions is influenced by the allelic variation (short/long of 5-HTTLPR, happy and sad facial expressions were presented at weak and mid intensities (25% and 50%. Ninety-eight participants, genotyped for 5-HTTLPR, judged whether emotion in images of faces was present. Participants with short alleles showed higher sensitivity (d' to happy than to sad expressions, while participants with long allele(s showed no such positivity advantage. This effect of 5-HTTLPR was found at different facial expression intensities among males and females. The results suggest that at the perceptual stage, a short allele enhances the processing of positive facial expressions rather than that of negative facial expressions.

Recognition of Face and Emotional Facial Expressions in Autism

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Muhammed Tayyib Kadak

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Autism is a genetically transferred neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by severe and permanent deficits in many interpersonal relation areas like communication, social interaction and emotional responsiveness. Patients with autism have deficits in face recognition, eye contact and recognition of emotional expression. Both recognition of face and expression of facial emotion carried on face processing. Structural and functional impairment in fusiform gyrus, amygdala, superior temporal sulcus and other brain regions lead to deficits in recognition of face and facial emotion. Therefore studies suggest that face processing deficits resulted in problems in areas of social interaction and emotion in autism. Studies revealed that children with autism had problems in recognition of facial expression and used mouth region more than eye region. It was also shown that autistic patients interpreted ambiguous expressions as negative emotion. In autism, deficits related in various stages of face processing like detection of gaze, face identity, recognition of emotional expression were determined, so far. Social interaction impairments in autistic spectrum disorders originated from face processing deficits during the periods of infancy, childhood and adolescence. Recognition of face and expression of facial emotion could be affected either automatically by orienting towards faces after birth, or by “learning” processes in developmental periods such as identity and emotion processing. This article aimed to review neurobiological basis of face processing and recognition of emotional facial expressions during normal development and in autism.

The role of encoding and attention in facial emotion memory: an EEG investigation.

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Brenner, Colleen A; Rumak, Samuel P; Burns, Amy M N; Kieffaber, Paul D

2014-09-01

Facial expressions are encoded via sensory mechanisms, but meaning extraction and salience of these expressions involve cognitive functions. We investigated the time course of sensory encoding and subsequent maintenance in memory via EEG. Twenty-nine healthy participants completed a facial emotion delayed match-to-sample task. P100, N170 and N250 ERPs were measured in response to the first stimulus, and evoked theta power (4-7Hz) was measured during the delay interval. Negative facial expressions produced larger N170 amplitudes and greater theta power early in the delay. N170 amplitude correlated with theta power, however larger N170 amplitude coupled with greater theta power only predicted behavioural performance for one emotion condition (very happy) out of six tested (see Supplemental Data). These findings indicate that the N170 ERP may be sensitive to emotional facial expressions when task demands require encoding and retention of this information. Furthermore, sustained theta activity may represent continued attentional processing that supports short-term memory, especially of negative facial stimuli. Further study is needed to investigate the potential influence of these measures, and their interaction, on behavioural performance. Crown Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Facial Fractures.

Science.gov (United States)

Ricketts, Sophie; Gill, Hameet S; Fialkov, Jeffery A; Matic, Damir B; Antonyshyn, Oleh M

2016-02-01

After reading this article, the participant should be able to: 1. Demonstrate an understanding of some of the changes in aspects of facial fracture management. 2. Assess a patient presenting with facial fractures. 3. Understand indications and timing of surgery. 4. Recognize exposures of the craniomaxillofacial skeleton. 5. Identify methods for repair of typical facial fracture patterns. 6. Discuss the common complications seen with facial fractures. Restoration of the facial skeleton and associated soft tissues after trauma involves accurate clinical and radiologic assessment to effectively plan a management approach for these injuries. When surgical intervention is necessary, timing, exposure, sequencing, and execution of repair are all integral to achieving the best long-term outcomes for these patients.

Culture shapes efficiency of facial age judgments.

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Gizelle Anzures

2010-07-01

Full Text Available Cultural differences in socialization can lead to characteristic differences in how we perceive the world. Consistent with this influence of differential experience, our perception of faces (e.g., preference, recognition ability is shaped by our previous experience with different groups of individuals.Here, we examined whether cultural differences in social practices influence our perception of faces. Japanese, Chinese, and Asian-Canadian young adults made relative age judgments (i.e., which of these two faces is older? for East Asian faces. Cross-cultural differences in the emphasis on respect for older individuals was reflected in participants' latency in facial age judgments for middle-age adult faces--with the Japanese young adults performing the fastest, followed by the Chinese, then the Asian-Canadians. In addition, consistent with the differential behavioural and linguistic markers used in the Japanese culture when interacting with individuals younger than oneself, only the Japanese young adults showed an advantage in judging the relative age of children's faces.Our results show that different sociocultural practices shape our efficiency in processing facial age information. The impact of culture may potentially calibrate other aspects of face processing.

Associations among facial masculinity, physical strength, fluctuating asymmetry and attractiveness in young men and women.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Dongen, Stefan

2014-01-01

Studies of the process of human mate selection and attractiveness have assumed that selection favours morphological features that correlate with (genetic) quality. Degree of masculinity/femininity and fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may signal (genetic) quality, but what information they harboured and how they relate to fitness is still debated. To study strength of associations between facial masculinity/femininity, facial FA, attractiveness and physical strength in humans. Two-hundred young males and females were studied by measuring facial asymmetry and masculinity on the basis of frontal photographs. Attractiveness was determined on the basis of scores given by an anonymous panel, and physical strength using hand grip strength. Patterns differed markedly between males and females and analysis method used (univariate vs multivariate). Overall, no associations between FA and attractiveness, masculinity and physical strength were found. In females, but not males, masculinity and attractiveness correlated negatively and masculinity and physical strength correlated positively. Further research into the differences between males and females in associations between facial morphology, attractiveness and physical strength is clearly needed. The use of a multivariate approach can increase our understanding of which regions of the face harbour specific information of hormone levels and perhaps behavioural traits.

The Prevalence of Cosmetic Facial Plastic Procedures among Facial Plastic Surgeons.

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Moayer, Roxana; Sand, Jordan P; Han, Albert; Nabili, Vishad; Keller, Gregory S

2018-04-01

This is the first study to report on the prevalence of cosmetic facial plastic surgery use among facial plastic surgeons. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency with which facial plastic surgeons have cosmetic procedures themselves. A secondary aim is to determine whether trends in usage of cosmetic facial procedures among facial plastic surgeons are similar to that of nonsurgeons. The study design was an anonymous, five-question, Internet survey distributed via email set in a single academic institution. Board-certified members of the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (AAFPRS) were included in this study. Self-reported history of cosmetic facial plastic surgery or minimally invasive procedures were recorded. The survey also queried participants for demographic data. A total of 216 members of the AAFPRS responded to the questionnaire. Ninety percent of respondents were male ( n  = 192) and 10.3% were female ( n  = 22). Thirty-three percent of respondents were aged 31 to 40 years ( n  = 70), 25% were aged 41 to 50 years ( n  = 53), 21.4% were aged 51 to 60 years ( n  = 46), and 20.5% were older than 60 years ( n  = 44). Thirty-six percent of respondents had a surgical cosmetic facial procedure and 75% has at least one minimally invasive cosmetic facial procedure. Facial plastic surgeons are frequent users of cosmetic facial plastic surgery. This finding may be due to access, knowledge base, values, or attitudes. By better understanding surgeon attitudes toward facial plastic surgery, we can improve communication with patients and delivery of care. This study is a first step in understanding use of facial plastic procedures among facial plastic surgeons. Thieme Medical Publishers 333 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY 10001, USA.

Facial expressions and pair bonds in hylobatids.

Science.gov (United States)

Florkiewicz, Brittany; Skollar, Gabriella; Reichard, Ulrich H

2018-06-06

Facial expressions are an important component of primate communication that functions to transmit social information and modulate intentions and motivations. Chimpanzees and macaques, for example, produce a variety of facial expressions when communicating with conspecifics. Hylobatids also produce various facial expressions; however, the origin and function of these facial expressions are still largely unclear. It has been suggested that larger facial expression repertoires may have evolved in the context of social complexity, but this link has yet to be tested at a broader empirical basis. The social complexity hypothesis offers a possible explanation for the evolution of complex communicative signals such as facial expressions, because as the complexity of an individual's social environment increases so does the need for communicative signals. We used an intraspecies, pair-focused study design to test the link between facial expressions and sociality within hylobatids, specifically the strength of pair-bonds. The current study compared 206 hr of video and 103 hr of focal animal data for ten hylobatid pairs from three genera (Nomascus, Hoolock, and Hylobates) living at the Gibbon Conservation Center. Using video footage, we explored 5,969 facial expressions along three dimensions: repertoire use, repertoire breadth, and facial expression synchrony [FES]. We then used focal animal data to compare dimensions of facial expressiveness to pair bond strength and behavioral synchrony. Hylobatids in our study overlapped in only half of their facial expressions (50%) with the only other detailed, quantitative study of hylobatid facial expressions, while 27 facial expressions were uniquely observed in our study animals. Taken together, hylobatids have a large facial expression repertoire of at least 80 unique facial expressions. Contrary to our prediction, facial repertoire composition was not significantly correlated with pair bond strength, rates of territorial synchrony

Batch metadata assignment to archival photograph collections using facial recognition software

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Kyle Banerjee

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Useful metadata is essential to giving individual meaning and value within the context of a greater image collection as well as making them more discoverable. However, often little information is available about the photos themselves, so adding consistent metadata to large collections of digital and digitized photographs is a time consuming process requiring highly experienced staff. By using facial recognition software, staff can identify individuals more quickly and reliably. Knowledge of individuals in photos helps staff determine when and where photos are taken and also improves understanding of the subject matter. This article demonstrates simple techniques for using facial recognition software and command line tools to assign, modify, and read metadata for large archival photograph collections.

Reproducibility of the dynamics of facial expressions in unilateral facial palsy.

Science.gov (United States)

Alagha, M A; Ju, X; Morley, S; Ayoub, A

2018-02-01

The aim of this study was to assess the reproducibility of non-verbal facial expressions in unilateral facial paralysis using dynamic four-dimensional (4D) imaging. The Di4D system was used to record five facial expressions of 20 adult patients. The system captured 60 three-dimensional (3D) images per second; each facial expression took 3-4seconds which was recorded in real time. Thus a set of 180 3D facial images was generated for each expression. The procedure was repeated after 30min to assess the reproducibility of the expressions. A mathematical facial mesh consisting of thousands of quasi-point 'vertices' was conformed to the face in order to determine the morphological characteristics in a comprehensive manner. The vertices were tracked throughout the sequence of the 180 images. Five key 3D facial frames from each sequence of images were analyzed. Comparisons were made between the first and second capture of each facial expression to assess the reproducibility of facial movements. Corresponding images were aligned using partial Procrustes analysis, and the root mean square distance between them was calculated and analyzed statistically (paired Student t-test, PFacial expressions of lip purse, cheek puff, and raising of eyebrows were reproducible. Facial expressions of maximum smile and forceful eye closure were not reproducible. The limited coordination of various groups of facial muscles contributed to the lack of reproducibility of these facial expressions. 4D imaging is a useful clinical tool for the assessment of facial expressions. Copyright © 2017 International Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Disconnection mechanism and regional cortical atrophy contribute to impaired processing of facial expressions and theory of mind in multiple sclerosis: a structural MRI study.

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Andrea Mike

Full Text Available Successful socialization requires the ability of understanding of others' mental states. This ability called as mentalization (Theory of Mind may become deficient and contribute to everyday life difficulties in multiple sclerosis. We aimed to explore the impact of brain pathology on mentalization performance in multiple sclerosis. Mentalization performance of 49 patients with multiple sclerosis was compared to 24 age- and gender matched healthy controls. T1- and T2-weighted three-dimensional brain MRI images were acquired at 3Tesla from patients with multiple sclerosis and 18 gender- and age matched healthy controls. We assessed overall brain cortical thickness in patients with multiple sclerosis and the scanned healthy controls, and measured the total and regional T1 and T2 white matter lesion volumes in patients with multiple sclerosis. Performances in tests of recognition of mental states and emotions from facial expressions and eye gazes correlated with both total T1-lesion load and regional T1-lesion load of association fiber tracts interconnecting cortical regions related to visual and emotion processing (genu and splenium of corpus callosum, right inferior longitudinal fasciculus, right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus. Both of these tests showed correlations with specific cortical areas involved in emotion recognition from facial expressions (right and left fusiform face area, frontal eye filed, processing of emotions (right entorhinal cortex and socially relevant information (left temporal pole. Thus, both disconnection mechanism due to white matter lesions and cortical thinning of specific brain areas may result in cognitive deficit in multiple sclerosis affecting emotion and mental state processing from facial expressions and contributing to everyday and social life difficulties of these patients.

Disconnection mechanism and regional cortical atrophy contribute to impaired processing of facial expressions and theory of mind in multiple sclerosis: a structural MRI study.

Science.gov (United States)

Mike, Andrea; Strammer, Erzsebet; Aradi, Mihaly; Orsi, Gergely; Perlaki, Gabor; Hajnal, Andras; Sandor, Janos; Banati, Miklos; Illes, Eniko; Zaitsev, Alexander; Herold, Robert; Guttmann, Charles R G; Illes, Zsolt

2013-01-01

Successful socialization requires the ability of understanding of others' mental states. This ability called as mentalization (Theory of Mind) may become deficient and contribute to everyday life difficulties in multiple sclerosis. We aimed to explore the impact of brain pathology on mentalization performance in multiple sclerosis. Mentalization performance of 49 patients with multiple sclerosis was compared to 24 age- and gender matched healthy controls. T1- and T2-weighted three-dimensional brain MRI images were acquired at 3Tesla from patients with multiple sclerosis and 18 gender- and age matched healthy controls. We assessed overall brain cortical thickness in patients with multiple sclerosis and the scanned healthy controls, and measured the total and regional T1 and T2 white matter lesion volumes in patients with multiple sclerosis. Performances in tests of recognition of mental states and emotions from facial expressions and eye gazes correlated with both total T1-lesion load and regional T1-lesion load of association fiber tracts interconnecting cortical regions related to visual and emotion processing (genu and splenium of corpus callosum, right inferior longitudinal fasciculus, right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, uncinate fasciculus). Both of these tests showed correlations with specific cortical areas involved in emotion recognition from facial expressions (right and left fusiform face area, frontal eye filed), processing of emotions (right entorhinal cortex) and socially relevant information (left temporal pole). Thus, both disconnection mechanism due to white matter lesions and cortical thinning of specific brain areas may result in cognitive deficit in multiple sclerosis affecting emotion and mental state processing from facial expressions and contributing to everyday and social life difficulties of these patients.

Impaired recognition of happy facial expressions in bipolar disorder.

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Lawlor-Savage, Linette; Sponheim, Scott R; Goghari, Vina M

2014-08-01

The ability to accurately judge facial expressions is important in social interactions. Individuals with bipolar disorder have been found to be impaired in emotion recognition; however, the specifics of the impairment are unclear. This study investigated whether facial emotion recognition difficulties in bipolar disorder reflect general cognitive, or emotion-specific, impairments. Impairment in the recognition of particular emotions and the role of processing speed in facial emotion recognition were also investigated. Clinically stable bipolar patients (n = 17) and healthy controls (n = 50) judged five facial expressions in two presentation types, time-limited and self-paced. An age recognition condition was used as an experimental control. Bipolar patients' overall facial recognition ability was unimpaired. However, patients' specific ability to judge happy expressions under time constraints was impaired. Findings suggest a deficit in happy emotion recognition impacted by processing speed. Given the limited sample size, further investigation with a larger patient sample is warranted.

The influence of different facial components on facial aesthetics.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Faure, J.C.; Rieffe, C.; Maltha, J.C.

2002-01-01

Facial aesthetics have an important influence on social behaviour and perception in our society. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of facial symmetry and inter-ocular distance on the assessment of facial aesthetics, factors that are often suggested as major contributors to

Unsupervised learning of facial emotion decoding skills

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Jan Oliver Huelle

2014-02-01

Full Text Available Research on the mechanisms underlying human facial emotion recognition has long focussed on genetically determined neural algorithms and often neglected the question of how these algorithms might be tuned by social learning. Here we show that facial emotion decoding skills can be significantly and sustainably improved by practise without an external teaching signal. Participants saw video clips of dynamic facial expressions of five different women and were asked to decide which of four possible emotions (anger, disgust, fear and sadness was shown in each clip. Although no external information about the correctness of the participant’s response or the sender’s true affective state was provided, participants showed a significant increase of facial emotion recognition accuracy both within and across two training sessions two days to several weeks apart. We discuss several similarities and differences between the unsupervised improvement of facial decoding skills observed in the current study, unsupervised perceptual learning of simple stimuli described in previous studies and practise effects often observed in cognitive tasks.

EquiFACS: The Equine Facial Action Coding System.

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Jen Wathan

Full Text Available Although previous studies of horses have investigated their facial expressions in specific contexts, e.g. pain, until now there has been no methodology available that documents all the possible facial movements of the horse and provides a way to record all potential facial configurations. This is essential for an objective description of horse facial expressions across a range of contexts that reflect different emotional states. Facial Action Coding Systems (FACS provide a systematic methodology of identifying and coding facial expressions on the basis of underlying facial musculature and muscle movement. FACS are anatomically based and document all possible facial movements rather than a configuration of movements associated with a particular situation. Consequently, FACS can be applied as a tool for a wide range of research questions. We developed FACS for the domestic horse (Equus caballus through anatomical investigation of the underlying musculature and subsequent analysis of naturally occurring behaviour captured on high quality video. Discrete facial movements were identified and described in terms of the underlying muscle contractions, in correspondence with previous FACS systems. The reliability of others to be able to learn this system (EquiFACS and consistently code behavioural sequences was high--and this included people with no previous experience of horses. A wide range of facial movements were identified, including many that are also seen in primates and other domestic animals (dogs and cats. EquiFACS provides a method that can now be used to document the facial movements associated with different social contexts and thus to address questions relevant to understanding social cognition and comparative psychology, as well as informing current veterinary and animal welfare practices.

Unsupervised learning of facial expression components

OpenAIRE

Egede, Joy Onyekachukwu

2013-01-01

The face is one of the most important means of non-verbal communication. A lot of information can be gotten about the emotional state of a person just by merely observing their facial expression. This is relatively easy in face to face communication but not so in human computer interaction. Supervised learning has been widely used by researchers to train machines to recognise facial expressions just like humans. However, supervised learning has significant limitations one of which is the fact...

Greater perceptual sensitivity to happy facial expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Maher, Stephen; Ekstrom, Tor; Chen, Yue

2014-01-01

Perception of subtle facial expressions is essential for social functioning; yet it is unclear if human perceptual sensitivities differ in detecting varying types of facial emotions. Evidence diverges as to whether salient negative versus positive emotions (such as sadness versus happiness) are preferentially processed. Here, we measured perceptual thresholds for the detection of four types of emotion in faces--happiness, fear, anger, and sadness--using psychophysical methods. We also evaluated the association of the perceptual performances with facial morphological changes between neutral and respective emotion types. Human observers were highly sensitive to happiness compared with the other emotional expressions. Further, this heightened perceptual sensitivity to happy expressions can be attributed largely to the emotion-induced morphological change of a particular facial feature (end-lip raise).

The role of great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy in facial nerve damage

OpenAIRE

Sun, Yan; Liu, Limei; Han, Yuechen; Xu, Lei; Zhang, Daogong; Wang, Haibo

2015-01-01

Background: Facial nerve is easy to be damaged, and there are many reconstructive methods for facial nerve reconstructive, such as facial nerve end to end anastomosis, the great auricular nerve graft, the sural nerve graft, or hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis. However, there is still little study about great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy. The aim of the present study was to identify the role of great auricular-facial nerve neurorrhaphy and the mechanism. Methods: Rat models of facia...

Facial soft tissue analysis among various vertical facial patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeelani, W.; Fida, M.; Shaikh, A.

2016-01-01

Background: The emergence of soft tissue paradigm in orthodontics has made various soft tissue parameters an integral part of the orthodontic problem list. The purpose of this study was to determine and compare various facial soft tissue parameters on lateral cephalograms among patients with short, average and long facial patterns. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on the lateral cephalograms of 180 adult subjects divided into three equal groups, i.e., short, average and long face according to the vertical facial pattern. Incisal display at rest, nose height, upper and lower lip lengths, degree of lip procumbency and the nasolabial angle were measured for each individual. The gender differences for these soft tissue parameters were determined using Mann-Whitney U test while the comparison among different facial patterns was performed using Kruskal-Wallis test. Results: Significant differences in the incisal display at rest, total nasal height, lip procumbency, the nasolabial angle and the upper and lower lip lengths were found among the three vertical facial patterns. A significant positive correlation of nose and lip dimensions was found with the underlying skeletal pattern. Similarly, the incisal display at rest, upper and lower lip procumbency and the nasolabial angle were significantly correlated with the lower anterior facial height. Conclusion: Short facial pattern is associated with minimal incisal display, recumbent upper and lower lips and acute nasolabial angle while the long facial pattern is associated with excessive incisal display, procumbent upper and lower lips and obtuse nasolabial angle. (author)

Communal and agentic behaviour in response to facial emotion expressions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

aan het Rot, Marije; Hogenelst, Koen; Gesing, Christina M

Facial emotions are important for human communication. Unfortunately, traditional facial emotion recognition tasks do not inform about how respondents might behave towards others expressing certain emotions. Approach-avoidance tasks do measure behaviour, but only on one dimension. In this study 81

A small-world network model of facial emotion recognition.

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Takehara, Takuma; Ochiai, Fumio; Suzuki, Naoto

2016-01-01

Various models have been proposed to increase understanding of the cognitive basis of facial emotions. Despite those efforts, interactions between facial emotions have received minimal attention. If collective behaviours relating to each facial emotion in the comprehensive cognitive system could be assumed, specific facial emotion relationship patterns might emerge. In this study, we demonstrate that the frameworks of complex networks can effectively capture those patterns. We generate 81 facial emotion images (6 prototypes and 75 morphs) and then ask participants to rate degrees of similarity in 3240 facial emotion pairs in a paired comparison task. A facial emotion network constructed on the basis of similarity clearly forms a small-world network, which features an extremely short average network distance and close connectivity. Further, even if two facial emotions have opposing valences, they are connected within only two steps. In addition, we show that intermediary morphs are crucial for maintaining full network integration, whereas prototypes are not at all important. These results suggest the existence of collective behaviours in the cognitive systems of facial emotions and also describe why people can efficiently recognize facial emotions in terms of information transmission and propagation. For comparison, we construct three simulated networks--one based on the categorical model, one based on the dimensional model, and one random network. The results reveal that small-world connectivity in facial emotion networks is apparently different from those networks, suggesting that a small-world network is the most suitable model for capturing the cognitive basis of facial emotions.

Sex differences in event-related potentials and attentional biases to emotional facial stimuli.

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Pfabigan, Daniela M; Lamplmayr-Kragl, Elisabeth; Pintzinger, Nina M; Sailer, Uta; Tran, Ulrich S

2014-01-01

Attentional processes play an important role in the processing of emotional information. Previous research reported attentional biases during stimulus processing in anxiety and depression. However, sex differences in the processing of emotional stimuli and higher prevalence rates of anxiety disorders among women, compared to men, suggest that attentional biases may also differ between the two sexes. The present study used a modified version of the dot probe task with happy, angry, and neutral facial stimuli to investigate the time course of attentional biases in healthy volunteers. Moreover, associations of attentional biases with alexithymia were examined on the behavioral and physiological level. Event-related potentials were measured while 21 participants (11 women) performed the task, utilizing also for the first time a difference wave approach in the analysis to highlight emotion-specific aspects. Women showed overall enhanced probe P1 amplitudes compared to men, in particular after rewarding facial stimuli. Using the difference wave approach, probe P1 amplitudes appeared specifically enhanced with regard to congruently presented happy facial stimuli among women, compared to men. Both methods yielded enhanced probe P1 amplitudes after presentation of the emotional stimulus in the left compared to the right visual hemifield. Probe P1 amplitudes correlated negatively with self-reported alexithymia, most of these correlations were only observable in women. Our results suggest that women orient their attention to a greater extent to facial stimuli than men and corroborate that alexithymia is a correlate of reduced emotional reactivity on a neuronal level. We recommend using a difference wave approach when addressing attentional processes of orientation and disengagement also in future studies.

Sex differences in event-related potentials and attentional biases to emotional facial stimuli

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Daniela M. Pfabigan

2014-12-01

Full Text Available Attentional processes play an important role in the processing of emotional information. Previous research reported attentional biases during stimulus processing in anxiety and depression. However, sex differences in the processing of emotional stimuli and higher prevalence rates of anxiety disorders among women, compared to men, suggest that attentional biases may also differ between the two sexes. The present study used a modified version of the dot probe task with happy, angry, and neutral facial stimuli to investigate the time course of attentional biases in healthy volunteers. Moreover, associations of attentional biases with alexithymia were examined on the behavioral and physiological level. Event-related potentials were measured while 21 participants (11 women performed the task, utilizing also for the first time a difference wave approach in the analysis to highlight emotion-specific aspects. Women showed overall enhanced probe P1 amplitudes compared to men, in particular after rewarding facial stimuli. Under the difference wave approach, probe P1 amplitudes appeared specifically enhanced with regard to congruently presented happy facial stimuli among women, compared to men. Both methods yielded enhanced probe P1 amplitudes after presentation of the emotional stimulus in the left compared to the right visual hemifield. Probe P1 amplitudes correlated negatively with self-reported alexithymia, most of these correlations were only observable in women. Our results suggest that women orient their attention to a greater extent to facial stimuli than men and corroborate that alexithymia is a correlate of reduced emotional reactivity on a neuronal level. We recommend using a difference wave approach when addressing attentional processes of orientation and disengagement also in future studies.

Does Gaze Direction Modulate Facial Expression Processing in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder?

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Akechi, Hironori; Senju, Atsushi; Kikuchi, Yukiko; Tojo, Yoshikuni; Osanai, Hiroo; Hasegawa, Toshikazu

2009-01-01

Two experiments investigated whether children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) integrate relevant communicative signals, such as gaze direction, when decoding a facial expression. In Experiment 1, typically developing children (9-14 years old; n = 14) were faster at detecting a facial expression accompanying a gaze direction with a congruent…

ORIGIN OF THE FACIAL ARTERY FROM THE LINGUAL-FACIAL TRUNK AND ITS COURSE THROUGH THE SUBMANDIBULAR SALIVARY GLAND: A CASE REPORT. Origen de la arteria facial desde el tronco lingual-facial y su curso a través de la glándula salival submandibular: informe

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Srinivasa Rao Sirasanagandla

2016-03-01

Full Text Available La disección cuidadosa del tercio posterior de la parte superficial de la glándula salival submandibular es uno de los pasos quirúrgicos esenciales en la extirpación endoscópica glandular, evitando daños en la arteria facial. Un buen conocimiento de la poco común relación entre la arteria facial y la glándula salival submandibular es de vital importancia para llevar a cabo de forma eficiente y segura la extirpación de la glándula submandibular. Las variaciones del patrón de ramificación de la arteria facial son bien conocidas y han sido expuestas en el pasado. Sin embargo, las variaciones en su origen y trayectoria son poco frecuentes. Durante una rutinaria disección de cabeza y cuello para los estudiantes universitarios de Medicina, observamos la inusual trayectoria de la arteria facial en el triángulo digástrico derecho en un cadáver de un varón de origen indio de aproximadamente 60 años. La arteria facial derecha se originó de la común lingual-facial del tronco por encima del nivel del asta mayor del hueso hioides, y luego atravesar a través de la sustancia de la parte superficial de la glándula submandibular, sin la formación de un bucle. Después la arteria entraba en la cara por el ángulo anteroinferior del masetero. A continuación, en su trayectoria intraglandular, esta arteria mostraba pequeñas ramificaciones glandulares.  Careful dissection of the posterior one third of the superficial part of the submandibular salivary gland is one of the essential surgical steps in endoscopic glandular excision, to avoid injury to the facial artery. A sound knowledge of unusual relationship of the facial artery with the submandibular salivary gland is essentially important to perform the safe and efficient submandibular gland excision. Different types of variations in the branching pattern of the facial artery have been reported in the past. However, variations in the origin and course of the facial artery are very rare

Dynamic Facial Prosthetics for Sufferers of Facial Paralysis

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Fergal Coulter

2011-10-01

Full Text Available BackgroundThis paper discusses the various methods and the materialsfor the fabrication of active artificial facial muscles. Theprimary use for these will be the reanimation of paralysedor atrophied muscles in sufferers of non-recoverableunilateral facial paralysis.MethodThe prosthetic solution described in this paper is based onsensing muscle motion of the contralateral healthy musclesand replicating that motion across a patient’s paralysed sideof the face, via solid state and thin film actuators. Thedevelopment of this facial prosthetic device focused onrecreating a varying intensity smile, with emphasis ontiming, displacement and the appearance of the wrinklesand folds that commonly appear around the nose and eyesduring the expression.An animatronic face was constructed with actuations beingmade to a silicone representation musculature, usingmultiple shape-memory alloy cascades. Alongside theartificial muscle physical prototype, a facial expressionrecognition software system was constructed. This formsthe basis of an automated calibration and reconfigurationsystem for the artificial muscles following implantation, soas to suit the implantee’s unique physiognomy.ResultsAn animatronic model face with silicone musculature wasdesigned and built to evaluate the performance of ShapeMemory Alloy artificial muscles, their power controlcircuitry and software control systems. A dual facial motionsensing system was designed to allow real time control overmodel – a piezoresistive flex sensor to measure physicalmotion, and a computer vision system to evaluate real toartificial muscle performance.Analysis of various facial expressions in real subjects wasmade, which give useful data upon which to base thesystems parameter limits.ConclusionThe system performed well, and the various strengths andshortcomings of the materials and methods are reviewedand considered for the next research phase, when newpolymer based artificial muscles are constructed

Facial Fractures.

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Ghosh, Rajarshi; Gopalkrishnan, Kulandaswamy

2018-06-01

The aim of this study is to retrospectively analyze the incidence of facial fractures along with age, gender predilection, etiology, commonest site, associated dental injuries, and any complications of patients operated in Craniofacial Unit of SDM College of Dental Sciences and Hospital. This retrospective study was conducted at the Department of OMFS, SDM College of Dental Sciences, Dharwad from January 2003 to December 2013. Data were recorded for the cause of injury, age and gender distribution, frequency and type of injury, localization and frequency of soft tissue injuries, dentoalveolar trauma, facial bone fractures, complications, concomitant injuries, and different treatment protocols.All the data were analyzed using statistical analysis that is chi-squared test. A total of 1146 patients reported at our unit with facial fractures during these 10 years. Males accounted for a higher frequency of facial fractures (88.8%). Mandible was the commonest bone to be fractured among all the facial bones (71.2%). Maxillary central incisors were the most common teeth to be injured (33.8%) and avulsion was the most common type of injury (44.6%). Commonest postoperative complication was plate infection (11%) leading to plate removal. Other injuries associated with facial fractures were rib fractures, head injuries, upper and lower limb fractures, etc., among these rib fractures were seen most frequently (21.6%). This study was performed to compare the different etiologic factors leading to diverse facial fracture patterns. By statistical analysis of this record the authors come to know about the relationship of facial fractures with gender, age, associated comorbidities, etc.

Do Dynamic Compared to Static Facial Expressions of Happiness and Anger Reveal Enhanced Facial Mimicry?

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Krystyna Rymarczyk

Full Text Available Facial mimicry is the spontaneous response to others' facial expressions by mirroring or matching the interaction partner. Recent evidence suggested that mimicry may not be only an automatic reaction but could be dependent on many factors, including social context, type of task in which the participant is engaged, or stimulus properties (dynamic vs static presentation. In the present study, we investigated the impact of dynamic facial expression and sex differences on facial mimicry and judgment of emotional intensity. Electromyography recordings were recorded from the corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, and orbicularis oculi muscles during passive observation of static and dynamic images of happiness and anger. The ratings of the emotional intensity of facial expressions were also analysed. As predicted, dynamic expressions were rated as more intense than static ones. Compared to static images, dynamic displays of happiness also evoked stronger activity in the zygomaticus major and orbicularis oculi, suggesting that subjects experienced positive emotion. No muscles showed mimicry activity in response to angry faces. Moreover, we found that women exhibited greater zygomaticus major muscle activity in response to dynamic happiness stimuli than static stimuli. Our data support the hypothesis that people mimic positive emotions and confirm the importance of dynamic stimuli in some emotional processing.

Eagle's syndrome with facial palsy

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Mohammed Al-Hashim

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Eagle's syndrome (ES is a rare disease in which the styloid process is elongated and compressing adjacent structures. We describe a rare presentation of ES in which the patient presented with facial palsy. Facial palsy as a presentation of ES is very rare. A review of the English literature revealed only one previously reported case. Our case is a 39-year-old male who presented with left facial palsy. He also reported a 9-year history of the classical symptoms of ES. A computed tomography scan with three-dimensional reconstruction confirmed the diagnoses. He was started on conservative management but without significant improvement. Surgical intervention was offered, but the patient refused. It is important for otolaryngologists, dentists, and other specialists who deal with head and neck problems to be able to recognize ES despite its rarity. Although the patient responded to a treatment similar to that of Bell's palsy because of the clinical features and imaging, ES was most likely the cause of his facial palsy.

Fixation to features and neural processing of facial expressions in a gender discrimination task.

Science.gov (United States)

Neath, Karly N; Itier, Roxane J

2015-10-01

Early face encoding, as reflected by the N170 ERP component, is sensitive to fixation to the eyes. Whether this sensitivity varies with facial expressions of emotion and can also be seen on other ERP components such as P1 and EPN, was investigated. Using eye-tracking to manipulate fixation on facial features, we found the N170 to be the only eye-sensitive component and this was true for fearful, happy and neutral faces. A different effect of fixation to features was seen for the earlier P1 that likely reflected general sensitivity to face position. An early effect of emotion (∼120 ms) for happy faces was seen at occipital sites and was sustained until ∼350 ms post-stimulus. For fearful faces, an early effect was seen around 80 ms followed by a later effect appearing at ∼150 ms until ∼300 ms at lateral posterior sites. Results suggests that in this emotion-irrelevant gender discrimination task, processing of fearful and happy expressions occurred early and largely independently of the eye-sensitivity indexed by the N170. Processing of the two emotions involved different underlying brain networks active at different times. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

[Clinical experience in facial nerve tumors: a review of 27 cases].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Fan; Wang, Yucheng; Dai, Chunfu; Chi, Fanglu; Zhou, Liang; Chen, Bing; Li, Huawei

2010-01-01

To analyze the clinical manifestations and the diagnosis of the facial nerve tumor according to the clinical information, and evaluate the different surgical approaches depending on tumor location. Twenty-seven cases of facial nerve tumors with general clinical informations available from 1999.9 to 2006.12 in the Shanghai EENT Hospital were reviewed retrospectively. Twenty (74.1%) schwannomas, 4 (14.8%) neurofibromas ,and 3 (11.1%) hemangiomas were identified with histopathology postoperatively. During the course of the disease, 23 patients (85.2%) suffered facial paralysis, both hearing loss and tinnitus affected 11 (40.7%) cases, 5 (18.5%) manifested infra-auricular mass and the others showed some of otalgia or vertigo or ear fullness or facial numbness/twitches. CT or/and MRI results in 24 cases indicated that the tumors originated from the facial nerve. Intra-operative findings showed that 24 (88.9%) cases involved no less than 2 segments of the facial nerve, of these 24 cases 87.5% (21/24) involved the mastoid portion, 70.8% (17/24) involved the tympanic portion, 62.5% (15/24) involved the geniculate ganglion, only 4.2% (1/24) involved the internal acoustic canal (IAC), and 3 cases (11.1%) had only one segments involved. In all of these 27 cases, the tumors were completely excised, of which 13 were resected followed by an immediate facial nerve reconstruction, including 11 sural nerve cable graft, 1 facial nerve end-to-end anastomosis and 1 hypoglossal-facial nerve end-to-end anastomosis. Tumors were removed with preservation of facial nerve continuity in 2 cases. Facial nerve tumor is a rare and benign lesion, and has numerous clinical manifestations. CT and MRI can help surgeons to make a right diagnosis preoperatively. When and how to give the patients an operation depends on the patients individually.

Automatic facial animation parameters extraction in MPEG-4 visual communication

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Chenggen; Gong, Wanwei; Yu, Lu

2002-01-01

Facial Animation Parameters (FAPs) are defined in MPEG-4 to animate a facial object. The algorithm proposed in this paper to extract these FAPs is applied to very low bit-rate video communication, in which the scene is composed of a head-and-shoulder object with complex background. This paper addresses the algorithm to automatically extract all FAPs needed to animate a generic facial model, estimate the 3D motion of head by points. The proposed algorithm extracts human facial region by color segmentation and intra-frame and inter-frame edge detection. Facial structure and edge distribution of facial feature such as vertical and horizontal gradient histograms are used to locate the facial feature region. Parabola and circle deformable templates are employed to fit facial feature and extract a part of FAPs. A special data structure is proposed to describe deformable templates to reduce time consumption for computing energy functions. Another part of FAPs, 3D rigid head motion vectors, are estimated by corresponding-points method. A 3D head wire-frame model provides facial semantic information for selection of proper corresponding points, which helps to increase accuracy of 3D rigid object motion estimation.

The study on transport of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in facial nerve

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yunchun; Li Lin; Wang Quanlin; Yang Xiaochuan; He Gang; Gao Bingqing; Lin Daicheng; Liang Chuanyu

2000-01-01

The transport information of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in facial nerve is studied using 125 I-BDNF or 131 I-BDNF. After one lateral facial nerve trunk of adult rabbit is transected, a silicone chamber is inserted between the stumps, and labelled compounds are administered into the chamber. Bilateral facial nerve trunk and facial nerve motor neurone of brain-stem of rabbits are collected and counted respectively, and imaged at coronary position of head in live rabbit. The results show that BDNF has a retrograde transport in facial nerve, and the transport of 131 I-BDNF is marked restrained by BDNF in facial nerve

Neural Correlates of Facial Mimicry: Simultaneous Measurements of EMG and BOLD Responses during Perception of Dynamic Compared to Static Facial Expressions

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Rymarczyk, Krystyna; Żurawski, Łukasz; Jankowiak-Siuda, Kamila; Szatkowska, Iwona

2018-01-01

Facial mimicry (FM) is an automatic response to imitate the facial expressions of others. However, neural correlates of the phenomenon are as yet not well established. We investigated this issue using simultaneously recorded EMG and BOLD signals during perception of dynamic and static emotional facial expressions of happiness and anger. During display presentations, BOLD signals and zygomaticus major (ZM), corrugator supercilii (CS) and orbicularis oculi (OO) EMG responses were recorded simultaneously from 46 healthy individuals. Subjects reacted spontaneously to happy facial expressions with increased EMG activity in ZM and OO muscles and decreased CS activity, which was interpreted as FM. Facial muscle responses correlated with BOLD activity in regions associated with motor simulation of facial expressions [i.e., inferior frontal gyrus, a classical Mirror Neuron System (MNS)]. Further, we also found correlations for regions associated with emotional processing (i.e., insula, part of the extended MNS). It is concluded that FM involves both motor and emotional brain structures, especially during perception of natural emotional expressions. PMID:29467691

Factors contributing to the adaptation aftereffects of facial expression.

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Butler, Andrea; Oruc, Ipek; Fox, Christopher J; Barton, Jason J S

2008-01-29

Previous studies have demonstrated the existence of adaptation aftereffects for facial expressions. Here we investigated which aspects of facial stimuli contribute to these aftereffects. In Experiment 1, we examined the role of local adaptation to image elements such as curvature, shape and orientation, independent of expression, by using hybrid faces constructed from either the same or opposing expressions. While hybrid faces made with consistent expressions generated aftereffects as large as those with normal faces, there were no aftereffects from hybrid faces made from different expressions, despite the fact that these contained the same local image elements. In Experiment 2, we examined the role of facial features independent of the normal face configuration by contrasting adaptation with whole faces to adaptation with scrambled faces. We found that scrambled faces also generated significant aftereffects, indicating that expressive features without a normal facial configuration could generate expression aftereffects. In Experiment 3, we examined the role of facial configuration by using schematic faces made from line elements that in isolation do not carry expression-related information (e.g. curved segments and straight lines) but that convey an expression when arranged in a normal facial configuration. We obtained a significant aftereffect for facial configurations but not scrambled configurations of these line elements. We conclude that facial expression aftereffects are not due to local adaptation to image elements but due to high-level adaptation of neural representations that involve both facial features and facial configuration.

Adolescents with HIV and facial lipoatrophy: response to facial stimulation

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Jesus Claudio Gabana-Silveira

2014-08-01

Full Text Available OBJECTIVES: This study evaluated the effects of facial stimulation over the superficial muscles of the face in individuals with facial lipoatrophy associated with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV and with no indication for treatment with polymethyl methacrylate. METHOD: The study sample comprised four adolescents of both genders ranging from 13 to 17 years in age. To participate in the study, the participants had to score six or less points on the Facial Lipoatrophy Index. The facial stimulation program used in our study consisted of 12 weekly 30-minute sessions during which individuals received therapy. The therapy consisted of intra- and extra-oral muscle contraction and stretching maneuvers of the zygomaticus major and minor and the masseter muscles. Pre- and post-treatment results were obtained using anthropometric static measurements of the face and the Facial Lipoatrophy Index. RESULTS: The results suggest that the therapeutic program effectively improved the volume of the buccinators. No significant differences were observed for the measurements of the medial portion of the face, the lateral portion of the face, the volume of the masseter muscle, or Facial Lipoatrophy Index scores. CONCLUSION: The results of our study suggest that facial maneuvers applied to the superficial muscles of the face of adolescents with facial lipoatrophy associated with HIV improved the facial area volume related to the buccinators muscles. We believe that our results will encourage future research with HIV patients, especially for patients who do not have the possibility of receiving an alternative aesthetic treatment.

Delineation of facial archetypes by 3d averaging.

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Shaweesh, Ashraf I; Thomas, C David L; Bankier, Agnes; Clement, John G

2004-10-01

The objective of this study was to investigate the feasibility of creating archetypal 3D faces through computerized 3D facial averaging. A 3D surface scanner Fiore and its software were used to acquire the 3D scans of the faces while 3D Rugle3 and locally-developed software generated the holistic facial averages. 3D facial averages were created from two ethnic groups; European and Japanese and from children with three previous genetic disorders; Williams syndrome, achondroplasia and Sotos syndrome as well as the normal control group. The method included averaging the corresponding depth (z) coordinates of the 3D facial scans. Compared with other face averaging techniques there was not any warping or filling in the spaces by interpolation; however, this facial average lacked colour information. The results showed that as few as 14 faces were sufficient to create an archetypal facial average. In turn this would make it practical to use face averaging as an identification tool in cases where it would be difficult to recruit a larger number of participants. In generating the average, correcting for size differences among faces was shown to adjust the average outlines of the facial features. It is assumed that 3D facial averaging would help in the identification of the ethnic status of persons whose identity may not be known with certainty. In clinical medicine, it would have a great potential for the diagnosis of syndromes with distinctive facial features. The system would also assist in the education of clinicians in the recognition and identification of such syndromes.

Sad Facial Expressions Increase Choice Blindness

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Yajie Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have discovered a fascinating phenomenon known as choice blindness—individuals fail to detect mismatches between the face they choose and the face replaced by the experimenter. Although previous studies have reported a couple of factors that can modulate the magnitude of choice blindness, the potential effect of facial expression on choice blindness has not yet been explored. Using faces with sad and neutral expressions (Experiment 1 and faces with happy and neutral expressions (Experiment 2 in the classic choice blindness paradigm, the present study investigated the effects of facial expressions on choice blindness. The results showed that the detection rate was significantly lower on sad faces than neutral faces, whereas no significant difference was observed between happy faces and neutral faces. The exploratory analysis of verbal reports found that participants who reported less facial features for sad (as compared to neutral expressions also tended to show a lower detection rate of sad (as compared to neutral faces. These findings indicated that sad facial expressions increased choice blindness, which might have resulted from inhibition of further processing of the detailed facial features by the less attractive sad expressions (as compared to neutral expressions.

Sad Facial Expressions Increase Choice Blindness.

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Wang, Yajie; Zhao, Song; Zhang, Zhijie; Feng, Wenfeng

2017-01-01

Previous studies have discovered a fascinating phenomenon known as choice blindness-individuals fail to detect mismatches between the face they choose and the face replaced by the experimenter. Although previous studies have reported a couple of factors that can modulate the magnitude of choice blindness, the potential effect of facial expression on choice blindness has not yet been explored. Using faces with sad and neutral expressions (Experiment 1) and faces with happy and neutral expressions (Experiment 2) in the classic choice blindness paradigm, the present study investigated the effects of facial expressions on choice blindness. The results showed that the detection rate was significantly lower on sad faces than neutral faces, whereas no significant difference was observed between happy faces and neutral faces. The exploratory analysis of verbal reports found that participants who reported less facial features for sad (as compared to neutral) expressions also tended to show a lower detection rate of sad (as compared to neutral) faces. These findings indicated that sad facial expressions increased choice blindness, which might have resulted from inhibition of further processing of the detailed facial features by the less attractive sad expressions (as compared to neutral expressions).

A facial marker in facial wasting rehabilitation.

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Rauso, Raffaele; Tartaro, Gianpaolo; Freda, Nicola; Rusciani, Antonio; Curinga, Giuseppe

2012-02-01

Facial lipoatrophy is one of the most distressing manifestation for HIV patients. It can be stigmatizing, severely affecting quality of life and self-esteem, and it may result in reduced antiretroviral adherence. Several filling techniques have been proposed in facial wasting restoration, with different outcomes. The aim of this study is to present a triangular area that is useful to fill in facial wasting rehabilitation. Twenty-eight HIV patients rehabilitated for facial wasting were enrolled in this study. Sixteen were rehabilitated with a non-resorbable filler and twelve with structural fat graft harvested from lipohypertrophied areas. A photographic pre-operative and post-operative evaluation was performed by the patients and by two plastic surgeons who were "blinded." The filled area, in both patients rehabilitated with structural fat grafts or non-resorbable filler, was a triangular area of depression identified between the nasolabial fold, the malar arch, and the line that connects these two anatomical landmarks. The cosmetic result was evaluated after three months after the last filling procedure in the non-resorbable filler group and after three months post-surgery in the structural fat graft group. The mean patient satisfaction score was 8.7 as assessed with a visual analogue scale. The mean score for blinded evaluators was 7.6. In this study the authors describe a triangular area of the face, between the nasolabial fold, the malar arch, and the line that connects these two anatomical landmarks, where a good aesthetic facial restoration in HIV patients with facial wasting may be achieved regardless of which filling technique is used.

Facial emotion recognition in Parkinson's disease: A review and new hypotheses

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Vérin, Marc; Sauleau, Paul; Grandjean, Didier

2018-01-01

Abstract Parkinson's disease is a neurodegenerative disorder classically characterized by motor symptoms. Among them, hypomimia affects facial expressiveness and social communication and has a highly negative impact on patients' and relatives' quality of life. Patients also frequently experience nonmotor symptoms, including emotional‐processing impairments, leading to difficulty in recognizing emotions from faces. Aside from its theoretical importance, understanding the disruption of facial emotion recognition in PD is crucial for improving quality of life for both patients and caregivers, as this impairment is associated with heightened interpersonal difficulties. However, studies assessing abilities in recognizing facial emotions in PD still report contradictory outcomes. The origins of this inconsistency are unclear, and several questions (regarding the role of dopamine replacement therapy or the possible consequences of hypomimia) remain unanswered. We therefore undertook a fresh review of relevant articles focusing on facial emotion recognition in PD to deepen current understanding of this nonmotor feature, exploring multiple significant potential confounding factors, both clinical and methodological, and discussing probable pathophysiological mechanisms. This led us to examine recent proposals about the role of basal ganglia‐based circuits in emotion and to consider the involvement of facial mimicry in this deficit from the perspective of embodied simulation theory. We believe our findings will inform clinical practice and increase fundamental knowledge, particularly in relation to potential embodied emotion impairment in PD. © 2018 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society. PMID:29473661

Decoding facial blends of emotion: visual field, attentional and hemispheric biases.

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Ross, Elliott D; Shayya, Luay; Champlain, Amanda; Monnot, Marilee; Prodan, Calin I

2013-12-01

Most clinical research assumes that modulation of facial expressions is lateralized predominantly across the right-left hemiface. However, social psychological research suggests that facial expressions are organized predominantly across the upper-lower face. Because humans learn to cognitively control facial expression for social purposes, the lower face may display a false emotion, typically a smile, to enable approach behavior. In contrast, the upper face may leak a person's true feeling state by producing a brief facial blend of emotion, i.e. a different emotion on the upper versus lower face. Previous studies from our laboratory have shown that upper facial emotions are processed preferentially by the right hemisphere under conditions of directed attention if facial blends of emotion are presented tachistoscopically to the mid left and right visual fields. This paper explores how facial blends are processed within the four visual quadrants. The results, combined with our previous research, demonstrate that lower more so than upper facial emotions are perceived best when presented to the viewer's left and right visual fields just above the horizontal axis. Upper facial emotions are perceived best when presented to the viewer's left visual field just above the horizontal axis under conditions of directed attention. Thus, by gazing at a person's left ear, which also avoids the social stigma of eye-to-eye contact, one's ability to decode facial expressions should be enhanced. Published by Elsevier Inc.

The recognition of facial expressions: an investigation of the influence of age and cognition.

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Horning, Sheena M; Cornwell, R Elisabeth; Davis, Hasker P

2012-11-01

The present study aimed to investigate changes in facial expression recognition across the lifespan, as well as to determine the influence of fluid intelligence, processing speed, and memory on this ability. Peak performance in the ability to identify facial affect was found to occur in middle-age, with the children and older adults performing the poorest. Specifically, older adults were impaired in their ability to identify fear, sadness, and happiness, but had preserved recognition of anger, disgust, and surprise. Analyses investigating the influence of cognition on emotion recognition demonstrated that cognitive abilities contribute to performance, especially for participants over age 45. However, the cognitive functions did not fully account for the older adults' impairments on expression recognition. Overall, the age-related deficits in facial expression recognition have implications for older adults' use of non-verbal communicative information.

Towards emotion detection in educational scenarios from facial expressions and body movements through multimodal approaches.

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Saneiro, Mar; Santos, Olga C; Salmeron-Majadas, Sergio; Boticario, Jesus G

2014-01-01

We report current findings when considering video recordings of facial expressions and body movements to provide affective personalized support in an educational context from an enriched multimodal emotion detection approach. In particular, we describe an annotation methodology to tag facial expression and body movements that conform to changes in the affective states of learners while dealing with cognitive tasks in a learning process. The ultimate goal is to combine these annotations with additional affective information collected during experimental learning sessions from different sources such as qualitative, self-reported, physiological, and behavioral information. These data altogether are to train data mining algorithms that serve to automatically identify changes in the learners' affective states when dealing with cognitive tasks which help to provide emotional personalized support.

Towards Emotion Detection in Educational Scenarios from Facial Expressions and Body Movements through Multimodal Approaches

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Mar Saneiro

2014-01-01

Full Text Available We report current findings when considering video recordings of facial expressions and body movements to provide affective personalized support in an educational context from an enriched multimodal emotion detection approach. In particular, we describe an annotation methodology to tag facial expression and body movements that conform to changes in the affective states of learners while dealing with cognitive tasks in a learning process. The ultimate goal is to combine these annotations with additional affective information collected during experimental learning sessions from different sources such as qualitative, self-reported, physiological, and behavioral information. These data altogether are to train data mining algorithms that serve to automatically identify changes in the learners’ affective states when dealing with cognitive tasks which help to provide emotional personalized support.

Interest and attention in facial recognition.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgess, Melinda C R; Weaver, George E

2003-04-01

When applied to facial recognition, the levels of processing paradigm has yielded consistent results: faces processed in deep conditions are recognized better than faces processed under shallow conditions. However, there are multiple explanations for this occurrence. The own-race advantage in facial recognition, the tendency to recognize faces from one's own race better than faces from another race, is also consistently shown but not clearly explained. This study was designed to test the hypothesis that the levels of processing findings in facial recognition are a result of interest and attention, not differences in processing. This hypothesis was tested for both own and other faces with 105 Caucasian general psychology students. Levels of processing was manipulated as a between-subjects variable; students were asked to answer one of four types of study questions, e.g., "deep" or "shallow" processing questions, while viewing the study faces. Students' recognition of a subset of previously presented Caucasian and African-American faces from a test-set with an equal number of distractor faces was tested. They indicated their interest in and attention to the task. The typical levels of processing effect was observed with better recognition performance in the deep conditions than in the shallow conditions for both own- and other-race faces. The typical own-race advantage was also observed regardless of level of processing condition. For both own- and other-race faces, level of processing explained a significant portion of the recognition variance above and beyond what was explained by interest in and attention to the task.

Preliminary cephalometric study of the relationship between facial morphology and sex

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Alhassan Kadri

2018-06-01

Full Text Available Morphology of the face depends on many factors, such as sex, ethnicity, race, climate, nutrition, genetic constitution and socio-economic status. In the developed countries, there is well established database on facial anthropometry and for the purpose of identification. In Ghana however, there is very little documented information on cephalometric indices for biometric and forensic purposes. This study therefore, aimed at establishing baseline data to assess the relationship between sex using upper, lower and total cephalometric indices. One hundred participants made up of sixty males and forty females from KNUST were recruited for the study. Linear facial anthropometry were taken using calibrated Shahe digital calipers whiles participants sat with head in natural position. The facial anthropometric measurements were generally higher in males than in females. Upper facial height, facial width, nasal width, biocular diameter, lower facial height, lip length and total facial height were statistically significant and (p < 0.05. The present study shows the existence of statistically significant sexual dimorphism in the study population using cephalo-facial dimensions. Keywords: Cephalometry, Facial height, Facial width, Nasal width, Biocular diameter, Sexually dimorphic

Facial Expression Recognition using Multiclass Ensemble Least-Square Support Vector Machine

Science.gov (United States)

Lawi, Armin; Sya'Rani Machrizzandi, M.

2018-03-01

Facial expression is one of behavior characteristics of human-being. The use of biometrics technology system with facial expression characteristics makes it possible to recognize a person’s mood or emotion. The basic components of facial expression analysis system are face detection, face image extraction, facial classification and facial expressions recognition. This paper uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) algorithm to extract facial features with expression parameters, i.e., happy, sad, neutral, angry, fear, and disgusted. Then Multiclass Ensemble Least-Squares Support Vector Machine (MELS-SVM) is used for the classification process of facial expression. The result of MELS-SVM model obtained from our 185 different expression images of 10 persons showed high accuracy level of 99.998% using RBF kernel.

[Facial nerve neurinomas].

Science.gov (United States)

Sokołowski, Jacek; Bartoszewicz, Robert; Morawski, Krzysztof; Jamróz, Barbara; Niemczyk, Kazimierz

2013-01-01

Evaluation of diagnostic, surgical technique, treatment results facial nerve neurinomas and its comparison with literature was the main purpose of this study. Seven cases of patients (2005-2011) with facial nerve schwannomas were included to retrospective analysis in the Department of Otolaryngology, Medical University of Warsaw. All patients were assessed with history of the disease, physical examination, hearing tests, computed tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging, electronystagmography. Cases were observed in the direction of potential complications and recurrences. Neurinoma of the facial nerve occurred in the vertical segment (n=2), facial nerve geniculum (n=1) and the internal auditory canal (n=4). The symptoms observed in patients were analyzed: facial nerve paresis (n=3), hearing loss (n=2), dizziness (n=1). Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography allowed to confirm the presence of the tumor and to assess its staging. Schwannoma of the facial nerve has been surgically removed using the middle fossa approach (n=5) and by antromastoidectomy (n=2). Anatomical continuity of the facial nerve was achieved in 3 cases. In the twelve months after surgery, facial nerve paresis was rated at level II-III° HB. There was no recurrence of the tumor in radiological observation. Facial nerve neurinoma is a rare tumor. Currently surgical techniques allow in most cases, the radical removing of the lesion and reconstruction of the VII nerve function. The rate of recurrence is low. A tumor of the facial nerve should be considered in the differential diagnosis of nerve VII paresis. Copyright © 2013 Polish Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery Society. Published by Elsevier Urban & Partner Sp. z.o.o. All rights reserved.

Rejuvenecimiento facial

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L. Daniel Jacubovsky, Dr.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available El envejecimiento facial es un proceso único y particular a cada individuo y está regido en especial por su carga genética. El lifting facial es una compleja técnica desarrollada en nuestra especialidad desde principios de siglo, para revertir los principales signos de este proceso. Los factores secundarios que gravitan en el envejecimiento facial son múltiples y por ello las ritidectomías o lifting cérvico faciales descritas han buscado corregir los cambios fisonómicos del envejecimiento excursionando, como se describe, en todos los planos tisulares involucrados. Esta cirugía por lo tanto, exige conocimiento cabal de la anatomía quirúrgica, pericia y experiencia para reducir las complicaciones, estigmas quirúrgicos y revisiones secundarias. La ridectomía facial ha evolucionado hacia un procedimiento más simple, de incisiones más cortas y disecciones menos extensas. Las suspensiones musculares han variado en su ejecución y los vectores de montaje y resección cutánea son cruciales en los resultados estéticos de la cirugía cérvico facial. Hoy estos vectores son de tracción más vertical. La corrección de la flaccidez va acompañada de un interés en reponer el volumen de la superficie del rostro, en especial el tercio medio. Las técnicas quirúrgicas de rejuvenecimiento, en especial el lifting facial, exigen una planificación para cada paciente. Las técnicas adjuntas al lifting, como blefaroplastias, mentoplastía, lipoaspiración de cuello, implantes faciales y otras, también han tenido una positiva evolución hacia la reducción de riesgos y mejor éxito estético.

Cognitive penetrability and emotion recognition in human facial expressions

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Francesco eMarchi

2015-06-01

Full Text Available Do our background beliefs, desires, and mental images influence our perceptual experience of the emotions of others? In this paper, we will address the possibility of cognitive penetration of perceptual experience in the domain of social cognition. In particular, we focus on emotion recognition based on the visual experience of facial expressions. After introducing the current debate on cognitive penetration, we review examples of perceptual adaptation for facial expressions of emotion. This evidence supports the idea that facial expressions are perceptually processed as wholes. That is, the perceptual system integrates lower-level facial features, such as eyebrow orientation, mouth angle etc., into facial compounds. We then present additional experimental evidence showing that in some cases, emotion recognition on the basis of facial expression is sensitive to and modified by the background knowledge of the subject. We argue that such sensitivity is best explained as a difference in the visual experience of the facial expression, not just as a modification of the judgment based on this experience. The difference in experience is characterized as the result of the interference of background knowledge with the perceptual integration process for faces. Thus, according to the best explanation, we have to accept cognitive penetration in some cases of emotion recognition. Finally, we highlight a recent model of social vision in order to propose a mechanism for cognitive penetration used in the face-based recognition of emotion.

Exposure to the self-face facilitates identification of dynamic facial expressions: influences on individual differences.

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Li, Yuan Hang; Tottenham, Nim

2013-04-01

A growing literature suggests that the self-face is involved in processing the facial expressions of others. The authors experimentally activated self-face representations to assess its effects on the recognition of dynamically emerging facial expressions of others. They exposed participants to videos of either their own faces (self-face prime) or faces of others (nonself-face prime) prior to a facial expression judgment task. Their results show that experimentally activating self-face representations results in earlier recognition of dynamically emerging facial expression. As a group, participants in the self-face prime condition recognized expressions earlier (when less affective perceptual information was available) compared to participants in the nonself-face prime condition. There were individual differences in performance, such that poorer expression identification was associated with higher autism traits (in this neurocognitively healthy sample). However, when randomized into the self-face prime condition, participants with high autism traits performed as well as those with low autism traits. Taken together, these data suggest that the ability to recognize facial expressions in others is linked with the internal representations of our own faces. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Gender and facial dominance in gaze cuing: Emotional context matters in the eyes that we follow

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ohlsen, G.; van Zoest, W.; van Vugt, M.

2013-01-01

Gaze following is a socio-cognitive process that provides adaptive information about potential threats and opportunities in the individual's environment. The aim of the present study was to investigate the potential interaction between emotional context and facial dominance in gaze following. We

Facial biases on vocal perception and memory.

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Boltz, Marilyn G

2017-06-01

Does a speaker's face influence the way their voice is heard and later remembered? This question was addressed through two experiments where in each, participants listened to middle-aged voices accompanied by faces that were either age-appropriate, younger or older than the voice or, as a control, no face at all. In Experiment 1, participants evaluated each voice on various acoustical dimensions and speaker characteristics. The results showed that facial displays influenced perception such that the same voice was heard differently depending on the age of the accompanying face. Experiment 2 further revealed that facial displays led to memory distortions that were age-congruent in nature. These findings illustrate that faces can activate certain social categories and preconceived stereotypes that then influence vocal and person perception in a corresponding fashion. Processes of face/voice integration are very similar to those of music/film, indicating that the two areas can mutually inform one another and perhaps, more generally, reflect a centralized mechanism of cross-sensory integration. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Contemporary Koreans’ Perceptions of Facial Beauty

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Seung Chul Rhee

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Background This article aims to investigate current perceptions of beauty of the general public and physicians without a specialization in plastic surgery performing aesthetic procedures. Methods A cross-sectional and interviewing questionnaire was administered to 290 people in Seoul, South Korea in September 2015. The questionnaire addressed three issues: general attitudes about plastic surgery (Q1, perception of and preferences regarding Korean female celebrities’ facial attractiveness (Q2, and the relative influence of each facial aesthetic subunit on overall facial attractiveness. The survey’s results were gathered by a professional research agency and classified according to a respondent’s gender, age, and job type (95%±5.75% confidence interval. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS ver. 10.1, calculating one-way analysis of variance with post hoc analysis and Tukey’s t-test. Results Among the respondents, 38.3% were in favor of aesthetic plastic surgery. The most common source of plastic surgery information was the internet (50.0%. The most powerful factor influencing hospital or clinic selection was the postoperative surgical results of acquaintances (74.9%. We created a composite face of an attractive Korean female, representing the current facial configuration considered appealing to the Koreans. Beauty perceptions differed to some degree based on gender and generational differences. We found that there were certain differences in beauty perceptions between general physicians who perform aesthetic procedures and the general public. Conclusions Our study results provide aesthetic plastic surgeons with detailed information about contemporary Korean people’s attitudes toward and perceptions of plastic surgery and the specific characteristics of female Korean faces currently considered attractive, plus trends in these perceptions, which should inform plastic surgeons within their specialized fields.

Mere social categorization modulates identification of facial expressions of emotion.

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Young, Steven G; Hugenberg, Kurt

2010-12-01

The ability of the human face to communicate emotional states via facial expressions is well known, and past research has established the importance and universality of emotional facial expressions. However, recent evidence has revealed that facial expressions of emotion are most accurately recognized when the perceiver and expresser are from the same cultural ingroup. The current research builds on this literature and extends this work. Specifically, we find that mere social categorization, using a minimal-group paradigm, can create an ingroup emotion-identification advantage even when the culture of the target and perceiver is held constant. Follow-up experiments show that this effect is supported by differential motivation to process ingroup versus outgroup faces and that this motivational disparity leads to more configural processing of ingroup faces than of outgroup faces. Overall, the results point to distinct processing modes for ingroup and outgroup faces, resulting in differential identification accuracy for facial expressions of emotion. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved.

Fusiform Correlates of Facial Memory in Autism

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Nicholas Lange

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Prior studies have shown that performance on standardized measures of memory in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD is substantially reduced in comparison to matched typically developing controls (TDC. Given reported deficits in face processing in autism, the current study compared performance on an immediate and delayed facial memory task for individuals with ASD and TDC. In addition, we examined volumetric differences in classic facial memory regions of interest (ROI between the two groups, including the fusiform, amygdala, and hippocampus. We then explored the relationship between ROI volume and facial memory performance. We found larger volumes in the autism group in the left amygdala and left hippocampus compared to TDC. In contrast, TDC had larger left fusiform gyrus volumes when compared with ASD. Interestingly, we also found significant negative correlations between delayed facial memory performance and volume of the left and right fusiform and the left hippocampus for the ASD group but not for TDC. The possibility of larger fusiform volume as a marker of abnormal connectivity and decreased facial memory is discussed.

ExpNet: Landmark-Free, Deep, 3D Facial Expressions

OpenAIRE

Chang, Feng-Ju; Tran, Anh Tuan; Hassner, Tal; Masi, Iacopo; Nevatia, Ram; Medioni, Gerard

2018-01-01

We describe a deep learning based method for estimating 3D facial expression coefficients. Unlike previous work, our process does not relay on facial landmark detection methods as a proxy step. Recent methods have shown that a CNN can be trained to regress accurate and discriminative 3D morphable model (3DMM) representations, directly from image intensities. By foregoing facial landmark detection, these methods were able to estimate shapes for occluded faces appearing in unprecedented in-the-...

Facial expression primes and implicit regulation of negative emotion.

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Yoon, HeungSik; Kim, Shin Ah; Kim, Sang Hee

2015-06-17

An individual's responses to emotional information are influenced not only by the emotional quality of the information, but also by the context in which the information is presented. We hypothesized that facial expressions of happiness and anger would serve as primes to modulate subjective and neural responses to subsequently presented negative information. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a functional MRI study in which the brains of healthy adults were scanned while they performed an emotion-rating task. During the task, participants viewed a series of negative and neutral photos, one at a time; each photo was presented after a picture showing a face expressing a happy, angry, or neutral emotion. Brain imaging results showed that compared with neutral primes, happy facial primes increased activation during negative emotion in the dorsal anterior cingulated cortex and the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, which are typically implicated in conflict detection and implicit emotion control, respectively. Conversely, relative to neutral primes, angry primes activated the right middle temporal gyrus and the left supramarginal gyrus during the experience of negative emotion. Activity in the amygdala in response to negative emotion was marginally reduced after exposure to happy primes compared with angry primes. Relative to neutral primes, angry facial primes increased the subjectively experienced intensity of negative emotion. The current study results suggest that prior exposure to facial expressions of emotions modulates the subsequent experience of negative emotion by implicitly activating the emotion-regulation system.

Facial exercises for facial rejuvenation: a control group study.

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De Vos, Marie-Camille; Van den Brande, Helen; Boone, Barbara; Van Borsel, John

2013-01-01

Facial exercises are a noninvasive alternative to medical approaches to facial rejuvenation. Logopedists could be involved in providing these exercises. Little research has been conducted, however, on the effectiveness of exercises for facial rejuvenation. This study assessed the effectiveness of 4 exercises purportedly reducing wrinkles and sagging of the facial skin. A control group study was conducted with 18 participants, 9 of whom (the experimental group) underwent daily training for 7 weeks. Pictures taken before and after 7 weeks of 5 facial areas (forehead, nasolabial folds, area above the upper lip, jawline and area under the chin) were evaluated by a panel of laypersons. In addition, the participants of the experimental group evaluated their own pictures. Evaluation included the pairwise presentation of pictures before and after 7 weeks and scoring of the same pictures by means of visual analogue scales in a random presentation. Only one significant difference was found between the control and experimental group. In the experimental group, the picture after therapy of the upper lip was more frequently chosen to be the younger-looking one by the panel. It cannot be concluded that facial exercises are effective. More systematic research is needed. © 2013 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Automated facial acne assessment from smartphone images

Science.gov (United States)

Amini, Mohammad; Vasefi, Fartash; Valdebran, Manuel; Huang, Kevin; Zhang, Haomiao; Kemp, William; MacKinnon, Nicholas

2018-02-01

A smartphone mobile medical application is presented, that provides analysis of the health of skin on the face using a smartphone image and cloud-based image processing techniques. The mobile application employs the use of the camera to capture a front face image of a subject, after which the captured image is spatially calibrated based on fiducial points such as position of the iris of the eye. A facial recognition algorithm is used to identify features of the human face image, to normalize the image, and to define facial regions of interest (ROI) for acne assessment. We identify acne lesions and classify them into two categories: those that are papules and those that are pustules. Automated facial acne assessment was validated by performing tests on images of 60 digital human models and 10 real human face images. The application was able to identify 92% of acne lesions within five facial ROIs. The classification accuracy for separating papules from pustules was 98%. Combined with in-app documentation of treatment, lifestyle factors, and automated facial acne assessment, the app can be used in both cosmetic and clinical dermatology. It allows users to quantitatively self-measure acne severity and treatment efficacy on an ongoing basis to help them manage their chronic facial acne.

Avaliação comparativa entre agradabilidade facial e análise subjetiva do Padrão Facial Comparative evaluation among facial attractiveness and subjective analysis of Facial Pattern

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Olívia Morihisa

2009-12-01

Full Text Available OBJETIVO: estudar duas análises subjetivas faciais utilizadas para o diagnóstico ortodôntico, avaliação da agradabilidade facial e definição de Padrão Facial, e verificar a associação existente entre elas. MÉTODOS: utilizou-se 208 fotografias faciais padronizadas (104 laterais e 104 frontais de 104 indivíduos escolhidos aleatoriamente, as quais foram submetidas à avaliação da agradabilidade por dois grupos distintos (Grupo " Ortodontia" e Grupo " Leigos" , que classificaram os indivíduos em " agradável" , " aceitável" ou " desagradável" . Os indivíduos também foram classificados quanto ao Padrão Facial por três examinadores calibrados, utilizando-se apenas a vista lateral. RESULTADOS E CONCLUSÃO: após a análise estatística, verificou-se que houve associação fortemente positiva entre a agradabilidade facial e o Padrão Facial para a norma lateral, porém não para a frontal, em que os indivíduos tenderam a ser bem classificados mesmo no Padrão II.AIM: To study two subjective facial analysis commonly used on orthodontic diagnosis and to verify the association between the evaluation of facial attractiveness and Facial Pattern definition. METHODS: Two hundred and eight standardized face photographs (104 in lateral view and 104 in frontal view of 104 randomly chosen individuals were used in the present study. They were classified as " pleasant" , " acceptable" and " not pleasant" by two distinct groups: " Lay people" and " Orthodontists" . The individuals were either classified according to their Facial Pattern using lateral view images. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: After statistical analysis, it was noted a strong positive concordance between facial attractiveness in lateral view and Facial Pattern, however, frontal view attractiveness classification did not have good concordance with Facial Pattern, tending to have good attractiveness classification even in Facial Pattern II.

Facial trauma.

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Peeters, N; Lemkens, P; Leach, R; Gemels B; Schepers, S; Lemmens, W

Facial trauma. Patients with facial trauma must be assessed in a systematic way so as to avoid missing any injury. Severe and disfiguring facial injuries can be distracting. However, clinicians must first focus on the basics of trauma care, following the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) system of care. Maxillofacial trauma occurs in a significant number of severely injured patients. Life- and sight-threatening injuries must be excluded during the primary and secondary surveys. Special attention must be paid to sight-threatening injuries in stabilized patients through early referral to an appropriate specialist or the early initiation of emergency care treatment. The gold standard for the radiographic evaluation of facial injuries is computed tomography (CT) imaging. Nasal fractures are the most frequent isolated facial fractures. Isolated nasal fractures are principally diagnosed through history and clinical examination. Closed reduction is the most frequently performed treatment for isolated nasal fractures, with a fractured nasal septum as a predictor of failure. Ear, nose and throat surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons and ophthalmologists must all develop an adequate treatment plan for patients with complex maxillofacial trauma.

Tensor Rank Preserving Discriminant Analysis for Facial Recognition.

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Tao, Dapeng; Guo, Yanan; Li, Yaotang; Gao, Xinbo

2017-10-12

Facial recognition, one of the basic topics in computer vision and pattern recognition, has received substantial attention in recent years. However, for those traditional facial recognition algorithms, the facial images are reshaped to a long vector, thereby losing part of the original spatial constraints of each pixel. In this paper, a new tensor-based feature extraction algorithm termed tensor rank preserving discriminant analysis (TRPDA) for facial image recognition is proposed; the proposed method involves two stages: in the first stage, the low-dimensional tensor subspace of the original input tensor samples was obtained; in the second stage, discriminative locality alignment was utilized to obtain the ultimate vector feature representation for subsequent facial recognition. On the one hand, the proposed TRPDA algorithm fully utilizes the natural structure of the input samples, and it applies an optimization criterion that can directly handle the tensor spectral analysis problem, thereby decreasing the computation cost compared those traditional tensor-based feature selection algorithms. On the other hand, the proposed TRPDA algorithm extracts feature by finding a tensor subspace that preserves most of the rank order information of the intra-class input samples. Experiments on the three facial databases are performed here to determine the effectiveness of the proposed TRPDA algorithm.

An analysis of facial nerve function in irradiated and unirradiated facial nerve grafts

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Paul D.; Eshleman, Jeffrey S.; Foote, Robert L.; Strome, Scott E.

2000-01-01

Purpose: The effect of high-dose radiation therapy on facial nerve grafts is controversial. Some authors believe radiotherapy is so detrimental to the outcome of facial nerve graft function that dynamic or static slings should be performed instead of facial nerve grafts in all patients who are to receive postoperative radiation therapy. Unfortunately, the facial function achieved with dynamic and static slings is almost always inferior to that after facial nerve grafts. In this retrospective study, we compared facial nerve function in irradiated and unirradiated nerve grafts. Methods and Materials: The medical records of 818 patients with neoplasms involving the parotid gland who received treatment between 1974 and 1997 were reviewed, of whom 66 underwent facial nerve grafting. Fourteen patients who died or had a recurrence less than a year after their facial nerve graft were excluded. The median follow-up for the remaining 52 patients was 10.6 years. Cable nerve grafts were performed in 50 patients and direct anastomoses of the facial nerve in two. Facial nerve function was scored by means of the House-Brackmann (H-B) facial grading system. Twenty-eight of the 52 patients received postoperative radiotherapy. The median time from nerve grafting to start of radiotherapy was 5.1 weeks. The median and mean doses of radiation were 6000 and 6033 cGy, respectively, for the irradiated grafts. One patient received preoperative radiotherapy to a total dose of 5000 cGy in 25 fractions and underwent surgery 1 month after the completion of radiotherapy. This patient was placed, by convention, in the irradiated facial nerve graft cohort. Results: Potential prognostic factors for facial nerve function such as age, gender, extent of surgery at the time of nerve grafting, preoperative facial nerve palsy, duration of preoperative palsy if present, or number of previous operations in the parotid bed were relatively well balanced between irradiated and unirradiated patients. However

Recognition of schematic facial displays of emotion in parents of children with autism.

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Palermo, Mark T; Pasqualetti, Patrizio; Barbati, Giulia; Intelligente, Fabio; Rossini, Paolo Maria

2006-07-01

Performance on an emotional labeling task in response to schematic facial patterns representing five basic emotions without the concurrent presentation of a verbal category was investigated in 40 parents of children with autism and 40 matched controls. 'Autism fathers' performed worse than 'autism mothers', who performed worse than controls in decoding displays representing sadness or disgust. This indicates the need to include facial expression decoding tasks in genetic research of autism. In addition, emotional expression interactions between parents and their children with autism, particularly through play, where affect and prosody are 'physiologically' exaggerated, may stimulate development of social competence. Future studies could benefit from a combination of stimuli including photographs and schematic drawings, with and without associated verbal categories. This may allow the subdivision of patients and relatives on the basis of the amount of information needed to understand and process social-emotionally relevant information.

Facial aging: A clinical classification

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Shiffman Melvin

2007-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this classification of facial aging is to have a simple clinical method to determine the severity of the aging process in the face. This allows a quick estimate as to the types of procedures that the patient would need to have the best results. Procedures that are presently used for facial rejuvenation include laser, chemical peels, suture lifts, fillers, modified facelift and full facelift. The physician is already using his best judgment to determine which procedure would be best for any particular patient. This classification may help to refine these decisions.

Facial Expression Recognition via Non-Negative Least-Squares Sparse Coding

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Ying Chen

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Sparse coding is an active research subject in signal processing, computer vision, and pattern recognition. A novel method of facial expression recognition via non-negative least squares (NNLS sparse coding is presented in this paper. The NNLS sparse coding is used to form a facial expression classifier. To testify the performance of the presented method, local binary patterns (LBP and the raw pixels are extracted for facial feature representation. Facial expression recognition experiments are conducted on the Japanese Female Facial Expression (JAFFE database. Compared with other widely used methods such as linear support vector machines (SVM, sparse representation-based classifier (SRC, nearest subspace classifier (NSC, K-nearest neighbor (KNN and radial basis function neural networks (RBFNN, the experiment results indicate that the presented NNLS method performs better than other used methods on facial expression recognition tasks.

Temporal distribution of alcohol related facial fractures.

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Lee, Kai H; Qiu, Michael; Sun, Jiandong

2017-11-01

This study aimed to address 2 important aspects of temporal pattern in alcohol-related facial fractures: (1) comparison of temporal pattern of alcohol-related facial fracture (alcohol group) presentation with non-alcohol-related fracture (non-alcohol group) presentation; (2) temporal pattern of patient demographic characteristics, injury characteristics, and surgical management in the alcohol group presentation. This study retrospectively examined the Victorian admitted episodes data set (VAED) for the years 2010 to 2013. VAED is a standardized set of data collected during all hospital presentations in Victoria. The study found higher incidence of alcohol-related facial fracture presentations during weekends and during the summer and spring months compared with non-alcohol-related fractures (statistically significant). Alcohol-related facial fractures are more likely to involve male patients in the 20- to 29-year age group, occur as a result of interpersonal violence, and require shorter hospital stays during weekend admissions (statistically significant). No statistically significant relationship has been observed in seasonal variation across all variables. This study found distinct characteristics in temporal distribution of alcohol-related facial fractures. These characteristics are, in particular, significant in weekend trauma admissions. Such information is important in workforce planning, resource distribution, and implementation of injury prevention programs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Neural Mechanism of Facial Expression Perception in Intellectually Gifted Adolescents

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Tongran; Xiao, Tong; Li, Xiaoyan

2015-01-01

The current study investigated the relationship between general intelligence and the three stages of facial expression processing. Two groups of adolescents with different levels of general intelligence were required to identify three types of facial expressions (happy, sad, and neutral faces...

Slowing down Presentation of Facial Movements and Vocal Sounds Enhances Facial Expression Recognition and Induces Facial-Vocal Imitation in Children with Autism

Science.gov (United States)

Tardif, Carole; Laine, France; Rodriguez, Melissa; Gepner, Bruno

2007-01-01

This study examined the effects of slowing down presentation of facial expressions and their corresponding vocal sounds on facial expression recognition and facial and/or vocal imitation in children with autism. Twelve autistic children and twenty-four normal control children were presented with emotional and non-emotional facial expressions on…

The accuracy of intensity ratings of emotions from facial expressions

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Kostić Aleksandra P.

2003-01-01

Full Text Available The results of a study on the accuracy of intensity ratings of emotion from facial expressions are reported. The so far research into the field has shown that spontaneous facial expressions of basic emotions are a reliable source of information about the category of emotion. The question is raised of whether this can be true for the intensity of emotion as well and whether the accuracy of intensity ratings is dependent on the observer’s sex and vocational orientation. A total of 228 observers of both sexes and of various vocational orientations rated the emotional intensity of presented facial expressions on a scale-range from 0 to 8. The results have supported the hypothesis that spontaneous facial expressions of basic emotions do provide sufficient information about emotional intensity. The hypothesis on the interdependence between the accuracy of intensity ratings of emotion and the observer’s sex and vocational orientation has not been confirmed. However, the accuracy of intensity rating has been proved to vary with the category of the emotion presented.

Facial Expression at Retrieval Affects Recognition of Facial Identity

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Wenfeng eChen

2015-06-01

Full Text Available It is well known that memory can be modulated by emotional stimuli at the time of encoding and consolidation. For example, happy faces create better identity recognition than faces with certain other expressions. However, the influence of facial expression at the time of retrieval remains unknown in the literature. To separate the potential influence of expression at retrieval from its effects at earlier stages, we had participants learn neutral faces but manipulated facial expression at the time of memory retrieval in a standard old/new recognition task. The results showed a clear effect of facial expression, where happy test faces were identified more successfully than angry test faces. This effect is unlikely due to greater image similarity between the neutral learning face and the happy test face, because image analysis showed that the happy test faces are in fact less similar to the neutral learning faces relative to the angry test faces. In the second experiment, we investigated whether this emotional effect is influenced by the expression at the time of learning. We employed angry or happy faces as learning stimuli, and angry, happy, and neutral faces as test stimuli. The results showed that the emotional effect at retrieval is robust across different encoding conditions with happy or angry expressions. These findings indicate that emotional expressions affect the retrieval process in identity recognition, and identity recognition does not rely on emotional association between learning and test faces.

Mapping and Manipulating Facial Expression

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Theobald, Barry-John; Matthews, Iain; Mangini, Michael; Spies, Jeffrey R.; Brick, Timothy R.; Cohn, Jeffrey F.; Boker, Steven M.

2009-01-01

Nonverbal visual cues accompany speech to supplement the meaning of spoken words, signify emotional state, indicate position in discourse, and provide back-channel feedback. This visual information includes head movements, facial expressions and body gestures. In this article we describe techniques for manipulating both verbal and nonverbal facial…

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time.

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Jack, Rachael E; Garrod, Oliver G B; Schyns, Philippe G

2014-01-20

Designed by biological and social evolutionary pressures, facial expressions of emotion comprise specific facial movements to support a near-optimal system of signaling and decoding. Although highly dynamical, little is known about the form and function of facial expression temporal dynamics. Do facial expressions transmit diagnostic signals simultaneously to optimize categorization of the six classic emotions, or sequentially to support a more complex communication system of successive categorizations over time? Our data support the latter. Using a combination of perceptual expectation modeling, information theory, and Bayesian classifiers, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of "biologically basic to socially specific" information over time. Early in the signaling dynamics, facial expressions systematically transmit few, biologically rooted face signals supporting the categorization of fewer elementary categories (e.g., approach/avoidance). Later transmissions comprise more complex signals that support categorization of a larger number of socially specific categories (i.e., the six classic emotions). Here, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion provide a sophisticated signaling system, questioning the widely accepted notion that emotion communication is comprised of six basic (i.e., psychologically irreducible) categories, and instead suggesting four. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facial anatomy.

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Marur, Tania; Tuna, Yakup; Demirci, Selman

2014-01-01

Dermatologic problems of the face affect both function and aesthetics, which are based on complex anatomical features. Treating dermatologic problems while preserving the aesthetics and functions of the face requires knowledge of normal anatomy. When performing successfully invasive procedures of the face, it is essential to understand its underlying topographic anatomy. This chapter presents the anatomy of the facial musculature and neurovascular structures in a systematic way with some clinically important aspects. We describe the attachments of the mimetic and masticatory muscles and emphasize their functions and nerve supply. We highlight clinically relevant facial topographic anatomy by explaining the course and location of the sensory and motor nerves of the face and facial vasculature with their relations. Additionally, this chapter reviews the recent nomenclature of the branching pattern of the facial artery. © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Novel dynamic Bayesian networks for facial action element recognition and understanding

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Zhao, Wei; Park, Jeong-Seon; Choi, Dong-You; Lee, Sang-Woong

2011-12-01

In daily life, language is an important tool of communication between people. Besides language, facial action can also provide a great amount of information. Therefore, facial action recognition has become a popular research topic in the field of human-computer interaction (HCI). However, facial action recognition is quite a challenging task due to its complexity. In a literal sense, there are thousands of facial muscular movements, many of which have very subtle differences. Moreover, muscular movements always occur simultaneously when the pose is changed. To address this problem, we first build a fully automatic facial points detection system based on a local Gabor filter bank and principal component analysis. Then, novel dynamic Bayesian networks are proposed to perform facial action recognition using the junction tree algorithm over a limited number of feature points. In order to evaluate the proposed method, we have used the Korean face database for model training. For testing, we used the CUbiC FacePix, facial expressions and emotion database, Japanese female facial expression database, and our own database. Our experimental results clearly demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach.

Diplegia facial traumatica Traumatic facial diplegia: a case report

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J. Fortes-Rego

1975-12-01

Full Text Available É relatado um caso de paralisia facial bilateral, incompleta, associada a hipoacusia esquerda, após traumatismo cranioencefálico, com fraturas evidenciadas radiológicamente. Algumas considerações são formuladas tentando relacionar ditas manifestações com fraturas do osso temporal.A case of traumatic facial diplegia with left partial loss of hearing following head injury is reported. X-rays showed fractures on the occipital and left temporal bones. A review of traumatic facial paralysis is made.

Gadolinium Magnetic resonance with a diagnosis of Bell's facial palsy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rovira Canellas, A.; Sanchez Torres, C.; Navarrete, M.; Grive Isern, E.; Capellades Font, J.; Navarrete, M.

1993-01-01

The intratemporal pathway of the facial nerve has been prospectively studied by means of gadolinium MR in 12 patients with a diagnosis of Bell's facial palsy. All the cases presented total facial paralysis and were studied in the acute phase of the disease. With MR, the intratemporal pathway of the facial nerve has been viewed before and after the administration of a paramagnetic contrast medium, revealing uptake involving mainly the labyrinthine segment and the geniculate ganglion in every case. In no case did the MR findings influence the therapeutic approach, nor did they provide information of prognostic value. Therefore, this exploration is not considered necessary in the assessment of typical facial paralyses. The possible advantages of an MR study with contrast medium in facial paralysis specially apply to those cases with atypical clinical presentation, making it possible to establish a positive diagnosis, ruling out other lesions that may have a similar clinical presentantion. Thus, for the time being, a diagnosis of Bell's paralysis is not necessarily an exclusion diagnosis. (Author)

Facial Analysis: Looking at Biometric Recognition and Genome-Wide Association

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fagertun, Jens

The goal of this Ph.D. project is to present selected challenges regarding facial analysis within the fields of Human Biometrics and Human Genetics. In the course of the Ph.D. nine papers have been produced, eight of which have been included in this thesis. Three of the papers focus on face...... and gender recognition, where in the gender recognition papers the process of human perception of gender is analyzed and used to improve machine learning algorithms. One paper addresses the issues of variability in human annotation of facial landmarks, which most papers regard as a static “gold standard...... on genetic information, a new area that holds great potential. Two papers explore the connection between minor physical anomalies in the face and schizophrenic disorders. Schizophrenia is a life long disease, but early discovery and treatment can have a significant impact on the course of the disease...

Effects of Repeated Concussions and Sex on Early Processing of Emotional Facial Expressions as Revealed by Electrophysiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrier-Toutant, Frédérike; Guay, Samuel; Beaulieu, Christelle; Léveillé, Édith; Turcotte-Giroux, Alexandre; Papineau, Samaël D; Brisson, Benoit; D'Hondt, Fabien; De Beaumont, Louis

2018-05-06

Concussions affect the processing of emotional stimuli. This study aimed to investigate how sex interacts with concussion effects on early event-related brain potentials (ERP) measures (P1, N1) of emotional facial expressions (EFE) processing in asymptomatic, multi-concussion athletes during an EFE identification task. Forty control athletes (20 females and 20 males) and 43 multi-concussed athletes (22 females and 21 males), recruited more than 3 months after their last concussion, were tested. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Post-Concussion Symptom Scale, and an Emotional Facial Expression Identification Task. Pictures of male and female faces expressing neutral, angry, and happy emotions were randomly presented and the emotion depicted had to be identified as fast as possible during EEG acquisition. Relative to controls, concussed athletes of both sex exhibited a significant suppression of P1 amplitude recorded from the dominant right hemisphere while performing the emotional face expression identification task. The present study also highlighted a sex-specific suppression of the N1 component amplitude after concussion which affected male athletes. These findings suggest that repeated concussions alter the typical pattern of right-hemisphere response dominance to EFE in early stages of EFE processing and that the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the processing of emotional stimuli are distinctively affected across sex. (JINS, 2018, 24, 1-11).

Faces in context: A review and systematization of contextual influences on affective face processing

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Matthias J Wieser

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Facial expressions are of eminent importance for social interaction as they convey information about other individuals’ emotions and social intentions. According to the predominant basic emotion approach, the perception of emotion in faces is based on the rapid, automatic categorization of prototypical, universal expressions. Consequently, the perception of facial expressions has typically been investigated using isolated, decontextualized, static pictures of facial expressions that maximize the distinction between categories. However, in everyday life, an individual’s face is not perceived in isolation, but almost always appears within a situational context, which may arise from other people, the physical environment surrounding the face, as well as multichannel information from the sender. Furthermore, situational context may be provided by the perceiver, including already present social information gained from affective learning and implicit processing biases such as race bias. Thus, the perception of facial expressions is presumably always influenced by contextual variables. In this comprehensive review, we aim at 1 systematizing the contextual variables that may influence the perception of facial expressions and 2 summarizing experimental paradigms and findings that have been used to investigate these influences. The studies reviewed here demonstrate that perception and neural processing of facial expressions are substantially modified by contextual information, including verbal, visual, and auditory information presented together with the face as well as knowledge or processing biases already present in the observer. These findings further challenge the assumption of automatic, hardwired categorical emotion extraction mechanisms predicted by basic emotion theories. Taking into account a recent model on face processing, we discuss where and when these different contextual influences may take place, thus outlining potential avenues in

[Peripheral facial nerve lesion induced long-term dendritic retraction in pyramidal cortico-facial neurons].

Science.gov (United States)

Urrego, Diana; Múnera, Alejandro; Troncoso, Julieta

2011-01-01

Little evidence is available concerning the morphological modifications of motor cortex neurons associated with peripheral nerve injuries, and the consequences of those injuries on post lesion functional recovery. Dendritic branching of cortico-facial neurons was characterized with respect to the effects of irreversible facial nerve injury. Twenty-four adult male rats were distributed into four groups: sham (no lesion surgery), and dendritic assessment at 1, 3 and 5 weeks post surgery. Eighteen lesion animals underwent surgical transection of the mandibular and buccal branches of the facial nerve. Dendritic branching was examined by contralateral primary motor cortex slices stained with the Golgi-Cox technique. Layer V pyramidal (cortico-facial) neurons from sham and injured animals were reconstructed and their dendritic branching was compared using Sholl analysis. Animals with facial nerve lesions displayed persistent vibrissal paralysis throughout the five week observation period. Compared with control animal neurons, cortico-facial pyramidal neurons of surgically injured animals displayed shrinkage of their dendritic branches at statistically significant levels. This shrinkage persisted for at least five weeks after facial nerve injury. Irreversible facial motoneuron axonal damage induced persistent dendritic arborization shrinkage in contralateral cortico-facial neurons. This morphological reorganization may be the physiological basis of functional sequelae observed in peripheral facial palsy patients.

Facial volumetric correction with injectable poly-L-lactic acid.

Science.gov (United States)

Vleggaar, Danny

2005-11-01

Polymers of lactic acid'have been widely used for many years in different types of medical devices, such as resorbable sutures, intrabone implants, and soft tissue implants. Injectable poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA; Sculptra), a synthetic, biodegradable polymer, has gained widespread popularity in Europe for the treatment of facial changes associated with aging. To provide background information on injectable PLLA and to describe clinical experience with its use in Europe for facial volume enhancement. Technique varies with site of injection. Generally, the product is implanted subcutaneously or intradermally in a series of treatments. No allergy testing is required. Based on experience in more than 2,500 patients, injectable PLLA has been used successfully for the correction of nasolabial folds, mid- and lower facial volume loss, jawline laxity, and other signs of facial aging. Correction lasts for 18 to 24 months in most patients. Injectable PLLA treatment provides an excellent and prolonged correction of a variety of facial wrinkles, depressions, and laxity with a minimally invasive procedure that does not require allergy testing or a recovery period.

The effect of texture on face identification and configural information processing

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tzschaschel Eva Alica

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Shape and texture are an integral part of face identity. In the present study, the importance of face texture for face identification and detection of configural manipulation (i.e., spatial relation among facial features was examined by comparing grayscale face photographs (i.e., real faces and line drawings of the same faces. Whereas real faces provide information about texture and shape of faces, line drawings are lacking texture cues. A change-detection task and a forced-choice identification task were used with both stimuli categories. Within the change detection task, participants had to decide whether the size of the eyes of two sequentially presented faces had changed or not. After having made this decision, three faces were shown to the subjects and they had to identify the previously shown face among them. Furthermore, context (full vs. cropped faces and orientation (upright vs. inverted were manipulated. The results obtained in the change detection task suggest that configural information was used in processing real faces, while part-based and featural information was used in processing line-drawings. Additionally, real faces were identified more accurately than line drawings, and identification was less context but more orientation sensitive than identification of line drawings. Taken together, the results of the present study provide new evidence stressing the importance of face texture for identity encoding and configural face processing.

Facial Pain Followed by Unilateral Facial Nerve Palsy: A Case Report with Literature Review

OpenAIRE

GV, Sowmya; BS, Manjunatha; Goel, Saurabh; Singh, Mohit Pal; Astekar, Madhusudan

2014-01-01

Peripheral facial nerve palsy is the commonest cranial nerve motor neuropathy. The causes range from cerebrovascular accident to iatrogenic damage, but there are few reports of facial nerve paralysis attributable to odontogenic infections. In majority of the cases, recovery of facial muscle function begins within first three weeks after onset. This article reports a unique case of 32-year-old male patient who developed facial pain followed by unilateral facial nerve paralysis due to odontogen...

Extracranial Facial Nerve Schwannoma Treated by Hypo-fractionated CyberKnife Radiosurgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Sasaki, Ayaka; Miyazaki, Shinichiro; Hori, Tomokatsu

2016-09-21

Facial nerve schwannoma is a rare intracranial tumor. Treatment for this benign tumor has been controversial. Here, we report a case of extracranial facial nerve schwannoma treated successfully by hypo-fractionated CyberKnife (Accuray, Sunnyvale, CA) radiosurgery and discuss the efficacy of this treatment. A 34-year-old female noticed a swelling in her right mastoid process. The lesion enlarged over a seven-month period, and she experienced facial spasm on the right side. She was diagnosed with a facial schwannoma via a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan of the head and neck and was told to wait until the facial nerve palsy subsides. She was referred to our hospital for radiation therapy. We planned a fractionated CyberKnife radiosurgery for three consecutive days. After CyberKnife radiosurgery, the mass in the right parotid gradually decreased in size, and the facial nerve palsy disappeared. At her eight-month follow-up, her facial spasm had completely disappeared. There has been no recurrence and the facial nerve function has been normal. We successfully demonstrated the efficacy of CyberKnife radiosurgery as an alternative treatment that also preserves neurofunction for facial nerve schwannomas.

Chondromyxoid fibroma of the mastoid facial nerve canal mimicking a facial nerve schwannoma.

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Andrew L; Bharatha, Aditya; Aviv, Richard I; Nedzelski, Julian; Chen, Joseph; Bilbao, Juan M; Wong, John; Saad, Reda; Symons, Sean P

2009-07-01

Chondromyxoid fibroma of the skull base is a rare entity. Involvement of the temporal bone is particularly rare. We present an unusual case of progressive facial nerve paralysis with imaging and clinical findings most suggestive of a facial nerve schwannoma. The lesion was tubular in appearance, expanded the mastoid facial nerve canal, protruded out of the stylomastoid foramen, and enhanced homogeneously. The only unusual imaging feature was minor calcification within the tumor. Surgery revealed an irregular, cystic lesion. Pathology diagnosed a chondromyxoid fibroma involving the mastoid portion of the facial nerve canal, destroying the facial nerve.

Considering sex differences clarifies the effects of depression on facial emotion processing during fMRI.

Science.gov (United States)

Jenkins, L M; Kendall, A D; Kassel, M T; Patrón, V G; Gowins, J R; Dion, C; Shankman, S A; Weisenbach, S L; Maki, P; Langenecker, S A

2018-01-01

Sex differences in emotion processing may play a role in women's increased risk for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). However, studies of sex differences in brain mechanisms involved in emotion processing in MDD (or interactions of sex and diagnosis) are sparse. We conducted an event-related fMRI study examining the interactive and distinct effects of sex and MDD on neural activity during a facial emotion perception task. To minimize effects of current affective state and cumulative disease burden, we studied participants with remitted MDD (rMDD) who were early in the course of the illness. In total, 88 individuals aged 18-23 participated, including 48 with rMDD (32 female) and 40 healthy controls (HC; 25 female). fMRI revealed an interaction between sex and diagnosis for sad and neutral facial expressions in the superior frontal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus. Results also revealed an interaction of sex with diagnosis in the amygdala. Data was from two sites, which might increase variability, but it also increases power to examine sex by diagnosis interactions. This study demonstrates the importance of taking sex differences into account when examining potential trait (or scar) mechanisms that could be useful in identifying individuals at-risk for MDD as well as for evaluating potential therapeutic innovations. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The Joint Facial and Invasive Neck Trauma (J-FAINT) Project, Iraq and Afghanistan 2003-2011

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Original Research— Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery The Joint Facial and Invasive Neck Trauma (J-FAINT) Project, Iraq and Afghanistan 2003...number and type of facial and penetrat- ing neck trauma injuries sustained in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). Study...queried for data from OIF and OEF from January 2003 to May 2011. Information on demographics; type and severity of facial , neck, and associated trauma

Common and distinct neural correlates of facial emotion processing in social anxiety disorder and Williams syndrome: A systematic review and voxel-based meta-analysis of functional resonance imaging studies.

Science.gov (United States)

Binelli, C; Subirà, S; Batalla, A; Muñiz, A; Sugranyés, G; Crippa, J A; Farré, M; Pérez-Jurado, L; Martín-Santos, R

2014-11-01

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) and Williams-Beuren Syndrome (WS) are two conditions which seem to be at opposite ends in the continuum of social fear but show compromised abilities in some overlapping areas, including some social interactions, gaze contact and processing of facial emotional cues. The increase in the number of neuroimaging studies has greatly expanded our knowledge of the neural bases of facial emotion processing in both conditions. However, to date, SAD and WS have not been compared. We conducted a systematic review of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies comparing SAD and WS cases to healthy control participants (HC) using facial emotion processing paradigms. Two researchers conducted comprehensive PubMed/Medline searches to identify all fMRI studies of facial emotion processing in SAD and WS. The following search key-words were used: "emotion processing"; "facial emotion"; "social anxiety"; "social phobia"; "Williams syndrome"; "neuroimaging"; "functional magnetic resonance"; "fMRI" and their combinations, as well as terms specifying individual facial emotions. We extracted spatial coordinates from each study and conducted two separate voxel-wise activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses, one for SAD and one for WS. Twenty-two studies met the inclusion criteria: 17 studies of SAD and five of WS. We found evidence for both common and distinct patterns of neural activation. Limbic engagement was common to SAD and WS during facial emotion processing, although we observed opposite patterns of activation for each disorder. Compared to HC, SAD cases showed hyperactivation of the amygdala, the parahippocampal gyrus and the globus pallidus. Compared to controls, participants with WS showed hypoactivation of these regions. Differential activation in a number of regions specific to either condition was also identified: SAD cases exhibited greater activation of the insula, putamen, the superior temporal gyrus, medial frontal regions and

Web-based Visualisation of Head Pose and Facial Expressions Changes:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalliatakis, Grigorios; Vidakis, Nikolaos; Triantafyllidis, Georgios

2016-01-01

Despite significant recent advances in the field of head pose estimation and facial expression recognition, raising the cognitive level when analysing human activity presents serious challenges to current concepts. Motivated by the need of generating comprehensible visual representations from...... and accurately estimate head pose changes in unconstrained environment. In order to complete the secondary process of recognising four universal dominant facial expressions (happiness, anger, sadness and surprise), emotion recognition via facial expressions (ERFE) was adopted. After that, a lightweight data...

Reconstructing dynamic mental models of facial expressions in prosopagnosia reveals distinct representations for identity and expression.

Science.gov (United States)

Richoz, Anne-Raphaëlle; Jack, Rachael E; Garrod, Oliver G B; Schyns, Philippe G; Caldara, Roberto

2015-04-01

The human face transmits a wealth of signals that readily provide crucial information for social interactions, such as facial identity and emotional expression. Yet, a fundamental question remains unresolved: does the face information for identity and emotional expression categorization tap into common or distinct representational systems? To address this question we tested PS, a pure case of acquired prosopagnosia with bilateral occipitotemporal lesions anatomically sparing the regions that are assumed to contribute to facial expression (de)coding (i.e., the amygdala, the insula and the posterior superior temporal sulcus--pSTS). We previously demonstrated that PS does not use information from the eye region to identify faces, but relies on the suboptimal mouth region. PS's abnormal information use for identity, coupled with her neural dissociation, provides a unique opportunity to probe the existence of a dichotomy in the face representational system. To reconstruct the mental models of the six basic facial expressions of emotion in PS and age-matched healthy observers, we used a novel reverse correlation technique tracking information use on dynamic faces. PS was comparable to controls, using all facial features to (de)code facial expressions with the exception of fear. PS's normal (de)coding of dynamic facial expressions suggests that the face system relies either on distinct representational systems for identity and expression, or dissociable cortical pathways to access them. Interestingly, PS showed a selective impairment for categorizing many static facial expressions, which could be accounted for by her lesion in the right inferior occipital gyrus. PS's advantage for dynamic facial expressions might instead relate to a functionally distinct and sufficient cortical pathway directly connecting the early visual cortex to the spared pSTS. Altogether, our data provide critical insights on the healthy and impaired face systems, question evidence of deficits

How Do We Update Faces? Effects of Gaze Direction and Facial Expressions on Working Memory Updating

OpenAIRE

Artuso, Caterina; Palladino, Paola; Ricciardelli, Paola

2012-01-01

The aim of the study was to investigate how the biological binding between different facial dimensions, and their social and communicative relevance, may impact updating processes in working memory (WM). We focused on WM updating because it plays a key role in ongoing processing. Gaze direction and facial expression are crucial and changeable components of face processing. Direct gaze enhances the processing of approach-oriented facial emotional expressions (e.g., joy), while averted gaze enh...

Recognition of computerized facial approximations by familiar assessors.

Science.gov (United States)

Richard, Adam H; Monson, Keith L

2017-11-01

Studies testing the effectiveness of facial approximations typically involve groups of participants who are unfamiliar with the approximated individual(s). This limitation requires the use of photograph arrays including a picture of the subject for comparison to the facial approximation. While this practice is often necessary due to the difficulty in obtaining a group of assessors who are familiar with the approximated subject, it may not accurately simulate the thought process of the target audience (friends and family members) in comparing a mental image of the approximated subject to the facial approximation. As part of a larger process to evaluate the effectiveness and best implementation of the ReFace facial approximation software program, the rare opportunity arose to conduct a recognition study using assessors who were personally acquainted with the subjects of the approximations. ReFace facial approximations were generated based on preexisting medical scans, and co-workers of the scan donors were tested on whether they could accurately pick out the approximation of their colleague from arrays of facial approximations. Results from the study demonstrated an overall poor recognition performance (i.e., where a single choice within a pool is not enforced) for individuals who were familiar with the approximated subjects. Out of 220 recognition tests only 10.5% resulted in the assessor selecting the correct approximation (or correctly choosing not to make a selection when the array consisted only of foils), an outcome that was not significantly different from the 9% random chance rate. When allowed to select multiple approximations the assessors felt resembled the target individual, the overall sensitivity for ReFace approximations was 16.0% and the overall specificity was 81.8%. These results differ markedly from the results of a previous study using assessors who were unfamiliar with the approximated subjects. Some possible explanations for this disparity in

Neurobiological mechanisms associated with facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury.

Science.gov (United States)

Neumann, Dawn; McDonald, Brenna C; West, John; Keiski, Michelle A; Wang, Yang

2016-06-01

The neurobiological mechanisms that underlie facial affect recognition deficits after traumatic brain injury (TBI) have not yet been identified. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), study aims were to 1) determine if there are differences in brain activation during facial affect processing in people with TBI who have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-I) relative to people with TBI and healthy controls who do not have facial affect recognition impairments (TBI-N and HC, respectively); and 2) identify relationships between neural activity and facial affect recognition performance. A facial affect recognition screening task performed outside the scanner was used to determine group classification; TBI patients who performed greater than one standard deviation below normal performance scores were classified as TBI-I, while TBI patients with normal scores were classified as TBI-N. An fMRI facial recognition paradigm was then performed within the 3T environment. Results from 35 participants are reported (TBI-I = 11, TBI-N = 12, and HC = 12). For the fMRI task, TBI-I and TBI-N groups scored significantly lower than the HC group. Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signals for facial affect recognition compared to a baseline condition of viewing a scrambled face, revealed lower neural activation in the right fusiform gyrus (FG) in the TBI-I group than the HC group. Right fusiform gyrus activity correlated with accuracy on the facial affect recognition tasks (both within and outside the scanner). Decreased FG activity suggests facial affect recognition deficits after TBI may be the result of impaired holistic face processing. Future directions and clinical implications are discussed.

Caricaturing facial expressions.

Science.gov (United States)

Calder, A J; Rowland, D; Young, A W; Nimmo-Smith, I; Keane, J; Perrett, D I

2000-08-14

The physical differences between facial expressions (e.g. fear) and a reference norm (e.g. a neutral expression) were altered to produce photographic-quality caricatures. In Experiment 1, participants rated caricatures of fear, happiness and sadness for their intensity of these three emotions; a second group of participants rated how 'face-like' the caricatures appeared. With increasing levels of exaggeration the caricatures were rated as more emotionally intense, but less 'face-like'. Experiment 2 demonstrated a similar relationship between emotional intensity and level of caricature for six different facial expressions. Experiments 3 and 4 compared intensity ratings of facial expression caricatures prepared relative to a selection of reference norms - a neutral expression, an average expression, or a different facial expression (e.g. anger caricatured relative to fear). Each norm produced a linear relationship between caricature and rated intensity of emotion; this finding is inconsistent with two-dimensional models of the perceptual representation of facial expression. An exemplar-based multidimensional model is proposed as an alternative account.

Parotidectomía y vena facial Parotidectomy and facial vein

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

F. Hernández Altemir

2009-10-01

Full Text Available La cirugía de los tumores benignos de la parótida, es una cirugía de relaciones con estructuras fundamentalmente nerviosas cuyo daño, representa un gravísimo problema psicosomático por definirlo de una manera genérica. Para ayudar al manejo quirúrgico del nervio facial periférico, es por lo que en el presente artículo tratamos de enfatizar la importancia de la vena facial en la disección y conservación del nervio, precisamente donde su disección suele ser más comprometida, esto es en las ramas más caudales. El trabajo que vamos a desarrollar hay que verlo pues, como un ensalzamiento de las estructuras venosas en el seguimiento y control del nervio facial periférico y de porqué no, el nervio auricular mayor no siempre suficientemente valorado en la cirugía de la parótida al perder protagonismo con el facial.Benign parotid tumor surgery is related to fundamental nervous structures, defined simply: that when damaged cause great psychosomatic problems. In order to make peripheral facial nerve surgery easy to handle for the surgeon this article emphasizes the importance of the facial vein in the dissection and conservation of the nerve. Its dissection can be compromised if the caudal branches are damaged. The study that we develop should be seen as praise for the vein structures in the follow up and control of the peripheral facial nerve, and the main auricular nerve that is often undervalued when it is no longer the protagonist in the face.

Automatic Facial Expression Recognition and Operator Functional State

Science.gov (United States)

Blanson, Nina

2012-01-01

The prevalence of human error in safety-critical occupations remains a major challenge to mission success despite increasing automation in control processes. Although various methods have been proposed to prevent incidences of human error, none of these have been developed to employ the detection and regulation of Operator Functional State (OFS), or the optimal condition of the operator while performing a task, in work environments due to drawbacks such as obtrusiveness and impracticality. A video-based system with the ability to infer an individual's emotional state from facial feature patterning mitigates some of the problems associated with other methods of detecting OFS, like obtrusiveness and impracticality in integration with the mission environment. This paper explores the utility of facial expression recognition as a technology for inferring OFS by first expounding on the intricacies of OFS and the scientific background behind emotion and its relationship with an individual's state. Then, descriptions of the feedback loop and the emotion protocols proposed for the facial recognition program are explained. A basic version of the facial expression recognition program uses Haar classifiers and OpenCV libraries to automatically locate key facial landmarks during a live video stream. Various methods of creating facial expression recognition software are reviewed to guide future extensions of the program. The paper concludes with an examination of the steps necessary in the research of emotion and recommendations for the creation of an automatic facial expression recognition program for use in real-time, safety-critical missions

Automatic Facial Expression Recognition and Operator Functional State

Science.gov (United States)

Blanson, Nina

2011-01-01

The prevalence of human error in safety-critical occupations remains a major challenge to mission success despite increasing automation in control processes. Although various methods have been proposed to prevent incidences of human error, none of these have been developed to employ the detection and regulation of Operator Functional State (OFS), or the optimal condition of the operator while performing a task, in work environments due to drawbacks such as obtrusiveness and impracticality. A video-based system with the ability to infer an individual's emotional state from facial feature patterning mitigates some of the problems associated with other methods of detecting OFS, like obtrusiveness and impracticality in integration with the mission environment. This paper explores the utility of facial expression recognition as a technology for inferring OFS by first expounding on the intricacies of OFS and the scientific background behind emotion and its relationship with an individual's state. Then, descriptions of the feedback loop and the emotion protocols proposed for the facial recognition program are explained. A basic version of the facial expression recognition program uses Haar classifiers and OpenCV libraries to automatically locate key facial landmarks during a live video stream. Various methods of creating facial expression recognition software are reviewed to guide future extensions of the program. The paper concludes with an examination of the steps necessary in the research of emotion and recommendations for the creation of an automatic facial expression recognition program for use in real-time, safety-critical missions.

Facing the Problem: Impaired Emotion Recognition During Multimodal Social Information Processing in Borderline Personality Disorder.

Science.gov (United States)

Niedtfeld, Inga; Defiebre, Nadine; Regenbogen, Christina; Mier, Daniela; Fenske, Sabrina; Kirsch, Peter; Lis, Stefanie; Schmahl, Christian

2017-04-01

Previous research has revealed alterations and deficits in facial emotion recognition in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD). During interpersonal communication in daily life, social signals such as speech content, variation in prosody, and facial expression need to be considered simultaneously. We hypothesized that deficits in higher level integration of social stimuli contribute to difficulties in emotion recognition in BPD, and heightened arousal might explain this effect. Thirty-one patients with BPD and thirty-one healthy controls were asked to identify emotions in short video clips, which were designed to represent different combinations of the three communication channels: facial expression, speech content, and prosody. Skin conductance was recorded as a measure of sympathetic arousal, while controlling for state dissociation. Patients with BPD showed lower mean accuracy scores than healthy control subjects in all conditions comprising emotional facial expressions. This was true for the condition with facial expression only, and for the combination of all three communication channels. Electrodermal responses were enhanced in BPD only in response to auditory stimuli. In line with the major body of facial emotion recognition studies, we conclude that deficits in the interpretation of facial expressions lead to the difficulties observed in multimodal emotion processing in BPD.

Facial expression recognition and model-based regeneration for distance teaching

Science.gov (United States)

De Silva, Liyanage C.; Vinod, V. V.; Sengupta, Kuntal

1998-12-01

This paper presents a novel idea of a visual communication system, which can support distance teaching using a network of computers. Here the author's main focus is to enhance the quality of distance teaching by reducing the barrier between the teacher and the student, which is formed due to the remote connection of the networked participants. The paper presents an effective way of improving teacher-student communication link of an IT (Information Technology) based distance teaching scenario, using facial expression recognition results and face global and local motion detection results of both the teacher and the student. It presents a way of regenerating the facial images for the teacher-student down-link, which can enhance the teachers facial expressions and which also can reduce the network traffic compared to usual video broadcasting scenarios. At the same time, it presents a way of representing a large volume of facial expression data of the whole student population (in the student-teacher up-link). This up-link representation helps the teacher to receive an instant feed back of his talk, as if he was delivering a face to face lecture. In conventional video tele-conferencing type of applications, this task is nearly impossible, due to huge volume of upward network traffic. The authors utilize several of their previous publication results for most of the image processing components needs to be investigated to complete such a system. In addition, some of the remaining system components are covered by several on going work.

Facial reanimation by muscle-nerve neurotization after facial nerve sacrifice. Case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Taupin, A; Labbé, D; Babin, E; Fromager, G

2016-12-01

Recovering a certain degree of mimicry after sacrifice of the facial nerve is a clinically recognized finding. The authors report a case of hemifacial reanimation suggesting a phenomenon of neurotization from muscle-to-nerve. A woman benefited from a parotidectomy with sacrifice of the left facial nerve indicated for recurrent tumor in the gland. The distal branches of the facial nerve, isolated at the time of resection, were buried in the masseter muscle underneath. The patient recovered a voluntary hémifacial motricity. The electromyographic analysis of the motor activity of the zygomaticus major before and after block of the masseter nerve showed a dependence between mimic muscles and the masseter muscle. Several hypotheses have been advanced to explain the spontaneous reanimation of facial paralysis. The clinical case makes it possible to argue in favor of muscle-to-nerve neurotization from masseter muscle to distal branches of the facial nerve. It illustrates the quality of motricity that can be obtained thanks to this procedure. The authors describe a simple implantation technique of distal branches of the facial nerve in the masseter muscle during a radical parotidectomy with facial nerve sacrifice and recovery of resting tone but also a quality voluntary mimicry. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Endogenous testosterone levels are associated with neural activity in men with schizophrenia during facial emotion processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Ji, Ellen; Weickert, Cynthia Shannon; Lenroot, Rhoshel; Catts, Stanley V; Vercammen, Ans; White, Christopher; Gur, Raquel E; Weickert, Thomas W

2015-06-01

Growing evidence suggests that testosterone may play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia given that testosterone has been linked to cognition and negative symptoms in schizophrenia. Here, we determine the extent to which serum testosterone levels are related to neural activity in affective processing circuitry in men with schizophrenia. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure blood-oxygen-level-dependent signal changes as 32 healthy controls and 26 people with schizophrenia performed a facial emotion identification task. Whole brain analyses were performed to determine regions of differential activity between groups during processing of angry versus non-threatening faces. A follow-up ROI analysis using a regression model in a subset of 16 healthy men and 16 men with schizophrenia was used to determine the extent to which serum testosterone levels were related to neural activity. Healthy controls displayed significantly greater activation than people with schizophrenia in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG). There was no significant difference in circulating testosterone levels between healthy men and men with schizophrenia. Regression analyses between activation in the IFG and circulating testosterone levels revealed a significant positive correlation in men with schizophrenia (r=.63, p=.01) and no significant relationship in healthy men. This study provides the first evidence that circulating serum testosterone levels are related to IFG activation during emotion face processing in men with schizophrenia but not in healthy men, which suggests that testosterone levels modulate neural processes relevant to facial emotion processing that may interfere with social functioning in men with schizophrenia. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Who do you trust? The impact of facial emotion and behaviour on decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Campellone, Timothy R; Kring, Ann M

2013-01-01

During social interactions, we use available information to guide our decisions, including behaviour and emotional displays. In some situations, behaviour and emotional displays may be incongruent, complicating decision making. This study had two main aims: first, to investigate the independent contributions of behaviour and facial displays of emotion on decisions to trust, and, second, to examine what happens when the information being signalled by a facial display is incongruent with behaviour. Participants played a modified version of the Trust Game in which they learned simulated players' behaviour with or without concurrent displays of facial emotion. Results indicated that displays of anger, but not happiness, influenced decisions to trust during initial encounters. Over the course of repeated interactions, however, emotional displays consistent with an established pattern of behaviour made independent contributions to decision making, strengthening decisions to trust. When facial display and behaviour were incongruent, participants used current behaviour to inform decision making.

Representing affective facial expressions for robots and embodied conversational agents by facial landmarks

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Liu, C.; Ham, J.R.C.; Postma, E.O.; Midden, C.J.H.; Joosten, B.; Goudbeek, M.

2013-01-01

Affective robots and embodied conversational agents require convincing facial expressions to make them socially acceptable. To be able to virtually generate facial expressions, we need to investigate the relationship between technology and human perception of affective and social signals. Facial

Behavioral dissociation between emotional and non-emotional facial expressions in congenital prosopagnosia.

Science.gov (United States)

Daini, Roberta; Comparetti, Chiara M; Ricciardelli, Paola

2014-01-01

Neuropsychological and neuroimaging studies have shown that facial recognition and emotional expressions are dissociable. However, it is unknown if a single system supports the processing of emotional and non-emotional facial expressions. We aimed to understand if individuals with impairment in face recognition from birth (congenital prosopagnosia, CP) can use non-emotional facial expressions to recognize a face as an already seen one, and thus, process this facial dimension independently from features (which are impaired in CP), and basic emotional expressions. To this end, we carried out a behavioral study in which we compared the performance of 6 CP individuals to that of typical development individuals, using upright and inverted faces. Four avatar faces with a neutral expression were presented in the initial phase. The target faces presented in the recognition phase, in which a recognition task was requested (2AFC paradigm), could be identical (neutral) to those of the initial phase or present biologically plausible changes to features, non-emotional expressions, or emotional expressions. After this task, a second task was performed, in which the participants had to detect whether or not the recognized face exactly matched the study face or showed any difference. The results confirmed the CPs' impairment in the configural processing of the invariant aspects of the face, but also showed a spared configural processing of non-emotional facial expression (task 1). Interestingly and unlike the non-emotional expressions, the configural processing of emotional expressions was compromised in CPs and did not improve their change detection ability (task 2). These new results have theoretical implications for face perception models since they suggest that, at least in CPs, non-emotional expressions are processed configurally, can be dissociated from other facial dimensions, and may serve as a compensatory strategy to achieve face recognition.

A selective emotional decision-making bias elicited by facial expressions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicholas Furl

Full Text Available Emotional and social information can sway otherwise rational decisions. For example, when participants decide between two faces that are probabilistically rewarded, they make biased choices that favor smiling relative to angry faces. This bias may arise because facial expressions evoke positive and negative emotional responses, which in turn may motivate social approach and avoidance. We tested a wide range of pictures that evoke emotions or convey social information, including animals, words, foods, a variety of scenes, and faces differing in trustworthiness or attractiveness, but we found only facial expressions biased decisions. Our results extend brain imaging and pharmacological findings, which suggest that a brain mechanism supporting social interaction may be involved. Facial expressions appear to exert special influence over this social interaction mechanism, one capable of biasing otherwise rational choices. These results illustrate that only specific types of emotional experiences can best sway our choices.

A Selective Emotional Decision-Making Bias Elicited by Facial Expressions

Science.gov (United States)

Furl, Nicholas; Gallagher, Shannon; Averbeck, Bruno B.

2012-01-01

Emotional and social information can sway otherwise rational decisions. For example, when participants decide between two faces that are probabilistically rewarded, they make biased choices that favor smiling relative to angry faces. This bias may arise because facial expressions evoke positive and negative emotional responses, which in turn may motivate social approach and avoidance. We tested a wide range of pictures that evoke emotions or convey social information, including animals, words, foods, a variety of scenes, and faces differing in trustworthiness or attractiveness, but we found only facial expressions biased decisions. Our results extend brain imaging and pharmacological findings, which suggest that a brain mechanism supporting social interaction may be involved. Facial expressions appear to exert special influence over this social interaction mechanism, one capable of biasing otherwise rational choices. These results illustrate that only specific types of emotional experiences can best sway our choices. PMID:22438936

A selective emotional decision-making bias elicited by facial expressions.

Science.gov (United States)

Furl, Nicholas; Gallagher, Shannon; Averbeck, Bruno B

2012-01-01

Emotional and social information can sway otherwise rational decisions. For example, when participants decide between two faces that are probabilistically rewarded, they make biased choices that favor smiling relative to angry faces. This bias may arise because facial expressions evoke positive and negative emotional responses, which in turn may motivate social approach and avoidance. We tested a wide range of pictures that evoke emotions or convey social information, including animals, words, foods, a variety of scenes, and faces differing in trustworthiness or attractiveness, but we found only facial expressions biased decisions. Our results extend brain imaging and pharmacological findings, which suggest that a brain mechanism supporting social interaction may be involved. Facial expressions appear to exert special influence over this social interaction mechanism, one capable of biasing otherwise rational choices. These results illustrate that only specific types of emotional experiences can best sway our choices.

Recurrent unilateral facial nerve palsy in a child with dehiscent facial nerve canal

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christopher Liu

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Objective: The dehiscent facial nerve canal has been well documented in histopathological studies of temporal bones as well as in clinical setting. We describe clinical and radiologic features of a child with recurrent facial nerve palsy and dehiscent facial nerve canal. Methods: Retrospective chart review. Results: A 5-year-old male was referred to the otolaryngology clinic for evaluation of recurrent acute otitis media and hearing loss. He also developed recurrent left peripheral FN palsy associated with episodes of bilateral acute otitis media. High resolution computed tomography of the temporal bones revealed incomplete bony coverage of the tympanic segment of the left facial nerve. Conclusions: Recurrent peripheral FN palsy may occur in children with recurrent acute otitis media in the presence of a dehiscent facial nerve canal. Facial nerve canal dehiscence should be considered in the differential diagnosis of children with recurrent peripheral FN palsy.

Pediatric facial injuries: It's management

OpenAIRE

Singh, Geeta; Mohammad, Shadab; Pal, U. S.; Hariram,; Malkunje, Laxman R.; Singh, Nimisha

2011-01-01

Background: Facial injuries in children always present a challenge in respect of their diagnosis and management. Since these children are of a growing age every care should be taken so that later the overall growth pattern of the facial skeleton in these children is not jeopardized. Purpose: To access the most feasible method for the management of facial injuries in children without hampering the facial growth. Materials and Methods: Sixty child patients with facial trauma were selected rando...

Facial Sports Injuries

Science.gov (United States)

... the patient has HIV or hepatitis. Facial Fractures Sports injuries can cause potentially serious broken bones or fractures of the face. Common symptoms of facial fractures include: swelling and bruising, ...

[Measuring impairment of facial affects recognition in schizophrenia. Preliminary study of the facial emotions recognition task (TREF)].

Science.gov (United States)

Gaudelus, B; Virgile, J; Peyroux, E; Leleu, A; Baudouin, J-Y; Franck, N

2015-06-01

without psychiatric diagnosis. The study also allowed the identification of cut-off scores; results below 2 standard deviations of the healthy control average (61.57%) pointed to a facial affect recognition deficit. The TREF appears to be a useful tool to identify facial affects recognition impairment in schizophrenia. Neuropsychologists, who have tried this task, have positive feedback. The TREF is easy to use (duration of about 15 minutes), easy to apply in subjects with attentional difficulties, and tests facial affects recognition at ecological intensity levels. These results have to be confirmed in the future with larger sample sizes, and in comparison with other tasks, evaluating the facial affects recognition processes. Copyright © 2014 L’Encéphale, Paris. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Judgment of facial expressions and depression persistence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hale, WW

1998-01-01

In research it has been demonstrated that cognitive and interpersonal processes play significant roles in depression development and persistence. The judgment of emotions displayed in facial expressions by depressed patients allows for a better understanding of these processes. In this study, 48

Support vector machine-based facial-expression recognition method combining shape and appearance

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Eun Jung; Kang, Byung Jun; Park, Kang Ryoung; Lee, Sangyoun

2010-11-01

Facial expression recognition can be widely used for various applications, such as emotion-based human-machine interaction, intelligent robot interfaces, face recognition robust to expression variation, etc. Previous studies have been classified as either shape- or appearance-based recognition. The shape-based method has the disadvantage that the individual variance of facial feature points exists irrespective of similar expressions, which can cause a reduction of the recognition accuracy. The appearance-based method has a limitation in that the textural information of the face is very sensitive to variations in illumination. To overcome these problems, a new facial-expression recognition method is proposed, which combines both shape and appearance information, based on the support vector machine (SVM). This research is novel in the following three ways as compared to previous works. First, the facial feature points are automatically detected by using an active appearance model. From these, the shape-based recognition is performed by using the ratios between the facial feature points based on the facial-action coding system. Second, the SVM, which is trained to recognize the same and different expression classes, is proposed to combine two matching scores obtained from the shape- and appearance-based recognitions. Finally, a single SVM is trained to discriminate four different expressions, such as neutral, a smile, anger, and a scream. By determining the expression of the input facial image whose SVM output is at a minimum, the accuracy of the expression recognition is much enhanced. The experimental results showed that the recognition accuracy of the proposed method was better than previous researches and other fusion methods.

Outcome of a graduated minimally invasive facial reanimation in patients with facial paralysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Holtmann, Laura C; Eckstein, Anja; Stähr, Kerstin; Xing, Minzhi; Lang, Stephan; Mattheis, Stefan

2017-08-01

Peripheral paralysis of the facial nerve is the most frequent of all cranial nerve disorders. Despite advances in facial surgery, the functional and aesthetic reconstruction of a paralyzed face remains a challenge. Graduated minimally invasive facial reanimation is based on a modular principle. According to the patients' needs, precondition, and expectations, the following modules can be performed: temporalis muscle transposition and facelift, nasal valve suspension, endoscopic brow lift, and eyelid reconstruction. Applying a concept of a graduated minimally invasive facial reanimation may help minimize surgical trauma and reduce morbidity. Twenty patients underwent a graduated minimally invasive facial reanimation. A retrospective chart review was performed with a follow-up examination between 1 and 8 months after surgery. The FACEgram software was used to calculate pre- and postoperative eyelid closure, the level of brows, nasal, and philtral symmetry as well as oral commissure position at rest and oral commissure excursion with smile. As a patient-oriented outcome parameter, the Glasgow Benefit Inventory questionnaire was applied. There was a statistically significant improvement in the postoperative score of eyelid closure, brow asymmetry, nasal asymmetry, philtral asymmetry as well as oral commissure symmetry at rest (p facial nerve repair or microneurovascular tissue transfer cannot be applied, graduated minimally invasive facial reanimation is a promising option to restore facial function and symmetry at rest.

Speed and accuracy of facial expression classification in avoidant personality disorder: a preliminary study.

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Rosenthal, M Zachary; Kim, Kwanguk; Herr, Nathaniel R; Smoski, Moria J; Cheavens, Jennifer S; Lynch, Thomas R; Kosson, David S

2011-10-01

The aim of this preliminary study was to examine whether individuals with avoidant personality disorder (APD) could be characterized by deficits in the classification of dynamically presented facial emotional expressions. Using a community sample of adults with APD (n = 17) and non-APD controls (n = 16), speed and accuracy of facial emotional expression recognition was investigated in a task that morphs facial expressions from neutral to prototypical expressions (Multi-Morph Facial Affect Recognition Task; Blair, Colledge, Murray, & Mitchell, 2001). Results indicated that individuals with APD were significantly more likely than controls to make errors when classifying fully expressed fear. However, no differences were found between groups in the speed to correctly classify facial emotional expressions. The findings are some of the first to investigate facial emotional processing in a sample of individuals with APD and point to an underlying deficit in processing social cues that may be involved in the maintenance of APD.

Identity modulates short-term memory for facial emotion.

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Galster, Murray; Kahana, Michael J; Wilson, Hugh R; Sekuler, Robert

2009-12-01

For some time, the relationship between processing of facial expression and facial identity has been in dispute. Using realistic synthetic faces, we reexamined this relationship for both perception and short-term memory. In Experiment 1, subjects tried to identify whether the emotional expression on a probe stimulus face matched the emotional expression on either of two remembered faces that they had just seen. The results showed that identity strongly influenced recognition short-term memory for emotional expression. In Experiment 2, subjects' similarity/dissimilarity judgments were transformed by multidimensional scaling (MDS) into a 2-D description of the faces' perceptual representations. Distances among stimuli in the MDS representation, which showed a strong linkage of emotional expression and facial identity, were good predictors of correct and false recognitions obtained previously in Experiment 1. The convergence of the results from Experiments 1 and 2 suggests that the overall structure and configuration of faces' perceptual representations may parallel their representation in short-term memory and that facial identity modulates the representation of facial emotion, both in perception and in memory. The stimuli from this study may be downloaded from http://cabn.psychonomic-journals.org/content/supplemental.

Attention and memory bias to facial emotions underlying negative symptoms of schizophrenia.

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Jang, Seon-Kyeong; Park, Seon-Cheol; Lee, Seung-Hwan; Cho, Yang Seok; Choi, Kee-Hong

2016-01-01

This study assessed bias in selective attention to facial emotions in negative symptoms of schizophrenia and its influence on subsequent memory for facial emotions. Thirty people with schizophrenia who had high and low levels of negative symptoms (n = 15, respectively) and 21 healthy controls completed a visual probe detection task investigating selective attention bias (happy, sad, and angry faces randomly presented for 50, 500, or 1000 ms). A yes/no incidental facial memory task was then completed. Attention bias scores and recognition errors were calculated. Those with high negative symptoms exhibited reduced attention to emotional faces relative to neutral faces; those with low negative symptoms showed the opposite pattern when faces were presented for 500 ms regardless of the valence. Compared to healthy controls, those with high negative symptoms made more errors for happy faces in the memory task. Reduced attention to emotional faces in the probe detection task was significantly associated with less pleasure and motivation and more recognition errors for happy faces in schizophrenia group only. Attention bias away from emotional information relatively early in the attentional process and associated diminished positive memory may relate to pathological mechanisms for negative symptoms.

Does Facial Amimia Impact the Recognition of Facial Emotions? An EMG Study in Parkinson’s Disease

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Argaud, Soizic; Delplanque, Sylvain; Houvenaghel, Jean-François; Auffret, Manon; Duprez, Joan; Vérin, Marc; Grandjean, Didier; Sauleau, Paul

2016-01-01

According to embodied simulation theory, understanding other people’s emotions is fostered by facial mimicry. However, studies assessing the effect of facial mimicry on the recognition of emotion are still controversial. In Parkinson’s disease (PD), one of the most distinctive clinical features is facial amimia, a reduction in facial expressiveness, but patients also show emotional disturbances. The present study used the pathological model of PD to examine the role of facial mimicry on emotion recognition by investigating EMG responses in PD patients during a facial emotion recognition task (anger, joy, neutral). Our results evidenced a significant decrease in facial mimicry for joy in PD, essentially linked to the absence of reaction of the zygomaticus major and the orbicularis oculi muscles in response to happy avatars, whereas facial mimicry for expressions of anger was relatively preserved. We also confirmed that PD patients were less accurate in recognizing positive and neutral facial expressions and highlighted a beneficial effect of facial mimicry on the recognition of emotion. We thus provide additional arguments for embodied simulation theory suggesting that facial mimicry is a potential lever for therapeutic actions in PD even if it seems not to be necessarily required in recognizing emotion as such. PMID:27467393

Extracranial Facial Nerve Schwannoma Treated by Hypo-fractionated CyberKnife Radiosurgery

OpenAIRE

Sasaki, Ayaka; Miyazaki, Shinichiro; Hori, Tomokatsu

2016-01-01

Facial nerve schwannoma is a rare intracranial tumor. Treatment for this benign tumor has been controversial. Here, we report a case of extracranial facial nerve schwannoma treated successfully by hypo-fractionated CyberKnife (Accuray, Sunnyvale, CA) radiosurgery?and discuss the efficacy of this treatment. A 34-year-old female noticed a swelling in her right mastoid process. The lesion enlarged over a seven-month period, and she experienced facial spasm on the right side. She was diagnosed wi...

Facial Attractiveness as a Moderator of the Association between Social and Physical Aggression and Popularity in Adolescents

OpenAIRE

Rosen, Lisa H.; Underwood, Marion K.

2010-01-01

This study examined the relations between facial attractiveness, aggression, and popularity in adolescence to determine whether facial attractiveness would buffer against the negative effects of aggression on popularity. We collected ratings of facial attractiveness from standardized photographs, and teachers provided information on adolescents’ social aggression, physical aggression, and popularity for 143 seventh graders (70 girls). Regression analyses indicated that facial attractiveness m...

Facial orientation and facial shape in extant great apes: a geometric morphometric analysis of covariation.

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Neaux, Dimitri; Guy, Franck; Gilissen, Emmanuel; Coudyzer, Walter; Vignaud, Patrick; Ducrocq, Stéphane

2013-01-01

The organization of the bony face is complex, its morphology being influenced in part by the rest of the cranium. Characterizing the facial morphological variation and craniofacial covariation patterns in extant hominids is fundamental to the understanding of their evolutionary history. Numerous studies on hominid facial shape have proposed hypotheses concerning the relationship between the anterior facial shape, facial block orientation and basicranial flexion. In this study we test these hypotheses in a sample of adult specimens belonging to three extant hominid genera (Homo, Pan and Gorilla). Intraspecific variation and covariation patterns are analyzed using geometric morphometric methods and multivariate statistics, such as partial least squared on three-dimensional landmarks coordinates. Our results indicate significant intraspecific covariation between facial shape, facial block orientation and basicranial flexion. Hominids share similar characteristics in the relationship between anterior facial shape and facial block orientation. Modern humans exhibit a specific pattern in the covariation between anterior facial shape and basicranial flexion. This peculiar feature underscores the role of modern humans' highly-flexed basicranium in the overall integration of the cranium. Furthermore, our results are consistent with the hypothesis of a relationship between the reduction of the value of the cranial base angle and a downward rotation of the facial block in modern humans, and to a lesser extent in chimpanzees.

Abnormalities in early visual processes are linked to hypersociability and atypical evaluation of facial trustworthiness: An ERP study with Williams syndrome.

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Shore, Danielle M; Ng, Rowena; Bellugi, Ursula; Mills, Debra L

2017-10-01

Accurate assessment of trustworthiness is fundamental to successful and adaptive social behavior. Initially, people assess trustworthiness from facial appearance alone. These assessments then inform critical approach or avoid decisions. Individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) exhibit a heightened social drive, especially toward strangers. This study investigated the temporal dynamics of facial trustworthiness evaluation in neurotypic adults (TD) and individuals with WS. We examined whether differences in neural activity during trustworthiness evaluation may explain increased approach motivation in WS compared to TD individuals. Event-related potentials were recorded while participants appraised faces previously rated as trustworthy or untrustworthy. TD participants showed increased sensitivity to untrustworthy faces within the first 65-90 ms, indexed by the negative-going rise of the P1 onset (oP1). The amplitude of the oP1 difference to untrustworthy minus trustworthy faces was correlated with lower approachability scores. In contrast, participants with WS showed increased N170 amplitudes to trustworthy faces. The N170 difference to low-high-trust faces was correlated with low approachability in TD and high approachability in WS. The findings suggest that hypersociability associated with WS may arise from abnormalities in the timing and organization of early visual brain activity during trustworthiness evaluation. More generally, the study provides support for the hypothesis that impairments in low-level perceptual processes can have a cascading effect on social cognition.

[Evidence of facial palsy and facial malformations in pottery from Peruvian Moche and Lambayeque pre-Columbian cultures].

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Carod-Artal, F J; Vázquez Cabrera, C B

2006-01-01

Moche (100-700 AD) and Lambayeque-Sicán (750-1100 AD) are pre-Columbian cultures from Regional States Period, developed in Northern Peru. Information about daily life, religion and medicine has been obtained through the study of Moche ceramics found in lords and priests tombs, pyramids and temples. To analyze archeological evidences of Moche Medicine and neurological diseases through ceramics. Representations of diseases in Moche and Lambayeque iconography and Moche pottery collections exposed in Casinelli museum from Trujillo, and Brüning National Archeological museum from Lambayeque, Peru, were studied. The most representative cases were analyzed and photographed, previous authorization from authorities and curators of the museums. The following pathologies were observed in ceramic collections: peripheral facial palsy, facial malformations such as cleft lip, hemifacial spasm, legs and arm amputations, scoliosis and Siamese patients. Male and females Moche doctors were also observed in the ceramics in ritual ceremonies treating patients. The main pathologies observed in Moche and Lambayeque pottery are facial palsy and cleft lip. These are one of the earliest registries of these pathologies in pre-Columbian cultures in South-America.

Comparison of emotion recognition from facial expression and music.

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Gaspar, Tina; Labor, Marina; Jurić, Iva; Dumancić, Dijana; Ilakovac, Vesna; Heffer, Marija

2011-01-01

The recognition of basic emotions in everyday communication involves interpretation of different visual and auditory clues. The ability to recognize emotions is not clearly determined as their presentation is usually very short (micro expressions), whereas the recognition itself does not have to be a conscious process. We assumed that the recognition from facial expressions is selected over the recognition of emotions communicated through music. In order to compare the success rate in recognizing emotions presented as facial expressions or in classical music works we conducted a survey which included 90 elementary school and 87 high school students from Osijek (Croatia). The participants had to match 8 photographs of different emotions expressed on the face and 8 pieces of classical music works with 8 offered emotions. The recognition of emotions expressed through classical music pieces was significantly less successful than the recognition of emotional facial expressions. The high school students were significantly better at recognizing facial emotions than the elementary school students, whereas girls were better than boys. The success rate in recognizing emotions from music pieces was associated with higher grades in mathematics. Basic emotions are far better recognized if presented on human faces than in music, possibly because the understanding of facial emotions is one of the oldest communication skills in human society. Female advantage in emotion recognition was selected due to the necessity of their communication with the newborns during early development. The proficiency in recognizing emotional content of music and mathematical skills probably share some general cognitive skills like attention, memory and motivation. Music pieces were differently processed in brain than facial expressions and consequently, probably differently evaluated as relevant emotional clues.

Real Time 3D Facial Movement Tracking Using a Monocular Camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yanchao Dong

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper proposes a robust framework for 3D facial movement tracking in real time using a monocular camera. It is designed to estimate the 3D face pose and local facial animation such as eyelid movement and mouth movement. The framework firstly utilizes the Discriminative Shape Regression method to locate the facial feature points on the 2D image and fuses the 2D data with a 3D face model using Extended Kalman Filter to yield 3D facial movement information. An alternating optimizing strategy is adopted to fit to different persons automatically. Experiments show that the proposed framework could track the 3D facial movement across various poses and illumination conditions. Given the real face scale the framework could track the eyelid with an error of 1 mm and mouth with an error of 2 mm. The tracking result is reliable for expression analysis or mental state inference.

Cognitive Processing about Classroom-Relevant Contexts: Teachers' Attention to and Utilization of Girls' Body Size, Ethnicity, Attractiveness, and Facial Affect

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Wang, Shirley S.; Treat, Teresa A.; Brownell, Kelly D.

2008-01-01

This study examines 2 aspects of cognitive processing in person perception--attention and decision making--in classroom-relevant contexts. Teachers completed 2 implicit, performance-based tasks that characterized attention to and utilization of 4 student characteristics of interest: ethnicity, facial affect, body size, and attractiveness. Stimuli…

Hypoglossal-facial nerve "side"-to-side neurorrhaphy for facial paralysis resulting from closed temporal bone fractures.

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Su, Diya; Li, Dezhi; Wang, Shiwei; Qiao, Hui; Li, Ping; Wang, Binbin; Wan, Hong; Schumacher, Michael; Liu, Song

2018-06-06

Closed temporal bone fractures due to cranial trauma often result in facial nerve injury, frequently inducing incomplete facial paralysis. Conventional hypoglossal-facial nerve end-to-end neurorrhaphy may not be suitable for these injuries because sacrifice of the lesioned facial nerve for neurorrhaphy destroys the remnant axons and/or potential spontaneous innervation. we modified the classical method by hypoglossal-facial nerve "side"-to-side neurorrhaphy using an interpositional predegenerated nerve graft to treat these injuries. Five patients who experienced facial paralysis resulting from closed temporal bone fractures due to cranial trauma were treated with the "side"-to-side neurorrhaphy. An additional 4 patients did not receive the neurorrhaphy and served as controls. Before treatment, all patients had suffered House-Brackmann (H-B) grade V or VI facial paralysis for a mean of 5 months. During the 12-30 months of follow-up period, no further detectable deficits were observed, but an improvement in facial nerve function was evidenced over time in the 5 neurorrhaphy-treated patients. At the end of follow-up, the improved facial function reached H-B grade II in 3, grade III in 1 and grade IV in 1 of the 5 patients, consistent with the electrophysiological examinations. In the control group, two patients showed slightly spontaneous innervation with facial function improved from H-B grade VI to V, and the other patients remained unchanged at H-B grade V or VI. We concluded that the hypoglossal-facial nerve "side"-to-side neurorrhaphy can preserve the injured facial nerve and is suitable for treating significant incomplete facial paralysis resulting from closed temporal bone fractures, providing an evident beneficial effect. Moreover, this treatment may be performed earlier after the onset of facial paralysis in order to reduce the unfavorable changes to the injured facial nerve and atrophy of its target muscles due to long-term denervation and allow axonal

Facial Attractiveness as a Moderator of the Association between Social and Physical Aggression and Popularity in Adolescents

Science.gov (United States)

Rosen, Lisa H.; Underwood, Marion K.

2010-01-01

This study examined the relations between facial attractiveness, aggression, and popularity in adolescence to determine whether facial attractiveness would buffer against the negative effects of aggression on popularity. We collected ratings of facial attractiveness from standardized photographs, and teachers provided information on adolescents'…

[Descending hypoglossal branch-facial nerve anastomosis in treating unilateral facial palsy after acoustic neuroma resection].

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Jiantao; Li, Mingchu; Chen, Ge; Guo, Hongchuan; Zhang, Qiuhang; Bao, Yuhai

2015-12-15

To evaluate the efficiency of the descending hypoglossal branch-facial nerve anastomosis for the severe facial palsy after acoustic neuroma resection. The clinical data of 14 patients (6 males, 8 females, average age 45. 6 years old) underwent descending hypoglossal branch-facial nerve anastomosis for treatment of unilateral facial palsy was analyzed retrospectively. All patients previously had undergone resection of a large acoustic neuroma. House-Brackmann (H-B) grading system was used to evaluate the pre-, post-operative and follow up facial nerve function status. 12 cases (85.7%) had long follow up, with an average follow-up period of 24. 6 months. 6 patients had good outcome (H-B 2 - 3 grade); 5 patients had fair outcome (H-B 3 - 4 grade) and 1 patient had poor outcome (H-B 5 grade) Only 1 patient suffered hemitongue myoparalysis owing to the operation. Descending hypoglossal branch-facial nerve anastomosis is effective for facial reanimation, and it has little impact on the function of chewing, swallowing and pronunciation of the patients compared with the traditional hypoglossal-facial nerve anastomosis.

Quantifying water flow and retention in an unsaturated fracture-facial domain

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Nimmo, John R.; Malek-Mohammadi, Siamak

2015-01-01

Hydrologically significant flow and storage of water occur in macropores and fractures that are only partially filled. To accommodate such processes in flow models, we propose a three-domain framework. Two of the domains correspond to water flow and water storage in a fracture-facial region, in addition to the third domain of matrix water. The fracture-facial region, typically within a fraction of a millimeter of the fracture wall, includes a flowing phase whose fullness is determined by the availability and flux of preferentially flowing water, and a static storage portion whose fullness is determined by the local matric potential. The flow domain can be modeled with the source-responsive preferential flow model, and the roughness-storage domain can be modeled with capillary relations applied on the fracture-facial area. The matrix domain is treated using traditional unsaturated flow theory. We tested the model with application to the hydrology of the Chalk formation in southern England, coherently linking hydrologic information including recharge estimates, streamflow, water table fluctuation, imaging by electron microscopy, and surface roughness. The quantitative consistency of the three-domain matrix-microcavity-film model with this body of diverse data supports the hypothesized distinctions and active mechanisms of the three domains and establishes the usefulness of this framework.

Facial preservation following extreme mummification: Shrunken heads.

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Houlton, Tobias M R; Wilkinson, Caroline

2018-05-01

Shrunken heads are a mummification phenomenon unique to South America. Ceremonial tsantsa are ritually reduced heads from enemy victims of the Shuar, Achuar, Awajún (Aguaruna), Wampís (Huambisa), and Candoshi-Shapra cultures. Commercial shrunken heads are comparatively modern and fraudulently produced for the curio-market, often using stolen bodies from hospital mortuaries and graves. To achieve shrinkage and desiccation, heads undergo skinning, simmering (in water) and drying. Considering the intensive treatments applied, this research aims to identify how the facial structure can alter and impact identification using post-mortem depiction. Sixty-five human shrunken heads were assessed: 6 ceremonial, 36 commercial, and 23 ambiguous. Investigations included manual inspection, multi-detector computerised tomography, infrared reflectography, ultraviolet fluorescence and microscopic hair analysis. The mummification process disfigures the outer face, cheeks, nasal root and bridge form, including brow ridge, eyes, ears, mouth, and nose projection. Melanin depletion, epidermal degeneration, and any applied staining changes the natural skin complexion. Papillary and reticular dermis separation is possible. Normal hair structure (cuticle, cortex, medulla) is retained. Hair appears longer (unless cut) and more profuse following shrinkage. Significant features retained include skin defects, facial creases, hairlines and earlobe form. Hair conditions that only affect living scalps are preserved (e.g. nits, hair casts). Ear and nose cartilage helps to retain some morphological information. Commercial heads appear less distorted than ceremonial tsantsa, often presenting a definable eyebrow shape, vermillion lip shape, lip thickness (if mouth is open), philtrum form, and palpebral slit angle. Facial identification capabilities are considered limited, and only perceived possible for commercial heads. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automatic Change Detection to Facial Expressions in Adolescents: Evidence from Visual Mismatch Negativity Responses

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Tongran eLiu

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Adolescence is a critical period for the neurodevelopment of social-emotional processing, wherein the automatic detection of changes in facial expressions is crucial for the development of interpersonal communication. Two groups of participants (an adolescent group and an adult group were recruited to complete an emotional oddball task featuring on happy and one fearful condition. The measurement of event-related potential (ERP was carried out via electroencephalography (EEG and electrooculography (EOG recording, to detect visual mismatch negativity (vMMN with regard to the automatic detection of changes in facial expressions between the two age groups. The current findings demonstrated that the adolescent group featured more negative vMMN amplitudes than the adult group in the fronto-central region during the 120-200 ms interval. During the time window of 370-450 ms, only the adult group showed better automatic processing on fearful faces than happy faces. The present study indicated that adolescents posses stronger automatic detection of changes in emotional expression relative to adults, and sheds light on the neurodevelopment of automatic processes concerning social-emotional information.

From Facial Emotional Recognition Abilities to Emotional Attribution: A Study in Down Syndrome

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Hippolyte, Loyse; Barisnikov, Koviljka; Van der Linden, Martial; Detraux, Jean-Jacques

2009-01-01

Facial expression processing and the attribution of facial emotions to a context were investigated in adults with Down syndrome (DS) in two experiments. Their performances were compared with those of a child control group matched for receptive vocabulary. The ability to process faces without emotional content was controlled for, and no differences…

Walk and Learn: Facial Attribute Representation Learning from Egocentric Video and Contextual Data

OpenAIRE

Wang, Jing; Cheng, Yu; Feris, Rogerio Schmidt

2016-01-01

The way people look in terms of facial attributes (ethnicity, hair color, facial hair, etc.) and the clothes or accessories they wear (sunglasses, hat, hoodies, etc.) is highly dependent on geo-location and weather condition, respectively. This work explores, for the first time, the use of this contextual information, as people with wearable cameras walk across different neighborhoods of a city, in order to learn a rich feature representation for facial attribute classification, without the c...

Erythropoietin modulates neural and cognitive processing of emotional information in biomarker models of antidepressant drug action in depressed patients

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miskowiak, Kamilla W; Favaron, Elisa; Hafizi, Sepehr

2010-01-01

Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects, and may be a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. We have demonstrated antidepressant-like effects of Epo on the neural and cognitive processing of facial expressions in healthy volunteers. The curren...... study investigates the effects of Epo on the neural and cognitive response to emotional facial expressions in depressed patients.......Erythropoietin (Epo) has neuroprotective and neurotrophic effects, and may be a novel therapeutic agent in the treatment of psychiatric disorders. We have demonstrated antidepressant-like effects of Epo on the neural and cognitive processing of facial expressions in healthy volunteers. The current...

Accurate landmarking of three-dimensional facial data in the presence of facial expressions and occlusions using a three-dimensional statistical facial feature model.

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Zhao, Xi; Dellandréa, Emmanuel; Chen, Liming; Kakadiaris, Ioannis A

2011-10-01

Three-dimensional face landmarking aims at automatically localizing facial landmarks and has a wide range of applications (e.g., face recognition, face tracking, and facial expression analysis). Existing methods assume neutral facial expressions and unoccluded faces. In this paper, we propose a general learning-based framework for reliable landmark localization on 3-D facial data under challenging conditions (i.e., facial expressions and occlusions). Our approach relies on a statistical model, called 3-D statistical facial feature model, which learns both the global variations in configurational relationships between landmarks and the local variations of texture and geometry around each landmark. Based on this model, we further propose an occlusion classifier and a fitting algorithm. Results from experiments on three publicly available 3-D face databases (FRGC, BU-3-DFE, and Bosphorus) demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach, in terms of landmarking accuracy and robustness, in the presence of expressions and occlusions.

The Role of the Amygdala in Facial Trustworthiness Processing: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses of fMRI Studies

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Oliveiros, Bárbara

2016-01-01

Background Faces play a key role in signaling social cues such as signals of trustworthiness. Although several studies identify the amygdala as a core brain region in social cognition, quantitative approaches evaluating its role are scarce. Objectives This review aimed to assess the role of the amygdala in the processing of facial trustworthiness, by analyzing its amplitude BOLD response polarity to untrustworthy versus trustworthy facial signals under fMRI tasks through a Meta-analysis of effect sizes (MA). Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) analyses were also conducted. Data sources Articles were retrieved from MEDLINE, ScienceDirect and Web-of-Science in January 2016. Following the PRISMA statement guidelines, a systematic review of original research articles in English language using the search string “(face OR facial) AND (trustworthiness OR trustworthy OR untrustworthy OR trustee) AND fMRI” was conducted. Study selection and data extraction The MA concerned amygdala responses to facial trustworthiness for the contrast Untrustworthy vs. trustworthy faces, and included whole-brain and ROI studies. To prevent potential bias, results were considered even when at the single study level they did not survive correction for multiple comparisons or provided non-significant results. ALE considered whole-brain studies, using the same methodology to prevent bias. A summary of the methodological options (design and analysis) described in the articles was finally used to get further insight into the characteristics of the studies and to perform a subgroup analysis. Data were extracted by two authors and checked independently. Data synthesis Twenty fMRI studies were considered for systematic review. An MA of effect sizes with 11 articles (12 studies) showed high heterogeneity between studies [Q(11) = 265.68, p < .0001; I2 = 95.86%, 94.20% to 97.05%, with 95% confidence interval, CI]. Random effects analysis [RE(183) = 0.851, .422 to .969, 95% CI] supported the

Digital analysis of facial landmarks in determining facial midline among Punjabi population

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Nirmal Kurian

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Prosthodontic rehabilitation aims to achieve the best possible facial esthetic appearance for a patient. Attaining facial symmetry forms the basic element for esthetics, and knowledge of the midline of face will result in a better understanding of dentofacial esthetics. Currently, there are no guidelines that direct the choice of specific anatomic landmarks to determine the midline of the face or mouth. Most clinicians choose one specific anatomic landmark and an imaginary line passing through it. Thus, the clinician is left with no established guidelines to determine facial midline. Objective: The purpose of the study is to digitally determine the relationship of facial landmarks with midline of face and formulate a guideline for choosing anatomic landmark among Punjabi population. Materials and Methods: Three commonly used anatomic landmarks, namely nasion, tip of the nose, and tip of the philtrum, were marked clinically on 100 participants (age range: 21–45 years. Frontal full-face digital images of the participants in smile were then made under standardized conditions. Midline analysis was carried out digitally using an image analyzing software. The entire process of midline analysis was done by a single observer and repeated twice. Reliability analysis and one-sample t-tests were conducted. Results: The results indicated that each of the four landmarks deviated uniquely and significantly (P < 0.001 from the midlines of the face as well as the mouth. Conclusions: Within the limitations of the study, the hierarchy of anatomic landmarks closest to the midline of the face in smile was as follows: (1 Intercommissural midlines, (2 Tip of philtrum, (3 Nasion, (4 Tip of the nose, and (5 Dental midlines. The hierarchy of anatomical landmarks closest to the intercommissural/mouth midline was: (1 Tip of philtrum, (2 Tip of the nose, (3 Nasion, and (4 dental midline.

Personality Trait and Facial Expression Filter-Based Brain-Computer Interface

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Seongah Chin

2013-02-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we present technical approaches that bridge the gap in the research related to the use of brain-computer interfaces for entertainment and facial expressions. Such facial expressions that reflect an individual's personal traits can be used to better realize artificial facial expressions in a gaming environment based on a brain-computer interface. First, an emotion extraction filter is introduced in order to classify emotions on the basis of the users' brain signals in real time. Next, a personality trait filter is defined to classify extrovert and introvert types, which manifest as five traits: very extrovert, extrovert, medium, introvert and very introvert. In addition, facial expressions derived from expression rates are obtained by an extrovert-introvert fuzzy model through its defuzzification process. Finally, we confirm this validation via an analysis of the variance of the personality trait filter, a k-fold cross validation of the emotion extraction filter, an accuracy analysis, a user study of facial synthesis and a test case game.

Application of cone beam computed tomography in facial imaging science

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Zacharias Fourie; Janalt Damstra; Yijin Ren

2012-01-01

The use of three-dimensional (3D) methods for facial imaging has increased significantly over the past years.Traditional 2D imaging has gradually being replaced by 3D images in different disciplines,particularly in the fields of orthodontics,maxillofacial surgery,plastic and reconstructive surgery,neurosurgery and forensic sciences.In most cases,3D facial imaging overcomes the limitations of traditional 2D methods and provides the clinician with more accurate information regarding the soft-tissues and the underlying skeleton.The aim of this study was to review the types of imaging methods used for facial imaging.It is important to realize the difference between the types of 3D imaging methods as application and indications thereof may differ.Since 3D cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) imaging will play an increasingly importanl role in orthodontics and orthognathic surgery,special emphasis should be placed on discussing CBCT applications in facial evaluations.

Gene expression profile data for mouse facial development

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Sonia M. Leach

2017-08-01

Full Text Available This article contains data related to the research articles "Spatial and Temporal Analysis of Gene Expression during Growth and Fusion of the Mouse Facial Prominences" (Feng et al., 2009 [1] and “Systems Biology of facial development: contributions of ectoderm and mesenchyme” (Hooper et al., 2017 In press [2]. Embryonic mammalian craniofacial development is a complex process involving the growth, morphogenesis, and fusion of distinct facial prominences into a functional whole. Aberrant gene regulation during this process can lead to severe craniofacial birth defects, including orofacial clefting. As a means to understand the genes involved in facial development, we had previously dissected the embryonic mouse face into distinct prominences: the mandibular, maxillary or nasal between E10.5 and E12.5. The prominences were then processed intact, or separated into ectoderm and mesenchyme layers, prior analysis of RNA expression using microarrays (Feng et al., 2009, Hooper et al., 2017 in press [1,2]. Here, individual gene expression profiles have been built from these datasets that illustrate the timing of gene expression in whole prominences or in the separated tissue layers. The data profiles are presented as an indexed and clickable list of the genes each linked to a graphical image of that gene׳s expression profile in the ectoderm, mesenchyme, or intact prominence. These data files will enable investigators to obtain a rapid assessment of the relative expression level of any gene on the array with respect to time, tissue, prominence, and expression trajectory.

Shades of Emotion: What the Addition of Sunglasses or Masks to Faces Reveals about the Development of Facial Expression Processing

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Roberson, Debi; Kikutani, Mariko; Doge, Paula; Whitaker, Lydia; Majid, Asifa

2012-01-01

Three studies investigated developmental changes in facial expression processing, between 3 years-of-age and adulthood. For adults and older children, the addition of sunglasses to upright faces caused an equivalent decrement in performance to face inversion. However, younger children showed "better" classification of expressions of faces wearing…

A Real-Time Interactive System for Facial Makeup of Peking Opera

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Feilong; Yu, Jinhui

In this paper we present a real-time interactive system for making facial makeup of Peking Opera. First, we analyze the process of drawing facial makeup and characteristics of the patterns used in it, and then construct a SVG pattern bank based on local features like eye, nose, mouth, etc. Next, we pick up some SVG patterns from the pattern bank and composed them to make a new facial makeup. We offer a vector-based free form deformation (FFD) tool to edit patterns and, based on editing, our system creates automatically texture maps for a template head model. Finally, the facial makeup is rendered on the 3D head model in real time. Our system offers flexibility in designing and synthesizing various 3D facial makeup. Potential applications of the system include decoration design, digital museum exhibition and education of Peking Opera.

Impaired Overt Facial Mimicry in Response to Dynamic Facial Expressions in High-Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorders

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Yoshimura, Sayaka; Sato, Wataru; Uono, Shota; Toichi, Motomi

2015-01-01

Previous electromyographic studies have reported that individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) exhibited atypical patterns of facial muscle activity in response to facial expression stimuli. However, whether such activity is expressed in visible facial mimicry remains unknown. To investigate this issue, we videotaped facial responses in…

iFER: facial expression recognition using automatically selected geometric eye and eyebrow features

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Oztel, Ismail; Yolcu, Gozde; Oz, Cemil; Kazan, Serap; Bunyak, Filiz

2018-03-01

Facial expressions have an important role in interpersonal communications and estimation of emotional states or intentions. Automatic recognition of facial expressions has led to many practical applications and became one of the important topics in computer vision. We present a facial expression recognition system that relies on geometry-based features extracted from eye and eyebrow regions of the face. The proposed system detects keypoints on frontal face images and forms a feature set using geometric relationships among groups of detected keypoints. Obtained feature set is refined and reduced using the sequential forward selection (SFS) algorithm and fed to a support vector machine classifier to recognize five facial expression classes. The proposed system, iFER (eye-eyebrow only facial expression recognition), is robust to lower face occlusions that may be caused by beards, mustaches, scarves, etc. and lower face motion during speech production. Preliminary experiments on benchmark datasets produced promising results outperforming previous facial expression recognition studies using partial face features, and comparable results to studies using whole face information, only slightly lower by ˜ 2.5 % compared to the best whole face facial recognition system while using only ˜ 1 / 3 of the facial region.

A Web-based Game for Teaching Facial Expressions to Schizophrenic Patients.

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Gülkesen, Kemal Hakan; Isleyen, Filiz; Cinemre, Buket; Samur, Mehmet Kemal; Sen Kaya, Semiha; Zayim, Nese

2017-07-12

Recognizing facial expressions is an important social skill. In some psychological disorders such as schizophrenia, loss of this skill may complicate the patient's daily life. Prior research has shown that information technology may help to develop facial expression recognition skills through educational software and games. To examine if a computer game designed for teaching facial expressions would improve facial expression recognition skills of patients with schizophrenia. We developed a website composed of eight serious games. Thirty-two patients were given a pre-test composed of 21 facial expression photographs. Eighteen patients were in the study group while 14 were in the control group. Patients in the study group were asked to play the games on the website. After a period of one month, we performed a post-test for all patients. The median score of the correct answers was 17.5 in the control group whereas it was 16.5 in the study group (of 21) in pretest. The median post-test score was 18 in the control group (p=0.052) whereas it was 20 in the study group (pgames may be used for the purpose of educating people who have difficulty in recognizing facial expressions.

Bilateral Facial Diplegia: A Rare Presenting Symptom of Lyme

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John Ashurst

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Lyme disease is a common disease that is faced by the physician but also acts a mimicker of many other disease processes. Facial palsies, especially bilateral, are a relatively rare presenting symptom of Lyme disease and may warrant further investigation. A thorough history and physical examination coupled with precision testing may aid the physician when faced with a patient with the diagnostic dilemma of facial diplegia.

Facial EMG responses to dynamic emotional facial expressions in boys with disruptive behavior disorders

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Wied, de M.; Boxtel, van Anton; Zaalberg, R.; Goudena, P.P.; Matthys, W.

2006-01-01

Based on the assumption that facial mimicry is a key factor in emotional empathy, and clinical observations that children with disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) are weak empathizers, the present study explored whether DBD boys are less facially responsive to facial expressions of emotions than

Case Report: A true median facial cleft (crano-facial dysraphia ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Case Report: A true median facial cleft (crano-facial dysraphia, atessier type O) in Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos. ... Patient had a multidisciplinary care by the obstetrician, Neonatologist, anesthesiologist and the plastic surgery team who scheduled a soft tissue repair of the upper lip defect, columella and ...

Outcome of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques

OpenAIRE

Mohamed, Aboshanif; Omi, Eigo; Honda, Kohei; Suzuki, Shinsuke; Ishikawa, Kazuo

2016-01-01

Abstract Introduction: There is no technique of facial nerve reconstruction that guarantees facial function recovery up to grade III. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques. Methods: Facial nerve reconstruction was performed in 22 patients (facial nerve interpositional graft in 11 patients and hypoglossal-facial nerve transfer in another 11 patients). All patients had facial function House-Brackmann (HB) grade VI, either caused by...

Effects of Oxytocin on Facial Expression and Identity Working Memory Are Found in Females but Not Males.

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Yue, Tong; Yue, Caizhen; Liu, Guangyuan; Huang, Xiting

2018-01-01

Although oxytocin (OXT) has been shown to increase the ability of face perception and processing, no study has explored whether it could improve the performance of working memory for emotional expression information in males and females. Thus, we performed a double-blind, mixed-design, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effects of OXT on temporary maintenance/manipulation of facial information through a facial expression (EMO) vs. identity (ID) working memory task, both for males ( N = 45) and females ( N = 46). Our results showed that in female participants, OXT increased the accuracy of the recognition of faces displaying angry and happy emotions, in the EMO tasks, and also reduced the response time to negative emotional faces, in the ID task. However, the above effects were not present in male subjects. These results indicate that OXT may increase the efficiency of working memory in face processing and this trend is reflected in females rather than in males. This study provides novel evidence for the sexually dimorphic effects of OXT on social cognition.

Effects of Oxytocin on Facial Expression and Identity Working Memory Are Found in Females but Not Males

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tong Yue

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Although oxytocin (OXT has been shown to increase the ability of face perception and processing, no study has explored whether it could improve the performance of working memory for emotional expression information in males and females. Thus, we performed a double-blind, mixed-design, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effects of OXT on temporary maintenance/manipulation of facial information through a facial expression (EMO vs. identity (ID working memory task, both for males (N = 45 and females (N = 46. Our results showed that in female participants, OXT increased the accuracy of the recognition of faces displaying angry and happy emotions, in the EMO tasks, and also reduced the response time to negative emotional faces, in the ID task. However, the above effects were not present in male subjects. These results indicate that OXT may increase the efficiency of working memory in face processing and this trend is reflected in females rather than in males. This study provides novel evidence for the sexually dimorphic effects of OXT on social cognition.

Sex, Sexual Orientation, and Identification of Positive and Negative Facial Affect

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Rahman, Qazi; Wilson, Glenn D.; Abrahams, Sharon

2004-01-01

Sex and sexual orientation related differences in processing of happy and sad facial emotions were examined using an experimental facial emotion recognition paradigm with a large sample (N=240). Analysis of covariance (controlling for age and IQ) revealed that women (irrespective of sexual orientation) had faster reaction times than men for…

The Anatomy of the Facial Vein: Implications for Plastic, Reconstructive, and Aesthetic Procedures.

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Cotofana, Sebastian; Steinke, Hanno; Schlattau, Alexander; Schlager, Markus; Sykes, Jonathan M; Roth, Malcolm Z; Gaggl, Alexander; Giunta, Riccardo E; Gotkin, Robert H; Schenck, Thilo L

2017-06-01

Anatomical knowledge of the facial vasculature is crucial for successful plastic, reconstructive, and minimally invasive procedures of the face. Whereas the majority of previous investigations focused on facial arteries, the precise course, variability, and relationship with adjacent structures of the facial vein have been widely neglected. Seventy-two fresh frozen human cephalic cadavers (32 male and 40 female cadavers; mean age, 75.2 ± 10.9 years; mean body mass index, 24.2 ± 6.6 kg/m; 99 percent Caucasian ethnicity) were investigated by means of layer-by-layer anatomical dissection. In addition, 10 cephalic specimens were investigated using contrast agent-enhanced computed tomographic imaging. The facial vein displayed a constant course in relation to the adjacent anatomical structures. The vein was identified posterior to the facial artery, anterior to the parotid duct, and deep to the zygomaticus major muscle. The angular vein formed the lateral boundary of the deep medial cheek fat and the premaxillary space, and the medial boundary of the deep lateral cheek fat and the sub-orbicularis oculi fat. The mean distance of the inferior and superior labial veins, of the deep facial vein, and of the angular vein from the inferior orbital margin was 51.6 ± 3.1, 42.6 ± 2.3, 27.4 ± 3.0, and 4.2 ± 0.7 mm, respectively. This work provides detailed information on the course of the facial vein in relation to neighboring structures. The presented clinically relevant anatomical observations and descriptions of landmarks will serve as helpful information for plastic, reconstructive, and aesthetic surgeons.

Microbial biofilms on silicone facial prostheses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ariani, Nina

2015-01-01

Facial disfigurements can result from oncologic surgery, trauma and congenital deformities. These disfigurements can be rehabilitated with facial prostheses. Facial prostheses are usually made of silicones. A problem of facial prostheses is that microorganisms can colonize their surface. It is hard

Maladaptive social information processing in childhood predicts young men's atypical amygdala reactivity to threat.

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Choe, Daniel Ewon; Shaw, Daniel S; Forbes, Erika E

2015-05-01

Maladaptive social information processing, such as hostile attributional bias and aggressive response generation, is associated with childhood maladjustment. Although social information processing problems are correlated with heightened physiological responses to social threat, few studies have examined their associations with neural threat circuitry, specifically amygdala activation to social threat. A cohort of 310 boys participated in an ongoing longitudinal study and completed questionnaires and laboratory tasks assessing their social and cognitive characteristics the boys were between 10 and 12 years of age. At age 20, 178 of these young men underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging and a social threat task. At age 22, adult criminal arrest records and self-reports of impulsiveness were obtained. Path models indicated that maladaptive social information-processing at ages 10 and 11 predicted increased left amygdala reactivity to fear faces, an ambiguous threat, at age 20 while accounting for childhood antisocial behavior, empathy, IQ, and socioeconomic status. Exploratory analyses indicated that aggressive response generation - the tendency to respond to threat with reactive aggression - predicted left amygdala reactivity to fear faces and was concurrently associated with empathy, antisocial behavior, and hostile attributional bias, whereas hostile attributional bias correlated with IQ. Although unrelated to social information-processing problems, bilateral amygdala reactivity to anger faces at age 20 was unexpectedly predicted by low IQ at age 11. Amygdala activation did not mediate associations between social information processing and number of criminal arrests, but both impulsiveness at age 22 and arrests were correlated with right amygdala reactivity to anger facial expressions at age 20. Childhood social information processing and IQ predicted young men's amygdala response to threat a decade later, which suggests that childhood social

Visual and associated affective processing of face information in schizophrenia: A selective review.

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Chen, Yue; Ekstrom, Tor

Perception of facial features is crucial in social life. In past decades, extensive research showed that the ability to perceive facial emotion expression was compromised in schizophrenia patients. Given that face perception involves visual/cognitive and affective processing, the roles of these two processing domains in the compromised face perception in schizophrenia were studied and discussed, but not clearly defined. One particular issue was whether face-specific processing is implicated in this psychiatric disorder. Recent investigations have probed into the components of face perception processes such as visual detection, identity recognition, emotion expression discrimination and working memory conveyed from faces. Recent investigations have further assessed the associations between face processing and basic visual processing and between face processing and social cognitive processing such as Theory of Mind. In this selective review, we discuss the investigative findings relevant to the issues of cognitive and affective association and face-specific processing. We highlight the implications of multiple processing domains and face-specific processes as potential mechanisms underlying compromised face perception in schizophrenia. These findings suggest a need for a domain-specific therapeutic approach to the improvement of face perception in schizophrenia.

[Facial tics and spasms].

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Potgieser, Adriaan R E; van Dijk, J Marc C; Elting, Jan Willem J; de Koning-Tijssen, Marina A J

2014-01-01

Facial tics and spasms are socially incapacitating, but effective treatment is often available. The clinical picture is sufficient for distinguishing between the different diseases that cause this affliction.We describe three cases of patients with facial tics or spasms: one case of tics, which are familiar to many physicians; one case of blepharospasms; and one case of hemifacial spasms. We discuss the differential diagnosis and the treatment possibilities for facial tics and spasms. Early diagnosis and treatment is important, because of the associated social incapacitation. Botulin toxin should be considered as a treatment option for facial tics and a curative neurosurgical intervention should be considered for hemifacial spasms.

Influence of spatial frequency and emotion expression on face processing in patients with panic disorder.

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Shim, Miseon; Kim, Do-Won; Yoon, Sunkyung; Park, Gewnhi; Im, Chang-Hwan; Lee, Seung-Hwan

2016-06-01

Deficits in facial emotion processing is a major characteristic of patients with panic disorder. It is known that visual stimuli with different spatial frequencies take distinct neural pathways. This study investigated facial emotion processing involving stimuli presented at broad, high, and low spatial frequencies in patients with panic disorder. Eighteen patients with panic disorder and 19 healthy controls were recruited. Seven event-related potential (ERP) components: (P100, N170, early posterior negativity (EPN); vertex positive potential (VPP), N250, P300; and late positive potential (LPP)) were evaluated while the participants looked at fearful and neutral facial stimuli presented at three spatial frequencies. When a fearful face was presented, panic disorder patients showed a significantly increased P100 amplitude in response to low spatial frequency compared to high spatial frequency; whereas healthy controls demonstrated significant broad spatial frequency dependent processing in P100 amplitude. Vertex positive potential amplitude was significantly increased in high and broad spatial frequency, compared to low spatial frequency in panic disorder. Early posterior negativity amplitude was significantly different between HSF and BSF, and between LSF and BSF processing in both groups, regardless of facial expression. The possibly confounding effects of medication could not be controlled. During early visual processing, patients with panic disorder prefer global to detailed information. However, in later processing, panic disorder patients overuse detailed information for the perception of facial expressions. These findings suggest that unique spatial frequency-dependent facial processing could shed light on the neural pathology associated with panic disorder. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Altered Kinematics of Facial Emotion Expression and Emotion Recognition Deficits Are Unrelated in Parkinson's Disease.

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Bologna, Matteo; Berardelli, Isabella; Paparella, Giulia; Marsili, Luca; Ricciardi, Lucia; Fabbrini, Giovanni; Berardelli, Alfredo

2016-01-01

Altered emotional processing, including reduced emotion facial expression and defective emotion recognition, has been reported in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). However, few studies have objectively investigated facial expression abnormalities in PD using neurophysiological techniques. It is not known whether altered facial expression and recognition in PD are related. To investigate possible deficits in facial emotion expression and emotion recognition and their relationship, if any, in patients with PD. Eighteen patients with PD and 16 healthy controls were enrolled in this study. Facial expressions of emotion were recorded using a 3D optoelectronic system and analyzed using the facial action coding system. Possible deficits in emotion recognition were assessed using the Ekman test. Participants were assessed in one experimental session. Possible relationship between the kinematic variables of facial emotion expression, the Ekman test scores, and clinical and demographic data in patients were evaluated using the Spearman's test and multiple regression analysis. The facial expression of all six basic emotions had slower velocity and lower amplitude in patients in comparison to healthy controls (all P s facial expression kinematics and emotion recognition deficits were unrelated in patients (all P s > 0.05). Finally, no relationship emerged between kinematic variables of facial emotion expression, the Ekman test scores, and clinical and demographic data in patients (all P s > 0.05). The results in this study provide further evidence of altered emotional processing in PD. The lack of any correlation between altered facial emotion expression kinematics and emotion recognition deficits in patients suggests that these abnormalities are mediated by separate pathophysiological mechanisms.

Síndrome de dolor facial

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DR. F. Eugenio Tenhamm

2014-07-01

Full Text Available El dolor o algia facial constituye un síndrome doloroso de las estructuras cráneo faciales bajo el cual se agrupan un gran número de enfermedades. La mejor manera de abordar el diagnóstico diferencial de las entidades que causan el dolor facial es usando un algoritmo que identifica cuatro síndromes dolorosos principales que son: las neuralgias faciales, los dolores faciales con síntomas y signos neurológicos, las cefaleas autonómicas trigeminales y los dolores faciales sin síntomas ni signos neurológicos. Una evaluación clínica detallada de los pacientes, permite una aproximación etiológica lo que orienta el estudio diagnóstico y permite ofrecer una terapia específica a la mayoría de los casos

Outcome of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques.

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Mohamed, Aboshanif; Omi, Eigo; Honda, Kohei; Suzuki, Shinsuke; Ishikawa, Kazuo

There is no technique of facial nerve reconstruction that guarantees facial function recovery up to grade III. To evaluate the efficacy and safety of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques. Facial nerve reconstruction was performed in 22 patients (facial nerve interpositional graft in 11 patients and hypoglossal-facial nerve transfer in another 11 patients). All patients had facial function House-Brackmann (HB) grade VI, either caused by trauma or after resection of a tumor. All patients were submitted to a primary nerve reconstruction except 7 patients, where late reconstruction was performed two weeks to four months after the initial surgery. The follow-up period was at least two years. For facial nerve interpositional graft technique, we achieved facial function HB grade III in eight patients and grade IV in three patients. Synkinesis was found in eight patients, and facial contracture with synkinesis was found in two patients. In regards to hypoglossal-facial nerve transfer using different modifications, we achieved facial function HB grade III in nine patients and grade IV in two patients. Facial contracture, synkinesis and tongue atrophy were found in three patients, and synkinesis was found in five patients. However, those who had primary direct facial-hypoglossal end-to-side anastomosis showed the best result without any neurological deficit. Among various reanimation techniques, when indicated, direct end-to-side facial-hypoglossal anastomosis through epineural suturing is the most effective technique with excellent outcomes for facial reanimation and preservation of tongue movement, particularly when performed as a primary technique. Copyright © 2016 Associação Brasileira de Otorrinolaringologia e Cirurgia Cérvico-Facial. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

Facial gender interferes with decisions about facial expressions of anger and happiness.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, D Vaughn

2017-04-01

The confounded signal hypothesis maintains that facial expressions of anger and happiness, in order to more efficiently communicate threat or nurturance, evolved forms that take advantage of older gender recognition systems, which were already attuned to similar affordances. Two unexplored consequences of this hypothesis are (1) facial gender should automatically interfere with discriminations of anger and happiness, and (2) controlled attentional processes (like working memory) may be able to override the interference of these particular expressions on gender discrimination. These issues were explored by administering a Garner interference task along with a working memory task as an index of controlled attention. Results show that those with good attentional control were able to eliminate interference of expression on gender decisions but not the interference of gender on expression decisions. Trials in which the stimulus attributes were systematically correlated also revealed strategic facilitation for participants high in attentional control. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Facial Transplantation Surgery Introduction

OpenAIRE

Eun, Seok-Chan

2015-01-01

Severely disfiguring facial injuries can have a devastating impact on the patient's quality of life. During the past decade, vascularized facial allotransplantation has progressed from an experimental possibility to a clinical reality in the fields of disease, trauma, and congenital malformations. This technique may now be considered a viable option for repairing complex craniofacial defects for which the results of autologous reconstruction remain suboptimal. Vascularized facial allotranspla...

A brief facial morphing intervention to reduce skin cancer risk behaviors: Results from a randomized controlled trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Blashill, Aaron J; Rooney, Benjamin M; Luberto, Christina M; Gonzales, Manuel; Grogan, Sarah

2018-04-20

The current study was designed to test the efficacy of an appearance-based facial morphing program to reduce intentional UV exposure among individuals at risk for skin cancer. A three-arm randomized controlled trial was employed (N = 219) comparing facial morphing + health information to: (1) mindfulness + health information; and (2) health information only. Participants were young adults with a history of recent intentional tanning and future intentions to tan. Primary outcomes were indoor and outdoor tanning frequency and tanning intentions, with secondary outcomes of tanning attitudes, body image, and affect. Facial morphing participants reported less frequent tanning, compared to mindfulness and control participants at 1-month follow-up. Facial morphing participants also generally reported lower intentions to tan at immediate follow-up, although the magnitude of these effects weakened at 1-month follow-up. Facial morphing programs may offer a brief, efficacious, and scalable augmentation to standard of care in reducing intentional UV exposure. This trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov (NCT03237013). Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Outcome of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aboshanif Mohamed

Full Text Available Abstract Introduction: There is no technique of facial nerve reconstruction that guarantees facial function recovery up to grade III. Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of different facial nerve reconstruction techniques. Methods: Facial nerve reconstruction was performed in 22 patients (facial nerve interpositional graft in 11 patients and hypoglossal-facial nerve transfer in another 11 patients. All patients had facial function House-Brackmann (HB grade VI, either caused by trauma or after resection of a tumor. All patients were submitted to a primary nerve reconstruction except 7 patients, where late reconstruction was performed two weeks to four months after the initial surgery. The follow-up period was at least two years. Results: For facial nerve interpositional graft technique, we achieved facial function HB grade III in eight patients and grade IV in three patients. Synkinesis was found in eight patients, and facial contracture with synkinesis was found in two patients. In regards to hypoglossal-facial nerve transfer using different modifications, we achieved facial function HB grade III in nine patients and grade IV in two patients. Facial contracture, synkinesis and tongue atrophy were found in three patients, and synkinesis was found in five patients. However, those who had primary direct facial-hypoglossal end-to-side anastomosis showed the best result without any neurological deficit. Conclusion: Among various reanimation techniques, when indicated, direct end-to-side facial-hypoglossal anastomosis through epineural suturing is the most effective technique with excellent outcomes for facial reanimation and preservation of tongue movement, particularly when performed as a primary technique.

Recognizing Facial Expressions Automatically from Video

Science.gov (United States)

Shan, Caifeng; Braspenning, Ralph

Facial expressions, resulting from movements of the facial muscles, are the face changes in response to a person's internal emotional states, intentions, or social communications. There is a considerable history associated with the study on facial expressions. Darwin [22] was the first to describe in details the specific facial expressions associated with emotions in animals and humans, who argued that all mammals show emotions reliably in their faces. Since that, facial expression analysis has been a area of great research interest for behavioral scientists [27]. Psychological studies [48, 3] suggest that facial expressions, as the main mode for nonverbal communication, play a vital role in human face-to-face communication. For illustration, we show some examples of facial expressions in Fig. 1.

Facial Expression Recognition from Video Sequences Based on Spatial-Temporal Motion Local Binary Pattern and Gabor Multiorientation Fusion Histogram

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Zhao

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes novel framework for facial expressions analysis using dynamic and static information in video sequences. First, based on incremental formulation, discriminative deformable face alignment method is adapted to locate facial points to correct in-plane head rotation and break up facial region from background. Then, spatial-temporal motion local binary pattern (LBP feature is extracted and integrated with Gabor multiorientation fusion histogram to give descriptors, which reflect static and dynamic texture information of facial expressions. Finally, a one-versus-one strategy based multiclass support vector machine (SVM classifier is applied to classify facial expressions. Experiments on Cohn-Kanade (CK + facial expression dataset illustrate that integrated framework outperforms methods using single descriptors. Compared with other state-of-the-art methods on CK+, MMI, and Oulu-CASIA VIS datasets, our proposed framework performs better.

Correlation between hedonic liking and facial expression measurement using dynamic affective response representation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhi, Ruicong; Wan, Jingwei; Zhang, Dezheng; Li, Weiping

2018-06-01

Emotional reactions towards products play an essential role in consumers' decision making, and are more important than rational evaluation of sensory attributes. It is crucial to understand consumers' emotion, and the relationship between sensory properties, human liking and choice. There are many inconsistencies between Asian and Western consumers in the usage of hedonic scale, as well as the intensity of facial reactions, due to different culture and consuming habits. However, very few studies discussed the facial responses characteristics of Asian consumers during food consumption. In this paper, explicit liking measurement (hedonic scale) and implicit emotional measurement (facial expressions) were evaluated to judge the consumers' emotions elicited by five types of juices. The contributions of this study included: (1) Constructed the relationship model between hedonic liking and facial expressions analyzed by face reading technology. Negative emotions "sadness", "anger", and "disgust" showed noticeable high negative correlation tendency to hedonic scores. The "liking" hedonic scores could be characterized by positive emotion "happiness". (2) Several emotional intensity based parameters, especially dynamic parameter, were extracted to describe the facial characteristic in sensory evaluation procedure. Both amplitude information and frequency information were involved in the dynamic parameters to remain more information of the emotional responses signals. From the comparison of four types of emotional descriptive parameters, the maximum parameter and dynamic parameter were suggested to be utilized for representing emotional state and intensities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Rejuvenecimiento facial en "doble sigma" "Double ogee" facial rejuvenation

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O. M. Ramírez

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Las técnicas subperiósticas descritas por Tessier revolucionaron el tratamiento del envejecimiento facial, recomendando esta vía para tratar los signos tempranos del envejecimiento en pacientes jóvenes y de mediana edad. Psillakis refinó la técnica y Ramírez describió un método más seguro y eficaz de lifting subperióstico, demostrando que la técnica subperióstica de rejuveneciento facial se puede aplicar en el amplio espectro del envejecimiento facial. La introducción del endoscopio en el tratamiento del envejecimiento facial ha abierto una nueva era en la Cirugía Estética. Hoy la disección subperióstica asistida endocópicamente del tercio superior, medio e inferior de la cara, proporciona un medio eficaz para la reposición de los tejidos blandos, con posibilidad de aumento del esqueleto óseo craneofacial, menor edema facial postoperatorio, mínima lesión de las ramas del nervio facial y mejor tratamiento de las mejillas. Este abordaje, desarrollado y refinado durante la última década, se conoce como "Ritidectomía en Doble Sigma". El Arco Veneciano en doble sigma, bien conocido en Arquitectura desde la antigüedad, se caracteriza por ser un trazo armónico de curva convexa y a continuación curva cóncava. Cuando se observa una cara joven, desde un ángulo oblicuo, presenta una distribución característica de los tejidos, previamente descrita para el tercio medio como un arco ojival arquitectónico o una curva en forma de "S". Sin embargo, en un examen más detallado de la cara joven, en la vista de tres cuartos, el perfil completo revela una "arco ojival doble" o una sigma "S" doble. Para ver este recíproco y multicurvilíneo trazo de la belleza, debemos ver la cara en posición oblicua y así poder ver ambos cantos mediales. En esta posición, la cara joven presenta una convexidad característica de la cola de la ceja que confluye en la concavidad de la pared orbitaria lateral formando así el primer arco (superior

Restoration of orbicularis oculi muscle function in rabbits with peripheral facial paralysis via an implantable artificial facial nerve system.

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Yajing; Jin, Cheng; Li, Keyong; Zhang, Qunfeng; Geng, Liang; Liu, Xundao; Zhang, Yi

2017-12-01

The purpose of the present study was to restore orbicularis oculi muscle function using the implantable artificial facial nerve system (IAFNS). The in vivo part of the IAFNS was implanted into 12 rabbits that were facially paralyzed on the right side of the face to restore the function of the orbicularis oculi muscle, which was indicated by closure of the paralyzed eye when the contralateral side was closed. Wireless communication links were established between the in vivo part (the processing chip and microelectrode) and the external part (System Controller program) of the system, which were used to set the working parameters and indicate the working state of the processing chip and microelectrode implanted in the body. A disturbance field strength test of the IAFNS processing chip was performed in a magnetic field dark room to test its electromagnetic radiation safety. Test distances investigated were 0, 1, 3 and 10 m, and levels of radiation intensity were evaluated in the horizontal and vertical planes. Anti-interference experiments were performed to test the stability of the processing chip under the interference of electromagnetic radiation. The fully implanted IAFNS was run for 5 h per day for 30 consecutive days to evaluate the accuracy and precision as well as the long-term stability and effectiveness of wireless communication. The stimulus intensity (range, 0-8 mA) was set every 3 days to confirm the minimum stimulation intensity which could indicate the movement of the paralyzed side was set. Effective stimulation rate was also tested by comparing the number of eye-close movements on both sides. The results of the present study indicated that the IAFNS could rebuild the reflex arc, inducing the experimental rabbits to close the eye of the paralyzed side. The System Controller program was able to reflect the in vivo part of the artificial facial nerve system in real-time and adjust the working pattern, stimulation intensity and frequency, range of wave

Clinical outcomes of facial transplantation: a review.

Science.gov (United States)

Shanmugarajah, Kumaran; Hettiaratchy, Shehan; Clarke, Alex; Butler, Peter E M

2011-01-01

A total of 18 composite tissue allotransplants of the face have currently been reported. Prior to the start of the face transplant programme, there had been intense debate over the risks and benefits of performing this experimental surgery. This review examines the surgical, functional and aesthetic, immunological and psychological outcomes of facial transplantation thus far, based on the predicted risks outlined in early publications from teams around the world. The initial experience has demonstrated that facial transplantation is surgically feasible. Functional and aesthetic outcomes have been very encouraging with good motor and sensory recovery and improvements to important facial functions observed. Episodes of acute rejection have been common, as predicted, but easily controlled with increases in systemic immunosuppression. Psychological improvements have been remarkable and have resulted in the reintegration of patients into the outside world, social networks and even the workplace. Complications of immunosuppression and patient mortality have been observed in the initial series. These have highlighted rigorous patient selection as the key predictor of success. The overall early outcomes of the face transplant programme have been generally more positive than many predicted. This initial success is testament to the robust approach of teams. Dissemination of outcomes and ongoing refinement of the process may allow facial transplantation to eventually become a first-line reconstructive option for those with extensive facial disfigurements. Copyright © 2011 Surgical Associates Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Oral contraceptive use in women changes preferences for male facial masculinity and is associated with partner facial masculinity.

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Little, Anthony C; Burriss, Robert P; Petrie, Marion; Jones, Benedict C; Roberts, S Craig

2013-09-01

Millions of women use hormonal contraception and it has been suggested that such use may alter mate preferences. To examine the impact of oral contraceptive (pill) use on preferences, we tested for within-subject changes in preferences for masculine faces in women initiating pill use. Between two sessions, initiation of pill use significantly decreased women's preferences for male facial masculinity but did not influence preferences for same-sex faces. To test whether altered preference during pill use influences actual partner choice, we examined facial characteristics in 170 age-matched male partners of women who reported having either been using or not using the pill when the partnership was formed. Both facial measurements and perceptual judgements demonstrated that partners of women who used the pill during mate choice have less masculine faces than partners of women who did not use hormonal contraception at this time. Our data (A) provide the first experimental evidence that initiation of pill use in women causes changes in facial preferences and (B) documents downstream effects of these changes on real-life partner selection. Given that hormonal contraceptive use is widespread, effects of pill use on the processes of partner formation have important implications for relationship stability and may have other biologically relevant consequences. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Quality of life assessment in facial palsy: validation of the Dutch Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale.

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Kleiss, Ingrid J; Beurskens, Carien H G; Stalmeier, Peep F M; Ingels, Koen J A O; Marres, Henri A M

2015-08-01

This study aimed at validating an existing health-related quality of life questionnaire for patients with facial palsy for implementation in the Dutch language and culture. The Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale was translated into the Dutch language using a forward-backward translation method. A pilot test with the translated questionnaire was performed in 10 patients with facial palsy and 10 normal subjects. Finally, cross-cultural adaption was accomplished at our outpatient clinic for facial palsy. Analyses for internal consistency, test-retest reliability, construct validity and responsiveness were performed. Ninety-three patients completed the Dutch Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale, the Dutch Facial Disability Index, and the Dutch Short Form (36) Health Survey. Cronbach's α, representing internal consistency, was 0.800. Test-retest reliability was shown by an intraclass correlation coefficient of 0.737. Correlations with the House-Brackmann score, Sunnybrook score, Facial Disability Index physical function, and social/well-being function were -0.292, 0.570, 0.713, and 0.575, respectively. The SF-36 domains correlate best with the FaCE social function domain, with the strongest correlation between the both social function domains (r = 0.576). The FaCE score did statistically significantly increase in 35 patients receiving botulinum toxin type A (P = 0.042, Student t test). The domains 'facial comfort' and 'social function' improved statistically significantly as well (P = 0.022 and P = 0.046, respectively, Student t-test). The Dutch Facial Clinimetric Evaluation Scale shows good psychometric values and can be implemented in the management of Dutch-speaking patients with facial palsy in the Netherlands. Translation of the instrument into other languages may lead to widespread use, making evaluation and comparison possible among different providers.

Individual differences and the effect of face configuration information in the McGurk effect.

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Ujiie, Yuta; Asai, Tomohisa; Wakabayashi, Akio

2018-04-01

The McGurk effect, which denotes the influence of visual information on audiovisual speech perception, is less frequently observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared to those without it; the reason for this remains unclear. Several studies have suggested that facial configuration context might play a role in this difference. More specifically, people with ASD show a local processing bias for faces-that is, they process global face information to a lesser extent. This study examined the role of facial configuration context in the McGurk effect in 46 healthy students. Adopting an analogue approach using the Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), we sought to determine whether this facial configuration context is crucial to previously observed reductions in the McGurk effect in people with ASD. Lip-reading and audiovisual syllable identification tasks were assessed via presentation of upright normal, inverted normal, upright Thatcher-type, and inverted Thatcher-type faces. When the Thatcher-type face was presented, perceivers were found to be sensitive to the misoriented facial characteristics, causing them to perceive a weaker McGurk effect than when the normal face was presented (this is known as the McThatcher effect). Additionally, the McGurk effect was weaker in individuals with high AQ scores than in those with low AQ scores in the incongruent audiovisual condition, regardless of their ability to read lips or process facial configuration contexts. Our findings, therefore, do not support the assumption that individuals with ASD show a weaker McGurk effect due to a difficulty in processing facial configuration context.

Facial nerve conduction after sclerotherapy in children with facial lymphatic malformations: report of two cases.

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Lin, Pei-Jung; Guo, Yuh-Cherng; Lin, Jan-You; Chang, Yu-Tang

2007-04-01

Surgical excision is thought to be the standard treatment of choice for lymphatic malformations. However, when the lesions are limited to the face only, surgical scar and facial nerve injury may impair cosmetics and facial expression. Sclerotherapy, an injection of a sclerosing agent directly through the skin into a lesion, is an alternative method. By evaluating facial nerve conduction, we observed the long-term effect of facial lymphatic malformations after intralesional injection of OK-432 and correlated the findings with anatomic outcomes. One 12-year-old boy with a lesion over the right-side preauricular area adjacent to the main trunk of facial nerve and the other 5-year-old boy with a lesion in the left-sided cheek involving the buccinator muscle were enrolled. The follow-up data of more than one year, including clinical appearance, computed tomography (CT) scan and facial nerve evaluation were collected. The facial nerve conduction study was normal in both cases. Blink reflex in both children revealed normal results as well. Complete resolution was noted on outward appearance and CT scan. The neurophysiologic data were compatible with good anatomic and functional outcomes. Our report suggests that the inflammatory reaction of OK-432 did not interfere with adjacent facial nerve conduction.

Brain response during the M170 time interval is sensitive to socially relevant information.

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Arviv, Oshrit; Goldstein, Abraham; Weeting, Janine C; Becker, Eni S; Lange, Wolf-Gero; Gilboa-Schechtman, Eva

2015-11-01

Deciphering the social meaning of facial displays is a highly complex neurological process. The M170, an event related field component of MEG recording, like its EEG counterpart N170, was repeatedly shown to be associated with structural encoding of faces. However, the scope of information encoded during the M170 time window is still being debated. We investigated the neuronal origin of facial processing of integrated social rank cues (SRCs) and emotional facial expressions (EFEs) during the M170 time interval. Participants viewed integrated facial displays of emotion (happy, angry, neutral) and SRCs (indicated by upward, downward, or straight head tilts). We found that the activity during the M170 time window is sensitive to both EFEs and SRCs. Specifically, highly prominent activation was observed in response to SRC connoting dominance as compared to submissive or egalitarian head cues. Interestingly, the processing of EFEs and SRCs appeared to rely on different circuitry. Our findings suggest that vertical head tilts are processed not only for their sheer structural variance, but as social information. Exploring the temporal unfolding and brain localization of non-verbal cues processing may assist in understanding the functioning of the social rank biobehavioral system. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Facial Nerve Paralysis due to a Pleomorphic Adenoma with the Imaging Characteristics of a Facial Nerve Schwannoma.

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Nader, Marc-Elie; Bell, Diana; Sturgis, Erich M; Ginsberg, Lawrence E; Gidley, Paul W

2014-08-01

Background Facial nerve paralysis in a patient with a salivary gland mass usually denotes malignancy. However, facial paralysis can also be caused by benign salivary gland tumors. Methods We present a case of facial nerve paralysis due to a benign salivary gland tumor that had the imaging characteristics of an intraparotid facial nerve schwannoma. Results The patient presented to our clinic 4 years after the onset of facial nerve paralysis initially diagnosed as Bell palsy. Computed tomography demonstrated filling and erosion of the stylomastoid foramen with a mass on the facial nerve. Postoperative histopathology showed the presence of a pleomorphic adenoma. Facial paralysis was thought to be caused by extrinsic nerve compression. Conclusions This case illustrates the difficulty of accurate preoperative diagnosis of a parotid gland mass and reinforces the concept that facial nerve paralysis in the context of salivary gland tumors may not always indicate malignancy.

Advances in facial reanimation.

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Tate, James R; Tollefson, Travis T

2006-08-01

Facial paralysis often has a significant emotional impact on patients. Along with the myriad of new surgical techniques in managing facial paralysis comes the challenge of selecting the most effective procedure for the patient. This review delineates common surgical techniques and reviews state-of-the-art techniques. The options for dynamic reanimation of the paralyzed face must be examined in the context of several patient factors, including age, overall health, and patient desires. The best functional results are obtained with direct facial nerve anastomosis and interpositional nerve grafts. In long-standing facial paralysis, temporalis muscle transfer gives a dependable and quick result. Microvascular free tissue transfer is a reliable technique with reanimation potential whose results continue to improve as microsurgical expertise increases. Postoperative results can be improved with ancillary soft tissue procedures, as well as botulinum toxin. The paper provides an overview of recent advances in facial reanimation, including preoperative assessment, surgical reconstruction options, and postoperative management.

Relative preservation of the recognition of positive facial expression "happiness" in Alzheimer disease.

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Maki, Yohko; Yoshida, Hiroshi; Yamaguchi, Tomoharu; Yamaguchi, Haruyasu

2013-01-01

Positivity recognition bias has been reported for facial expression as well as memory and visual stimuli in aged individuals, whereas emotional facial recognition in Alzheimer disease (AD) patients is controversial, with possible involvement of confounding factors such as deficits in spatial processing of non-emotional facial features and in verbal processing to express emotions. Thus, we examined whether recognition of positive facial expressions was preserved in AD patients, by adapting a new method that eliminated the influences of these confounding factors. Sensitivity of six basic facial expressions (happiness, sadness, surprise, anger, disgust, and fear) was evaluated in 12 outpatients with mild AD, 17 aged normal controls (ANC), and 25 young normal controls (YNC). To eliminate the factors related to non-emotional facial features, averaged faces were prepared as stimuli. To eliminate the factors related to verbal processing, the participants were required to match the images of stimulus and answer, avoiding the use of verbal labels. In recognition of happiness, there was no difference in sensitivity between YNC and ANC, and between ANC and AD patients. AD patients were less sensitive than ANC in recognition of sadness, surprise, and anger. ANC were less sensitive than YNC in recognition of surprise, anger, and disgust. Within the AD patient group, sensitivity of happiness was significantly higher than those of the other five expressions. In AD patient, recognition of happiness was relatively preserved; recognition of happiness was most sensitive and was preserved against the influences of age and disease.

Do Dynamic Facial Expressions Convey Emotions to Children Better than Do Static Ones?

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Widen, Sherri C.; Russell, James A.

2015-01-01

Past research has shown that children recognize emotions from facial expressions poorly and improve only gradually with age, but the stimuli in such studies have been static faces. Because dynamic faces include more information, it may well be that children more readily recognize emotions from dynamic facial expressions. The current study of…

Examining speed of processing of facial emotion recognition in individuals at ultra-high risk for psychosis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Glenthøj, Louise Birkedal; Fagerlund, Birgitte; Bak, Nikolaj

2018-01-01

Emotion recognition is an aspect of social cognition that may be a key predictor of functioning and transition to psychosis in individuals at ultra-high risk (UHR) for psychosis ( Allott et al., 2014 ). UHR individuals exhibit deficits in accurately identifying facial emotions ( van Donkersgoed et...... al., 2015 ), but other potential anomalies in facial emotion recognition are largely unexplored. This study aimed to extend current knowledge on emotion recognition deficits in UHR individuals by examining: 1) whether UHR would display significantly slower facial emotion recognition than healthy...... controls, 2) whether an association between emotion recognition accuracy and emotion recognition latency is present in UHR, 3) the relationships between emotion recognition accuracy, neurocognition and psychopathology in UHR....

Facial emotion recognition in paranoid schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorder.

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Sachse, Michael; Schlitt, Sabine; Hainz, Daniela; Ciaramidaro, Angela; Walter, Henrik; Poustka, Fritz; Bölte, Sven; Freitag, Christine M

2014-11-01

Schizophrenia (SZ) and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) share deficits in emotion processing. In order to identify convergent and divergent mechanisms, we investigated facial emotion recognition in SZ, high-functioning ASD (HFASD), and typically developed controls (TD). Different degrees of task difficulty and emotion complexity (face, eyes; basic emotions, complex emotions) were used. Two Benton tests were implemented in order to elicit potentially confounding visuo-perceptual functioning and facial processing. Nineteen participants with paranoid SZ, 22 with HFASD and 20 TD were included, aged between 14 and 33 years. Individuals with SZ were comparable to TD in all obtained emotion recognition measures, but showed reduced basic visuo-perceptual abilities. The HFASD group was impaired in the recognition of basic and complex emotions compared to both, SZ and TD. When facial identity recognition was adjusted for, group differences remained for the recognition of complex emotions only. Our results suggest that there is a SZ subgroup with predominantly paranoid symptoms that does not show problems in face processing and emotion recognition, but visuo-perceptual impairments. They also confirm the notion of a general facial and emotion recognition deficit in HFASD. No shared emotion recognition deficit was found for paranoid SZ and HFASD, emphasizing the differential cognitive underpinnings of both disorders. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Altered Kinematics of Facial Emotion Expression and Emotion Recognition Deficits Are Unrelated in Parkinson?s Disease

OpenAIRE

Bologna, Matteo; Berardelli, Isabella; Paparella, Giulia; Marsili, Luca; Ricciardi, Lucia; Fabbrini, Giovanni; Berardelli, Alfredo

2016-01-01

Background Altered emotional processing, including reduced emotion facial expression and defective emotion recognition, has been reported in patients with Parkinson?s disease (PD). However, few studies have objectively investigated facial expression abnormalities in PD using neurophysiological techniques. It is not known whether altered facial expression and recognition in PD are related. Objective To investigate possible deficits in facial emotion expression and emotion recognition and their...

Satisfaction with facial appearance and its determinants in adults with severe congenital facial disfigurement: a case-referent study.

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Versnel, S L; Duivenvoorden, H J; Passchier, J; Mathijssen, I M J

2010-10-01

Patients with severe congenital facial disfigurement have a long track record of operations and hospital visits by the time they are 18 years old. The fact that their facial deformity is congenital may have an impact on how satisfied these patients are with their appearance. This study evaluated the level of satisfaction with facial appearance of congenital and of acquired facially disfigured adults, and explored demographic, physical and psychological determinants of this satisfaction. Differences compared with non-disfigured adults were examined. Fifty-nine adults with a rare facial cleft, 59 adults with a facial deformity traumatically acquired in adulthood, and a reference group of 201 non-disfigured adults completed standardised demographic, physical and psychological questionnaires. The congenital and acquired groups did not differ significantly in the level of satisfaction with facial appearance, but both were significantly less satisfied than the reference group. In facially disfigured adults, level of education, number of affected facial parts and facial function were determinants of the level of satisfaction. High fear of negative appearance evaluation by others (FNAE) and low self-esteem (SE) were strong psychological determinants. Although FNAE was higher in both patient groups, SE was similar in all three groups. Satisfaction with facial appearance of individuals with a congenital or acquired facial deformity is similar and will seldom reach the level of satisfaction of non-disfigured persons. A combination of surgical correction (with attention for facial profile and restoring facial functions) and psychological help (to increase SE and lower FNAE) may improve patient satisfaction. Copyright 2009 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

P2-28: An Amplification of Feedback from Facial Muscles Strengthened Sympathetic Activations to Emotional Facial Cues

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Younbyoung Chae

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The facial feedback hypothesis suggests that feedback from cutaneous and muscular afferents influences our emotions during the control of facial expressions. Enhanced facial expressiveness is correlated with an increase in autonomic arousal, and self-reported emotional experience, while limited facial expression attenuates these responses. The present study was aimed at investigating the difference in emotional response in imitated versus observed facial expressions. For this, we measured the facial electromyogram of the corrugator muscle as well as the skin conductance response (SCR while participants were either imitating or simply observing emotional facial expressions. We found that participants produced significantly greater facial electromyogram activation during imitations compared to observations of angry faces. Similarly, they exhibited significantly greater SCR during imitations to angry faces compared to observations. An amplification of feedback from face muscles during imitation strengthened sympathetic activation to negative emotional cues. These findings suggest that manipulations of muscular feedback could modulate the bodily expression of emotion and perhaps also the emotional response itself.

Exacerbation of Facial Motoneuron Loss after Facial Nerve Axotomy in CCR3-Deficient Mice