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Automated Measurement of Facial Expression in Infant–Mother Interaction: A Pilot Study
Author(s) -
Messinger Daniel S.,
Mahoor Mohammad H.,
Chow SyMiin,
Cohn Jeffrey F.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
infancy
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.361
H-Index - 69
eISSN - 1532-7078
pISSN - 1525-0008
DOI - 10.1080/15250000902839963
Subject(s) - facial action coding system , facial expression , psychology , developmental psychology , construct validity , concurrent validity , coding (social sciences) , construct (python library) , nonverbal communication , cognitive psychology , communication , psychometrics , computer science , statistics , mathematics , internal consistency , programming language
Automated facial measurement using computer vision has the potential to objectively document continuous changes in behavior. To examine emotional expression and communication, we used automated measurements to quantify smile strength, eye constriction, and mouth opening in two 6‐month‐old infant‐mother dyads who each engaged in a face‐to‐face interaction. Automated measurements showed high associations with anatomically based manual coding (concurrent validity); measurements of smiling showed high associations with mean ratings of positive emotion made by naive observers (construct validity). For both infants and mothers, smile strength and eye constriction (the Duchenne marker) were correlated over time, creating a continuous index of smile intensity. Infant and mother smile activity exhibited changing (nonstationary) local patterns of association, suggesting the dyadic repair and dissolution of states of affective synchrony. The study provides insights into the potential and limitations of automated measurement of facial action.