Method and system for measuring human response to visual stimulus based on changes in facial expression

摘要

The present invention is a method and system for measuring human emotional response to visual stimulus, based on the person's facial expressions. Given a detected and tracked human face, it is accurately localized so that the facial features are correctly identified and localized. Face and facial features are localized using the geometrically specialized learning machines. Then the emotion-sensitive features, such as the shapes of the facial features or facial wrinkles, are extracted. The facial muscle actions are estimated using a learning machine trained on the emotion-sensitive features. The instantaneous facial muscle actions are projected to a point in affect space, using the relation between the facial muscle actions and the affective state (arousal, valence, and stance). The series of estimated emotional changes renders a trajectory in affect space, which is further analyzed in relation to the temporal changes in visual stimulus, to determine the response.