Computer-enhanced emotion in facial expressions

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Abstract
Benson and Perrett's (1991b) computer–based caricature procedure was used to alter the positions of anatomical landmarks in photographs of emotional facial expressions with respect to their locations in a reference norm face (e.g. a neutral expression). Exaggerating the differences between an expression and its norm produces caricatured images, whereas reducing the differences produces ‘anti–caricatures’. Experiment 1 showed that caricatured (+50 % different from neutral) expressions were recognized significantly faster than the veridical (0 %, undistorted) expressions. This held for all six basic emotions from the Ekman and Friesen (1976) series, and the effect generalized across different posers. For experiment 2, caricatured (+50 %) and anti–caricatured (−50 %) images were prepared using two types of references norm; a neutral–expression norm, which woud be optimal if facial expression recognition involves monitoring changes in the positioning of underlying facial muscles (excluding neutral) in the Ekman & Friesen (1976) series. The results showed that the caricatured images were identified significantly faster, and the anti–caricatured images significantly slower, than the veridical expressions. Furthermore, the neutral–expression and average–expression norm caricatures produced the same pattern of results.