Facial Action Coding System
The Facial Action Coding System ( FACS , English for " Facial Movement Coding System "), first published in 1978 , is a coding method used worldwide by psychologists for describing facial expressions .
history
The first version of the system was developed in 1978 by Paul Ekman and Wallace Friesen . Their most important basis was the book Man's Face and Mimic [resp. Facial] Language ( The human face and its mimic language ; original title: Människans ansigte och mimiska språket. 1969, Malmö: Student literature) by the Swedish anatomist Carl-Herman Hjortsjö from the University of Lund . The system was later extended to other species, such as chimpanzees , rhesus monkeys , gibbons , orangutans , dogs and horses
application areas
The main area of application is emotion psychology . With its help you can, for example, distinguish a real smile from a fake smile. FACS is therefore a technology for facial expression and emotion recognition .
Bringing the muscles involved in a facial expression under control takes a period of time, albeit a short one. During this period of time, the underlying feeling is correctly depicted in a full facial expression. After that, the expression is replaced with the facial expression that the person wants to represent. This process is called micromimic in German .
A recognized FACS coding usually has to be done by two independent, certified coders. Part of the certification is the ability to produce the individual elements of the system with your own face.
In addition, FACS is being used more and more often as the basis for computer animation of facial expressions, for example in films such as Beowulf , Benjamin Button or Avatar .
Structure of the FACS coding
The FACS allocates almost any visible movement of the facial muscles a "mover" ( Engl. Action Unit , AU ) to. These are units that combine a single or multiple muscle movements. With this classification it is possible to write down facial expressions - comparable to the notation of verbal expressions with written language . According to Paul Ekman, the FACS has a total of 44 such units, the upper face comprises 12, the lower face 32 AUs. The AUs in the lower face are divided according to the direction of the movements. It is thus possible to distinguish between horizontal, vertical, oblique, circular and mixed actions. The combinations of such action units are assigned to certain emotions.
Selection from the list of motion units (action units)
- 1 raising the eyebrows inside
- 2 Raise the eyebrows outside
- 4 Contraction of the eyebrows
- 5 Raise the upper eyelid
- 6 Contraction of the outer part of the circular muscle around the eyes (this usually results in crow's feet)
- 7 contraction of the inner part of the sphincter muscle around the eyes (tensing of the lower and possibly also the upper eyelid)
- 9 wrinkles of the nose
- 10 Elevation of the upper lip by the levator labii superioris muscle
- 11 Pull the outer part of the upper lip upwards at an angle
- 12 Raising the corners of the mouth as when smiling or laughing (see also laughing muscles )
- 13 Pointed raising of the corners of the mouth ("Chaplin-Smile", historically referred to as a hysterical smile)
- 14 Trumpeter muscle retraction of the corners of the mouth
- 15 Pulling down the corners of the mouth
- 16 Pulling the lower lip downwards
- 17 Pushing the chin up
- 18 kissable mouth
- 22 lips curve outwards in a funnel shape
- 23 Tightening of the lips, they become narrower, rolled inwards and flattened towards the teeth
- 24 Compression of the lips (orbicularis oris muscle)
- 25 Opening the lips
- 26 Opening the mouth by relaxing the lower jaw muscles
- 27 wide opening of the mouth
- 28 Suck lips between your teeth
- 43 Lowering the upper eyelid (43E = eyes closed)
- 45 blink (with both eyes)
- 46 winks (with one eye)
Further action units describe the possible head and eye movements.
Coding of the strength of expression
The strength of a movement is expressed in the FACS by a five-point ranking value. For each AU, an assignment rule is explicitly specified in the manual.
Most of the time:
- Strength A: at the limit of perception or indicated
- Strength B: easily visible
- Strength C: clearly visible
- Strength D: pronounced
- Strength E: in the physiological maximum (individual)
The strength of expression is not to be confused with the strength of expression, as the effect of an expression does not depend solely on the strength of the muscle movement.
Basic emotions
According to Paul Ekman, there are seven basic emotions. These are: anger, joy, sadness, disgust, contempt, fear and surprise. These emotions are understood across cultures because their associated facial expressions are universal.
The following is a table of the seven basic emotions according to Paul Ekman and the action units involved .
| Basic emotion | Action Units (AU) |
| Anger | 4 - Contraction of the eyebrows
5 - lifting of the upper eyelid 7 - tense lower eyelid 23 - lips pressed together |
| joy | 6 - raised cheeks
12 - Raising the corners of the mouth |
| Sadness | 1 - raising the inner eyebrow
4 - Contraction of the eyebrows 15 - Pulling down the corners of the mouth |
| disgust | 9 - wrinkles of the nose
15 - Pulling down the corners of the mouth 16 - lower lip drawn down |
| contempt | On one side of the face:
12 - Raising the corners of the mouth 14 - Retraction of the corners of the mouth |
| fear | 1 - raising the inner eyebrow
2 - raising the outer eyebrow (= Raised eyebrows) 4 - Contraction of the eyebrows 5 - raising the upper eyelid (eyes wide open) 7 - tense lower eyelid 20 - tight lips 26 - (slightly) open mouth |
| surprise | 1 - raising the inner eyebrow
2 - raising the outer eyebrow (= Raised eyebrows) 5 - raising the upper eyelid (eyes wide open) 26 - (slightly) open mouth |
EmFACS
The EmFACS stands for Emotion FACS and contains only those movement units that are necessary for coding frequent emotional facial expressions (joy, sadness, anger, fear, disgust and surprise). The system was developed by Paul Ekman and WV Friesen in the 1980s at the University of California San Francisco.
ChimpFACS
ChimpFACS is an adaptation for analyzing chimpanzees' facial expressions. It enables a direct structural comparison of the facial expressions of chimpanzees and humans.
DogFACS
In 2013, FACS was on dogs (English: dog ) is transmitted. In the study for which DogFACS was developed, it could be shown that animal shelter dogs that showed AU101, the raising of the eyebrow, more frequently than others, were more likely to find a home than others, i.e. were preferred by potential interested parties.
FM FACS 3.0
The FM Pioneer Facial Action Coding System 3.0 (FM FACS 3.0) was created in 2018 by Armindo Freitas-Magalhães and presents 4,000 segments in 4K, with 3D technology, 360 3D and automatic and time recognition (FaceReader 7.1). In addition to the functional and structural nomenclature, the FM FACS 3.0 has 8 Action Units (AUs) and 22 Tongue Movements (TMs).
relevance
So-called micro expressions , i.e. H. Microexpressions can be identified using the FACS. Microexpressions are short, rapid facial movements lasting a fraction of a second (approximately 1/12 to 1/5 of a second). They appear suddenly and disappear just as suddenly. Therefore, they are easy to see in slow motion. They are also i. d. Usually slightly asymmetrical. Microexpressions reveal true feelings, cannot be hidden and can hardly be manipulated. With the help of FACS, not only facial expressions can be recognized, but also the associated emotion. For this reason, the FACS method is also used by institutions such as the police, the FBI or the CIA to convict criminals.
literature
- Ute Eberle: The world language of 43 muscles. Researchers decipher the vocabulary of our facial expressions . In: Image of Science . January 2004, p. 24-31 .
Web links
- About FACS (e-learning course from former lecturers at Saarland University)
- Cultural studies research project on the history of science of the FACS at the Leibniz Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin
- Carl-Herman Hjortsjö, Man's face and mimic language " (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul Ekman, Wallace V. Friesen: Facial Action Coding System: A Technique for the Measurement of Facial Movement. Consulting Psychologists Press, Palo Alto , Calif. 1978, OCLC 605256401
- ^ Description of Facial Action Coding System (FACS). ( Memento from June 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
- ^ Paul Ekman Group. Retrieved December 14, 2017 (American English).
- ↑ a b Bridget M. Waller, Kate Peirce, Cátia C. Caeiro, Linda Scheider, Anne M. Burrows, Sandra McCune, Juliane Kaminski, Claire Wade: Paedomorphic Facial Expressions Give Dogs a Selective Advantage. In: PLoS ONE. 8, 2013, p. E82686, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0082686 .
- ↑ Jen Wathan, Anne M. Burrows et al. a .: EquiFACS: The Equine Facial Action Coding System. In: PLOS ONE. 10, 2015, p. E0131738, doi: 10.1371 / journal.pone.0131738 .
- ^ Robert H. Frank: The strategy of emotions . Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag, Munich 1992, ISBN 3-486-55837-4 , pp. 110-111.
- ↑ P. Ekman, W. Friesen, J. Hager: Facial Action Coding System. The Manual on CD Rom. Network Information Research Corporation, Salt Lake City 2002.
- ↑ a b Paul Ekman: Reading feelings: how to recognize and correctly interpret emotions . 2nd Edition. Spektrum, Akad. Verlag, Heidelberg 2010, ISBN 978-3-8274-2568-3 .
- ↑ Emotion and Facial Expression. ( Memento of July 24, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ LA Parr, BM Waller, SJ Vick, KA Bard: Classifying chimpanzee facial expressions using muscle action. In: Emotion (Washington, DC). Volume 7, Number 1, February 2007, pp. 172-181, doi: 10.1037 / 1528-3542.7.1.172 . PMID 17352572 , PMC 2826116 (free full text).
- ↑ Face Action Coding System 3.0: Manual of Scientific Coding of the Human Face. Postage: FEELab science books. ISBN 978-989-8766-87-8 .