Development of a stereoscopic emotional picture/video set of facial expressions
Stereoscopy is used to enhance depth perception, as in the movie
“Avatar” for example. Applied to psychological research stimuli, this
technique could evoke more ecological reactions in participants.
Emotion research often makes use of standardized photos depicting
actors portraying different facial emotions (anger, happiness, fear,
disgust, etc…) However, even though photos are commonly encountered in
real life, their ecological validity is restricted to the degree that
they are different from the real life 3-D moving expressions we see
most of the time. A first step towards more ecological validity was
made by researchers using videos of unfolding emotions (e.g., Hess
& Blairy, 2001; Sato et al., 2008). Dynamic facial expressions are
faster and better recognized, produce more automatic facial mimicry
activity, and are judged more realistic than their static counterparts.
However one step further would be to create dynamic stereoscopic facial
expressions. Stereoscopy is used to enhance depth perception, as in the
Hollywood movie “Avatar” for example. I am in the process of developing
a stereoscopic emotional picture/video set of facial expressions.
Currently I am using very realistic computer generated avatars because
they are convenient to use and have been shown to induce reaction
patterns similar to real stimuli (e.g., Wyers et al., 2006).