Facial Expressions of Emotions: Research Perspectives

Abstract

This chapter will focus on theoretical models with a research perspective and developments in the area of facial expressions of emotion. Sociocultural, biological, and computational models will be examined. The sociocultural model unfolds the understanding of facial emotions within the social construction. Social construction of emotions has often been as part of debate between naturalistic and constructionist approaches. On the other hand, the biological model focuses upon the hard-wired functional (neural) architecture of the brain activation and involvement of autonomic nervous system. The computational models have been developed utilizing the findings of sociocultural and biological researches. The computational model strives to automate the facial expression recognition system through 2D and 3D virtual facial agents. Each perspective analyzes facial expressions with a universal aim of accurate recognition and simplification of different facial cues. The present chapter will discuss the critical role of a comprehensive model with multidisciplinary views to understand facial emotions. Since the current approaches view facial emotions in isolation, these models may be complimentary to each other to provide a better understanding of facial emotion. The chapter will present a critical analysis of present models and will suggest ways for better understanding of facial expressions of emotion.