The Development of a Multi-Modality Emotion Recognition Test Presented via a Mobile Application

Abstract

Emotion recognition ability is the basis of interpersonal communication and detection of brain alterations. Existing tools for assessing emotion recognition ability are mostly single modality, paper-and-pencil test format, and using only Western stimuli. However, various modalities and cultural factors greatly influence emotion recognition ability. We aimed to develop a multi-modality emotion recognition mobile application (MMER app). A total of 169 healthy adults were recruited as participants. The MMER app’s materials were extracted from a published database, and tablets were used as the interface. The Rasch, factor analysis, and related psychometric analyses were performed. The Cronbach alpha was 0.94, and the test–retest reliability was 0.85. Factor analyses identified three factors. In addition, an adjusted score formula was provided for clinical use. The MMER app has good psychometric properties, and its further possible applications and investigations are discussed.