GfK Software to Read Emotions in Faces

GfK-Nürnberg e.V - GfK's non-profit market research promotion arm - is developing a process that records and analyzes human emotions via the software-based detection of facial expressions.

As emotions can often be expressed in facial expressions, the system will record even the smallest muscle movements in people's faces; spontaneously and in real time.

It will be used to uncover what a person actually feels when watching an ad, how the experienced communication affects the emotional image of a brand, or which emotions a person experiences when testing a new product.

This new technology is currently being deployed in a feasibility study, in order to investigate how the feelings of 'interest', 'enjoyment' and 'disgust' can be read from facial expressions, by recording even very subtle muscle movements.

'Since people's emotions have an influence on their cognitive processes and therefore also on their purchase decisions, measuring emotions has become an increasingly important issue within market research,' the firm said in a statement. 'In the areas of communications research or new product development, a system that measures emotions accurately and is workable in practice can provide new and unique insights.'

The system is being designed in collaboration with the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits (IIS) and Professor Klaus Scherer, who is Professor of Psychology at the University of Geneva and Director of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Affective Sciences. Professor Scherer is widely recognised as being one of the world's leading figures in psychological research on emotion.

Once the feasibility study has been completed, it is intended to develop the system so that it recognizes all emotions that are relevant for market research; a further development could link in measurement of emotions from verbal communication.

Web sites: www.gfk-verein.com , www.iis.fraunhofer.de and www.affective-sciences.org .

All articles 2006-23 written and edited by Mel Crowther and/or Nick Thomas, 2024- by Nick Thomas, unless otherwise stated.

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