Facial Affect Recognition: Preliminary Validation of Dynamic Virtual Stimuli and Comparison with Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA)
Even though pictures of facial expressions are increasingly being used in research on how emotional information is processed, the existing sets of images have several methodological weaknesses. In order to increase the validity of studies on facial affect recognition (FAR), we created a new set of dynamic stimuli that uses virtual characters to display the six basic emotions at different levels of intensity. Preliminary validation was obtained by comparing the new images with the empirically validated Pictures of Facial Affect. In study 1, the emotional content of 84 avatars and 48 pictures from POFA was evaluated by 150 undergraduate students. In study 2, a sample of 134 undergraduate students evaluated FAR based on animated characters. The ability to identify facial expressions of emotions was similar to that reported in previous studies and for POFA. The results show that the avatars provide valid stimuli for studying FAR and are a significant contribution to the field of research on emotions. Avatars are being increasingly used in both treatment and research and these new stimuli can be used in various ways, for instance, to study violent behavior. Other work should be undertaken to ensure their validity.