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Title: PARTICIPANT'S PERCEPTION OF REALISM AND PEDIATRIC PAIN ASSESSMENT UTILIZING A VIRTUAL PATIENT: A PILOT STUDY.
Creator: Carson, Alexandra, Anderson, Mindi, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The use of simulation in curriculum affords students with the opportunity to enhance clinical skills in a safe environment. However, certain aspects of patient assessment are difficult to reproduce in current simulators, such as changes in facial expressions. Facial expressions are of particular importance when assessing for the presence and severity of pain in the pediatric population. Inconsistencies found in accurate identification of pain suggest the necessity of improved pain assessment...
Show moreThe use of simulation in curriculum affords students with the opportunity to enhance clinical skills in a safe environment. However, certain aspects of patient assessment are difficult to reproduce in current simulators, such as changes in facial expressions. Facial expressions are of particular importance when assessing for the presence and severity of pain in the pediatric population. Inconsistencies found in accurate identification of pain suggest the necessity of improved pain assessment training. This study evaluated nursing student's perceptions of a virtual patient designed to realistically display varying levels of pain in the pediatric patient. Additional purposes of this study were to evaluate the student's ability to accurately rate pediatric pain using a virtual patient with and without other indicators of pain, explore the students experience learning pediatric pain in nursing school, and explore the use of simulation in curriculum to teach pain. A total of N=11 nursing students participated in this study. Students were presented with a series of virtual patient faces and asked to provide a pain rating from 0-10 utilizing a pediatric pain assessment tool, and to numerically list the facial features used to identify the pain rating they chose. A questionnaire was then completed which included questions regarding the realism of the virtual patient, pain and curriculum, and simulation. Results of the study showed students rated pain lower than the expected rating when presented with virtual patient faces only, and rated pain closer to the expected rating when presented with virtual patient faces and other indicators of pain such as vital signs and verbal cues. A noticeable range of reported pain rating levels existed for all virtual faces in which students rated the pain lower or higher than the true pain rating. The majority of students reported the virtual patient was moderately to extremely realistic, and 90.9% (n=10) reported they would like to have the technology implemented into a simulation scenario.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFH2000085, ucf:45525
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000085

Title: FACIAL EMOTION RECOGNITION IN CHILDREN WITH ASPERGER'S DISORDER AND IN CHILDREN WITH SOCIAL PHOBIA.
Creator: Wong, Nina, Beidel, Deborah, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Recognizing emotion from facial expressions is an essential skill for effective social functioning and establishing interpersonal relationships. AspergerÃ‚Â's Disorder (AD) and Social Phobia (SP) are two clinical populations showing impairment in social skill and perhaps emotion recognition. Objectives: The primary objectives were to determine the uniqueness of facial emotion recognition abilities between children with AD and SP relative to typically developing children ...
Show moreRecognizing emotion from facial expressions is an essential skill for effective social functioning and establishing interpersonal relationships. AspergerÃ‚Â's Disorder (AD) and Social Phobia (SP) are two clinical populations showing impairment in social skill and perhaps emotion recognition. Objectives: The primary objectives were to determine the uniqueness of facial emotion recognition abilities between children with AD and SP relative to typically developing children (TD) and to examine the role of expression intensity in determining recognition of facial affect. Method: Fifty-seven children (19 AD, 17 SP, and 21 TD) aged 7-13 years participated in the study. Reaction times and accuracy were measured as children identified neutral faces and faces displaying anger, disgust, fear, happiness, and sadness at two different intensity levels. Results: Mixed model ANOVAs with group and emotion type revealed that all children responded faster and more accurately to expressions of happiness, but there were no other group differences. Additional analyses indicated that intensity of the displayed emotion influenced facial affect detection ability for several basic emotions (happiness, fear, and anger). Across groups, there was no pattern of specific misidentification of emotion (e.g., children did not consistently misidentify one emotion, such as disgust, for a different emotion, such as anger.) Finally, facial affect recognition abilities were not associated with behavioral ratings of overall anxiety or social skills effectiveness in structured role play interactions. Conclusions: Distinct facial affect recognition deficits in the clinical groups emerge when the intensity of the emotion expression is considered. Implications for using behavioral assessments to delineate the relationship between facial affect recognition abilities and social functioning among clinical populations are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2010
Identifier: CFE0003053, ucf:48336
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0003053

Title: Measurement Of Negative Affectivity In Psychometrically Defined Schizotypy Using Facial Electromyography.
Creator: Mitchell, Jonathan, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Bedwell, Jeffrey, Beidel, Deborah, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Schizotypy is a sub-threshold syndrome associated with schizophrenia. Much of the research on schizotypy concerns its component features, one of which being blunted or constricted affect. While several investigations have addressed this common (")negative(") symptom within the context of schizophrenia, few have focused on schizotypy directly, and none have utilized psychophysiological measurement to examine affective constriction. The present investigation uses facial electromyography (EMG)...
Show moreSchizotypy is a sub-threshold syndrome associated with schizophrenia. Much of the research on schizotypy concerns its component features, one of which being blunted or constricted affect. While several investigations have addressed this common (")negative(") symptom within the context of schizophrenia, few have focused on schizotypy directly, and none have utilized psychophysiological measurement to examine affective constriction. The present investigation uses facial electromyography (EMG) to measure patterns of affective expression within a psychometrically defined schizotypal population when presented threatening and distressing pictures from the IAPS. Twenty-eight individuals with elevated schizotypal features and 20 healthy controls were recruited for this investigation. The participants observed the series of pictures and provided self-report ratings of affective valance and arousal while their physiological responses were recorded. The protocol used here closely matched that used by Bradley and Lang (2007) and produced a similar pattern of results across all participants on self-reported ratings and physiological measures. Results further suggest that those with schizotypal features did not differ from control participants in self-reported ratings of negative affect or autonomic arousal. A three-way interaction in facial EMG measurement revealed that while schizotypic males demonstrated the expected pattern of blunted facial affective expression, schizotypic females displayed the opposite pattern. That is, females with psychometrically schizotypy demonstrated significant elevations in negative facial affective expression while viewing distressing pictures. We argue that these findings reflect unidentified sex differences in affective expression in schizotypy, and we discuss implications for assessment and diagnostic procedures among individuals with personality disorders.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0004721, ucf:49808
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004721

Title: The Effects of Facial Cues on Consumer Judgment and Decision-Making.
Creator: Liu, Fan, He, Xin, Wang, Ze, Mao, Huifang, Sivo, Stephen, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This dissertation investigates the roles of facial cues in consumer behavior. Specifically, the research examines the effect of facial structural resemblance, facial expressions, and other perceptual cues(-)in both individual and group settings(-)on consumer judgment and decision-making. Essay 1 examines the influence of facial resemblance on consumers' product purchase likelihood. This effect is moderated by consumers' mental construal, such that the effect of increased facial resemblance on...
Show moreThis dissertation investigates the roles of facial cues in consumer behavior. Specifically, the research examines the effect of facial structural resemblance, facial expressions, and other perceptual cues(-)in both individual and group settings(-)on consumer judgment and decision-making. Essay 1 examines the influence of facial resemblance on consumers' product purchase likelihood. This effect is moderated by consumers' mental construal, such that the effect of increased facial resemblance on product purchase likelihood occurs among consumers with high-level construals but not among those with low-level construals. Results of three experimental studies show that increased facial resemblance among team members enhances the perceived entitativity of the group, which in turn leads to more favorable intention of purchasing the product offered by the group. Essay 2 investigates the differential effects of recipients' group entitativity on two types of donation (time vs. money). Through three studies, the research demonstrates that high (versus low) group entitativity among the recipients increases donation of time but decreases donation of money. Such differential effects on donation of time versus money are driven by consumers' emotional or cognitive well-being associated with time or money donations. In essay 3, the effect of smile intensity on customer behavior is shown to be moderated by power and salience of ulterior motive. When employees' ulterior motive is not salient to customers, low-power customers evaluate the employee with intensified smiles more favorably compared to high-power customers. In contrast, when ulterior motive is made salient, high-power rather than low-power customers react more positively to smile intensity. Results show that the interactive effects between smile, power, and ulterior motive are driven by customers' warmth and competence perceptions. Collectively, this dissertation focuses on consumers' face-based judgments of individuals and teams, and investigates how such facial cues might influence consumers' attitude, purchase intention, and prosocial behavior.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFE0005828, ucf:50930
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005828

Title: THE ROLE OF FACIAL APPEARANCE IN GENDER CATEGORIZATION.
Creator: Simpkins, Joshua, Carter, Shannon, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Of the many systems of social organization which members of US society use to categorize other members, gender is one of the most important. The gender system operates to place members of US society into categories, and then allocate labor and resources to those members on the basis of their category membership. In order to better understand the gender system, this study examines the methods by which members of US society use the gender system to place other members into a gender category....
Show moreOf the many systems of social organization which members of US society use to categorize other members, gender is one of the most important. The gender system operates to place members of US society into categories, and then allocate labor and resources to those members on the basis of their category membership. In order to better understand the gender system, this study examines the methods by which members of US society use the gender system to place other members into a gender category. First, full facial photographs were taken of a group of participants of varying gender, race, ethnicity, and age. Then, parts of each participant's face were isolated digitally and shown to a second group of participants. This second group was asked to identify the sex and/or gender of the individual in the image, indicate how confident they were in this identification, and then write a brief explanation for why they identified the individual in the image as they did. The analysis conducted by this study supports three findings. First, though the gender categories "male" and "female" are still widely predominant, other categories such as "genderqueer" are seeing use as well. Second, the mouth and lips tend to be seen as more important indicators of gender than other facial features. Finally, while the race and gender category membership of the member doing the categorizing has little or no interaction with the gender categorization process, the race and gender category membership of the member being categorized does have a significant interaction.
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Date Issued: 2011
Identifier: CFH0003690, ucf:44750
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0003690

Title: IMITATING INDIVIDUALIZED FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IN A HUMAN-LIKE AVATAR THROUGH A HYBRID PARTICLE SWARM OPTIMIZATION - TABU SEARCH ALGORITHM.
Creator: Husk, Evan, Gonzalez, Avelino, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: This thesis describes a machine learning method for automatically imitating a particular person's facial expressions in a human-like avatar through a hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization - Tabu Search algorithm. The muscular structures of the facial expressions are measured by Ekman and Friesen's Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Using a neutral face as a reference, the minute movements of the Action Units, used in FACS, are automatically tracked and mapped onto the avatar using a hybrid...
Show moreThis thesis describes a machine learning method for automatically imitating a particular person's facial expressions in a human-like avatar through a hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization - Tabu Search algorithm. The muscular structures of the facial expressions are measured by Ekman and Friesen's Facial Action Coding System (FACS). Using a neutral face as a reference, the minute movements of the Action Units, used in FACS, are automatically tracked and mapped onto the avatar using a hybrid method. The hybrid algorithm is composed of Kennedy and Eberhart's Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm (PSO) and Glover's Tabu Search (TS). Distinguishable features portrayed on the avatar ensure a personalized, realistic imitation of the facial expressions. To evaluate the feasibility of using PSO-TS in this approach, a fundamental proof-of-concept test is employed on the system using the OGRE avatar. This method is analyzed in-depth to ensure its proper functionality and evaluate its performance compared to previous work.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFH0004286, ucf:44949
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004286

Title: SUBTYPES OF ANHEDONIA AND FACIAL ELECTROMYOGRAPHYRESPONSE TO NEGATIVE AFFECTIVE PICTURES IN HEALTHY ADULTS.
Creator: Kadison, Lisa, Bedwell, Jeffrey, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Flat affect (i.e., diminished expressivity) and self-reported anhedonia (i.e., lack of pleasure) are associated with many psychiatric disorders. There is a need to examine the relationship between specific anhedonia subtypes and flat affect in a non-clinical sample. Forty-seven undergraduate students (59% male; mean age 20.37; SD = 4.74) completed self-report questionnaires assessing four subtypes of anhedonia - consummatory/anticipatory by social/non-social. Participants then viewed 15...
Show moreFlat affect (i.e., diminished expressivity) and self-reported anhedonia (i.e., lack of pleasure) are associated with many psychiatric disorders. There is a need to examine the relationship between specific anhedonia subtypes and flat affect in a non-clinical sample. Forty-seven undergraduate students (59% male; mean age 20.37; SD = 4.74) completed self-report questionnaires assessing four subtypes of anhedonia - consummatory/anticipatory by social/non-social. Participants then viewed 15 randomly-presented pictures (five neutral, ten negative) from the International Affective Pictures System while facial muscle activity (electromyography; EMG) was recorded. Male participants reporting a greater level of anhedonia, particularly consummatory social anhedonia, showed greater EMG activity change in the corrugator supercilii muscle to negative pictures, as compared with neutral pictures. Females showed the opposite pattern: more consummatory social anhedonia related to less EMG activity change in the corrugator muscle. In summary, consummatory social anhedonia in particular showed a strong relationship with facial expressivity that interacted with sex. In the presence of more consummatory social anhedonia, males show more negative facial reactions to negative stimuli while females show a more flattened affect. These findings may help explain discrepancies in existing research examining anhedonia and flat affect in clinical populations and have implications for etiology and treatments.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFH0004377, ucf:44993
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004377

Title: INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN EYEWITNESS TESTIMONY.
Creator: Cal, Noel A, Mouloua, Mustapha, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Eyewitness testimony plays a crucial role in the justice system. Misidentification from eyewitnesses was reported in 70% of 300 DNA exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals (Wixted et al., 2015). Similarly, many convicts can also be set free because of juror's faulty eyewitness recall during examination. Previous research indicated that females are more reliable in recall than men. However, these findings were not extensively examined with regards to time delay prior to the trial....
Show moreEyewitness testimony plays a crucial role in the justice system. Misidentification from eyewitnesses was reported in 70% of 300 DNA exonerations of wrongfully convicted individuals (Wixted et al., 2015). Similarly, many convicts can also be set free because of juror's faulty eyewitness recall during examination. Previous research indicated that females are more reliable in recall than men. However, these findings were not extensively examined with regards to time delay prior to the trial. Thus, it is important to systematically examine the various factors that influence eyewitness testimony. The present study was designed to empirically examine the effects of gender, interview technique, and time interval on eyewitness recall. It was hypothesized that female participants would outscore male participants in both facial and detail recall. It was also hypothesized that the cognitive interview would yield more accurate details about the crime in comparison to the standard interview. It was hypothesized that recall for participants would decay as the time interval increased. One hundred and four participants were randomly selected from a southeastern university to participate in the study. Ages of the participants ranged from 18-40 and consisted of fifty-two males and fifty-two females. They were required to complete a series of questionnaires consisting of demographics, mood measure, personality test, and standard/cognitive interviews. The results showed a significant effect between gender, interview technique, and time interval on detail recall. In addition, there was a significant main effect for interview type. There was a significant effect of gender and time interval on facial recall. It was found that extraversion significantly predicted detail recall as did agreeableness and neuroticism. The present findings further extend previous research examining the most effective interviewing techniques for eyewitness recall. It also indicated that females can accurately recall faces after a time delay in comparison to men. Furthermore, these results also clearly indicate that gender and time interval play a significant role in facial recall. Finally, the findings have practical implications for the jury selection system. For example, attorneys and judges might be inclined to choose women over men for specific cases where eyewitness details may be crucial for conviction. In addition, they may also use facial shots in order to enhance eyewitness recall. Personality measures can assist detectives to determine if a suspect is suitable for an interview. If at all possible, administering personality test for jurors may help in determining certain personality types are more prone to error.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFH2000152, ucf:46033
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH2000152

Title: EVALUATING NEONATAL FACIAL PAIN EXPRESSION: IS THERE A PRIMAL FACE OF PAIN?.
Creator: Schiavenato, Martin, Byers, Jacqueline, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Pain assessment continues to be poorly managed in the clinical arena. A review of the communication process in pain assessment is carried out and the hierarchical approach often recommended in the literature –with self-report as its "gold-standard," is criticized as limited and simplistic. A comprehensive approach to pain assessment is recommended and a model that conceptualizes pain assessment as a complex transaction with various patient and clinician dependant factors is proposed....
Show morePain assessment continues to be poorly managed in the clinical arena. A review of the communication process in pain assessment is carried out and the hierarchical approach often recommended in the literature –with self-report as its "gold-standard," is criticized as limited and simplistic. A comprehensive approach to pain assessment is recommended and a model that conceptualizes pain assessment as a complex transaction with various patient and clinician dependant factors is proposed. Attention is then focused on the pediatric patient whose pain assessment is often dependent on nonverbal communicative action. The clinical approaches to pain assessment in this population –mainly the use of behavioral/observational pain scales and facial pain scales, are explored. The primal face of pain (PFP) is identified and proposed theoretically as an important link in the function of facial pain scales. Finally, the existence of the PFP is investigated in a sample of 57 neonates across differences in sex and ethnic origin while controlling for potentially confounding factors. Facial expression to a painful stimulus is measured based on the Neonatal Facial Coding System (NFCS) and applying an innovative computer-based methodology. No statistically significant differences in facial expression were found in infant display thereby supporting the existence of the PFP.
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Date Issued: 2007
Identifier: CFE0001808, ucf:47373
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0001808

Title: A PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INVESTIGATION OF THE PROPOSED PARADOXICAL EFFECTS OF VALUING HAPPINESS.
Creator: Coles, Nicholas, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Several researchers in happiness studies have called for an increased sociopolitical interest in indicators of societal happiness. However, recent evidence for the proposed paradoxical effects of valuing happiness suggest that an increase in society's perceived value of happiness may exert a detrimental, inverse influence on well-being. This notion is based on previous research demonstrating that manipulating participants to value happiness causes them to experience less positive emotions,...
Show moreSeveral researchers in happiness studies have called for an increased sociopolitical interest in indicators of societal happiness. However, recent evidence for the proposed paradoxical effects of valuing happiness suggest that an increase in society's perceived value of happiness may exert a detrimental, inverse influence on well-being. This notion is based on previous research demonstrating that manipulating participants to value happiness causes them to experience less positive emotions, compared to controls, when viewing positive film clips. Following the humanistic notion that the maximization of societal happiness is an advantageous sociopolitical endeavor, the proposed paradoxical effects of valuing happiness present a psychological barrier that researchers must strive to understand and, ideally, overcome. Previous experimental research on the paradoxical effects of valuing happiness has focused on participants' emotionality as an operational definition of happiness. However, drawing from the Subjective Well-Being construct, emotionality is only one of several components of happiness. Building from this Subjective-Well Being framework, this study expands upon previous research by investigating whether a valuing happiness manipulation influences participants' emotionality while they contemplate their own happiness. To examine this, nineteen participants were divided into two groups, one which received a valuing happiness manipulation (n=9) and the others served as a control group (n=10), and instructed to contemplate their personal happiness for 45 seconds. To measure participants' emotions during this task, facial electromyography data were collected from the corrugator supercilii and the zygomaticus major facial muscles, a measure that previous research suggests is sensitive to the emotional value of thought. Results indicated that participants manipulated to value happiness did not experience significant differences in facial electromyography activation compared to controls. However, although non-significant, the correlation between facial electromyography activation and participants' rating of happiness differed substantially for participants manipulated to value happiness (average r=.41 for corrugator, average r=-.09 for zygomaticus) and controls (average r=.-.29 for corrugator, average r=.14 for zygomaticus). The counterintuitive correlations for participants led to value happiness, despite not experiencing significant difference in the emotional value of the happiness contemplation task, provide preliminary evidence that these participants utilize the information retrieved from the contemplative stage in a qualitatively different way than controls when judging their own happiness. More specifically, the correlations for participants led to value happiness trend in the opposite direction of controls, demonstrating that increases in positive emotion during happiness contemplation actually are associated with lower scores on a self-report of happiness. This study suggests that the paradoxical effects of valuing happiness does not influence the retrieval of information when contemplating ones' happiness, but may influence (in an apparently detrimental fashion) how this information is utilized when judging one's happiness. Although the between-condition differences in correlations failed to reach statistical significance (more specifically, p=.09 for corrugator), this study provides preliminary evidence for the existence of a new dynamic of the proposed paradoxical effects of valuing happiness that is novel to the happiness studies discourse. Limitations, implications, and future directions are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2015
Identifier: CFH0004766, ucf:45360
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFH0004766

Title: Fashioning Society: The Use of Facial Adornments for Social Identification in Late Postclassic Tlaxcallan, Mexico.
Creator: Costa, Angelica, Barber, Sarah, Kovacevich, Brigitte, Callaghan, Michael, Fargher, Lane, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, communities frequently practiced various forms of embodying social identity through the use of facial adornments. Ornaments were placed in the ears, nose, and lips to materialize aspects of both self and collective identity. Important characteristics, such as age, gender, status, kinship, and ethnicity can be better understood through analysis of facial ornaments recovered from archaeological sites. Recent research at the Late Postclassic (AD 1420-1521) city of...
Show moreIn pre-Hispanic Central Mexico, communities frequently practiced various forms of embodying social identity through the use of facial adornments. Ornaments were placed in the ears, nose, and lips to materialize aspects of both self and collective identity. Important characteristics, such as age, gender, status, kinship, and ethnicity can be better understood through analysis of facial ornaments recovered from archaeological sites. Recent research at the Late Postclassic (AD 1420-1521) city of Tlaxcallan has provided insight into how facial ornamentation varied within the central highlands of Mexico. Typological analysis of ornaments and figurines recovered at Tlaxcallan and comparative examinations between Tlaxcalteca and Aztec historical documents has provided evidence to support varying embodiment practices between these groups. Despite their shared Nahua identity and close proximity, the Tlaxcalteca and the Aztecs chose to emphasize significantly different aspects of identity within their own social hierarchies. The persistent conflict and varying political organization between these communities is reflected in their embodiment practices. Thus, these objects have the potential to reveal how larger sociopolitical interactions can affect local collective identities. Through this comparative analysis, I demonstrate how the Tlaxcalteca and the Aztecs identified aspects of social identity through analysis of facial ornamentation.
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Date Issued: 2018
Identifier: CFE0007749, ucf:52401
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0007749

Title: Visual Scanpath Training for Facial Affect Recognition in a Psychiatric Sample.
Creator: Chan, Chi, Bedwell, Jeffrey, Cassisi, Jeffrey, Sims, Valerie, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Social cognition is essential for functional outcome and quality of life in psychiatric patients. Facial affect recognition (FAR), a domain of social cognition, is impaired in many patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There is evidence that abnormal visual scanpath patterns may underlie FAR deficits, and metacognitive factors may impact task performance. The present study aimed to develop a brief, individually-administered, computerized training program to normalize scanpath...
Show moreSocial cognition is essential for functional outcome and quality of life in psychiatric patients. Facial affect recognition (FAR), a domain of social cognition, is impaired in many patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. There is evidence that abnormal visual scanpath patterns may underlie FAR deficits, and metacognitive factors may impact task performance. The present study aimed to develop a brief, individually-administered, computerized training program to normalize scanpath patterns in order to improve FAR in patient with a psychosis history or bipolar I disorder. The program was developed using scanpath data from 19 nonpsychiatric controls (NC) while they completed a FAR tasks that involved identification of mild or extreme intensity happy, sad, angry, and fearful faces, and a neutral expression. Patients were randomized to a waitlist (WG; n = 16) or training group (TG; n = 18). Both patient groups completed a baseline FAR task (T0), the training (or a repeated FAR task as a control for WG; T1), and a post-training FAR task (T2). Patients evaluated their own performance and eyetracking data were recorded. Results indicated that the patient groups did not differ from NC on FAR performance, metacognitive accuracy, or scanpath patterns at T0. TG was compliant with the training program and showed changes in scanpath patterns during T1, but returned to baseline scanpath patterns at T2. WG and TG did not differ at T2 on FAR performance, metacognitive accuracy, or scanpath patterns. Across both patient groups, FAR performance for mild intensity emotions were more sensitive to the effect of time than for extreme intensity emotions. Exploratory analysis showed that at baseline, greater severity of negative symptoms was associated with poorer metacognitive accuracy (i.e., accuracy in their evaluation of their performance). Limitations to the study and future directions are discussed.
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Date Issued: 2016
Identifier: CFE0006280, ucf:51613
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0006280

Title: Time and Space Efficient Techniques for Facial Recognition.
Creator: Alrasheed, Waleed, Mikhael, Wasfy, DeMara, Ronald, Haralambous, Michael, Wei, Lei, Myers, Brent, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in face recognition. As a result, many new facial recognition techniques have been introduced. Recent developments in the field of face recognition have led to an increase in the number of available face recognition commercial products. However, Face recognition techniques are currently constrained by three main factors: recognition accuracy, computational complexity, and storage requirements. The problem is that most of the current face...
Show moreIn recent years, there has been an increasing interest in face recognition. As a result, many new facial recognition techniques have been introduced. Recent developments in the field of face recognition have led to an increase in the number of available face recognition commercial products. However, Face recognition techniques are currently constrained by three main factors: recognition accuracy, computational complexity, and storage requirements. The problem is that most of the current face recognition techniques succeed in improving one or two of these factors at the expense of the others.In this dissertation, four novel face recognition techniques that improve the storage and computational requirements of face recognition systems are presented and analyzed. Three of the four novel face recognition techniques to be introduced, namely, Quantized/truncated Transform Domain (QTD), Frequency Domain Thresholding and Quantization (FD-TQ), and Normalized Transform Domain (NTD). All the three techniques utilize the Two-dimensional Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT-II), which reduces the dimensionality of facial feature images, thereby reducing the computational complexity. The fourth novel face recognition technique is introduced, namely, the Normalized Histogram Intensity (NHI). It is based on utilizing the pixel intensity histogram of poses' subimages, which reduces the computational complexity and the needed storage requirements. Various simulation experiments using MATLAB were conducted to test the proposed methods. For the purpose of benchmarking the performance of the proposed methods, the simulation experiments were performed using current state-of-the-art face recognition techniques, namely, Two Dimensional Principal Component Analysis (2DPCA), Two-Directional Two-Dimensional Principal Component Analysis ((2D)^2PCA), and Transform Domain Two Dimensional Principal Component Analysis (TD2DPCA). The experiments were applied to the ORL, Yale, and FERET databases.The experimental results for the proposed techniques confirm that the use of any of the four novel techniques examined in this study results in a significant reduction in computational complexity and storage requirements compared to the state-of-the-art techniques without sacrificing the recognition accuracy.
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Date Issued: 2013
Identifier: CFE0005297, ucf:50566
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0005297

Title: TOWARD BUILDING A SOCIAL ROBOT WITH AN EMOTION-BASED INTERNAL CONTROL AND EXTERNAL COMMUNICATION TO ENHANCE HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION.
Creator: Marpaung, Andreas, Lisetti, Christine, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: In this thesis, we aim at modeling some aspects of the functional role of emotions on an autonomous embodied agent. We begin by describing our robotic prototype, Cherry--a robot with the task of being a tour guide and an office assistant for the Computer Science Department at the University of Central Florida. Cherry did not have a formal emotion representation of internal states, but did have the ability to express emotions through her multimodal interface. The thesis presents the results of...
Show moreIn this thesis, we aim at modeling some aspects of the functional role of emotions on an autonomous embodied agent. We begin by describing our robotic prototype, Cherry--a robot with the task of being a tour guide and an office assistant for the Computer Science Department at the University of Central Florida. Cherry did not have a formal emotion representation of internal states, but did have the ability to express emotions through her multimodal interface. The thesis presents the results of a survey we performed via our social informatics approach where we found that: (1) the idea of having emotions in a robot was warmly accepted by Cherry's users, and (2) the intended users were pleased with our initial interface design and functionalities. Guided by these results, we transferred our previous code to a human-height and more robust robot--Petra, the PeopleBot™--where we began to build a formal emotion mechanism and representation for internal states to correspond to the external expressions of Cherry's interface. We describe our overall three-layered architecture, and propose the design of the sensory motor level (the first layer of the three-layered architecture) inspired by the Multilevel Process Theory of Emotion on one hand, and hybrid robotic architecture on the other hand. The sensory-motor level receives and processes incoming stimuli with fuzzy logic and produces emotion-like states without any further willful planning or learning. We will discuss how Petra has been equipped with sonar and vision for obstacle avoidance as well as vision for face recognition, which are used when she roams around the hallway to engage in social interactions with humans. We hope that the sensory motor level in Petra could serve as a foundation for further works in modeling the three-layered architecture of the Emotion State Generator.
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Date Issued: 2004
Identifier: CFE0000286, ucf:46228
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0000286

Title: Beauty and the Beast: The Attractiveness Bias in an Online Peer Mentoring Program.
Creator: Garcia, Carollaine, Jentsch, Kimberly, Jentsch, Florian, Fritzsche, Barbara, Burke, Shawn, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: The bias against attractiveness is fairly implicit and furthermore, powerfully impacts people's subsequent impressions of and behaviors toward others (Cash, Gillen, (&) Burns, 1977; Dion et al., 1972). Pallet, Link and Lee (2010) examined the effect of various facial spatial configurations on attractiveness and found that raters rated faces as most attractive when the eye-to-mouth ratio approximated 36% of the face length (the "golden ratio"), which coincides with the measurements of an...
Show moreThe bias against attractiveness is fairly implicit and furthermore, powerfully impacts people's subsequent impressions of and behaviors toward others (Cash, Gillen, (&) Burns, 1977; Dion et al., 1972). Pallet, Link and Lee (2010) examined the effect of various facial spatial configurations on attractiveness and found that raters rated faces as most attractive when the eye-to-mouth ratio approximated 36% of the face length (the "golden ratio"), which coincides with the measurements of an average and thus more attractive face. The present study examined the extent to which the distance of these objectively measured facial features affected mentors' perceptions of their prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s, the subsequent mentoring given to them, and the prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s' own behavior (e.g. seek feedback, request specific information).The gender composition of the mentor-prot(&)#233;g(&)#233; dyad was expected to moderate these relationships. I also examined whether, given the expected effects of facial measurements, withholding access to visual cues would affect mentor perceptions and behavior. Participants were 118 mentor/prot(&)#233;g(&)#233; dyads from a large Southeastern university who volunteered to participate in a formal online peer mentoring program. After seeing their prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s' profiles (and for those in the experimental condition, a picture), mentors chatted with their prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s once a week for 30 minutes for a total of 4 weeks. Results indicated that prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s with facial features moderately distant from the golden ratio were perceived as more similar by mentors in same-gender dyads and received greater mentoring than did prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s closest and farthest from the golden ratio. In opposite-gender dyads, however, mentors reported greater similarity toward those that were farthest from the golden ratio but provided the greatest mentoring to those closest to the golden ratio. The relationship between facial measurements and prot(&)#233;g(&)#233; proactivity was moderated by whether or not their mentor had access to their picture. While prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s closest to the ratio were more proactive in the picture condition, those that were farthest from it were more proactive in the non-picture condition. Proactivity was as expected associated with greater levels of mentoring, which was ultimately related to a more fulfilled and beneficial relationship for prot(&)#233;g(&)#233;s (i.e. less stress, greater self-efficacy and satisfaction). The results of this study indicate that facial measurements are associated with both differences in mentor and in prot(&)#233;g(&)#233; behavior and that the specific nature of these relationships differs as a function of gender composition. Implications for practice and theory will be discussed.
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Date Issued: 2012
Identifier: CFE0004504, ucf:49275
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0004504

Title: PERCEPTION OF CUTENESS AND BEAUTY.
Creator: Jones, Danielle, Poindexter, Carla, University of Central Florida
Abstract / Description: Upbringing and psychological make-up inspire individual norms for beauty and cuteness. The mannerist approach in my work is a product of the figural liberties found in cartooning, illustration and art history. By altering facial and bodily features, I relate the proportions of an infant to cuteness and innocence. However, I tailor the photographs to empower the subjects all the while mirroring trends in contemporary pop culture. I'm interested in themes of everyday life, vitality and...
Show moreUpbringing and psychological make-up inspire individual norms for beauty and cuteness. The mannerist approach in my work is a product of the figural liberties found in cartooning, illustration and art history. By altering facial and bodily features, I relate the proportions of an infant to cuteness and innocence. However, I tailor the photographs to empower the subjects all the while mirroring trends in contemporary pop culture. I'm interested in themes of everyday life, vitality and emotion placed in obscure, imaginary or exaggerated venues. I fictionalize subjects of my reality to compel viewers to identify with and fancy emotions, circumstances, moods and relationships. The intent is to amplify, yet be truer to their existence and idiosyncrasies through figural adaptations.
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Date Issued: 2009
Identifier: CFE0002538, ucf:47637
Format: Document (PDF)
PURL: http://purl.flvc.org/ucf/fd/CFE0002538

facial (3)	+ -
facial electromyography (3)	+ -
face (2)	+ -
facial expression (2)	+ -
physical appearance (2)	+ -

(2D)^2PCA (1)	+ -
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Affective Computing (1)	+ -
Asperger's Disorder (1)	+ -
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Facial Affect Recognition (1)	+ -
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University of Central Florida (16)	+ -
Bedwell, Jeffrey (3)	+ -
Beidel, Deborah (2)	+ -
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Sims, Valerie (2)	+ -

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