La reconnaissance émotionnelle faciale : validation préliminaire de stimuli virtuels dynamiques et comparaison avec les Pictures of Facial Affect (POFA)

Abstract

Bien que des photographies d’expressions émotionnelles faciales soient couramment utilisées pour étudier le traitement des informations affectives, les ensembles de stimuli actuels comportent différentes limites méthodologiques. Dans la perspective d’améliorer la validité écologique des travaux sur la reconnaissance émotionnelle faciale (REF), l’étude propose un nouvel ensemble de stimuli dynamiques constitué de personnages virtuels exprimant les six émotions fondamentales à différentes intensités. La validation préliminaire des stimuli a été effectuée en les comparant aux stimuli du POFA. Dans l’étude 1, le contenu émotionnel de 84 avatars statiques et de 48 photographies du POFA a été évalué par 150 étudiants. Dans l’étude 2, la REF a été évaluée chez 134 étudiants à l’aide d’avatars dynamiques. L’habileté à reconnaître les émotions est similaire à celle rapportée dans la littérature scientifique ainsi qu’au POFA. Les résultats permettent de conclure que les avatars constituent un ensemble valide de stimuli pour étudier la REF, offrant une contribution significative dans le domaine de la recherche émotionnelle. L’usage d’avatars étant de plus en plus courant à des fins d’intervention et de recherche, les stimuli ouvrent aussi la voie à diverses applications, entre autres pour l’étude des comportements violents. D’autres travaux devront être réalisés afin de poursuivre leur validation.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.Si bien las fotografías de expresiones emocionales faciales son utilizadas corrientemente con el fin de estudiar el procesamiento de informaciones afectivas, el conjunto de estímulos actuales conlleva diferentes límites metodológicos. Con la perspectiva de mejorar la validez ecológica de los trabajos sobre el reconocimiento emocional facial (REF), el presente estudio propone un nuevo grupo de estímulos dinámicos constituido de ...

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