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Clinical Practice Protocol of Creative Music Therapy for Preterm Infants and Their Parents in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

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Infant Smiling Dynamics and Perceived Positive Emotion.

Daniel S Messinger¹, Tricia D Cassel, Susan I Acosta

¹Department of Psychology, University of Miami, P.O. Box 249229, Coral Gables, FL 33124-0751, USA.

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

|May 8, 2009

Summary

Automated and manual facial analysis accurately measures infant smiles, predicting perceived positive emotions. This research enhances understanding of early emotional expression dynamics.

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Area of Science:

Developmental Psychology
Nonverbal Communication
Affective Science

Background:

Understanding early positive emotional expression is crucial for developmental research.
Automated facial action measurements offer objective data but may lack nuanced detail.
Anatomically based manual coding provides fine-grained analysis of facial movements.

Purpose of the Study:

To integrate automated and manual facial measurements for a comprehensive analysis of infant smiling.
To describe the temporal dynamics of infant smiles.
To predict perceived positive emotional intensity from facial action measurements.

Main Methods:

Employed automated software for facial action measurement.
Supplemented automated data with anatomically based manual coding.
Conducted three rating studies using naive and experienced observers to evaluate perceived emotion.

Main Results:

Degree of smile strength correlated with eye constriction (Duchenne marker) and mouth opening during infant smiles.
Automated measurements of smile strength and mouth opening predicted observer ratings of positive emotion.
A combined measure of smile strength and mouth opening predicted emotion ratings in still images.

Conclusions:

Convergent automated and manual facial measurements effectively describe the dynamics of infant emotional expression.
These measurement techniques can predict perceived emotional intensity.
The findings highlight the utility of detailed facial action analysis in affective science research.