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Caught on canvas: Facial expressions in art
Zoe Thurtle1, Daniele Zavagno2, Anna Maria Di Betta1
1Department of Psychology, Sheffield Institute of Social Sciences, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield, UK.
Abstract:
We tested whether facial expressions in artworks can be reliably classified using six basic emotion categories. Participants viewed 116 cropped portraits, selecting the best-fitting emotion for each. Results show that about half of the images elicited consistent responses, aligning with basic emotional prototypes. The rest produced distributed judgments, indicating Multifaceted Emotions - layered or uncertain affective signals. The findings support the hypothesis that artists are capable of portraying both basic and complex emotional states, opening up the possibility for a new artwork-based emotion database to study nuanced emotional perception.
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