Thesis (Ph. D.)--State University of New York at Binghamton, Thomas J. Watson School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Computer Science, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references.

Cette thèse a pour sujet le développement de méthodes et de techniques permettant d'inférer l'état affectif d'une personne à partir d'informations visuelles. Plus précisement, nous nous intéressons à l'analyse d'expressions du visage, puisque le visage est la partie la mieux visible du corps, et que l'expression du visage est la manifestation la plus évidente de l'affect. Nous étudions différentes théories psychologiques concernant affect et émotions, et différentes facons de représenter et de classifier les émotions d'une part et la relation entre expression du visage et émotion sousjacente d'autre part. Nous présentons les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle en tant que descripteur dímages pour l'estimation de la pose de la tête, pour la détection de sourire, puis aussi pour la mesure de l'affect. Nous utilisons l'analyse en composantes principales pour la réduction de la dimensionalité, et les machines à support de vecteur pour la classification et la regression. Nous appliquons cette même architecture, simple et efficace, aux différents problèmes que sont l'estimation de la pose de tête, la détection de sourire, et la mesure d'affect. Nous montrons que non seulement les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle ont une performance supérieure aux populaires filtres de Gabor, mais qu'elles sont également moins coûteuses en calculs. Lors de nos expérimentations nous avons constaté que dans le cas d'un éclairage partiel du visage les dérivées Gaussiennes multi-échelle ne fournissent pas une description d'image suffisamment discriminante. Pour résoudre ce problème nous combinons des dérivées Gaussiennes avec des histogrammes locaux de type LBP (Local Binary Pattern). Avec cette combinaison nous obtenons des résultats à la hauteur de l'état de l'art pour la détection de sourire dans le base d'images GENKI qui comporte des images de personnes trouvées «dans la nature» sur internet, et avec la difficile «extended YaleB database». Pour la classification dans la reconnaissance de visage nous utilisons un apprentissage métrique avec comme mesure de similarité une distance de Minkowski. Nous obtenons le résultat que les normes L1 and L2 ne fournissent pas toujours la distance optimale; cet optimum est souvent obtenu avec une norme Lp où p n'est pas entier. Finalement, nous développons un système multi-modal pour la détection de dépressions nerveuses, avec en entrée des informations audio et vidéo. Pour la détection de mouvements intra-faciaux dans les données vidéo nous utilisons de descripteurs de type LBP-TOP (Local Binary Patterns -Three Orthogonal Planes), alors que nous utilisons des trajectoires denses pour les mouvements plus globaux, par exemple de la tête ou des épaules. Nous avons trouvé que les descripteurs LBP-TOP encodés avec des vecteurs de Fisher suffisent pour dépasser la performance de la méthode de reférence dans la compétition «Audio Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC) 2014». Nous disposons donc d'une technique effective pour l'evaluation de l'état dépressif, technique qui peut aisement être étendue à d'autres formes d'émotions qui varient lentement, comme l'humeur (mood an Anglais). / In this thesis we focus on the development of methods and techniques to infer affect from visual information. We focus on facial expression analysis since the face is one of the least occluded parts of the body and facial expressions are one of the most visible manifestations of affect. We explore the different psychological theories on affect and emotion, different ways to represent and classify emotions and the relationship between facial expressions and underlying emotions. We present the use of multiscale Gaussian derivatives as an image descriptor for head pose estimation, smile detection before using it for affect sensing. Principal Component Analysis is used for dimensionality reduction while Support Vector Machines are used for classification and regression. We are able to employ the same, simple and effective architecture for head pose estimation, smile detection and affect sensing. We also demonstrate that not only do multiscale Gaussian derivatives perform better than the popular Gabor Filters but are also computationally less expensive to compute. While performing these experiments we discovered that multiscale Gaussian derivatives do not provide an appropriately discriminative image description when the face is only partly illuminated. We overcome this problem by combining Gaussian derivatives with Local Binary Pattern (LBP) histograms. This combination helps us achieve state-of-the-art results for smile detection on the benchmark GENKI database which contains images of people in the "wild" collected from the internet. We use the same description method for face recognition on the CMU-PIE database and the challenging extended YaleB database and our results compare well with the state-of-the-art. In the case of face recognition we use metric learning for classification, adopting the Minkowski distance as the similarity measure. We find that L1 and L2 norms are not always the optimum distance metrics and the optimum is often an Lp norm where p is not an integer. Lastly we develop a multi-modal system for depression estimation with audio and video information as input. We use Local Binary Patterns -Three Orthogonal Planes (LBP-TOP) features to capture intra-facial movements in the videos and dense trajectories for macro movements such as the movement of the head and shoulders. These video features along with Low Level Descriptor (LLD) audio features are encoded using Fisher Vectors and finally a Support Vector Machine is used for regression. We discover that the LBP-TOP features encoded with Fisher Vectors alone are enough to outperform the baseline method on the Audio Visual Emotion Challenge (AVEC) 2014 database. We thereby present an effective technique for depression estimation which can be easily extended for other slowly varying aspects of emotions such as mood.

Research suggests that the human attentional system is biased towards emotional events in the environment. This attentional bias is believed to be an adaptive function that can provide survival benefits for the organisms that possess it. Dispositional optimism is a trait defined as a general expectation that good things will happen in the future. This trait has received interest as an adaptive trait that has a multitude of psychological and physical benefits for the individuals who exhibit it. The aim of this study is to examine whether there is a difference in the attentional bias towards happy and angry facial expressions based on level of dispositional optimism using the dot-probe paradigm. Thirty-two psychologically and neurologically healthy females (mean age = 26.5, SD = 5.8) participated in the study. They completed a questionnaire measuring dispositional optimism and performed the dot-probe task in a laboratory setting in the University of Skövde. In the dot- probe task a short exposure (100 ms) of photographs depicting happy, angry and neutral facial expressions was used as emotional cues. A general bias towards happy faces across all participants was detected. Also, a clear trend towards an interaction between DO and AB to emotional faces was found in the group high in DO displaying and AB towards happy facial expressions. This study implies that for the psychologically and neurologically healthy population, a fast operating and automatic AB for positive stimuli exists, moreover, this AB may be modulated by individual differences in DO.

No description available.

Le diagnostic de la maladie d'« Alzheimer » (MA) repose essentiellement sur des tests neuropsychologiques, démontrant d'importants déficits mnésiques en lien avec l'atrophie de l'hippocampe. Parallèlement à cela, l'existence d'une atteinte précoce de l'amygdale a très récemment été proposée dans une série d'études, suggérant que cette structure pourrait être un marqueur neuro-anatomique de l'entrée dans la maladie. Les études ayant évalué les répercussions émotionnelles de ces atteintes amygdaliennes n'ont néanmoins pas permis d'aboutir à l'identification d'un profil convergent de déficits. L'objectif de cette thèse a donc été de démontrer l'existence d'une atteinte de l'amygdale à un stade précoce de la MA entrainant des modifications des traitements émotionnels. Dans une première étude en neuroimagerie structurelle, nous avons montré des arguments robustes quant à l'existence d'atteintes anatomiques de l'amygdale chez des patients légèrement atteints par la maladie. L'amplitude de cette atrophie s'est avérée être un indicateur particulièrement sensible du niveau général d'atteintes cognitives mesurées chez nos patients. Dans les études suivantes, nous nous sommes intéressés aux répercussions de cette atteinte sur des activités cognitives sous-tendues plus directement par le fonctionnement de cette structure : les traitements émotionnels. Par l'élaboration d'une méta-analyse, nous avons pu identifier un déficit précoce de la reconnaissance des émotions. Nous avons de plus démontré que les troubles cognitifs des patients expliquaient en partie le déficit émotionnel, sans toutefois l'expliquer dans sa totalité. Enfin, une série d'études comportementales et en neuroimagerie fonctionnelle, a permis de confirmer que les atteintes anatomiques s'accompagnaient bien d'un dysfonctionnement de l'amygdale entrainant des déficits émotionnels, en particulier dans les mécanismes à l'origine de l'extraction spontanée de la saillance émotionnelle. L'ensemble de nos données convergent vers l'idée que l'atteinte amygdalienne et les altérations des mécanismes émotionnels seraient une piste prometteuse afin de préciser le diagnostic actuel de la MA. / The diagnosis of “Alzheimer's” disease (AD) relies on neuropsychological tests demonstrating massive memory decline, which is mainly associated with hippocampus lesions. In parallel, several neuroimaging studies have suggested that amygdala volume loss could be a neuroanatomical marker of AD. However, previous works dealing with behavioural indices of amygdala activity in AD have been unable to provide a converging profile of emotional impairments. The goal of this work was to corroborate data provided from various methods to demonstrate that amygdala lesions in relation to emotional disorders could be an interesting track to refine the current diagnosis of AD. In a first structural neuroimaging study, we have demonstrated that the amygdala undergoes massive atrophy in the early stage of the disease, and that volume loss predicts memory decline. In the following studies, we have shown that these lesions lead to impairments in a various set of emotional tests. Based on a meta-analytic approach, we demonstrated that emotional decoding abilities are impaired in AD, beginning in the early stage, and partly explained by the cognitive deficits characterizing the AD population. In a last set of studies we demonstrated that these emotional decoding difficulties rely on specific amygdala dysfunctions, by showing that the mechanisms behind the spontaneous extraction of emotional salience are impaired in AD. All our data converge on the idea that the amygdala damage and alteration of emotional mechanisms from the early phase of AD are a promising approach to clarify the current diagnosis of AD.

Submitted by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2016-09-15T13:23:02Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1285773 bytes, checksum: 51b25a35f59ede195761958907637109 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-09-15T13:23:02Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 1285773 bytes, checksum: 51b25a35f59ede195761958907637109 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-02-29 / Fibromyalgia (FM) is a syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain that predominantly affects women between 40-55 years of age. The presence of tender points, fatigue, changes in sleep quality, cognitive deficits, autonomic dysfunction, anxiety and depression are commonly associated with the disease. These changes may affect the processing of information and recognition of facial expressions of emotion. Objective: To evaluate the Reaction Time (RT) responses to dynamic facial expressions of happiness and pain and Heart Rate Variability (HRV) in women with FM, controls and students. The perception of pain, symptoms of depression and anxiety, attention span and mental flexibility were also assessed. Methods: 90 subjects participated in the study, 30 patients with FM, 28 adult women without chronic pain (control group) and 32 university students. We used the E-Prime software program to present happy and painful faces (4 female and 4 male), and we registered responses using a response box (SRBox) with lateralized keys. Each subject performed four blocks counterbalanced with 16 training stimuli and 80 faces each, identifying the expression of each face (happy or pain). Pain intensity was assessed by Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), depression and anxiety by BDI and BAI (Beck Depression Inventory and Beck Anxiety Inventory) and attention by the Trail Making Test (TMT). For the measurement of HRV, we used a Polar RS800CX heart rate monitor, captured by Polar Pro Trainer 5 software and evaluated with the Kubios program. Results: ANOVA for repeated measures and post hoc Bonferroni analysis showed that the fibromyalgia group had greater TR compared to other groups (p <0.001). Control groups and students were not different (p = 0.112). There was no difference between the emotions of happy and pain. Regarding female faces, they took longer (M = 718 ms) to be recognized when compared to male faces (M = 705 ms). There was also interaction between the type of face and the gender of faces (p <0.001), and the male faces had pain identified more quickly than female pain. TR was positively correlated with TMT in FM and control group. There was no correlation between TR and HRV in the three groups (p> 0.05). HRV was not different between FM and controls, but measures of RMSSD, SD1, SD2 and LF were lower in FM than in the students’ group (p <0.05). HRV was negatively correlated with the VAS when the groups were analyzed together. Conclusion: cognitive deficits related to reduced ability to maintain attention can reduce the motor front response to facial expressions. Male faces with pain facilitate motor behavior, perhaps, could be considered potentially threatening situations. The lower the perception of pain intensity was, the more efficient autonomic regulation was, as indicated by heart rate variability indices. Other studies, however, are needed to better understand the assessment of pain and changes in HRV in patients with chronic pain, especially for those with fibromyalgia. / A fibromialgia (FM) é uma síndrome caracterizada por dor generalizada crônica que afeta predominantemente mulheres entre 40 a 55 anos. A presença de pontos dolorosos, fadiga, alteração na qualidade do sono, déficits cognitivos, disfunção autonômica, ansiedade e depressão estão comumente associadas à doença. Essas alterações podem afetar o processamento de informações e o reconhecimento de expressões faciais da emoção. Objetivo: avaliar o Tempo de Reação Manual (TRM) diante de expressões faciais dinâmicas de alegria e dor e a Variabilidade da Frequência Cardíaca (VFC) em mulheres com FM, controles e estudantes. Também foram avaliadas a percepção da dor, sintomas de depressão e ansiedade, capacidade de atenção e flexibilidade cognitiva. Método: participaram do estudo 90 mulheres, sendo 30 pacientes com FM, 28 mulheres adultas sem dor crônica (grupo controle) e 32 estudantes universitárias. Para registro do TRM foram utilizados o software E-Prime para apresentação central das faces de alegria e dor (4 femininas e 4 masculinas) e uma caixa de resposta (SRBox) com teclas lateralizadas. Cada participante realizou 4 blocos contrabalanceados com 16 estímulos de treino e 80 faces cada, identificando a expressão de cada face (alegria ou dor). A intensidade de dor foi avaliada pela Escala Visual Analógica (EVA), depressão e ansiedade pelo BDI e BAI (Beck Depression Inventory e Beck Anxiety Inventory) e a atenção pelo Trail Making Test (TMT). Para a mensuração da VFC foi utilizado um cardiofrequencímetro da marca Polar, modelo RS800CX, cujo sinal foi captado pelo software Polar Pro Trainer 5 e avaliado com o programa Kubios. Resultados: a ANOVA para medidas repetidas e a análise post hoc de Bonferroni mostrou que as fibromiálgicas apresentaram maior TRM em relação aos demais grupos (p < 0,001). Os grupos controle e estudantes não foram diferentes (p = 0,112). Não houve diferença entre as emoções de alegria e dor. Já as faces femininas levaram maior tempo (M = 718 ms) para serem reconhecidas quando comparadas às faces masculinas (M = 705ms). Houve ainda interação entre tipo de face e sexo das faces (p < 0,001), sendo as masculinas de dor identificadas mais rapidamente do que as femininas de dor. O TRM foi correlacionado positivamente com TMT no grupo de FM e controle. Não houve correlação entre TRM e VFC nos três grupos avaliados (p > 0,05). A VFC não foi diferente entre FM e controles, mas as medidas de RMSSD, SD1, SD2 e LF foram menores em FM do que nos estudantes (p < 0,05). A VFC correlacionou-se negativamente com a EVA quando os grupos foram analisados juntamente. Conclusão: déficits cognitivos relacionados à menor capacidade de manter a atenção podem reduzir a resposta motora diante de expressões faciais. Faces masculinas de dor facilitam o comportamento motor por, talvez, serem consideradas situações potencialmente ameaçadoras. Quanto menor a percepção da intensidade de dor, mais eficiente foi a regulação autonômica, indicada pelos índices de VFC. Outros estudos, no entanto, são necessários para melhor compreender a avaliação da dor e as mudanças na VFC em indivíduos com dor crônica, especialmente em fibromiálgicos.

Submitted by Automa??o e Estat?stica (sst@bczm.ufrn.br) on 2016-01-14T18:48:05Z No. of bitstreams: 1 GiulianaSilvaBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 12899912 bytes, checksum: 413f2be6aef4a909500e6834e7b0ae63 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Arlan Eloi Leite Silva (eloihistoriador@yahoo.com.br) on 2016-01-15T18:57:11Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 GiulianaSilvaBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 12899912 bytes, checksum: 413f2be6aef4a909500e6834e7b0ae63 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-15T18:57:11Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 GiulianaSilvaBezerra_DISSERT.pdf: 12899912 bytes, checksum: 413f2be6aef4a909500e6834e7b0ae63 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-12-12 / Emotion-based analysis has raised a lot of interest, particularly in areas such as forensics, medicine, music, psychology, and human-machine interface. Following this trend, the use of facial analysis (either automatic or human-based) is the most common subject to be investigated once this type of data can easily be collected and is well accepted in the literature as a metric for inference of emotional states. Despite this popularity, due to several constraints found in real world scenarios (e.g. lightning, complex backgrounds, facial hair and so on), automatically obtaining affective information from face accurately is a very challenging accomplishment. This work presents a framework which aims to analyse emotional experiences through naturally generated facial expressions. Our main contribution is a new 4-dimensional model to describe emotional experiences in terms of appraisal, facial expressions, mood, and subjective experiences. In addition, we present an experiment using a new protocol proposed to obtain spontaneous emotional reactions. The results have suggested that the initial emotional state described by the participants of the experiment was different from that described after the exposure to the eliciting stimulus, thus showing that the used stimuli were capable of inducing the expected emotional states in most individuals. Moreover, our results pointed out that spontaneous facial reactions to emotions are very different from those in prototypic expressions due to the lack of expressiveness in the latter. / Emotion-based analysis has raised a lot of interest, particularly in areas such as forensics, medicine, music, psychology, and human-machine interface. Following this trend, the use of facial analysis (either automatic or human-based) is the most common subject to be investigated once this type of data can easily be collected and is well accepted in the literature as a metric for inference of emotional states. Despite this popularity, due to several constraints found in real world scenarios (e.g. lightning, complex backgrounds, facial hair and so on), automatically obtaining affective information from face accurately is a very challenging accomplishment. This work presents a framework which aims to analyse emotional experiences through naturally generated facial expressions. Our main contribution is a new 4-dimensional model to describe emotional experiences in terms of appraisal, facial expressions, mood, and subjective experiences. In addition, we present an experiment using a new protocol proposed to obtain spontaneous emotional reactions. The results have suggested that the initial emotional state described by the participants of the experiment was different from that described after the exposure to the eliciting stimulus, thus showing that the used stimuli were capable of inducing the expected emotional states in most individuals. Moreover, our results pointed out that spontaneous facial reactions to emotions are very different from those in prototypic expressions due to the lack of expressiveness in the latter.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:59:25Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 andre luiz.pdf: 1346017 bytes, checksum: 65a9a93635e6cc6fcd9af5c7e2ff70ac (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-19 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Emotions can be understood as multidimensional phenomena that cover biological, subjective, cognitive and social aspects. Despite its controversies, evidence point to the existence of a specific number of basic emotions, universally recognized in facial expressions. The capacity to recognize emotion in face have been studied for its importance in social interaction, as a relevant ability, but it has been documented mostly in studies with brain lesions or specific disorders such as schizophrenia, depression, bipolar disorder, among others. This studies point to a relation between perception of emotions in faces and a series of important phenomena related to social adaptation and behavioral mediation. In this perspective, this work aims to study individual differences on the ability of perception of basic emotions in a sample of students of both sexes. To this purpose, it was conducted a bibliographic research about the measure instruments mostly used, which allowed the choice of a measure used internationally in emotion perception studies. After that, it was executed two pilot studies to estimate the psychometric parameters of the measure. Ultimately, after instrument adjustments, it was selected 71 images (items) to compose the final instrument. There was 217 subjects assessed, young adults with the mean age of 20.8 years-old for women and 24.24 for men. The results indicate that the items presented low psychometric qualities; hence the need of creation of an instrument with improved characteristics, difficulty and discrimination. Nevertheless, it was possible to find significant differences between genders concerning the perception of basic emotion. / As emoções podem ser entendidas como fenômenos multidimensionais que abarcam aspectos biológicos, subjetivos, cognitivos e sociais. Apesar de diversas controvérsias, as evidências apontam para a existência de um número específico de emoções básicas, universalmente reconhecíveis através das expressões faciais. A capacidade de reconhecer emoções através da face tem sido estudada pela sua importância em interações sociais, como uma habilidade relevante, mas tem sido documentada principalmente em estudos com lesões cerebrais ou transtornos específicos como esquizofrenia, depressão, transtorno bipolar, entre outros. Esses estudos apontam para a relação entre a percepção de emoções em faces e uma série de fenômenos importantes para a adaptação dos sujeitos e mediação dos comportamentos sociais. Nessa perspectiva, o presente estudo tem por objetivo estudar as diferenças individuais na capacidade de perceber emoções básicas em uma amostra de estudantes universitários, de ambos os sexos. Para tanto, foi realizada uma pesquisa bibliográfica acerca dos principais instrumentos de medida utilizados, o que permitiu a escolha de uma medida internacionalmente utilizada em estudos de percepção de emoções. Após essa fase, foram conduzidos dois estudos pilotos para estimar os parâmetros psicométricos da medida. Por fim, após os ajustes do instrumento, foram selecionadas 71 imagens (itens) para compor o instrumento final. Foram avaliados 217 jovens adultos com idade média 20,8 para mulheres e 24,24 para homens. Os resultados indicaram que os itens apresentam baixa qualidade psicométrica, havendo a necessidade de criação itens com melhores características, tanto de dificuldade quanto de discriminação. Apesar disso, foi possív

A motricidade orofacial é a especialidade da Fonoaudiologia, que tem como objetivo a prevenção, diagnóstico e tratamento das alterações miofuncionais do sistema estomatognático. Atualmente, muitos pesquisadores desta área, nacional e internacionalmente, têm buscado metodologias mais objetivas de avaliação e conduta. Dentre tais aparatos está a eletromiografia de superfície (EMG). A EMG é a medida da atividade elétrica de um músculo. Os objetivos deste trabalho foram o de identificar, por meio da EMG, a atividade elétrica dos músculos faciais de adultos saudáveis durante movimentos faciais normalmente utilizados terapeuticamente na clínica fonoaudiológica, para identificar o papel de cada músculo durante os movimentos e para diferenciar a atividade elétrica destes músculos nestes mesmos movimentos, bem como avaliar a validade da EMG na clínica fonoaudiológica. Foram avaliadas 31 pessoas (18 mulheres) com média de idade de 29,48 anos e sem queixas fonoaudiológicas ou odontológicas. Os eletrodos de superfície bipolares foram aderidos aos músculos masseteres, bucinadores e supra-hióides bilateralmente e aos músculos orbicular da boca superior e inferior. Os eletrodos foram conectados a um eletromiógrafo EMG 1000 da Lynx Tecnologia Eletrônica de oito canais, e foi pedido que cada participante realizasse os seguintes movimentos: Protrusão Labial (PL), Protrusão Lingual (L), Inflar Bochechas (IB), Sorriso Aberto (SA), Sorriso Fechado (SF), Lateralização Labial Direita (LD) e Esquerda (LE) e Pressão de um lábio contra o outro (AL). Os dados eletromiográficos foram registrados em microvolts (RMS) e foi considerada a média dos movimentos para a realização da análise dos dados, que foram normalizados utilizando como base o registro da EMG no repouso e os resultados demonstram que os músculos orbiculares da boca inferior e superior apresentam maior atividade elétrica que os outros músculos na maior parte dos movimentos, com exceção dos movimentos de L e SF, Nos movimentos de LD e LE, os orbiculares da boca também estavam mais ativos, mas os músculos bucinadores demonstraram participação importante, especialmente o bucinador direito em LD A Protrusão Lingual não demonstrou diferenças significativas entre os músculos estudados. O SA teve maior participação do orbicular da boca Inferior que o superior, e demonstrou ser o movimento que mais movimenta os músculos da face como um todo e o músculo com maior atividade durante o SF foi o bucinador. Concluímos que o aparato da EMG é eficiente não só para a avaliação dos músculos mastigatórios, mas também dos da mímica, a não ser no movimento de Protrusão lingual, onde o EMG de superfície não foi eficiente. Os músculos orbiculares foram mais ativos durante os movimentos testados, portanto, são também os mais exercitados durante os exercícios de motricidade oral. O movimento que envolve a maior atividade dos músculos da face como um todo foi o Sorriso Aberto / Speech Therapy has been considered subjective during many years due to its manual and visual methods. Many researchers have been searching for more objective methodology of evaluation, based on electronics devises. One of them is the EMG- Surface Electromyography, which is the electric unit measure of a muscle. Literature presents many works in TMJ and Orthodontics areas, special attention to the chewing muscles- temporal and masseter- for been bigger muscles, presenting more evident results in EMG. Less attention is paid for mimic muscles. The objective of our work is to identify, by means of EMG, the electrical activity of facial muscles of healthy adults during facial movements normally used in speech therapy clinic, to identify the role of each muscle during movements and to differentiate the electrical activity of these muscles during this movements. 31 volunteers have been evaluated (18 women) with mean age of 29,84 years, no speech therapy or odontological complains. Bipolar surface electrodes have been adhered to masseter, buccinator and suprahyoid muscles bilaterally and to superior and inferior orbicular oris muscles. Electrodes were connected to a EMG 1000 from Lynx Tecnologia Eletrônica of 8 channels, and it was asked each participant to carry out the following movements: Labial Protrusion (PL), Lingual Protrusion (L), Cheek Inflating (CI), Opened Smile (OS), Closed Smile (CS), Labial Lateralization (LL) and pressure of one lip against the other (LP). EMG data was registered in microvolts (RMS) and the movement media was considered for data analyses, which were normalized using as bases the rest EMG and results show that orbicular oris are more electric activity than other muscles in PL, CI, OS, LL and LP. In LL movements, orbicularis oris also showed greater activity, but buccinator muscles showed effective participation in movement, especially in right LL. L didnt show any differences between evaluated muscles. Buccinator was the most active muscle during CS. We concluded that Orbicularis Ores were the most active muscles during the tasks, exception made to L and CS. In L no muscle was significantly higher and in CS Buccinators were the most active. Opened Smile is the movement where the muscles are more activated in a role. This results shows that EMG is of great use for mimic muscles evaluation, but should be used carefully in specific tongue assessment

Human social status has long been of interest to evolutionary and social psychologists. The question of who gets to control resources and be a leader has garnered a lot of attention from these and other fields, and this thesis examines evidence for there being two different mechanisms of achieving high status, and their correlates. The mechanisms are 1) Dominance: being aggressive, manipulative and forcing others to follow you, and 2) Prestige: possessing qualities which make others freely follow you. Chapter 1 is an introductory chapter in which I explain selection pressures, group formation, and the need for social hierarchies; I then describe the two proposed methods of attaining social status and how facial characteristics can give clues as to an individual’s social status. In Chapter 2, my first experimental chapter, I examined how faces created to appear either high in dominance or high in prestige were judged with respect to those traits as well as personality characteristics. Taking this further, in Chapter 3, I looked at how natural variation in real faces would reflect differences in other- and self-perceived ratings of dominance and prestige. Chapter 4 served to examine whether, given a set of words related to social status, I would find differences in what words were placed into dominant or prestige categories. Findings within these chapters are consistent with dominance and prestige being separable methods of attaining high status, from differences in facial appearance (Chapter 2 and 3), to personality characteristics (Chapter 2), to word usage (Chapter 4). Once I had established that these were two distinct routes to achieving high status, I chose to focus on dominance in Chapter 5 and explored the conceptual relationships between dominance and facial expressions. I found that manipulating perceptions of dominance affected how intense expressions of anger, sadness, and fear were perceived (Chapter 5). As there has been a paucity of research in the area of women’s social status, in Chapter 6, I went on to explore what effects cosmetics use in women would have on their perceived social status. I found differences in how men and women perceived women wearing cosmetics, which again points to a distinction between dominance and prestige. My thesis then presents a broad view of the two different mechanisms for attaining high status. Using new methods not otherwise used in exploring dominance and prestige I was able to explore correlates and indicators, as well as perceptions of both strategies. These findings will allow us to determine who might be capable of attaining social status, which of the two methods they might use, as well as what implicit associations we hold about each. They will also open doors for future research into the two strategies, and even help interpret previous research, as many previous studies simply relate to high status and do not distinguish between dominance and prestige.