Detecting Low Rapport During Natural Interactions in Small Groups from Non-Verbal Behaviour

Rapport, the close and harmonious relationship in which interaction partners are "in sync" with each other, was shown to result in smoother social interactions, improved collaboration, and improved interpersonal outcomes. In this work, we are first to investigate automatic prediction of low rapport during natural interactions within small groups. This task is challenging given that rapport only manifests in subtle non-verbal signals that are, in addition, subject to influences of group dynamics as well as inter-personal idiosyncrasies. We record videos of unscripted discussions of three to four people using a multi-view camera system and microphones. We analyse a rich set of non-verbal signals for rapport detection, namely facial expressions, hand motion, gaze, speaker turns, and speech prosody. Using facial features, we can detect low rapport with an average precision of 0.7 (chance level at 0.25), while incorporating prior knowledge of participants' personalities can even achieve early prediction without a drop in performance. We further provide a detailed analysis of different feature sets and the amount of information contained in different temporal segments of the interactions.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Facial expression of pain: an evolutionary account.

This paper proposes that human expression of pain in the presence or absence of caregivers, and the detection of pain by observers, arises from evolved propensities. The function of pain is to demand attention and prioritise escape, recovery, and healing; where others can help achieve these goals, effective communication of pain is required. Evidence is reviewed of a distinct and specific facial expression of pain from infancy to old age, consistent across stimuli, and recognizable as pain by observers. Voluntary control over amplitude is incomplete, and observers can better detect pain that the individual attempts to suppress rather than amplify or simulate. In many clinical and experimental settings, the facial expression of pain is incorporated with verbal and nonverbal vocal activity, posture, and movement in an overall category of pain behaviour. This is assumed by clinicians to be under operant control of social contingencies such as sympathy, caregiving, and practical help; thus, strong facial expression is presumed to constitute and attempt to manipulate these contingencies by amplification of the normal expression. Operant formulations support skepticism about the presence or extent of pain, judgments of malingering, and sometimes the withholding of caregiving and help. To the extent that pain expression is influenced by environmental contingencies, however, "amplification" could equally plausibly constitute the release of suppression according to evolved contingent propensities that guide behaviour. Pain has been largely neglected in the evolutionary literature and the literature on expression of emotion, but an evolutionary account can generate improved assessment of pain and reactions to it

The influence of micro-expressions on deception detection

Facial micro-expressions are universal symbols of emotions that provide cohesion to interpersonal communication. At the same time, the changes in micro-expressions are considered to be the most important hints in the psychology of emotion. Furthermore, analysis and recognition of these micro-expressions have pervaded in various areas such as security and psychology. In security-related matters, micro-expressions are widely used to detect deception. In this research, a deep learning model that interprets the changes in the face into meaningful information has been trained using The Facial Expression Recognition 2013 dataset. Necessary data is also obtained through live stream or video stream by detecting via computer vision and evaluating with the trained model. Finally, the data obtained is transformed into graphic and interpreted to determine whether the people are trying to deceive or not. The deception classification accuracy of the custom trained model is 74.17% and the detection of the face with high precision using the computer vision methods increased the accuracy of the obtained data and provided it to be interpreted correctly. In this respect, the study differs from other studies using the same dataset. In addition, it is aimed to facilitate the deception detection which is performed in a complex and expensive way, by making it simple and understandable

To freeze or not to freeze: A culture-sensitive motion capture approach to detecting deceit

We present a new signal for detecting deception: full body motion. Previous work on detecting deception from body movement has relied either on human judges or on specific gestures (such as fidgeting or gaze aversion) that are coded by humans. While this research has helped to build the foundation of the field, results are often characterized by inconsistent and contradictory findings, with small-stakes lies under lab conditions detected at rates little better than guessing. We examine whether a full body motion capture suit, which records the position, velocity, and orientation of 23 points in the subject’s body, could yield a better signal of deception. Interviewees of South Asian (n = 60) or White British culture (n = 30) were required to either tell the truth or lie about two experienced tasks while being interviewed by somebody from their own (n = 60) or different culture (n = 30). We discovered that full body motion–the sum of joint displacements–was indicative of lying 74.4% of the time. Further analyses indicated that including individual limb data in our full body motion measurements can increase its discriminatory power to 82.2%. Furthermore, movement was guilt- and penitential-related, and occurred independently of anxiety, cognitive load, and cultural background. It appears that full body motion can be an objective nonverbal indicator of deceit, showing that lying does not cause people to freeze.The research presented in this paper was part funded by the Centre for Research and Evidence on Security Threats, website: https://crestresearch.ac.uk/. Funding source: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Award: ES/N009614/1 and EPSRC grant EP/K033476/1 by Ross Anderson

The correlation between polygraph results and nonverbal behaviour

The long history, serious and multiple negative consequences, and the global prevalence of human deception inspired the current correlational study. According to certain researchers and practitioners, the polygraph has emerged as one of the most promising methods to detect deception. Although its use has not been without controversy, it is still one of the most frequent means used to detect human deception. In an attempt to address the continued reliance on the polygraph, often in the absence of other evidence, the current study aimed to explore and describe the relationship between final polygraph test results and nonverbal behaviour observations during the pre-interview of the polygraph test. The research design was a correlational study, which explored and described the relationship between specified nonverbal behavioural observations, and deceptive and non-deceptive indicator results, of the participants taking the polygraph test. The nonverbal movements of the head, shoulders, hands and feet were the focus of the study. The research hypothesis of the study was that participants who were identified as deceptive on the polygraph would demonstrate significant statistical differences in specific nonverbal behaviours compared to non-deceptive participants. The results indicated significant statistical difference between the hand movements between the deceptive and the non-deceptive groups who participated in the study. The nonverbal behaviour related to the two groups’ hand movements was found to show significant differences, specifically related to five specific domains, hand hold symmetrical action, right arm/hand still, left hand/finger actions, touch behaviour, and thumbs up and downwards movements. The data were described and analysed by means of descriptive and inferential statistics and significant correlational findings were discussed in relation to the relevant published literature

Spotting the liar in the witness box – how valuable is demeanour evidence really? (2)

In the previous part of this contribution I discussed the history of so-called “demeanour evidence” and its current role in the law of evidence. I furthermore examined the extensive empirical evidence that shows that demeanour – as a means of accurate and reliable credibility assessment and decision-making in litigation – essentially is worthless. Human lie detection is fraught with difficulty. It is predicated upon a multitude of misconceptions about how liars behave, including specific verbal and nonverbal cues commonly believed to indicate dishonesty. Below I continue with an analysis of the social science research data on veracity judgments based on demeanour in order to attempt to answer the question: Why are human beings such poor lie detectors? Next I expound upon the reasons why lie detection in court might actually be more difficult than in a laboratory setting. I then explore the potential impact of empirical findings upon the principle of appellate deference to credibility findings of first instance. I conclude by addressing the question regarding the appropriate response of the legal system in the face of the overwhelming research data on the lack of reliability of so-called “demeanour evidence”.http://www.lexisnexis.co.zaam2019Procedural LawProcedural La

Identifying meaningful facial configurations during iterative prisoner’s dilemma games

The contraction and relaxation of facial muscles in humans is widely assumed to fulfil communicative and adaptive functions. However, to date most work has focussed either on individual muscle movements (action units) in isolation or on a small set of configurations commonly assumed to express “basic emotions”. As such, it is as yet unclear what information is communicated between individuals during naturalistic social interactions and how contextual cues influence facial activity occurring in these exchanges. The present study investigated whether consistent patterns of facial action units occur during dyadic iterative prisoners’ dilemma games, and what these patterns of facial activity might mean. Using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses, we identified three distinct and consistent configurations of facial musculature change across three different datasets. These configurations were associated with specific gameplay outcomes, suggesting that they perform psychologically meaningful context-related functions. The first configuration communicated enjoyment and the second communicated affiliation and appeasement, both indicating cooperative intentions after cooperation or defection respectively. The third configuration communicated disapproval and encouraged social partners not to defect again. Future work should validate the occurrence and functionality of these facial configurations across other kinds of social interaction

Forensic transcript analysis: A forensic linguistic examination of a 2015 criminal case in the United States

Forensic linguistics is an emerging field of research that applies linguistics to analyze language and its use in a legal setting, including criminal, civil, and family court proceedings. Police interviews are a critical source of evidence in law enforcement investigations, and the quality of the interview process is essential in analyzing police interview transcripts. The detection of deception is a significant challenge in various contexts, including law enforcement, politics, business, and personal relationships. Language patterns can signal deception and indicate underlying cognitive and emotional processes. Therefore, in this study, special attention is given to the use of language, both verbal and non-verbal cues, to gauge the veracity of an individual, as well as the application of police interview techniques and discourse analysis. The study aims to determine the reliability of the suspect's statements during a police interview and explore the effectiveness of different police interview techniques and their ethical implications. The analysis will draw on existing research in the field of forensic linguistics and aims to provide an accurate understanding of police interviews to inform legal decisions. The thesis analyzes the reliability of linguistic information gathered through interviews in a 2015 criminal case in the United States, using a forensic linguistic perspective. The thesis explores relevant literature on police interviews, deception, misrepresentations, interview techniques, and reliability discourse analysis. The research questions focus on the reliability of police interviews, in particular on the spoken word, misrepresentations within police interviews. The second research question focuses on the use of police techniques and how they affect the reliability of interviews. The findings suggest a nuanced impression of the reliability of the statements made within the transcripts