Assessing the Effectiveness of Automatic Facial Action Unit Coding In Consumer Marketing Research
School Name
South Carolina Governor's School for Science & Mathematics
Grade Level
12th Grade
Presentation Topic
Consumer Science
Presentation Type
Mentored
Abstract
Recently, new technology in the field of facial tracking has been developed called the Automated Facial Action Coding System. This technology can assign a numeric value to the specific emotions someone is experiencing at any moment in time during a recording. The main purpose of this study is to assess how useful this new technology could be for consumer marketing research. Currently, eye-tracking software is being successfully used in marketing studies, and this study is checking if Facial Coding software can be used in much the same way. The experiment consisted of 30 participants interacting with simple packages with different adhesive designs. They were recorded, and the recordings analysed by Imotions facial tracking software to determine the emotional response to the various designs. This emotion data can then be compared statistically to come to a conclusion on design differences. Data is also being collected from self-reports in the post-survey, which was compared to the Imotions data graphically. The results of the study are inconclusive, as there was an extremely large amount of variation in the data, specifically the software results. Additionally, there was little correlation between what the participants self-reported, and what was picked up by the Imotions software. However, the software did successfully measure large mean differences in the emotions of participants. Future studies with larger sample sizes would be necessary to come to a consensus on the usefulness of this technology.
Recommended Citation
Torlay, Sam, "Assessing the Effectiveness of Automatic Facial Action Unit Coding In Consumer Marketing Research" (2020). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 160.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2020/all/160
Location
Furman Hall 118
Start Date
3-28-2020 11:45 AM
Presentation Format
Oral Only
Group Project
No
Assessing the Effectiveness of Automatic Facial Action Unit Coding In Consumer Marketing Research
Furman Hall 118
Recently, new technology in the field of facial tracking has been developed called the Automated Facial Action Coding System. This technology can assign a numeric value to the specific emotions someone is experiencing at any moment in time during a recording. The main purpose of this study is to assess how useful this new technology could be for consumer marketing research. Currently, eye-tracking software is being successfully used in marketing studies, and this study is checking if Facial Coding software can be used in much the same way. The experiment consisted of 30 participants interacting with simple packages with different adhesive designs. They were recorded, and the recordings analysed by Imotions facial tracking software to determine the emotional response to the various designs. This emotion data can then be compared statistically to come to a conclusion on design differences. Data is also being collected from self-reports in the post-survey, which was compared to the Imotions data graphically. The results of the study are inconclusive, as there was an extremely large amount of variation in the data, specifically the software results. Additionally, there was little correlation between what the participants self-reported, and what was picked up by the Imotions software. However, the software did successfully measure large mean differences in the emotions of participants. Future studies with larger sample sizes would be necessary to come to a consensus on the usefulness of this technology.
