A motion capture library for the study of identity, gender, and emotion perception from biological motion

Ma, Y., Paterson, H. M. and Pollick, F. E. (2006) A motion capture library for the study of identity, gender, and emotion perception from biological motion. Behavior Research Methods, 38(1), pp. 134-141. (doi: 10.3758/BF03192758) (PMID:16817522)

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Abstract

We present the methods that were used in capturing a library of human movements for use in computeranimated displays of human movement. The library is an attempt to systematically tap into and represent the wide range of personal properties, such as identity, gender, and emotion, that are available in a person’s movements. The movements from a total of 30 nonprofessional actors (15 of them female) were captured while they performed walking, knocking, lifting, and throwing actions, as well as their combination in angry, happy, neutral, and sad affective styles. From the raw motion capture data, a library of 4,080 movements was obtained, using techniques based on Character Studio (plug-ins for 3D Studio MAX, AutoDesk, Inc.), MATLAB (The Math Works, Inc.), or a combination of these two. For the knocking, lifting, and throwing actions, 10 repetitions of the simple action unit were obtained for each affect, and for the other actions, two longer movement recordings were obtained for each affect. We discuss the potential use of the library for computational and behavioral analyses of movement variability, of human character animation, and of how gender, emotion, and identity are encoded and decoded from human movement.

Item Type:Articles
Additional Information:This work was supported by Engineering and Physical Science Research Council Grant GR/M30326 to F.E.P. and a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship to H.M.P.
Status:Published
Refereed:Yes
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID:Paterson, Dr Helena and Pollick, Professor Frank
Authors: Ma, Y., Paterson, H. M., and Pollick, F. E.
College/School:College of Science and Engineering > School of Psychology
Journal Name:Behavior Research Methods
Publisher:Psychonomic Society, Inc.
ISSN:1554-351X
ISSN (Online):1554-3528

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