Emotion-recognition machines capture involuntary micro-behaviors faster than human perception

Evidence

Emotion analytics products such as SEWA use specialized software to scour faces, voices, gestures, bodies, and brains, all of it captured by “biometric” and “depth” sensors, often in combination with imperceptibly small, “unobtrusive” cameras. This complex of machine intelligence is trained to isolate, capture, and render the most subtle and intimate behaviors, from an inadvertent blink to a jaw that slackens in surprise for a fraction of a second. Combinations of sensors and software can recognize and identify faces; estimate age, ethnicity, and gender; analyze gaze direction and blinks; and track distinct facial points to interpret “micro-expressions,” eye movements, emotions, moods, stress, deceit, boredom, confusion, intentions, and more: all at the speed of life. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 880

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines what ‘emotion analytics’ products actually do: sensor-plus-software capture of micro-expressions and involuntary signals.
• SEED: Angle: a surveillance-capitalism write-up on the gap between what the body involuntarily reveals and what machines now monetize.
• XREF: connects to: Machines can capture emotional reactions the subject cannot consciously report — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 882; Affective computing treats unconscious emotions as measurable behavioral signals. — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 888

Broader Connections

• Machines can capture emotional reactions the subject cannot consciously report #expands (0.85) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 882
• Affective computing treats unconscious emotions as measurable behavioral signals. #corroborates (0.82) — Shoshana Zuboff, The Age of Surveillance Capitalism, 888