{"id":1565,"date":"2023-12-07T15:19:35","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T14:19:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/websites.fraunhofer.de\/smart-sensing-insights\/?p=1565"},"modified":"2025-01-09T11:45:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T10:45:11","slug":"emotion-analysis-101","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/websites.fraunhofer.de\/smart-sensing-insights\/emotion-analysis-101\/","title":{"rendered":"It’s all about Emotion: Emotion Analysis 101"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Affective computing, also known as Emotion AI, is an area of artificial intelligence that focuses on developing systems and technologies capable of recognizing, interpreting, and responding to human emotions (read more in our Affective Computing 101<\/a>). In this overview article, we take a step back and look at emotions as the field\u2019s core subject: What exactly are emotions, why do we have them, and is it possible to measure them? (Spoiler: Yes, of course it is.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emotion is …<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember the Love is \u2026<\/em> comic strips? Each strip contains the caption \u201cLove is \u2026\u201d and a thought completing it. Now try doing that with Emotion<\/em>. Depending on whom you ask, you will learn aspects of what emotions are but, as surprising as it sounds, even scientists struggle finding a universal, \u201cone size fits all\u201d definition of emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Everyone knows what an emotion is, until asked to give a definition. Then, it seems, no one knows.<\/strong><\/p>\nFehr, Beverly & Russell, James A. (1984). Concept of emotion viewed from a prototype perspective. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General<\/em>, 113(3), 464\u2013486.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Emotions are a complex phenomenon, involving psychological, physiological, behavioral, cognitive, social, and cultural aspects. That\u2019s why it\u2019s so challenging to find a universal definition for all scientific fields and research interests. We don\u2019t want to take a deep dive into the brain at this point, however, and into the neuroscience of which brain regions are associated with individual emotions. Our main interest is the question of how emotions manifest and how we (humans and machines) register them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mixed emotions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Emotions are, for the most part, tied to specific objects or events and, thus, short-lived. They can be triggered through social interactions, external events and stimuli, personal experiences and memories, or hormonal changes. Affective states<\/strong>, on the other hand, refer to the broader spectrum of feelings and moods that can be more enduring than specific emotions. Simply put, they are psychosomatic events with communicative, motivational, and cognitive consequences, influencing a person’s overall emotional landscape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we perceive somebody else\u2019s emotions, this happens consciously and unconsciously based on various cues. In general, emotions surface through<\/p>\n\n\n\n