Facial Rec Now Detects Micro-expressions and Lies

It's yet another leap forward for facial-recognition technology: A computer vision research groups has automated micro-expression detection.

Micro-expressions are very short involuntary facial expressions that reveal emotions people try to hide. They can be used for lie detection and are actively used by trained officials at U.S. airports to detect suspicious behavior. For example, a terrorist trying to conceal a plan to commit suicide would very likely show a very short expression of intense anguish.

An interesting point about micro-expressions is that the human recognition accuracy is very low. Even highly trained human detectors are notoriously inaccurate. This makes an automatic computer detector very attractive.

“To the best of our knowledge, we are the first computer scientists to succeed in recognizing micro-expressions,” said Professor Matti Pietikäinen, leader of the Machine Vision Group at University of Oulu in a press release. “In addition, our system’s accuracy compares well with humans”.

Because micro-expressions are very rapid (only 1/3 to 1/25 seconds), current computer vision methods cannot reliably recognize them using a normal camera. The team solved the problem by introducing an interpolation method. They then used the Oulu group’s state-of-the-art Local Binary Pattern method to characterize micro-expressions numerically.

The result? Facial rec that gets up close and personal ... and may save the day in certain applications.

Congress to Target Facial Recognition?

Congress has begun questioning the security and privacy implications of the growing use of facial recognition technology, even within government agencies.

With the FBI activating its new facial recognition apps and programs in 2012, some members of Congress are turning their attention back to privacy concerns. Sen. Jay Rockefeller recently requested a report from the FTC on the security implications of facial recognition technology, specifically, how it will affect online privacy.

Meanwhile, the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is considering privacy legislation to help safeguard the new technology. However, those who question its effectiveness have a whole host of concerns, including the use of special protection on or by young people under the age of 13. The FTC report is due by February 8, 2012, meaning next year will be an interesting one.