The fractal property of internal structure of facial affect recognition: A complex system approach

Abstract

Based on a circumplex model of facial affect, four inner affective circumplexes, assumed to have 100%, 75%, 50%, and 25% emotional intensities, were investigated in terms of fractal, which is a concept of complex systems. Results revealed that the perimeters of the circumplex excluding the 25% condition possessed fractal property characterised by features specific to fractals. Results also showed that fractal dimension in the 50% condition (1.58 dimension) was significantly higher than that in the 100% (1.45 dimension) and 75% (1.45 dimension) conditions, indicating that the cognitive structure of facial affect in the 50% condition was more complex than that in the 100% and 75% conditions.

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B), 16700249, 2004, given to the first author.

We thank Miyuki Kamachi for her extremely helpful comments on previous drafts. We also thank Akemi Senshu for the assistance provided in morphing.