Recognizing human facial expressions from long image sequences using optical flow

Abstract

An approach to the analysis and representation of facial dynamics for recognition of facial expressions from image sequences is presented. The algorithms utilize optical flow computation to identify the direction of rigid and nonrigid motions that are caused by human facial expressions. A mid-level symbolic representation motivated by psychological considerations is developed. Recognition of six facial expressions, as well as eye blinking, is demonstrated on a large set of image sequences.