Are you really angry? detecting emotion veracity as a proposed tool for interaction

Interaction with faces expressing emotion is compelling and can focus human attention strongly. A face showing emotion reflects the internal mental state of the displayer of the emotion and is arguably also an attempt to influence the internal mental state of the observer of the displayed emotion. We found that pupillary response patterns can predict the veracity of anger better than the verbal response of the same individual participants. This supports the previous claim for such a result for smiles, from the results on another emotion, anger. Given the significant differences in behavioural responses expected from the literature on smiles versus anger, the unexpected similarity of results suggests that this method could be used in general for detecting the veracity of many emotions. Even using just smiles and anger, we propose that virtual reality or screen avatars expressing such emotions to cajole, brow beat or otherwise enveigle co-operation in settings such as chronic condition management or aged care, could be substantially improved if we can measure the actual perception of the veracity of emotion felt by human beings.