Facial Coding
Facial coding refers to the scientific method of interpreting human emotions by analysing subtle facial muscle movements captured through the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) . These micro-movements, known as Action Units, reveal genuine emotional reactions because they often occur automatically and beyond conscious awareness. This makes facial coding a powerful framework for understanding real, moment-to-moment emotional expression.
Developed by psychologist Paul Ekman and his colleagues, FACS remains the most comprehensive and objective system for decoding facial behaviour. It assigns numerical codes to every visible facial micro-movement, with each Action Unit representing a precise muscular activation such as eyebrow raising, lip pressing, or cheek lifting. FACS also allows coders, or Emotion AI systems, to measure the intensity of each movement. When Action Units appear together, their combination can be “translated” into a probable emotional meaning such as joy, disgust, confusion, interest, or stress, allowing highly detailed emotional interpretation.
Imentiv AI uses facial coding as a core component of its Emotion AI analysis. Through advanced computer-vision models, it detects Action Units frame-by-frame, evaluates their intensity, and maps these micro-expressions into emotional patterns that can be reviewed alongside audio tone and text emotion analysis. This multimodal approach helps create a more accurate and comprehensive emotional profile, supporting deeper insights in areas such as testing user reactions, understanding engagement, or observing subtle emotional shifts during experiences.