The Neural Detection of Emotion In Naturalistic Settings.

Abstract

The Field of Emotion research has experienced resurgence partially due to the interest in Affective Computing, which includes calls for natural emotion to be studied in natural type settings. A new generation of commercial mobile EEG headsets present the potential for new forms of experimental design that may move beyond laboratory settings. Across the Arts and Cultural sectors there are longstanding questions of how we may objectively evaluate creative output, and also subjective responses to such artefacts. This research adjoins these concerns to ask; How can low-cost, portable EEG devices impact on our understanding of cultural experiences in the wild? Using a commercial emotiv Epoch EEG headset, we investigated gauging Valence and Arousal levels across the two contrasting experimental settings of a live theatre performance, and a controlled laboratory setting. Our results found that only Valence could be reliably detected, and only with a good degree of confidence in laboratory settings. This determines that we may only be able to gather very general information regarding cultural experiences via the enlisted EEG technology and methods, and only in controlled conditions