IDENTIFICATION OF FACIAL EXPRESSIONS FROM AFFECTIVE DESCRIPTIONS - A PROBABILISTIC CHOICE ANALYSIS OF REFERENTIAL AMBIGUITY

Describes the application of Luce's probabilistic theory of choice behavior to the resolution of referential ambiguity by listeners, together with an experimental paradigm for studying such ambiguity. A series of 48 sets of 3 photographs (faces) each and their 144 (3 * 48) subsets of 2 photographs was presented to 126 male undergraduates. An adjective descriptive of the emotional expression of 1 or more faces in each set, was also presented with each set and its 3 subsets. An S's task was to select the photograph in each case that best fitted the descriptive adjective. A referentially ambiguous set or subset was defined as one for which there was an absence of unanimity of choice. Luce's choice axiom accurately predicted the relations obtained between the 2- and 3-choice data. Results suggest that the choice process in referential ambiguity may be some combination of probabilistic and deterministic processes. Also investigated was the quantitative relationship postulated by the Bradley-Terry model between choice probability and an independently obtained measure of the associative strength of a face to the descriptive adjective. The Bradley-Terry model appeared to fit the data but an exact goodness of fit test could not be made. (16 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved). © 1968 American Psychological Association.