The role of the face in communication: Implications for videophone design

The different uses made of information from the face in social interaction are reviewed. Also considered are what image quality, resolution and synchrony are likely to be needed in order for such information to be usable when face-to-face interaction is achieved via video. It is argued that for most uses which are made of facial information, dramatic reductions in spatial and pixel resolution of images can be tolerated. However, temporal information is Likely to be much more crucial for communication efficiency.