Making the Invisible Visible: Toward Micro-Expression Visualization for Empathy in Social Interaction

2026-04-28

AI Summary

Microexpressions, due to their subtle and fleeting nature, have limited human-centered applications in empathy enhancement. This work proposes, for the first time, a microexpression visualization framework grounded in a social augmentation perspective, which leverages computational analysis and real-time visualization techniques to map imperceptible microexpressions into perceivable affective cues, thereby aiming to enrich interpersonal empathic experiences. Rather than focusing solely on microexpression recognition, the framework prioritizes empathy facilitation within human-centered interaction contexts. Although empirical results have not yet been reported, a controlled experimental design has been developed to evaluate its feasibility, offering a novel pathway at the intersection of affective computing and social augmentation research.

Abstract

Micro-expressions are brief and subtle facial movements that convey nuanced affective information but often remain imperceptible during natural social interaction. Although prior research has primarily focused on computational recognition and spotting of micro-expressions, their application in human-centered contexts remains limited. From the perspective of social augmentation, this work proposes a conceptual framework for micro-expression visualization that transforms otherwise imperceptible micro-expressions into perceptible affective cues, with the aim of exploring their potential influence on empathic experience. Furthermore, we outline a planned pilot study to preliminarily assess the feasibility of this framework under controlled conditions.

Problem

• micro-expression
• visualization
• empathy
• social interaction
• affective cues

Innovation

• micro-expression visualization
• social augmentation
• empathy
• affective cues
• human-centered computing