Description

Rachael Jack is a Professor of Computational Social Cognition in the School of Psychology & Neuroscience and Head of the Centre for Social, Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (cSCAN) at the University of Glasgow. Jack's research has produced significant advances in understanding facial expression of emotion within and across cultures using a novel interdisciplinary approach that combines psychophysics, social psychology, dynamic 3D computer graphics, and communication/information theory. Most notably, she has revealed cultural specificities in facial expressions of emotion; that four, not six, expressive patterns are common across cultures; and that facial expressions transmit information in a hierarchical structure over time. Together, Jack’s work has challenged the dominant view that six basic facial expressions of emotion are universal, which has led to a new theoretical framework of facial expression communication that she is now transferring to digital agents to synthesize culturally sensitive social avatars and robots. Jack’s work has featured in several high-profile scientific outlets (e.g., Annual Review of Psychology, Current Biology, Psychological Science, PNAS, TICS). She is currently funded by the European Research Council (ERC) to lead the research program Computing the Face Syntax of Social Face Signals, which will deliver a formal model of human social face signaling with transference to social robotics. She has been funded previously by the ESRC Future Research Leaders award, ESRC Open Research Area, and British Academy.

Jack is Fellow of the Association for Psychological Science (APS), recipient of the American Psychological Association (APA) New Investigator award, the Social and Affective Neuroscience Society (SANS) Innovation award, the British Psychological Society (BPS) Spearman Medal, Association for Psychological Science (APS) Rising Star award, and International Society for Research on Emotion (ISRE) Young Researcher Spotlight. She is also Associate Editor at Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Affective Science, and previously Psychological Science, and on the Editorial Boards of Emotion, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology: Attitudes and Social Cognition, and Behavior Research Methods. Jack also serves several roles on the committees/boards for the conferences of the Society for Affective Sciences, IEEE Automatic Face & Gesture Recognition, ACM Intelligent Virtual Agents, and the Vision Sciences Society. She is Co-Chair of the Association for Psychological Science (APS) Global Engagement Committee, an ERC Advanced Grant panel member, and President-Elect of the Society for Affective Science (SAS).

Abstract

Are facial expressions of emotion culturally universal? This question has fueled scholarly debate for over a century, challenging researchers to decode the complex dynamic facial movements humans display. While methodological limitations have long hindered progress, recent advancements in data-driven technologies now offer unprecedented opportunities to unravel this mystery. Working with interdisciplinary colleagues, I have worked to push the boundaries of how we understand facial expression communication across cultures. In this talk, I will highlight research that has reshaped foundational theories and expanded real-world applications, including social robotics.

This lecture will take place at 3:30 pm in Psychology 1312 on the UCSB campus and is free and open to the public. This lecture will also be followed with refreshments and a post-lecture discussion.