fEMG: The Gold Standard for Measuring Emotional Valence

Our goal is to establish a resource for those interested in learning about and working with Facial EMG. We have compiled and consolidated useful research on the subject of Facial EMG with particular emphasis on using it in measuring emotional response. We hope that all those who are interested in the field, from academics to practitioners to students, will find the site a useful jumping off point for learning about work being done and the people doing it.

The site is intended to be open and dynamic. If this is an area of research that interests you, we invite your participation in the site’s development and evolution. If you have come across resources that others would benefit from and you would like to share, please let us know so we can include them. If you would like to be identified as someone interested in pushing forward the use of Facial EMG, please join our little community. If you have ideas for how the site can be improved, please let us know that as well.

This site is sponsored by G&R, a leading communications research company that uses Facial EMG as part of its advertising research programs.

CERA: A Pioneering fEMG System for Measuring Nonverbal, Emotional Response to Advertising

G&R, a leading advertising research firm, has pioneered a comprehensive, multi-modal measurement system called CERA (Continuous Emotional Response Analysis).

CERA (for Continuous Emotional Response Analysis). The CERA method consists of obtaining the facial EMG activity measures during an uninterrupted viewing of pods of commercials embedded in a television program or other video clip.

CERA: Nuts and Bolts

The clip includes 8 test commercials embedded within the program in two pods. The respondent is hooked up to the facial EMG equipment via small dime-sized pads on the face during the viewing of the program clip. Continuous facial EMG activity measures are taken for the all test commercials. Two EMG measures are taken: measurement of the corrugator muscle, which produces frowns and is an indicant of negative emotion, and measurement of the zygomatic muscle, which produces smiles and is an indicant of positive emotion. These muscle measures yield an overall positive and negative emotional activation score that can be used to quantitatively rate and describe a commercial’s emotional activation and engagement. It is also used to compare commercials against each other. Moment to moment activation levels are also recorded and linked to the video of the commercial, which is used to measure the dynamic emotional response to a commercial’s event and yield important and highly actionable diagnostic insights about the elements of the commercial that drivee emotional response.