On the bodily expressions of emotion, be aware: More than a century of research! : A commentary on Affective Computing by Kristina Höök

This commentary unveils over a century of literature that touches the core of affective computing but appears to be unknown to its community. To enable affective computing to flourish, knowledge on human’s physiology, on concepts such as emotions and moods, and on methods and techniques from signal processing and machine learning need to blend together. Two books that appeared approximately 50 years ago were selected, which originate from completely distinct branches of science, but both mark branches of research crucial to affective computing: i) Flanders Dunbar’s “Emotions and bodily changes: A survey of literature on psychosomatic interrelationships 1910-1953‿ (1954) and ii) Satosi Watanabe’s “Methodologies of Pattern Recognition (1969). When the vast and rich body of available relevant scientific literature will be cherished and the lessons learned so long ago will be embraced, affective computing can (finally) make its leap forward and probably will have a bright future!