How people walk can reveal their emotional state, according to a new study by Japanese researchers. The study found that the swing of the arms and legs is particularly telling, with larger swings indicating anger and smaller swings suggesting fear or sadness.
Researchers at the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International in Kyoto asked actors to recall emotional memories and walk while being filmed. Volunteers then watched point-light videos of the walks, which masked facial expressions, and correctly identified the emotions better than chance.
In a second experiment, the team manipulated gait videos to exaggerate or reduce arm and leg swinging. Observers consistently associated larger swings with anger and smaller swings with sadness or fear, confirming the movements' importance in emotional perception.
Lead author Mina Wakabayashi said the findings could help people understand others during social interactions without words, and might be used to identify vulnerable or threatening individuals in CCTV footage or develop wearable devices to monitor mental states.
A separate study in Texas last month used machine learning to predict emotions from gait, though with limited accuracy. Researchers noted that gait may be harder to fake than speech or facial expressions, offering potential for AI-based virtual aids that respond to emotional states.
