Lisa Grossman, physical sciences reporter
(Image: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)
The US presidential election is just two weeks away, and the official polls are telling a confusing story. Since the first presidential debate on 3 October, the national polls have tilted toward challenger Mitt Romney, while state-by-state figures show a slight lead for President Barack Obama.
But polls are notoriously fickle.
So instead of polling, New Scientist is teaming up with emotional computing company Affectiva to gauge readers' emotional reaction to last night's debate in Boca Raton, Florida - the third and final between Obama and Romney.
Here's how it will work. New Scientist staff have selected several video clips that Affectiva has posted to its website. You can go there now and watch the clips while Affectiva records your emotional reaction in real time (you'll need a web cam for this).
Behind the scenes, Affectiva's Affdex software, based on tools developed by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, tracks the texture, shape and subtle movement of facial features such as mouth and eyebrows to recognise happiness, sadness, boredom, disgust or contempt.
The idea is to get an in-depth look at people's reactions to the debate that goes beyond typical polling.
"Most polls would not be able to ask which things really resonated and which didn't," says Avril England of Affectiva, based in Waltham, Massachusetts. "With this scene-by-scene analysis, we'll be able to get that very specific response. If you really watch people through the whole debate, you can get unprecedented insight into their real reactions."
Will it work? How well do people's facial expressions line up with what they say they felt? Does it correlate with how they vote?
You can help find out. Whether or not you watched last night's debate, you can watch the clips here. Affectiva will then compile the results and we will run a follow-up post analysing the data in time for the election, which is scheduled Tuesday, 6 November.
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