Utilizing Facial Emotion Analysis with FaceReader to Evaluate the Effects of Outdoor Activities on Preschoolers' Basic Emotions: A Pilot Study in e-Health

Abstract

The theory of basic emotions posits that a set of fundamental emotions—happiness, sadness, anger, fear, disgust, and surprise—are associated with universally recognizable facial expressions. One method for studying facial expressions is the Facial Action Coding System (FACS), which allows researchers to measure facial muscles to identify the emotions expressed by participants. Preschool is an important period for the development of kids and their ability to understand emotions. In this stage, children’s physical activity (PA) levels tend to decrease significantly, with children spending more time sedentary, such as sitting for six to eight hours a day and engaging in screen-based activities. The present study aimed to assess the basic emotional states and neutral levels of preschoolers (aged 5–6 years) participating in outdoor activities, using FaceReader (FR) as a facial emotion analysis tool. The results indicate that the outdoor activity intervention had a significant impact on the emotional states of the experimental group (EG), with marked reductions in sadness (p = .002) and disgust (p = .01), as well as significant increases in valence (p = .01) and arousal (p = .004). These findings showed the importance of outdoor activities in reducing negative emotions among preschool-aged children.