Faces of the Mind: Unveiling Mental Health States Through Facial Expressions in 11,427 Adolescents

Mood disorders, including depression and anxiety, often manifest through facial expressions. While previous research has explored the connection between facial features and emotions, machine learning algorithms for estimating mood disorder severity have been hindered by small datasets and limited real-world application. To address this gap, we analyzed facial videos of 11,427 participants, a dataset two orders of magnitude larger than previous studies. This comprehensive collection includes standardized facial expression videos from reading tasks, along with a detailed psychological scale that measures depression, anxiety, and stress. By examining the relationships among these emotional states and employing clustering analysis, we identified distinct subgroups embodying different emotional profiles. We then trained tree-based classifiers and deep learning models to estimate emotional states from facial features. Results indicate that models previously effective on small datasets experienced decreased performance when applied to our large dataset, highlighting the importance of data scale and mitigating overfitting in practical settings. Notably, our study identified subtle shifts in pupil dynamics and gaze orientation as potential markers of mood disorders, providing valuable information on the interaction between facial expressions and mental health. This research marks the first large-scale and comprehensive investigation of facial expressions in the context of mental health, laying the groundwork for future data-driven advancements in this field.

Exploring the relationship between response time sequence in scale answering process and severity of insomnia: a machine learning approach

Objectives: The study aims to investigate the relationship between insomnia and response time. Additionally, it aims to develop a machine learning model to predict the presence of insomnia in participants using response time data. Methods: A mobile application was designed to administer scale tests and collect response time data from 2729 participants. The relationship between symptom severity and response time was explored, and a machine learning model was developed to predict the presence of insomnia. Results: The result revealed a statistically significant difference (p<.001) in the total response time between participants with or without insomnia symptoms. A correlation was observed between the severity of specific insomnia aspects and response times at the individual questions level. The machine learning model demonstrated a high predictive accuracy of 0.743 in predicting insomnia symptoms based on response time data. Conclusions: These findings highlight the potential utility of response time data to evaluate cognitive and psychological measures, demonstrating the effectiveness of using response time as a diagnostic tool in the assessment of insomnia.