Journal article
A technique for continuous measurement of body movement from video
Behavior research methods, Vol.49(1), pp.1-12
02/2017
DOI: 10.3758/s13428-015-0685-x
PMID: 26660195
Abstract
The movements that we make with our body vary continuously along multiple dimensions. However, many of the tools and techniques presently used for coding and analyzing hand gestures and other body movements yield categorical outcome variables. Focusing on categorical variables as the primary quantitative outcomes may mislead researchers or distort conclusions. Moreover, categorical systems may fail to capture the richness present in movement. Variations in body movement may be informative in multiple dimensions. For example, a single hand gesture has a unique size, height of production, trajectory, speed, and handshape. Slight variations in any of these features may alter how both the speaker and the listener are affected by gesture. In this paper, we describe a new method for measuring and visualizing the physical trajectory of movement using video. This method is generally accessible, requiring only video data and freely available computer software. This method allows researchers to examine features of hand gestures, body movement, and other motion, including size, height, curvature, and speed. We offer a detailed account of how to implement this approach, and we also offer some guidelines for situations where this approach may be fruitful in revealing how the body expresses information. Finally, we provide data from a small study on how speakers alter their hand gestures in response to different characteristics of a stimulus to demonstrate the utility of analyzing continuous dimensions of motion. By creating shared methods, we hope to facilitate communication between researchers from varying methodological traditions.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A technique for continuous measurement of body movement from video
- Creators
- Caitlin Hilliard - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa and Delta Center, E11 Seashore Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA. caitlin-hilliard@uiowa.eduSusan Wagner Cook - Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, University of Iowa and Delta Center, E11 Seashore Hall, Iowa City, IA, 52242, USA
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Behavior research methods, Vol.49(1), pp.1-12
- Publisher
- United States
- DOI
- 10.3758/s13428-015-0685-x
- PMID
- 26660195
- ISSN
- 1554-351X
- eISSN
- 1554-3528
- Grant note
- DOI: 10.13039/100000076, name: Directorate for Biological Sciences, award: Graduate Research Fellowship
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 02/2017
- Academic Unit
- Psychological and Brain Sciences; Iowa Neuroscience Institute
- Record Identifier
- 9984070361602771
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