While the physiological response of humans to emotional events or stimuli is well-investigated for many modalities (like EEG, skin resistance, …), surprisingly little is known about the exhalation of so-called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at quite low concentrations in response to such stimuli. VOCs are molecules of relatively small mass that quickly evaporate or sublimate and can be detected in the air that surrounds us. The paper introduces a new field of application for data mining, where trace gas responses of people reacting on-line to films shown in cinemas (or movie theaters) are related to the semantic content of the films themselves. To do so, we measured the VOCs from a movie theater over a whole month in intervals of thirty seconds, and annotated the screened films by a controlled vocabulary compiled from multiple sources.
The data set is available at Github and Kaggle.
2023
Bensemann, Joshua; Cheena, Hasnain; Huang, David Tse Juang; Broadbendt, Elizabeth; Williams, Jonathan; Wicker, Jörg
From What You See to What We Smell: Linking Human Emotions to Biomarkers in Breath Journal Article Forthcoming
In: Forthcoming.
@article{bensemann2022from,
title = {From What You See to What We Smell: Linking Human Emotions to Biomarkers in Breath},
author = {Joshua Bensemann and Hasnain Cheena and David Tse Juang Huang and Elizabeth Broadbendt and Jonathan Williams and J\"{o}rg Wicker},
year = {2023},
date = {2023-12-01},
urldate = {2022-12-01},
abstract = {Breath collection is a non-invasive method for monitoring biological processes occurring within the human body. Prior studies have extended these methods to observe the general processes occurring in groups of humans and are able to link them to what those groups are collectively experiencing. However, previous work lacked an objective measure of emotional stimuli. In this research, we applied machine learning techniques to breath data collected from cinema audiences to find associations between the biomarkers in the crowd's breath and both the audio-visual stimuli and thematic events of the movie.
This analysis enabled us to make direct links between what the group was experiencing and their biological response to that experience. To achieve this, we first extracted visual and auditory features from a movie and compared it to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath, using both regression and pattern mining techniques. Our results supported the theory that a crowd's collective experience has a direct correlation to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath. Consequently, these findings suggest that visual and auditory experiences have predictable effects on the human body that can be monitored without the requirement of expensive and/or invasive neuroimaging techniques.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {forthcoming},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Breath collection is a non-invasive method for monitoring biological processes occurring within the human body. Prior studies have extended these methods to observe the general processes occurring in groups of humans and are able to link them to what those groups are collectively experiencing. However, previous work lacked an objective measure of emotional stimuli. In this research, we applied machine learning techniques to breath data collected from cinema audiences to find associations between the biomarkers in the crowd's breath and both the audio-visual stimuli and thematic events of the movie.
This analysis enabled us to make direct links between what the group was experiencing and their biological response to that experience. To achieve this, we first extracted visual and auditory features from a movie and compared it to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath, using both regression and pattern mining techniques. Our results supported the theory that a crowd's collective experience has a direct correlation to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath. Consequently, these findings suggest that visual and auditory experiences have predictable effects on the human body that can be monitored without the requirement of expensive and/or invasive neuroimaging techniques.
This analysis enabled us to make direct links between what the group was experiencing and their biological response to that experience. To achieve this, we first extracted visual and auditory features from a movie and compared it to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath, using both regression and pattern mining techniques. Our results supported the theory that a crowd's collective experience has a direct correlation to the biomarkers in the crowd's breath. Consequently, these findings suggest that visual and auditory experiences have predictable effects on the human body that can be monitored without the requirement of expensive and/or invasive neuroimaging techniques.
2019
Williams, Jonathan; Stönner, Christof; Edtbauer, Achim; Derstorff, Bettina; Bourtsoukidis, Efstratios; Klüpfel, Thomas; Krauter, Nicolas; Wicker, Jörg; Kramer, Stefan
What can we learn from the air chemistry of crowds? Inproceedings
In: Hansel, Armin; Dunkl, Jürgen (Ed.): 8th International Conference on Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry and its Applications, pp. 121-123, Innsbruck University Press, Innsbruck, 2019.
@inproceedings{williams2019what,
title = {What can we learn from the air chemistry of crowds?},
author = {Jonathan Williams and Christof St\"{o}nner and Achim Edtbauer and Bettina Derstorff and Efstratios Bourtsoukidis and Thomas Kl\"{u}pfel and Nicolas Krauter and J\"{o}rg Wicker and Stefan Kramer},
editor = {Armin Hansel and J\"{u}rgen Dunkl},
url = {https://www.ionicon.com/sites/default/files/uploads/doc/Contributions_8th-PTR-MS-Conference-2019_web.pdf#page=122},
year = {2019},
date = {2019-05-10},
booktitle = {8th International Conference on Proton Transfer Reaction Mass Spectrometry and its Applications},
pages = {121-123},
publisher = {Innsbruck University Press},
address = {Innsbruck},
abstract = {Current PTR-MS technology allows hundreds of volatile trace gases in air to be measured every second at extremely low levels (parts per trillion). These instruments are often used in atmospheric research on planes and ships and even in the Amazon rainforest. Recently, we have used this technology to examine air composition changes caused by large groups of people (10,000-30,000) under real world conditions at a football match and in a movie theater. In both cases the trace gas signatures measured in ambient air are shown to reflect crowd behavior. By applying advanced data mining techniques we have shown that groups of people reproducibly respond to certain emotional stimuli (e.g. suspense and comedy) by exhaling specific trace gases. Furthermore, we explore whether this information can be used to determine the age classification of films.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
Current PTR-MS technology allows hundreds of volatile trace gases in air to be measured every second at extremely low levels (parts per trillion). These instruments are often used in atmospheric research on planes and ships and even in the Amazon rainforest. Recently, we have used this technology to examine air composition changes caused by large groups of people (10,000-30,000) under real world conditions at a football match and in a movie theater. In both cases the trace gas signatures measured in ambient air are shown to reflect crowd behavior. By applying advanced data mining techniques we have shown that groups of people reproducibly respond to certain emotional stimuli (e.g. suspense and comedy) by exhaling specific trace gases. Furthermore, we explore whether this information can be used to determine the age classification of films.
2018
Stönner, Christof; Edtbauer, Achim; Derstorff, Bettina; Bourtsoukidis, Efstratios; Klüpfel, Thomas; Wicker, Jörg; Williams, Jonathan
Proof of concept study: Testing human volatile organic compounds as tools for age classification of films Journal Article
In: PLOS One, vol. 13, no. 10, pp. 1-14, 2018.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric
@article{Stonner2018,
title = {Proof of concept study: Testing human volatile organic compounds as tools for age classification of films},
author = {Christof St\"{o}nner and Achim Edtbauer and Bettina Derstorff and Efstratios Bourtsoukidis and Thomas Kl\"{u}pfel and J\"{o}rg Wicker and Jonathan Williams},
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0203044},
year = {2018},
date = {2018-10-11},
journal = {PLOS One},
volume = {13},
number = {10},
pages = {1-14},
publisher = {Public Library of Science},
abstract = {Humans emit numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through breath and skin. The nature and rate of these emissions are affected by various factors including emotional state. Previous measurements of VOCs and CO2 in a cinema have shown that certain chemicals are reproducibly emitted by audiences reacting to events in a particular film. Using data from films with various age classifications, we have studied the relationship between the emission of multiple VOCs and CO2 and the age classifier (0, 6, 12, and 16) with a view to developing a new chemically based and objective film classification method. We apply a random forest model built with time independent features extracted from the time series of every measured compound, and test predictive capability on subsets of all data. It was found that most compounds were not able to predict all age classifiers reliably, likely reflecting the fact that current classification is based on perceived sensibilities to many factors (e.g. incidences of violence, sex, antisocial behaviour, drug use, and bad language) rather than the visceral biological responses expressed in the data. However, promising results were found for isoprene which reliably predicted 0, 6 and 12 age classifiers for a variety of film genres and audience age groups. Therefore, isoprene emission per person might in future be a valuable aid to national classification boards, or even offer an alternative, objective, metric for rating films based on the reactions of large groups of people.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Humans emit numerous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) through breath and skin. The nature and rate of these emissions are affected by various factors including emotional state. Previous measurements of VOCs and CO2 in a cinema have shown that certain chemicals are reproducibly emitted by audiences reacting to events in a particular film. Using data from films with various age classifications, we have studied the relationship between the emission of multiple VOCs and CO2 and the age classifier (0, 6, 12, and 16) with a view to developing a new chemically based and objective film classification method. We apply a random forest model built with time independent features extracted from the time series of every measured compound, and test predictive capability on subsets of all data. It was found that most compounds were not able to predict all age classifiers reliably, likely reflecting the fact that current classification is based on perceived sensibilities to many factors (e.g. incidences of violence, sex, antisocial behaviour, drug use, and bad language) rather than the visceral biological responses expressed in the data. However, promising results were found for isoprene which reliably predicted 0, 6 and 12 age classifiers for a variety of film genres and audience age groups. Therefore, isoprene emission per person might in future be a valuable aid to national classification boards, or even offer an alternative, objective, metric for rating films based on the reactions of large groups of people.
2016
Williams, Jonathan; Stönner, Christof; Wicker, Jörg; Krauter, Nicolas; Derstorff, Bettina; Bourtsoukidis, Efstratios; Klüpfel, Thomas; Kramer, Stefan
Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition of air during films, by broadcasting scene specific emissions on breath Journal Article
In: Scientific Reports, vol. 6, 2016.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric
@article{williams2015element,
title = {Cinema audiences reproducibly vary the chemical composition of air during films, by broadcasting scene specific emissions on breath},
author = {Jonathan Williams and Christof St\"{o}nner and J\"{o}rg Wicker and Nicolas Krauter and Bettina Derstorff and Efstratios Bourtsoukidis and Thomas Kl\"{u}pfel and Stefan Kramer},
url = {http://www.nature.com/articles/srep25464},
doi = {10.1038/srep25464},
year = {2016},
date = {2016-01-01},
journal = {Scientific Reports},
volume = {6},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
abstract = {Human beings continuously emit chemicals into the air by breath and through the skin. In order to determine whether these emissions vary predictably in response to audiovisual stimuli, we have continuously monitored carbon dioxide and over one hundred volatile organic compounds in a cinema. It was found that many airborne chemicals in cinema air varied distinctively and reproducibly with time for a particular film, even in different screenings to different audiences. Application of scene labels and advanced data mining methods revealed that specific film events, namely "suspense" or "comedy" caused audiences to change their emission of specific chemicals. These event-type synchronous, broadcasted human chemosignals open the possibility for objective and non-invasive assessment of a human group response to stimuli by continuous measurement of chemicals in air. Such methods can be applied to research fields such as psychology and biology, and be valuable to industries such as film making and advertising.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Human beings continuously emit chemicals into the air by breath and through the skin. In order to determine whether these emissions vary predictably in response to audiovisual stimuli, we have continuously monitored carbon dioxide and over one hundred volatile organic compounds in a cinema. It was found that many airborne chemicals in cinema air varied distinctively and reproducibly with time for a particular film, even in different screenings to different audiences. Application of scene labels and advanced data mining methods revealed that specific film events, namely "suspense" or "comedy" caused audiences to change their emission of specific chemicals. These event-type synchronous, broadcasted human chemosignals open the possibility for objective and non-invasive assessment of a human group response to stimuli by continuous measurement of chemicals in air. Such methods can be applied to research fields such as psychology and biology, and be valuable to industries such as film making and advertising.
2015
Wicker, Jörg; Krauter, Nicolas; Derstorff, Bettina; Stönner, Christof; Bourtsoukidis, Efstratios; Klüpfel, Thomas; Williams, Jonathan; Kramer, Stefan
Cinema Data Mining: The Smell of Fear Inproceedings
In: Proceedings of the 21st ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, pp. 1235-1304, ACM ACM, New York, NY, USA, 2015, ISBN: 978-1-4503-3664-2.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Altmetric
@inproceedings{wicker2015cinema,
title = {Cinema Data Mining: The Smell of Fear},
author = {J\"{o}rg Wicker and Nicolas Krauter and Bettina Derstorff and Christof St\"{o}nner and Efstratios Bourtsoukidis and Thomas Kl\"{u}pfel and Jonathan Williams and Stefan Kramer},
url = {https://wicker.nz/nwp-acm/authorize.php?id=N10031
http://doi.acm.org/10.1145/2783258.2783404},
doi = {10.1145/2783258.2783404},
isbn = {978-1-4503-3664-2},
year = {2015},
date = {2015-01-01},
booktitle = {Proceedings of the 21st ACM SIGKDD International Conference on Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining},
pages = {1235-1304},
publisher = {ACM},
address = {New York, NY, USA},
organization = {ACM},
series = {KDD '15},
abstract = {While the physiological response of humans to emotional events or stimuli is well-investigated for many modalities (like EEG, skin resistance, ...), surprisingly little is known about the exhalation of so-called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at quite low concentrations in response to such stimuli. VOCs are molecules of relatively small mass that quickly evaporate or sublimate and can be detected in the air that surrounds us. The paper introduces a new field of application for data mining, where trace gas responses of people reacting on-line to films shown in cinemas (or movie theaters) are related to the semantic content of the films themselves. To do so, we measured the VOCs from a movie theatre over a whole month in intervals of thirty seconds, and annotated the screened films by a controlled vocabulary compiled from multiple sources. To gain a better understanding of the data and to reveal unknown relationships, we have built prediction models for so-called forward prediction (the prediction of future VOCs from the past), backward prediction (the prediction of past scene labels from future VOCs) and for some forms of abductive reasoning and Granger causality. Experimental results show that some VOCs and some labels can be predicted with relatively low error, and that hints for causality with low p-values can be detected in the data.},
keywords = {},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {inproceedings}
}
While the physiological response of humans to emotional events or stimuli is well-investigated for many modalities (like EEG, skin resistance, ...), surprisingly little is known about the exhalation of so-called Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) at quite low concentrations in response to such stimuli. VOCs are molecules of relatively small mass that quickly evaporate or sublimate and can be detected in the air that surrounds us. The paper introduces a new field of application for data mining, where trace gas responses of people reacting on-line to films shown in cinemas (or movie theaters) are related to the semantic content of the films themselves. To do so, we measured the VOCs from a movie theatre over a whole month in intervals of thirty seconds, and annotated the screened films by a controlled vocabulary compiled from multiple sources. To gain a better understanding of the data and to reveal unknown relationships, we have built prediction models for so-called forward prediction (the prediction of future VOCs from the past), backward prediction (the prediction of past scene labels from future VOCs) and for some forms of abductive reasoning and Granger causality. Experimental results show that some VOCs and some labels can be predicted with relatively low error, and that hints for causality with low p-values can be detected in the data.
