UB Co-I Mark Frank was a pioneer in the development of the Facial Action Coding System (FACS) (Frank and Ekman, 1997), which measures all visible facial muscle movements, including head and eye), to identify the characteristic pattern of bulges, wrinkles, and movements for each facial action. He has published numerous research papers on facial expressions; emotion (e.g., pain, aggression) and interpersonal deception (e.g., Bartlett et al., 2014; Matsumodo et al., 2013; Frank et al., 2012), with much of the work funded by NSF, Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense. Clearly, extensions of his past research will be valuable for the current application: early detection of nuances of cognitive distraction while driving. His unique approach to human behavior assessment complements the conventional assessment methods conducted by fellow members of this research team.
