AnimalFACS
GorillaFACS
A repository to access GorillaFACS information and documentation
What GorillaFACS is:
The Gorilla Facial Action Coding System (GorillaFACS) is a scientific observational tool for identifying and coding facial movements in Gorillas (Gorilla sp.). The system is based on the facial anatomy of gorillas and has been adapted from the original FACS system used for humans created by Ekman and Friesen (1978). The GorillaFACS manual details how to use the system and code the facial movements of gorillas objectively. The manual and certification is freely available (see below).
More info regarding the development of this FACS system can be found here:
What GorillaFACS isn’t:
GorillaFACS is not an ethogram of facial expressions, and does not make any inference about any underlying emotion or context causing the movement. Instead this is an objective coding scheme with no assumption about what represents a facial expression in this species. It will not explicitally teach you gorilla facial expressions
Useage of materials
Please note, you are not permitted to use any videos provided with the FACS manuals, or test, without written permitted from the owners. Please contact animalfacsuk@gmail.com if you wish to request permissions to use any materials.
Accessing the manual
The GorillaFACS Manual is freely available via the link below GorillaFACS Manual
Accessing the test
To become a certified GorillaFACS coder, we encourage you to take the associated test. The GorillaFACS test involves trainees to accurately code the facial movements in a series of video clips.
To access the test materials, please contact catia_caeiro@hotmail.com along with the following information:
1) Your name 2) Your intitution 3) Your reason for persuing GorillaFACS certification.
The people behind it
GorillaFACS was developed thanks to the effort of:
Catia Correia-Caeiro Primate Research Institute, Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
Raquel Costa, Research Department, Japan Monkey Center, Inuyama, Japan
Anne Burrows, Department of Physical Therapy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Jordan Pater, Department of Physical Therapy, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA
Takako Miyabe-Nishiwaki, Center for the Evolutionary Origins of Human Behavior (EHuB), Kyoto University, Inuyama, Japan
Jack L. Richardson, Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology, Department of Anthropology, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA
Martha M. Robbins, Department of Primate Behavior and Evolution, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
Katja Liebal, Human Biology & Primate Cognition Department, Institute of Biology, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany,
Acknowledgments
We thank the Uganda Wildlife Authority and the Ugandan National Council for Science and Technology for permission to work in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda as well as the Institute of Tropical Forest Conservation for logistical support in Bwindi. We thank the many staff who assisted with data collection, project management, and logistical support detailed in www.eva.mpg.de/primate-behavior-and-evolution/research-groups/gorilla-group/. We also thank the video owners that authorised the use of their videos: Bart Brebels from www.laafsekikkers.be, NickyPe user from www.pixabay.com, and the GRACE gorillas sanctuary at gracegorillas.org. We finally thank Kristina Scholz and Apolline Durringer for comments on the AUs videos