Facial recognition tracks smiles and charges you each time you chuckle

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Facial recognition tracks smiles and charges you each time you chuckle

Posted by sciencetech-blog on Friday, October 10, 2014 Label:

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Think you can keep a straight face while watching your favourite comedian?

A comedy club in Barcelona is betting you can't, and it is even basing its ticket prices on how often it can make you laugh.

Teatreneu has installed facial-recognition technology on the back of its chairs to track how much each person in their theatre has enjoyed the show.

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Stand-up idea: A comedy club in Barcelona is betting you can't, and it is even basing its ticket prices on how often comedians can make its audience laugh

One laugh will cost you €0.30 (24p or 38 cents), and customers could face a maximum charge of €24 (£18 or $30).

The system was dreamt up by Barcelona-based advertising agency The Cyranos McCann, after Teatreneu asked them to think up a way to increase ticket sales.

A number of people have tried, and reportedly failed, to sit through a comedy show without laughing in an attempt to get a free ticket.

Using the novel system, the average ticket price per person has so far been €6 (£4.70 or $7.58).

Funny money: One laugh will cost you €0.30 (24p or 38 cents), and customers have a maximum charge of €24 (£18 or $30). A number of people have tried, and reportedly failed, to sit through a comedy show without laughing in an attempt to get a free ticket

New 'pay-per-laugh' system charges you per smile

It seems the pricing system has caught on, with other theatres in Spain now copying the pay-per-laugh technology.

It is unclear which facial recognition software is being used, but most use algorithms to track facial landmarks on a subject's face.

For instance, an algorithm can analyse the position, size or shape of the mouth to determine whether a person is laughing, smiling or sad.

The comedy club has also launched a mobile app as a method of payment and a pay-per-laugh season ticket.

James Woroniecki, director of London's 99 Club, told the BBC: 'Sounds fun, just so long as all the facial recognition data doesn't get forwarded to the NSA [US National Security Agency].

'It'd be a big technical challenge - as people laugh so often at the 99 we'd have to install a cash machine by every seat.'

YOU CAN'T FAKE A LAUGH: HOW OUR BRAINS CAN TELL THE DIFFERENCE

Next time your boss tells a bad joke and you feel compelled to laugh, beware - they can tell you're faking it.

Researchers from London have discovered our brains carry out different process when we hear genuine laughter compared to fake chuckles.

When laughter is forced, for example, it activates a part of the brain linked with deciphering emotions. This means we know it's not a genuine laugh, and we automatically try to work out why they're faking it, what the laugh means and what the they're thinking.

While genuine laughter lights up areas of the brain linked with happiness and positive emotions.

To test the theory, psychologist Dr Carolyn McGettigan from the Royal Holloway University of London measured brain responses of volunteers as they listened to genuine laughter on YouTube clips.

Each participant was asked to pick clips they found funny.This ranged from comedy shows, such as Flight Of The Conchords, and even the Eurovision Song Contest.

The results were then compared to how their brains responded to fake laughter. The findings revealed participants, none of which were told the study was about laughter perception, could unconsciously tell when the chuckles were insincere.

Free pass: A number of people have tried, and reportedly failed, to sit through a comedy show without laughing in an attempt to get a free ticket

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