A new tool to support diagnosis of neurological disorders by means of facial expressions

Recognizing facial emotions is an important aspect of interpersonal communication that may be impaired in various neurological disorders: Asperger´s syndrome, Autism, Schizoid Personality, Parkinsonism, Urbach-Wiethe, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Alzheimer´s desease. Although it is not possible to define unique emotions, we can say that are mental states, physiological and psychophysiological changes associated with internal or external stimuli, both natural and learned. This paper highlights certain requirements that the specification approach would need to meet if the production of such tools were to be achievable. In particular, we present an innovative and still experimental tool to support diagnosis of neurological disorders by means of facial-expressions-monitoring. At the same time, we propose a new study to measure several impairments of patients recognizing emotions ability, and to improve the reliability of using them in computer aided diagnosis strategies.