Prototyping Perceptions of Health for Inclusion in Facial Composite Systems

A method for altering the perceived health of a human face is presented. Participants were asked to score a random sample of thirty face images for gauntness/fullness, facial symmetry, complexion, age and overall health. Healthy and unhealthy prototype face images were constructed by forming a weighted average of the sample faces according to their mean health score. The study highlights the difficulty in forming reliable unhealthy prototypes using image averaging. Another study was undertaken in which images of methamphetamine users were averaged to form lifestyle specific prototypes. This research was motivated by the need for a better understanding of perceived poor health and how best to model this trait in holistic facial composite systems.