Spontaneous facial self-touching may be an evolutionary, self-soothing behavior that helps regulate stress, according to researchers from the University of Houston and Virginia Tech.
Researchers at UH’s Affective and Data Computing Laboratory (ACDC Lab) found that facial self-touching — particularly around the nose, chin and cheeks — strongly correlates with stress levels during cognitive work.
Presented Oct. 10 at the Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction conference, the study is the first large-scale analysis of self-touch in real-world work settings using artificial intelligence, said ACDC Lab Director Ioannis Pavlidis, senior author and Eckhard-Pfeiffer Distinguished Professor of Computer Science in UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics.
“The most significant finding is the strong positive association between the frequency of chin-cheek-nose spontaneous facial self-touch and sympathetic overactivity,” said Fettah Kiran, lead author and doctoral graduate of UH’s Department of Computer Science.
Investigating Real-World Behavior
This work builds on a 2023 ACDC Lab study exploring stress and behavior using unobtrusive, sensor-based AI tools. Researchers observed 10 academic professionals in their offices over four workdays and found that higher stress levels correlated with more frequent physical breaks and cellphone usage.
Unlike traditional lab-based psychological studies, the team used:
- Nearly 170 hours of video recordings
- Thermal cameras to track facial perspiration, a proxy of stress
- Smartwatches to monitor heart rate, another proxy of stress
- Computer activity to assess focus
While initially focused on how participants experienced stress, researchers noticed consistent behaviors across footage, including:
- Repeated face-touching of their nose, cheeks and chin
- Touches predominantly done with the non-dominant hand, aligning with prior psychological observations
- Increased frequency of facial touching during high-stress moments
One surprising insight was facial self-touching proved a stronger and more reliable indicator of stress than facial expressions — especially during solitary cognitive work.
“Usually stress and emotions are related to facial expressions, but it appears when we are all by ourselves, this facial communication breaks down,” Pavlidis said.
Behind the Habit
Similar gestures are seen in primates, suggesting an evolutionary component. These facial regions are highly innervated, making touch naturally soothing.
“That touching provides a degree of comfort, which perhaps counterbalances your stress,” Pavlidis said. “It’s hypothesized that may be one reason that people do this.”
Beyond soothing, recent research also links frequent facial self-touching to improved memory in high-touch individuals.
These insights may lead to non-invasive tools for monitoring stress in knowledge workers, including engineers, writers, designers and other employees engaging in mentally demanding tasks.
“Spontaneous facial self-touch (sFST) is a valuable new channel for monitoring emotional states in knowledge-based work settings,” Kiran said. “It introduces a novel way to measure mental stress and could guide future strategies for stress management. sFST and physical breaks may work together to effectively reduce elevated stress during cognitive tasks.”