Emotion Recognition Using Electrocardiogram Trajectory Variation in Attention Networks

Emotions are classified into the valence dimension (positive and negative) and the arousal dimension (low and high). Using electrocardiogram (ECG) phase space diagrams and a deep learning approach, emotional states were identified in this study. The DREAMER database was utilized for training and testing the classification model developed. We examined different ECG phase space parameters and compared different deep learning models, including the Visual Geometry Group and Residual networks, and a simple convolutional neural network (CNN) with attention modules. Among the models, a simple four-layer CNN integrated with a convolutional block attention module showed the best performance. Experimental results indicate that the model achieved an accuracy of 87.89% for the valence dimension and 91.79% for the arousal dimension. Compared with existing models, the developed model demonstrates superior performance in emotion recognition. Emotional changes produce noticeable variations in the trajectory patterns of ECG phase space diagrams, which enhance the model’s ability to recognize emotions, even when using relatively simple networks.