Innovative system for analyzing non-verbal behavior impresses experts!

Innovative system for analyzing non-verbal behavior impresses experts!

On August 1, 2025, an innovative workshop focused on non-verbal behavior and the analysis of hand movements took place on the Spoho campus of the German Sport University Cologne. Invited by the Department of Neurology, Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, the event worked in close cooperation with the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) in Saarbrücken. The central topic was the NEUROGES system, a newly developed tool for analyzing non-verbal communication that was launched by Professor Hedda Lausberg.

The NEUROGES system, which stands for NEUROpsychological GESture, is an objective and reliable analysis system that was specifically designed for basic research on hand movement behavior and gestures. Loud dshs-koeln.de Hand movements during conversations are video recorded, categorized and coded to show their connection to cognitive, emotional and interactive processes. The system's reliability has been proven in over 500 applications worldwide, spanning people from different cultures.

Areas of application and interdisciplinarity

The workshop also focused on automating the NEUROGES system for analyzing non-verbal behavior, with a particular focus on measuring emotion regulation in sports. Participants from various disciplines, including scientists from computer science, psychology, sports science, medicine, mathematics and linguistics, came together to share their experiences and knowledge. The institutions represented included the DSHS, DFKI, Adam Mieckiewicz University in Poznan in Poland, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen (Netherlands) and Würth Cloud Services.

A photo that showed the participants in the workshop received particular attention. In the top row of the figure you can see Han Slöetjes (Max Planck Institute), Fabrizio Nunnari, Tanja Schneeberger, Patrick Gebhard (all DFKI), Konrad Juszczyk (University of Poznan), Hedda Lausberg, Simon Kieffer and Ezgi Kalkan (intern at DSHS) as well as Andrej Kharadi from the Würth Group. Philipp Müller, Sabrina von Au and Laura Ketter from DSHS were present in the bottom row.

Future perspectives

The NEUROGES system was developed as part of many years of DFG funding and is used not only in basic research, but also increasingly for diagnostic purposes in neuropsychology and psychodiagnostics. It offers interesting perspectives on the interaction between therapists and patients. The need for knowledge about nonverbal behavior is growing, especially in the context of mental illnesses and their treatment.

The development of the NEUROGES system, with its high reliability and positive results in the analysis of non-verbal behavior, represents a significant advance in research. For further information on the research activities and application of the NEUROGES system, please refer to the DSHS website, where further information are available.