"The Holy Grail is to be able to build technologies to mimic aspects of human behaviour," said principal investigator Professor Shri Narayanan of the University of Southern California.

It is hoped that the study could lead to the development of technologies to help autistic children, create advanced methods for recognising human speech and visual behaviour, and even quantify humour.

"The applications are limitless given the fundamental nature of the issue we’re addressing -- understanding human behaviour,” said co-investigator Professor Sharon Carnicke.

Drawing upon acting students, Narayanan and Carnicke captured hundreds of motion sequences for analysis and created a database they call the USC CreativeIT Database.

"It’s human data," Professor Narayanan said.

"What can we predict from these measurements?"

"Can we develop a mathematical way of explaining patterns in human behaviour?”

“But ultimately what matters are not the new insights they lead to about human behaviour -- but those that can be translated into useful applications."

"These are ongoing research challenges."