Racial Bias in Facial Expression RecognitionDatasets: Evaluating the Impact on ModelPerformance

Despite extensive research efforts in Facial Expression Recognition (FER), achieving consistent performance across diverse datasets remains challenging.This challenge stems from variations in imaging conditions such as head pose, illumination, and background, as well as demographic factors like age, gender, and ethnicity.This paper introduces NIFER, a novel facial expression database designed to address this issue by enhancing racial diversity in existing datasets.NIFER comprises 3,481 images primarily featuring individuals with dark skin tones, collected in realworld settings.These images underwent preprocessing through face detection and histogram equalization before being categorized into five basic facial expressions using a deep learning model.Experiments conducted on both NIFER and FER-2013 datasets revealed a decrease in performance in multiracial FER compared to single-race FER, underscoring the importance of incorporating diverse racial representations in FER datasets to ensure accurate recognition across various ethnicities.