Evaluating affective feedback of the 3D agent Max in a competitive cards game

Becker-Asano C, Prendinger H, Ishizuka M, Wachsmuth I. Evaluating affective feedback of the 3D agent Max in a competitive cards game. In: Tao J, Tan T, Picard RW, eds. Affective Computing and Intelligent Interaction. LNCS 3784. Berlin: Springer; 2005: 466-473.Within the field of Embodied Conversational Agents (ECAs), the simulation of emotions has been suggested as a means to enhance the believability of ECAs and also to effectively contribute to the goal of more intuitive human–computer interfaces. Although various emotion models have been proposed, results demonstrating the appropriateness of displaying particular emotions within ECA applications are scarce or even inconsistent. Worse, questionnaire methods often seem insufficient to evaluate the impact of emotions expressed by ECAs on users. Therefore we propose to analyze non-conscious physiological feedback (bio-signals) of users within a clearly arranged dynamic interaction scenario where various emotional reactions are likely to be evoked. In addition to its diagnostic purpose, physiological user information is also analyzed online to trigger empathic reactions of the ECA during game play, thus increasing the level of social engagement. To evaluate the appropriateness of different types of affective and empathic feedback, we implemented a cards game called Skip-Bo, where the user plays against an expressive 3D humanoid agent called Max, which was designed at the University of Bielefeld [6] and is based on the emotion simulation system of [2]. Work performed at the University of Tokyo and NII provided a real-time system for empathic (agent) feedback that allows one to derive user emotions from skin conductance and electromyography [13]. The findings of our study indicate that within a competitive gaming scenario, the absence of negative agent emotions is conceived as stress-inducing and irritating, and that the integration of empathic feedback supports the acceptance of Max as a co-equal humanoid opponent

Impact of Expressive Wrinkles on Perception of a Virtual Character’s Facial Expressions of Emotions

Facial animation has reached a high level of photorealism. Skin is rendered with grain and translucency, wrinkles are accurate and dynamic. These recent visual improvements are not fully tested for their contribution to the perceived expressiveness of virtual characters. This paper presents a perceptual study assessing the impact of different rendering modes of expressive wrinkles on users’ perception of facial expressions of basic and complex emotions. Our results suggest that realistic wrinkles increase agent’s expressivity and user’s preference, but not the recognition of emotion categories. This study was conducted using our real time facial animation platform that is designed for perceptive evaluations of affective interaction

AutoSelect: What You Want Is What You Get: Real-Time Processing of Visual Attention and Affect

Abstract. While objects of our focus of attention (“where we are looking at”) and accompanying affective responses to those objects is part of our daily experience, little research exists on investigating the relation between attention and positive affective evaluation. The purpose of our research is to process users ’ emotion and attention in real-time, with the goal of designing systems that may recognize a user’s affective response to a particular visually presented stimulus in the presence of other stimuli, and respond accordingly. In this paper, we introduce the AutoSelect system that automatically detects a user’s preference based on eye movement data and physiological signals in a two-alternative forced choice task. In an exploratory study involving the selection of neckties, the system could correctly classify subjects ’ choice of in 81%. In this instance of AutoSelect, the gaze ‘cascade effect ’ played a dominant role, whereas pupil size could not be shown as a reliable predictor of preference.