scholarly journals A STUDY IN USERS' PHYSIOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO AN EMPATHIC INTERFACE AGENT

2006 ◽  
Vol 03 (03) ◽  
pp. 371-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
HELMUT PRENDINGER ◽  
CHRISTIAN BECKER ◽  
MITSURU ISHIZUKA

This paper presents a novel method for evaluating the impact of animated interface agents with affective and empathic behavior. While previous studies relied on questionnaires in order to assess the user's overall experience with the interface agent, we will analyze users' physiological response (skin conductance and electromyography), which allows us to estimate affect-related user experiences on a moment-by-moment basis without interfering with the primary interaction task. As an interaction scenario, a card game has been implemented where the user plays against a virtual opponent. The findings of our study indicate that within a competitive gaming scenario, (i) the absence of the agent's display of negative emotions is conceived as arousing or stress-inducing, and (ii) the valence of users' emotional response is congruent with the valence of the emotion expressed by the agent. Our results for skin conductance could also be reproduced by assuming a local rather than a global baseline.

Author(s):  
Louwrens Potgieter ◽  
Lizette De Wet

Which characteristics should an interface agent have to ensure it being helpful? An interface agent must make a system effective, efficient and easy to use. The system being developed will help to accomplish this. We consider the most effective ways to present interface agents.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (05) ◽  
pp. 1313-1329 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Kreyßig ◽  
Agnieszka Ewa Krautz

AbstractMultiple studies on bilingualism and emotions have demonstrated that a native language carries greater emotional valence than the second language. This distinction appears to have consequences for other types of behavior, including lying. As bilingual lying has not been explored extensively, the current study investigated the psychophysiological differences between German (native language) and English (second language) in the lying process as well as in the perception of lies. The skin conductance responses of 26 bilinguals were measured during reading aloud true and false statements and listening to recorded correct and wrong assertions. The analysis revealed a lie effect, that is, statistically significant differences between valid and fictitious sentences. In addition, the values in German were higher compared to those in English, in accordance with the blunted emotional response account (Caldwell-Harris & Aycicegi-Dinn, 2009). Finally, the skin conductance responses were lower in the listening condition in comparison to the reading aloud. The results, however, are treated with caution given the fact that skin conductance monitoring does not allow assigning heightened reactivity of the skin to one exclusive cause. The responses may have been equally induced by the content of the statements, which prompted positive or negative associations in the participants’ minds or by the specific task requirements.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carsten Vogt

AbstractThe uptake of the QbTest in clinical practice is increasing and has recently been supported by research evidence proposing its effectiveness in relation to clinical decision-making. However, the exact underlying process leading to this clinical benefit is currently not well established and requires further clarification. For the clinician, certain challenges arise when adding the QbTest as a novel method to standard clinical practice, such as having the skills required to interpret neuropsychological test information and assess for diagnostically relevant neurocognitive domains that are related to attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), or how neurocognitive domains express themselves within the behavioral classifications of ADHD and how the quantitative measurement of activity in a laboratory setting compares with real-life (ecological validity) situations as well as the impact of comorbidity on test results. This article aims to address these clinical conundrums in aid of developing a consistent approach and future guidelines in clinical practice.


2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (3.12) ◽  
pp. 272
Author(s):  
Gayathri R ◽  
Murali. G ◽  
Parthiban Kathirvel ◽  
Haridharan M.K ◽  
Karthikeyan. K

Impact strength data is a noteworthy factor for designing airport pavements, civilian and military structures etc and it is ought to be modelled precisely. In order to achieve an appropriate modelling data, it is important to select a suitable estimation method. One such commonly used statistical tool is the two parameter Weibull distribution for modelling impact failure strength accurately besides the variations in test results. This study statistically commandsthe variations in the impact failure strength (number of blows to induce failure) of fibre reinforced concrete (FRC) subjected to drop hammer test. Subsequently, a four-different novel method for the computation of Weibull parameter (Shape parameter) based on the earlier researchers test results has been proposed. The accuracy of the proposed four novel method is demonstrated by comparing with power density method and verified with goodness of fit test. Finally, the impact failure strength of FRC is offered in terms of reliability. The proposed four NEPFM is very suitable and efficient to compute the shape parameter in impact failure strength applications. 


2018 ◽  
Vol 141 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yeshaswini Emmi ◽  
Andreas Fiolitakis ◽  
Manfred Aigner ◽  
Franklin Genin ◽  
Khawar Syed

A new model approach is presented in this work for including convective wall heat losses in the direct quadrature method of moments (DQMoM) approach, which is used here to solve the transport equation of the one-point, one-time joint thermochemical probability density function (PDF). This is of particular interest in the context of designing industrial combustors, where wall heat losses play a crucial role. In the present work, the novel method is derived for the first time and validated against experimental data for the thermal entrance region of a pipe. The impact of varying model-specific boundary conditions is analyzed. It is then used to simulate the turbulent reacting flow of a confined methane jet flame. The simulations are carried out using the DLR in-house computational fluid dynamics code THETA. It is found that the DQMoM approach presented here agrees well with the experimental data and ratifies the use of the new convective wall heat losses model.


Author(s):  
Ling Zhang ◽  
Qi Chen ◽  
Yan Yu ◽  
Hui Yao ◽  
Sirong Zhu ◽  
...  

The epidemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (Covid-19) has brought many changes to people's life. This study aims to analysis Chinese people's psychological change and life after quarantining Wuhan and explore the influencing factors. Based on data from a web-survey after quarantining Wuhan (N=3268), the principal-component-analysis (PCA), multiple-linear-regression (MLR), propensity-score-matching (PSM) were used to explore the psychological change of people in China and the influencing factors. 83.3% of the respondents said that the impact of the epidemic on their life had increased after quarantining Wuhan. A considerable proportion of people's anxiety increased, being reflected in negative emotion, behavioral response and physiological response. The proportion of people who said their anxiety had increased in Wuhan was higher than that in other regions (p <0.05). The anxiety of people who were in medical isolation increased less than those who were not (p <0.05). All three aspects of people’s anxiety were positively related with time of medical isolation and degree of the attention on the epidemic (p<0.05) except the effect of attention degree on the physiological response (p=0.06). The measure of medical isolation at home should be advocated. Yet people should reduce the concern for the epidemic while paying attention to self-protection.


2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Garcia ◽  
Henrik Anckarsäter ◽  
Sebastian Lundström

Background. The acronym ESSENCE (Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations) highlights that children seeking clinical treatment are often multiply impaired, thus requiring treatment from several specialties. The aim was to map and relate, on a population level, ESSENCE to two salient predictors of health and adaptation to adversities, namely, Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness and also to dysfunction and suffering.Methods. Participants were twins(N=1892)aged 9 or 12 whose parents were interviewed with the Autism-Tics, ADHD and other Comorbidities inventory (A-TAC), and the Junior Temperament and Character Inventory (J-TCI). The A-TAC was first used to discern four ESSENCE-related screening diagnoses: autism spectrum disorders, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, learning disabilities, and developmental coordination disorder; second, to quantify dysfunction and suffering in important social areas.Results. ESSENCE symptoms were continuously and categorically associated with deficiency in Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness and higher ratings of dysfunction and suffering. The impact of ESSENCE symptoms on these measures of mental health was found in a milder form in about 16% of all children and in a severe form in about 2%.Conclusion. Therapeutic interventions focusing on Self-Directedness and Cooperativeness might provide a novel method for child psychiatry in its approach to ESSENCE.


Author(s):  
Alexander Serenko

This chapter reports on an empirical investigation of user perceptions of the importance of several characteristics of interface agents. Interface agents are software entities that are incorporated in various computer applications including electronic mail systems. As evidenced by the growing body of empirical studies and the increasing number of interface agent-based applications on the software market, there is a strong need for the development of this technology. According to a meta-review of agent-related literature by Dehn and van Mulken (2000), there are several characteristics of interface agents that require special attention from agent developers. However, prior to this study, the importance of these characteristics from the end-user perspective remained unclear. In order to identify the significance of these characteristics, a group of the actual users of an email interface agent was surveyed. The results indicate that information accuracy and the degree of the usefulness of an agent are the most salient factors, followed by user comfortability with an agent, the extent of user enjoyment, and visual attractiveness of an agent. The implications of the findings for both theory and practice are discussed.


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