scholarly journals The Influence of Game Character Appearance on Empathy and Immersion: Virtual Non-Robotic Versus Robotic Animals

2020 ◽  
Vol 51 (5) ◽  
pp. 685-711
Author(s):  
Alexandra Sierra Rativa ◽  
Marie Postma ◽  
Menno Van Zaanen
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Experimental Conditions ◽  
Affective Outcomes ◽  
Visual Appearance ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Body Appearance ◽  
Facial Expressiveness ◽  
The Impact

Background. Empathic interactions with animated game characters can help improve user experience, increase immersion, and achieve better affective outcomes related to the use of the game. Method. We used a 2x2 between-participant design and a control condition to analyze the impact of the visual appearance of a virtual game character on empathy and immersion. The four experimental conditions of the game character appearance were: Natural (virtual animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), natural (virtual animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions), artificial (virtual robotic animal) with expressiveness (emotional facial expressions), and artificial (virtual robotic animal) with non-expressiveness (without emotional facial expressions). The control condition contained a baseline amorphous game character. 100 participants between 18 to 29 years old (M=22.47) were randomly assigned to one of five experimental groups. Participants originated from several countries: Aruba (1), China (1), Colombia (3), Finland (1), France (1), Germany (1), Greece (2), Iceland (1), India (1), Iran (1), Ireland (1), Italy (3), Jamaica (1), Latvia (1), Morocco (3), Netherlands (70), Poland (1), Romania (2), Spain (1), Thailand (1), Turkey (1), United States (1), and Vietnam (1). Results. We found that congruence in appearance and facial expressions of virtual animals (artificial + non-expressive and natural + expressive) leads to higher levels of self-reported situational empathy and immersion of players in a simulated environment compared to incongruent appearance and facial expressions. Conclusions. The results of this investigation showed an interaction effect between artificial/natural body appearance and facial expressiveness of a virtual character’s appearance. The evidence from this study suggests that the appearance of the virtual animal has an important influence on user experience.

scholarly journals Goats prefer positive human emotional facial expressions

2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 180491 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Nawroth ◽  
Natalia Albuquerque ◽  
Carine Savalli ◽  
Marie-Sophie Single ◽  
Alan G. McElligott
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Cognitive Abilities ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Test Arena ◽  
Emotional Cues ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Domestication has shaped the physiology and the behaviour of animals to better adapt to human environments. Therefore, human facial expressions may be highly informative for animals domesticated for working closely with people, such as dogs and horses. However, it is not known whether other animals, and particularly those domesticated primarily for production, such as goats, are capable of perceiving human emotional cues. In this study, we investigated whether goats can distinguish human facial expressions when simultaneously shown two images of an unfamiliar human with different emotional valences (positive/happy or negative/angry). Both images were vertically attached to a wall on one side of a test arena, 1.3 m apart, and goats were released from the opposite side of the arena (distance of 4.0 m) and were free to explore and interact with the stimuli during the trials. Each of four test trials lasted 30 s. Overall, we found that goats preferred to interact first with happy faces, meaning that they are sensitive to human facial emotional cues. Goats interacted first, more often and for longer duration with positive faces when they were positioned on the right side. However, no preference was found when the positive faces were placed on the left side. We show that animals domesticated for production can discriminate human facial expressions with different emotional valences and prefer to interact with positive ones. Therefore, the impact of domestication on animal cognitive abilities may be more far-reaching than previously assumed.

scholarly journals WHO CAN READ YOUR FACIAL EXPRESSION? A Comparison of Humans and Machine Learning Classifiers Detecting Emotion from Faces of People with Sunglasses and Facemasks

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harisu Abdullahi Shehu ◽  
Will N. Browne ◽  
Hedwig Eisenbarth
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Facial Features ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Lower Face ◽  
Machine Learning Classifiers ◽  
Deep Learning Algorithm ◽  
Different Types ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Better Than

Partial face coverings such as sunglasses and facemasks have now become the ‘new norm’, especially since the increase of infectious diseases. Unintentionally, they obscure facial expressions. Therefore, humans and artificial systems have been found to be less accurate in emotion categorization. However, it is unknown how similar the performance of humans compared with artificial systems is affected based on the exact same stimuli, varying systematically in types of coverings. Such a systematic direct comparison would allow conclusions about the relevant facial features in a naturalistic context. Therefore, we investigated the impact of facemasks and sunglasses on the ability to categorize emotional facial expressions in humans and artificial systems. Artificial systems, represented by the VGG19 deep learning algorithm, and humans assessed images of people with varying emotional facial expressions and with four different types of coverings, i.e. unmasked (original images), mask (mask covering lower-face), partial mask (with transparent mouth window), and sunglasses. Artificial systems performed significantly better than humans when no covering is present (> 15% difference). However, the achieved accuracy of both humans and artificial systems differed significantly depending on the type of coverings and, importantly, emotion, e.g. the use of sunglasses reduced accuracy for recognition of fear in humans. It was also noted that while humans mainly classify unknown expressions as neutral across all coverings, the misclassification varied in the artificial systems. These findings show humans and artificial systems classify and misclassify various emotion expressions differently depending on both the type of face covering and type of emotion.

The impact of neuromyelitis optica on the recognition of emotional facial expressions: A preliminary report

2014 ◽  
pp. 1-6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan F. Cardona ◽  
Vladimiro Sinay ◽  
Lucia Amoruso ◽  
Eugenia Hesse ◽  
Facundo Manes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Neuromyelitis Optica ◽  
Preliminary Report ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
The Impact

scholarly journals Applying Implicit Association Test Techniques and Facial Expression Analyses in the Comparative Evaluation of Website User Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maurizio Mauri ◽  
Gaia Rancati ◽  
Andrea Gaggioli ◽  
Giuseppe Riva
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expression ◽  
Facial Expressions ◽  
User Experience ◽  
Implicit Association Test ◽  
Association Test ◽  
Emotional Impact ◽  
Heuristic Evaluation ◽  
Implicit Association ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Simultaneous Application

This research project has the goal to verify whether the application of neuromarketing techniques, such as implicit association test (IAT) techniques and emotional facial expressions analyses may contribute to the assessment of user experience (UX) during and after website navigation. These techniques have been widely and positively applied in assessing customer experience (CX); however, little is known about their simultaneous application in the field of UX. As a specific context, the experience raised by different websites from two well-known automotive brands was compared. About 160 Italian university students were enrolled in an online experimental study. Participants performed a Brand Association Reaction Time Test (BARTT) version of the IAT where the two brands were compared according to different semantic dimensions already used in the automotive field. After completing the BARTT test, the participants navigated the target website: 80 participants navigated the first brand website, while the other half navigated the second brand website (between-subject design). During the first 3 min of website navigation, emotional facial expressions were recorded. The participants were asked to freely navigate the website home page, look for a car model and its characteristics and price, use the customising tool, and in the end, look for assistance. After the website navigation, all the participants performed, a second time, the BARTT version of the IAT, where the two brands were compared again, this time to assess whether the website navigation may impact the Implicit Associations previously detected. A traditional evaluation of the two websites was carried on by means of the classic heuristic evaluation. Findings from this study show, first of all, the significant results provided by neuromarketing techniques in the field of UX, as IAT can provide a positive application for assessing UX played by brand websites, thanks to the comparison of eventual changes in time reaction between the test performed before and after website navigation exposure. Secondly, results from emotional facial expression analyses during the navigation of both brand websites showed significant differences between the two brands, allowing the researchers to predict the emotional impact raised by each website. Finally, the positive correlation with heuristic evaluation shows that neuromarketing can be successfully applied in UX.

scholarly journals Simulated proximity enhances perceptual and physiological responses to emotional facial expressions

2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Olena V. Bogdanova ◽  
Volodymyr B. Bogdanov ◽  
Luke E. Miller ◽  
Fadila Hadj-Bouziane
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Physiological Responses ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Physical Proximity ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii ◽  
Intensity Rating ◽  
Individual Variations ◽  
Corrugator Supercilii Muscle ◽  
The Impact

AbstractPhysical proximity is important in social interactions. Here, we assessed whether simulated physical proximity modulates the perceived intensity of facial emotional expressions and their associated physiological signatures during observation or imitation of these expressions. Forty-four healthy volunteers rated intensities of dynamic angry or happy facial expressions, presented at two simulated locations, proximal (0.5 m) and distant (3 m) from the participants. We tested whether simulated physical proximity affected the spontaneous (in the observation task) and voluntary (in the imitation task) physiological responses (activity of the corrugator supercilii face muscle and pupil diameter) as well as subsequent ratings of emotional intensity. Angry expressions provoked relative activation of the corrugator supercilii muscle and pupil dilation, whereas happy expressions induced a decrease in corrugator supercilii muscle activity. In proximal condition, these responses were enhanced during both observation and imitation of the facial expressions, and were accompanied by an increase in subsequent affective ratings. In addition, individual variations in condition related EMG activation during imitation of angry expressions predicted increase in subsequent emotional ratings. In sum, our results reveal novel insights about the impact of physical proximity in the perception of emotional expressions, with early proximity-induced enhancements of physiological responses followed by an increased intensity rating of facial emotional expressions.

scholarly journals HAPPY FACIAL EXPRESSIONS IMPAIR INHIBITORY CONTROL WITH RESPECT TO FEARFUL FACIAL EXPRESSIONS BUT ONLY WHEN TASK-RELEVANT

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Mancini ◽  
Luca Falciati ◽  
Claudio Maioli ◽  
Giovanni Mirabella
Keyword(s):  
Facial Expressions ◽  
Inhibitory Control ◽  
Emotional Valence ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Emotional Expressions ◽  
Emotional Facial Expressions ◽  
Emotional Information ◽  
Reaching Movement ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Healthy Participants

The ability to generate appropriate responses, especially in social contexts, requires integrating emotional information with ongoing cognitive processes. In particular, inhibitory control plays a crucial role in social interactions, preventing the execution of impulsive and inappropriate actions. In this study, we focused on the impact of facial emotional expressions on inhibition. Research in this field has provided highly mixed results. In our view, a crucial factor explaining such inconsistencies is the task-relevance of the emotional content of the stimuli. To clarify this issue, we gave two versions of a Go/No-go task to healthy participants. In the emotional version, participants had to withhold a reaching movement at the presentation of emotional facial expressions (fearful or happy) and move when neutral faces were shown. The same pictures were displayed in the other version, but participants had to act according to the actor's gender, ignoring the emotional valence of the faces. We found that happy expressions impaired inhibitory control with respect to fearful expressions, but only when they were relevant to the participants' goal. We interpret these results as suggesting that facial emotions do not influence behavioral responses automatically. They would instead do so only when they are intrinsically germane for ongoing goals.

Designing preclinical perceptibility measures to evaluate topical vaginal gel formulations relating user sensory perceptions and experiences to formulation properties

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lungwani Muungo
Keyword(s):  
User Experience ◽  
Cognitive Processes ◽  
Paradigm Shift ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Preliminary Evidence ◽  
Biomedical Prevention ◽  
Product Effectiveness ◽  
Willingness To Use ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Gel Formulations

The effectiveness of any biomedical prevention technology relies on both biological efficacy and behavioraladherence. Microbicide trials have been hampered by low adherence, limiting the ability to draw meaningfulconclusions about product effectiveness. Central to this problem may be an inadequate conceptualization of howproduct properties themselves impact user experience and adherence. Our goal is to expand the current microbicidedevelopment framework to include product ‘‘perceptibility,’’ the objective measurement of user sensoryperceptions (i.e., sensations) and experiences of formulation performance during use. For vaginal gels, a setof biophysical properties, including rheological properties and measures of spreading and retention, may criticallyimpact user experiences. Project LINK sought to characterize the user experience in this regard, and tovalidate measures of user sensory perceptions and experiences (USPEs) using four prototype topical vaginal gelformulations designed for pericoital use. Perceptibility scales captured a range of USPEs during the productapplication process (five scales), ambulation after product insertion (six scales), and during sexual activity (eightscales). Comparative statistical analyses provided empirical support for hypothesized relationships between gelproperties, spreading performance, and the user experience. Project LINK provides preliminary evidence for theutility of evaluating USPEs, introducing a paradigm shift in the field of microbicide formulation design. Wepropose that these user sensory perceptions and experiences initiate cognitive processes in users resulting inproduct choice and willingness-to-use. By understanding the impact of USPEs on that process, formulationdevelopment can optimize both drug delivery and adherence.

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