Injecting nonverbal mimicry with hybrid avatar-agent technologies: A naïve approach

Roth D, Mal D, Purps CF, Kullmann P, Latoschik ME (2018)

Publication Type: Conference contribution

Publication year: 2018

Publisher: Association for Computing Machinery, Inc

Pages Range: 69-73

Conference Proceedings Title: SUI 2018 - Proceedings of the Symposium on Spatial User Interaction

Event location: Berlin DE

ISBN: 9781450357081

DOI: 10.1145/3267782.3267791

Abstract

Humans communicate to a large degree through nonverbal behavior. Nonverbal mimicry, i.e., the imitation of another's behavior can positively affect the social interactions. In virtual environments, user behavior can be replicated to avatars, and agent behaviors can be artificially constructed. By combining both, hybrid avatar-agent technologies aim at actively mediating virtual communication to foster interpersonal understanding and rapport. We present a naïve prototype, the “Mimicry Injector”, that injects artificial mimicry in real-time virtual interactions. In an evaluation study, two participants were embodied in a Virtual Reality (VR) simulation, and had to perform a negotiation task. Their virtual characters either a) replicated only the original behavior or b) displayed the original behavior plus induced mimicry. We found that most participants did not detect the modification. However, the modification did not have a significant impact on the perception of the communication.

Authors with CRIS profile

Daniel Roth

Involved external institutions

Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg DE Germany (DE)

How to cite

APA:

Roth, D., Mal, D., Purps, C.F., Kullmann, P., & Latoschik, M.E. (2018). Injecting nonverbal mimicry with hybrid avatar-agent technologies: A naïve approach. In SUI 2018 - Proceedings of the Symposium on Spatial User Interaction (pp. 69-73). Berlin, DE: Association for Computing Machinery, Inc.

MLA:

Roth, Daniel, et al. "Injecting nonverbal mimicry with hybrid avatar-agent technologies: A naïve approach." Proceedings of the 6th ACM Symposium on Spatial User Interaction, SUI 2018, Berlin Association for Computing Machinery, Inc, 2018. 69-73.

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