Dynamic vs. static: Age-related differences in recognizing emotive facial expressions in a virtual agent

Cory Ann Smarr, Arthur D. Fisk, Wendy A. Rogers

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly assist individuals with everyday living tasks. As such, virtual agents will interact with people of all ages and experiences. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction. However, older and younger adults do not label human (Ruffman et al., 2008) or virtual agent (Beer et al., 2009; 2010) facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. Dynamic formation, or motion, of facial expression may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous (Bould & Morris, 2008). This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Participants viewed videos of the dynamic formation or static pictures of emotive facial expressions. Older adults were found to better recognize static pictures than the dynamic formation of emotions. Older adults had lower recognition rates for anger, fear, happiness, and sadness than younger adults.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society 55th Annual Meeting, HFES 2011
Pages1957-1961
Number of pages5
DOIs
StatePublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes
Event55th Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, HFES 2011 - Las Vegas, NV, United States
Duration: Sep 19 2011Sep 23 2011

Publication series

NameProceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society
ISSN (Print)1071-1813

Other

Other55th Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, HFES 2011
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityLas Vegas, NV
Period9/19/119/23/11

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Human Factors and Ergonomics

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