title: Preparing computers for affective communication: a psychophysiological concept and preliminary results.
abstract: Despite rapid advances in technology, computers remain incapable of responding to human emotions. An exploratory study was conducted to find out what physiological parameters might be useful to differentiate among 4 emotional states, based on 2 dimensions: pleasantness versus unpleasantness and arousal versus relaxation. The 4 emotions were induced by exposing 26 undergraduate students to different combinations of olfactory and auditory stimuli, selected in a pretest from 12 stimuli by subjective ratings of arousal and valence. Changes in electroencephalographic (EEG), heart rate variability, and electrodermal measures were used to differentiate the 4 emotions. EEG activity separates pleasantness from unpleasantness only in the aroused but not in the relaxed domain, where electrodermal parameters are the differentiating ones. All three classes of parameters contribute to a separation between arousal and relaxation in the positive valence domain, whereas the latency of the electrodermal response is the only differentiating parameter in the negative domain. We discuss how such a psychophysiological approach may be incorporated into a systemic model of a computer responsive to affective communication from the user.
authors.affiliation: Department of Media Technology, Sangmyung University, Seoul, Korea. whang@smu.ac.kr
authors.forename: Min Cheol
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Whang
authors.forename: Joa Sang
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.forename: Wolfram
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Boucsein
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation; D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D001143:Arousal / Q000502:physiology; D003142:Communication; D003201:Computers; D004569:Electroencephalography; D005260:Female; D005712:Galvanic Skin Response / Q000502:physiology; D006339:Heart Rate / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007508:Irritable Mood / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D011603:Psychophysiology; D012063:Relaxation / Q000502:physiology; D012903:Smell