Showing papers by "Jean-Claude Martin published in 2018"

Rapid Facial Reactions in Response to Facial Expressions of Emotion Displayed by Real Versus Virtual Faces.

Abstract: Facial expressions of emotion provide relevant cues for understanding social interactions and the affective processes involved in emotion perception. Virtual human faces are useful for conducting controlled experiments. However, little is known regarding the possible differences between physiological responses elicited by virtual versus real human facial expressions. The aim of the current study was to determine if virtual and real emotional faces elicit the same rapid facial reactions for the perception of facial expressions of joy, anger, and sadness. Facial electromyography (corrugator supercilii, zygomaticus major, and depressor anguli) was recorded in 30 participants during the presentation of dynamic or static and virtual or real faces. For the perception of dynamic facial expressions of joy and anger, analyses of electromyography data revealed that rapid facial reactions were stronger when participants were presented with real faces compared with virtual faces. These results suggest that the processes underlying the perception of virtual versus real emotional faces might differ.

Combining Facial Expression and Touch for Perceiving Emotional Valence

Abstract: We conducted an experimental study to investigate how the participants combine touch and facial expression to evaluate emotional valence. In this study, visual and haptic stimuli were presented separately and then presented together. The visual stimuli comprised pictures of facial expressions with different emotional levels, and the touch stimuli consisted of air jet tactile stimulation performed on the arms of the participants. The participants were asked to evaluate the communicated emotional valence on a continuous scale. Information Integration Theory was used to model the algebraic rule (addition, multiplication, averaging, and so on) that underlies the multimodal perception of emotional valence. Analyses showed that the participants usually integrated both visual and touch information to evaluate the emotional valence. The main integration rule was averaging, with nonsystematic predominance of each modality over the other modality.

How to Personalize Conversational Coaches for Stress Management

Abstract: Hundreds of well-being apps aim to manage stress. Despite some successes in developing personalized regimes for stress coaching, current apps are still far from offering a compelling user experience. We discuss the requirements and technical challenges underlying the design of a virtual coach, including the critical need to support both personalization and conversation.

WEnner: A Theoretically Motivated Approach for Tailored Coaching about Physical Activity

Abstract: In this paper, we describe a new theoretically motivated application framework, Wenner, for developing tailored interactions for an exercise-oriented well-being application. The framework allows us to conduct in-lab and 'in the wild' studies to directly deploy and evaluate the effects of our interventions. We describe two systems that have been developed using the framework. The first WennerStep is an individually tailored text based approach to delivering adaptive persuasive messaging using a smartwatch. The second WennerAgent, is a virtual embodied coach who adaptively reacts to user activity with emotionally appropriate responses. We conclude with a discussion in which we describe outstanding challenges for our approach and relate this to current work on Chatbot deployments for well-being.

Affective Communication through Air Jet Stimulation: Evidence from Event-Related Potentials

Abstract: In this article, effectiveness of air jet stimulation in mediated emotional communication was investigated by assessing cross-modal influences of visual emotional expressions on tactile perception....

Modeling Emotional Valence Integration From Voice and Touch

Abstract: In the context of designing multimodal social interactions for Human-Computer Interaction and for Computer-Mediated Communication, we conducted an experimental study to investigate how participants combine voice expressions with tactile stimulation to evaluate emotional valence (EV). In this study, audio and tactile stimuli were presented separately, and then presented together. Audio stimuli comprised positive and negative voice expressions, and tactile stimuli consisted of different levels of air jet tactile stimulation performed on the arm of the participants. Participants were asked to evaluate communicated EV on a continuous scale. Information Integration Theory was used to model multimodal valence perception process. Analyses showed that participants generally integrated both sources of information to evaluate EV. The main integration rule was averaging rule. The predominance of a modality over the other modality was specific to each individual.

Suppression of Facial Mimicry of Negative Facial Expressions in an Incongruent Context

Abstract: . People react with Rapid Facial Reactions (RFRs) when presented with human facial emotional expressions. Recent studies show that RFRs are not always congruent with emotional cues. The processes underlying RFRs are still being debated. In our study described herein, we manipulate the context of perception and its influence on RFRs. We use a subliminal affective priming task with emotional labels. Facial electromyography (EMG) (frontalis, corrugator, zygomaticus, and depressor) was recorded while participants observed static facial expressions (joy, fear, anger, sadness, and neutral expression) preceded/not preceded by a subliminal word (JOY, FEAR, ANGER, SADNESS, or NEUTRAL). For the negative facial expressions, when the priming word was congruent with the facial expression, participants displayed congruent RFRs (mimicry). When the priming word was incongruent, we observed a suppression of mimicry. Happiness was not affected by the priming word. RFRs thus appear to be modulated by the context and...