The Contribution of Different Body Channels to the Expression of Emotion in Animated Pedagogical Agents

Abstract

Pedagogical agents are animated characters embedded within an e-learning environment to facilitate learning. With the growing understanding of the complex interplay between emotions and cognition, there is a need to design agents that can provide believable simulated emotional interactions with the learner. Best practices from the animation industry could be used to improve the believability of the agents. A well-known best practice is that the movements of limbs/torso/head play the most important role in conveying the character's emotion, followed by eyes/face and lip sync, respectively, in a long/medium shot. The researchers' study tested the validity of this best practice using statistical methods. It investigated the contribution of 3 body channels (torso/limbs/head, face, speech) to the expression of 5 emotions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, surprise) in a stylized agent in a full body shot. Findings confirm the biggest contributor to the perceived believability of the animated emotion is the character's body, followed by face and speech respectively, across 4 out of 5 emotions.