The proposed model of empathy is illustrated in a conversational agent scenario involving the virtual humans MAX and EMMA. EMMA’s multiple modalities comprise a facial expression corresponding to the PAD value of the modulated empathic emotion, PAD-based prosody modulation of a verbal expression appropriate to the context, and eye blinking and breathing behaviors modulated by the arousal value of the modulated empathic emotion. The Expression of Empathy consists of triggering EMMA’s multiple modalities through the modulated empathic emotion derived in step 2. The Empathy Modulation consists of modulating the empathic emotion derived in step 1 through modulation factors such as EMMA’s mood and relationship to the other, e.g., familiarity and liking. Based on the results of an empirical study the empathic emotion is represented by a Pleasure-Arousal-Dominance (PAD) value in PAD emotion space of EMMA’s affective architecture. The Empathy Mechanism consists of an internal simulation of perceived emotional facial expressions and results in an internal emotional feedback that represents the empathic emotion. Supported by psychological models of empathy, we propose an approach to model empathy for the virtual human EMMA-an Empathic MultiModal Agent-based on three processing steps: Furthermore, although providing virtual humans with features like affect, personality, and the ability to build social relationships is the subject of increasing interest, little attention has been devoted to the role of such features as factors modulating their empathic behavior. Therefore, we believe that a modulation of a virtual human’s empathic behavior through factors like its mood, personality, and relationship to its interaction partner will lead to a more appropriate behavior. However, an evaluation of the impact of a virtual human’s empathic behavior in a competitive card game scenario shows that displaying empathic emotions is perceived as significantly arousing and stress inducing and is thus inappropriate. Moreover, empirical evaluations show that empathic virtual humans are judged as being more likable, trustworthy, and caring. Research on virtual humans exhibiting empathic behavior shows that they can reduce stress levels during job interview tasks and that they can teach children to deal with frustration and bullying. Recent neuropsychological findings substantiate that empathic brain responses are prone to modulation and thus humans empathize with each other to different degrees depending on several modulation factors including, among others, their mood, their personality, and their social relationships. In human social interaction empathy plays a major role as a motivational basis of prosocial and cooperative behavior and as contributing to moral acts like helping, caring, and justice. In our work, emotional alignment is realized by endowing a virtual human with the ability to empathize with others. The proposed model of empathy is illustrated in a conversational agent scenario involving the virtual humans MAX and EMMA.Īllowing virtual humans to align to others’ perceived emotions is believed to enhance their cooperative and communicative social skills. Third, the Expression of Empathy by which EMMA’s multiple modalities are triggered through the modulated empathic emotion. Second, the Empathy Modulation by which the empathic emotion is modulated. Supported by psychological models of empathy, we propose an approach to model empathy for the virtual human EMMA-an Empathic MultiModal Agent-consisting of three processing steps: First, the Empathy Mechanism by which an empathic emotion is produced. Although providing virtual humans with features like affect, personality, and the ability to build social relationships, little attention has been devoted to the role of such features as factors modulating their empathic behavior. Recent research shows that humans empathize with each other to different degrees depending on several factors including, among others, their mood, their personality, and their social relationships. In our work, emotional alignment is realized by endowing a virtual human with the ability to empathize. Allowing virtual humans to align to others’ perceived emotions is believed to enhance their cooperative and communicative social skills.
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