Abstract
BackgroundAssistive technologies have become more important owing to the aging population, especially when they foster healthy behaviors. Because of their natural interface, virtual agents are promising assistants for people in need of support. To engage people during an interaction with these technologies, such assistants need to match the users´ needs and preferences, especially with regard to social outcomes.ObjectivePrior research has already determined the importance of an agent’s appearance in a human-agent interaction. As seniors can particularly benefit from the use of virtual agents to maintain their autonomy, it is important to investigate their special needs. However, there are almost no studies focusing on age-related differences with regard to appearance effects.MethodsA 2×4 between-subjects design was used to investigate the age-related differences of appearance effects in a human-agent interaction. In this study, 46 seniors and 84 students interacted in a health scenario with a virtual agent, whose appearance varied (cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, cartoon-stylized machine-like agent, more realistic humanoid agent, and nonembodied agent [voice only]). After the interaction, participants reported on the evaluation of the agent, usage intention, perceived presence of the agent, bonding toward the agent, and overall evaluation of the interaction.ResultsThe findings suggested that seniors evaluated the agent more positively (liked the agent more and evaluated it as more realistic, attractive, and sociable) and showed more bonding toward the agent regardless of the appearance than did students. In addition, interaction effects were found. Seniors reported the highest usage intention for the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, whereas students reported the lowest usage intention for this agent. The same pattern was found for participant bonding with the agent. Seniors showed more bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent or voice only agent, whereas students showed the least bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent.ConclusionsIn health-related interactions, target group–related differences exist with regard to a virtual assistant’s appearance. When elderly individuals are the target group, a humanoid virtual assistant might trigger specific social responses and be evaluated more positively at least in short-term interactions.
Highlights
As care persons are lacking and, at the same time, most current industrial societies have an aging population, assistive technologies are of great interest [1]
This study aimed to investigate the effects of species, realism, and embodiment more closely in a real human-agent interaction
In order to test the influence of the different appearances and age groups on the person perception of the virtual assistant, a two-way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted with appearance and age group as independent variables and perceived realism, likability, attractiveness, trustworthiness, and competence as dependent variables
Summary
As care persons are lacking and, at the same time, most current industrial societies have an aging population, assistive technologies are of great interest [1]. Assistive agents can provide reminders to drink or take medications, foster physical activity or social gatherings, and guide users regarding household activities [1] This application was found to be acceptable and well usable in these kinds of target groups [4]. As a virtual agent was found to trigger social responses similar to humans [6], its appearance was found to affect the human-agent interaction regarding multiple variables [7,8,9] In this regard, the appearance of the agent should match the needs of special users to achieve highly efficient assistive technology. Assistive technologies have become more important owing to the aging population, especially when they foster healthy behaviors Because of their natural interface, virtual agents are promising assistants for people in need of support. When elderly individuals are the target group, a humanoid virtual assistant might trigger specific social responses and be evaluated more positively at least in short-term interactions
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