Abstract
To evaluate our emotionally intelligent software, we put a virtual human capable of speech and facial expressions to an updated and enriched version of the traditional Turing test. In a speed-date with 54 young females, either our software or human confederates controlled the simulation of the virtual human’s affective performance. Results were obtained with frequentist analysis and Bayesian structural equation modeling. Indeed, participants did not detect differences and observed similarity in the emotional behavior of the virtual human and in the way it assumingly perceived them. Additionally, participants did not recognize different but similar cognitive-affective structures between humans and our system. As is, designers may use our software for believable affective virtual humans or robots. Moreover, as far as the richness of interaction possibilities in the speed-dating session allowed, our software seems to reproduce human cognitive-affective structures.
Highlights
Characters in science-fiction media can be most engaging
The participants assumingly did not detect differences in the emotions produced by Silicon Coppélia versus the human confederates
This indicates that the participants implied a similar underlying cognitive-affective structure that produced Tom’s perceptions and emotions, whether controlled by a human confederate or by our Silicon Coppélia software
Summary
Characters in science-fiction media can be most engaging Humanoid robots such as Hal in 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick, 1968), C3PO and R2D2 in Star Wars (Lukas, 1977), the Replicants in Blade Runner (Scott, 1982), The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), or Data in Star Trek: Generations (Carson, 1994) communicate with humans on an equal footing. They are empathic, social, and occasionally hostile but all of them have an understanding of human affect and they fascinate us: We feel involved and sometimes emotionally distant.
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