%0 Conference Paper %1 kullmann2017augmenting %A Kullmann, Peter %A Eyck, Roman %A Latoschik, Marc Erich %A Roth, Daniel %D 2017 %I Poster presentations, Interdisciplinary College %K myown %T Augmenting Human Gaze in Avatar-Mediated Communication (Poster) %X Future social virtual environments will allow machines to transcend face-to-face interaction and manipulate human social interactions in computer-mediated communication. Whereas in real-world interactions we use our real bodies as means to mediate our message and communicate additional information, in virtual environments we are represented by avatars. Progressing from Mori’s Uncanny Valley theory 1 and similar to "the medium is the message" 2 approaches, many research activities have investigated the impact of manipulating the appearance realism of virtual characters 3. However, the impact of behavioural realism and its potential augmentation in avatar-mediated communication, is not fully understood. The present work in progress investigates the impact of behaviour most likely disclosing human comprehension: gaze. Gaze cues are reciprocal nonverbal signals that are used to both detect information about interlocutors and communicate to them 4. Where our conversational partners focus their attention, is relevant for building rapport and interaction naturalness 5. In an avatar-mediated communication system prototype we examine how augmenting avatars\u0027 gaze behaviour influences the gaze behaviour of humans communicating via avatars and their rating of the communication quality. We let our avatars make eye contact whenever the human it is facing speaks. We hypothesise that this will increase the quality of the social interaction and will lead to the participants acting more attentive with regard to their gaze behaviour. Furthermore, we aim to identify a quantitative impact between the degree of aforementioned manipulation and the acceptance of the communicative counterpart as human or machine. While participants adjusting their gaze behaviour in relation to the avatar augmentation implies great opportunities for using avatar-mediated communication in therapeutic applications, its ethical implications have to be addressed.

@inproceedings{kullmann2017augmenting, abstract = {Future social virtual environments will allow machines to transcend face-to-face interaction and manipulate human social interactions in computer-mediated communication. Whereas in real-world interactions we use our real bodies as means to mediate our message and communicate additional information, in virtual environments we are represented by avatars. Progressing from Mori’s Uncanny Valley theory [1] and similar to "the medium is the message" [2] approaches, many research activities have investigated the impact of manipulating the appearance realism of virtual characters [3]. However, the impact of behavioural realism and its potential augmentation in avatar-mediated communication, is not fully understood. The present work in progress investigates the impact of behaviour most likely disclosing human comprehension: gaze. Gaze cues are reciprocal nonverbal signals that are used to both detect information about interlocutors and communicate to them [4]. Where our conversational partners focus their attention, is relevant for building rapport and interaction naturalness [5]. In an avatar-mediated communication system prototype we examine how augmenting avatars\u0027 gaze behaviour influences the gaze behaviour of humans communicating via avatars and their rating of the communication quality. We let our avatars make eye contact whenever the human it is facing speaks. We hypothesise that this will increase the quality of the social interaction and will lead to the participants acting more attentive with regard to their gaze behaviour. Furthermore, we aim to identify a quantitative impact between the degree of aforementioned manipulation and the acceptance of the communicative counterpart as human or machine. While participants adjusting their gaze behaviour in relation to the avatar augmentation implies great opportunities for using avatar-mediated communication in therapeutic applications, its ethical implications have to be addressed.}, added-at = {2017-02-08T14:34:45.000+0100}, author = {Kullmann, Peter and Eyck, Roman and Latoschik, Marc Erich and Roth, Daniel}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2ec169794ca1aa71bf3a81a56ebdd7987/hci-uwb}, howpublished = {Interdisciplinary College in Günne, Creativity and Intelligence in Brains and Machines, 2017}, interhash = {8657d81f6d32e0b85663c35fe1534953}, intrahash = {ec169794ca1aa71bf3a81a56ebdd7987}, keywords = {myown}, publisher = {Poster presentations, Interdisciplinary College}, timestamp = {2019-05-13T20:59:18.000+0200}, title = {Augmenting Human Gaze in Avatar-Mediated Communication (Poster)}, year = 2017 }