virtual-agent-for-real-time-motivational-interviewing-integrating

Virtual Agent for Real-Time Motivational Interviewing by Integrating Adaptive Nonverbal Behavior and Language Models

The growing demand for therapeutic support increasingly exceeds the capacity of available professionals. A virtual agent capable of performing ...

Université Paris Cité

The ability to recognize facial identity and emotional facial expression is central to social relationships. This paper reviews studies concerning face recognition and emotional facial expression during normal aging as well as in neurodegenerative diseases occurring in the elderly. It focuses on Alzheimer's disease, frontotemporal and semantic dementia, and also Parkinson's disease. The results of studies on healthy elderly individuals show subtle alterations in the recognition of facial identity and emotional facial expression from the age of 50 years, and increasing after 70. Studies in neurodegenerative diseases show that - during their initial stages - face recognition and facial expression can be specifically affected. Little has been done to assess these difficulties in clinical practice. They could constitute a useful marker for differential diagnosis, especially for the clinical differentiation of Alzheimer's disease (AD) from frontotemporal dementia (FTD). Social difficulties and some behavioural problems observed in these patients may, at least partly, result from these deficits in face processing. Thus, it is important to specify the possible underlying anatomofunctional substrates of these deficits as well as to plan suitable remediation programs.

[Processing facial identity and emotional expression in normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases].

Immersive technologies, such as Virtual Reality (VR), have great potential for enhancing users' emotions and wellbeing. However, how immersion, Virtual Environment contents, and sense of presence (SoP) influence emotional responses remains to be clarified to efficiently foster positive emotions. Consequently, a total of 26 participants (16 women, 10 men, 22.73 ± 2.69 years old) were exposed to 360-degree videos of natural and social contents on both a highly immersive Head-Mounted Display and a low immersive computer screen. Subjective emotional responses and SoP were assessed after each video using self-reports, while a wearable wristband collected continuously electrodermal activity and heart rate to record physiological emotional responses. Findings supported the added value of immersion, as more positive emotions and greater subjective arousal were reported after viewing the videos in the highly immersive setting, regardless of the video contents. In addition to usually employed natural contents, the findings also provide initial evidence for the effectiveness of social contents in eliciting positive emotions. Finally, structural equation models shed light on the indirect effect of immersion, through spatial and spatial SoP on subjective arousal. Overall, these are encouraging results about the effectiveness of VR for fostering positive emotions. Future studies should further investigate the influence of user characteristics on VR experiences to foster efficiently positive emotions among a broad range of potential users.

Feeling Virtually Present Makes Me Happier: The Influence of Immersion, Sense of Presence, and Video Contents on Positive Emotion Induction.

While the recognition of ambiguous emotions is crucial for successful social interactions, previous work has shown that they are perceived differently depending on whether they are viewed on male or female faces. The present paper aims to shed light on this phenomenon by exploring two hypotheses: the confounded signal hypothesis, which posits the existence of perceptual overlaps between emotions and gendered morphotypes, and the social role hypothesis, according to which the observer's responses are biased by stereotypes. Participants were asked to categorise blended faces (i.e. artificial faces made ambiguous by mixing two emotions) in a forced-choice task. Six emotions were used to create each blend (neutral, surprise, sadness, fear, happiness, anger), for a total of 15 expressions. We then applied signal detection theory - considering both the morphotype of the stimuli and the participants' gender - to distinguish participants' perceptual processes from their response biases. The results showed a perceptual advantage for anger on male faces and for sadness on female faces. However, different strategies were deployed when labelling emotions on gendered morphotypes. In particular, a response bias towards angry male faces establishes their special status, as they resulted in both excellent detection and a tendency to be over-reported, especially by women.

He must be mad; she might be sad: perceptual and decisional aspects of emotion recognition in ambiguous faces.

Understanding the influence of emotions on social interactions is important for a global understanding of the dynamics of human behavior. In this study, we investigated the interplay between emotions, spontaneous approach or avoidance tendencies, and the regulation of interpersonal distance. Fifty-seven healthy adults participated in a three-part experiment involving exposure to approaching or withdrawing emotional faces (neutral, happy, sad, fearful, disgusted, angry). The sequence began with an initial computerized stop-distance task, followed by a postural task in which participants' approach or avoidance tendencies were quantified via center of pressure (CoP-Y) displacements on a force platform, and concluded with a final computerized stop-distance task. Our findings revealed a gradient in postural responses, with the most forward CoP-Y displacements for neutral and happy faces, indicative of approach tendencies. These were followed by lesser forward displacements for sad and fearful faces, and most pronounced backward displacements for disgusted and angry faces, indicating avoidance. Furthermore, we observed modulations in participants' preferred interpersonal distance based on emotional cues, with neutral and happy faces associated with shorter distances, and disgusted and angry faces linked to larger distances. Despite these similar results, no direct correlation was found between CoP-Y and preferred interpersonal distance, underscoring a dissociation between spontaneous and voluntary social behaviors. These results contribute to a better understanding of how emotional expressions shape social interactions and underscore the importance of considering emotional cues, postural action tendencies, and interpersonal distance in facilitating successful social interactions.

Keeping distance or getting closer: How others' emotions shape approach-avoidance postural behaviors and preferred interpersonal distance.

Age-related changes in emotional processing are complex, with a bias toward positive information. However, the impact of aging on emotional responses in positive everyday situations remains unclear. Virtual Reality (VR) has emerged as a promising tool for investigating emotional processing, offering a unique balance between ecological validity and experimental control. Yet, limited evidence exists regarding its efficacy to elicit positive emotions in older adults. Our study aimed to explore age-related differences in positive emotional responses to immersion in both social and nonsocial virtual emotional environments. We exposed 34 younger adults and 24 older adults to natural and social 360-degree video content through a low immersive computer screen and a highly immersive Head-Mounted Display, while recording participants' physiological reactions. Participants also provided self-report of their emotions and sense of presence. The findings support VR's efficacy in eliciting positive emotions in both younger and older adults, with age-related differences in emotional responses influenced by the specific video content rather than immersion level. These findings underscore the potential of VR as a valuable tool for examining age-related differences in emotional responses and developing VR applications to enhance emotional wellbeing across diverse user populations.

Age-related differences in subjective and physiological emotion evoked by immersion in natural and social virtual environments.

Can personality, known to shape emotional experiences and gaze behaviors, influence the recognition of subtle emotional facial expressions? Do these personality-related gaze patterns change with emotional intensity? To explore this, we conducted an eye-tracking experiment with 116 participants who identified dynamic emotional facial expressions of varying intensities (anger, fear, disgust, happiness). Using a multidimensional approach to personality, we clustered participants based on Big Five personality dimensions and anxiety scores, distinguishing those scoring high in dimensions associated with positive (extroversion, agreeableness) versus negative emotions (neuroticism, social anxiety). Results showed that individuals with a positively-colored personality focused more on the mouth (likely seeking happiness cues), while those with a negatively-colored personality focused more on the eyes (likely seeking signs of negative emotions). However, at higher intensity, these gaze patterns persisted only when emotions matched participants' personality (individuals with a negatively-colored personality focused more on the eyes than others, but only when viewing fear or anger). Yet, personality did not affect the sensory discrimination or decision-making processes for subtle emotion identification. Thus, personality, as a multidimensional construct, seems to influence gaze strategies, facilitating emotionally congruent experiences without hindering the recognition of others' emotions, even subtle ones, which is crucial for effective social interactions.

How personality shapes gaze behavior without compromising subtle emotion recognition.

Accurately interpreting emotional states from facial expressions is crucial for effective social interactions. This study investigates age-related differences in interpersonal distance (IPD) regulation and emotion recognition using a virtual reality (VR) environment. We examined how younger and older adults adjust their IPD in response to emotional expressions from virtual agents.

Regulation of interpersonal distance in virtual reality: Implications for socio-emotional functioning in late adulthood.

Body leaning (indicating directional postural movements) and sway (indicating reduced mobility) are often used to assess, respectively, approach/avoidance and freezing in response to emotional stimuli. These responses are typically quantified using force plates that monitor the displacement of the Center of Pressure. In this article, meta-analytical analyses were conducted to synthesize findings from 44 studies (total N participants = 1756) identified from 5 databases that manipulated the valence of stimuli displayed-pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant-and measured corresponding body sway and leaning. The analyses revealed significant heterogeneity in the reported effects across the studies. Overall, only contrasting pleasant to unpleasant conditions (vs. contrasting pleasant to neutral, or unpleasant to neutral conditions) resulted in a small meta-analytical effect size. Moderating variables such as the type of design used and the duration of exposure to stimuli question the nature of the effects reported in the literature and indicate a risk of potential confounding variables. Recommendations for future studies, with an emphasis on mitigating false negative rate by ensuring a large enough sample size, are discussed.

Article	Year
[Processing facial identity and emotional expression in normal aging and neurodegenerative diseases]. Psychologie & neuropsychiatrie du vieillissement\| PubMed ID: 19251570	2009
Feeling Virtually Present Makes Me Happier: The Influence of Immersion, Sense of Presence, and Video Contents on Positive Emotion Induction. Cyberpsychology, behavior and social networking\| PubMed ID: 37001171	2023
He must be mad; she might be sad: perceptual and decisional aspects of emotion recognition in ambiguous faces. Cognition & emotion\| PubMed ID: 37732611	2023
Keeping distance or getting closer: How others' emotions shape approach-avoidance postural behaviors and preferred interpersonal distance. PloS one\| PubMed ID: 38306322	2024
Age-related differences in subjective and physiological emotion evoked by immersion in natural and social virtual environments. Scientific reports\| PubMed ID: 38961132	2024
How personality shapes gaze behavior without compromising subtle emotion recognition. Quarterly journal of experimental psychology (2006)\| PubMed ID: 40183473	2025
Regulation of interpersonal distance in virtual reality: Implications for socio-emotional functioning in late adulthood. PloS one\| PubMed ID: 40338893	2025
The Effects of Exposure to Pleasant and Unpleasant Stimuli on Body Posture: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Psychophysiology\| PubMed ID: 40852944	2025

Laurence Chaby

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