Emotion-Oriented Systems

Preface

This book is composed of a series of studies focusing on emotions, and in particular on human−machine interaction systems. Interaction systems are no longer simply efficient, precise and fast information units. They aim to provide the end-user with an emotional experience (the iPhone being a good example). They need to consider and even act on end-users’ emotions (such as “serious games”, which are designed to create an optimum learning environment) and to display emotions (through Embodied Conversational Agents). This new generation of systems can detect the user’s emotional state, can identify trigger factors, act upon these emotions or even express an emotion.

Emotions are a complex phenomenon. They involve the evaluation of an event according to several dimensions including physiological, physical and cognitive changes. Emotions have been studied for a number of years through which several theoretical models have been explored, although there is no overall consensus on their various elements. Emotional theories also differ with regard to the (understanding of the) relation between evaluating an event and producing a physical expression and even the concept of emotional expression as a regulator or a purely social expression. However, the link between the cognitive and the physical aspects of emotions is also highlighted by a number of theories.

Emotions have been involved in the world of technology for a number of years. Affective computing (so-called by Rosalind ...