Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Feb 15, 2019
Date Accepted: Jun 6, 2019
Appearance of a Health-Advisor. Age-related Differences in the Evaluation of a Virtual Assistant's Appearance and Embodiment in a Health-Related Interaction
ABSTRACT
Background:
Assistive technologies become more important due to the aging population especially when they foster healthy behavior. Because of their natural interface, virtual agents are a promising possibility to assist people with need of support. To engage people in the interaction with these technologies, such assistants need to match the users´ needs and preferences especially with regard to social outcomes.
Objective:
Prior research already determined the importance of an agent’s appearance in a human-agent interaction. Since especially seniors can benefit from the use of virtual agents in order 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.
Methods:
Therefore, a 2x4 between subjects design was used in order to investigate age-related differences of appearance effects within a human-agent interaction: 46 seniors and 84 students interacted in a health scenario with a virtual agent, whose appearance was varied between a cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, a cartoon-stylized machinelike agent, a more realistic humanoid agent and no embodied agent (voice only). After the interaction, participants reported on the agent’s evaluation, usage intention, the perceived presence of the agent, bonding toward the agent and the overall evaluation of the interaction.
Results:
Findings suggest that seniors evaluated the agent more positive (liked the agent more, evaluated it as more realistic, attractive and sociable) and showed more bonding towards the agent regardless of the presented appearance. In addition, interaction effects were found. Seniors stated highest usage intentions for the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, while students stated lowest usage intentions for this appearance. The same pattern was found for participants´ bonding toward the agent. Seniors showed more bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent or the voice only condition, while students showed lowest values of bonding for the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent.
Conclusions:
In health-related interactions, target-group related differences exist with regard to the virtual assistant’s appearance. When elderly are the focused target-group, a virtual assistant should be designed in a humanoid way, to trigger specific social responses.
Citation
