Osaka University of Arts

Dong R., Chen Y., Cai D., Nakagawa S., Higaki T., Asai N.

Aoyama K., Miyamoto N., Sakurai S., Iizuka H., Mizukami M., Furukawa M., Maeda T., Ando H.

Percutaneous electrical stimulation modifies brain and nerve excitability and also stimulates various sensory organs. Although it can be applied to sensory information displays, virtual reality, and human augmentation, the effect on human intranasal chemosensation, including olfaction, is not clearly understood. In this paper, we introduce galvanic olfactory stimulation, in which non-invasive electrical stimulation induces virtual intranasal chemosensation. For this purpose, we designed an electrode configuration using a finite element analysis simulation. We then conducted two psychophysical experiments comparing different stimulation configurations and asking subjects to describe their sensation experiences. The results demonstrate that galvanic olfactory stimulation using a pair of electrodes at the nasal bridge and the dorsal surface of the neck induces virtual irritating intranasal chemosensation. This observation suggests that, at the very least, the proposed galvanic olfactory stimulation method induces irritating intranasal chemosensation. This implies that an electric current stimulates the trigeminal nerve in the inner region of the nasal cavity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report to demonstrate virtual intranasal chemosensation using non-invasive electrical stimulation of the external surface of the nose.

Nishimura S., Kimata D., Sato W., Kanbara M., Fujimoto Y., Kato H., Hagita N.

This paper proposes emotion amplification for TV chat agents allowing users to get more excited in TV sports programs, and a model that estimates the excitement level of TV programs based on the number of social comment posts. The proposed model extracts the exciting intervals from social comments to the program scenes. By synchronizing recorded video streams and the intervals, the agents may talk with the user dynamically changing the frequency and volume of upbeat utterances, increasing the excitement of the user. To test these agents, participants watched TV content under three conditions: without an agent, with four agents that utter with a flat voice, and with four agents with emotion amplification. Results from 24 young adult Japanese individuals showed that their arousal of participants’ subjective and physiological emotional responses were boosted because of the agents, enhancing their motivation to interact with the agent in the future. With empirical evidence, this paper supports these expectations and demonstrates that these agents can amplify the positive emotions of TV watchers, enhancing their motivation to interact with the agent in the future.

Nishimura S., Nakamura T., Sato W., Kanbara M., Fujimoto Y., Kato H., Hagita N.

Robots that can talk with humans play increasingly important roles in society. However, current conversation robots remain unskilled at eliciting empathic feelings in humans. To address this problem, we used a robot that speaks in a voice synchronized with human vocal prosody. We conducted an experiment in which human participants held positive conversations with the robot by reading scenarios under conditions with and without vocal synchronization. We assessed seven subjective responses related to affective empathy (e.g., emotional connection) and measured the physiological emotional responses using facial electromyography from the corrugator supercilii and zygomatic major muscles as well as the skin conductance level. The subjective ratings consistently revealed heightened empathic responses to the robot in the synchronization condition compared with that under the de-synchronizing condition. The physiological signals showed that more positive and stronger emotional arousal responses to the robot with synchronization. These findings suggest that robots that are able to vocally synchronize with humans can elicit empathic emotional responses.

Ohtani T., Maruya K.

Expressing the physical world using symbols and numbers (abstract thinking) is critical to scientific reasoning. Several studies have shown that experience with the correspondence between abstract graphic representations and the physical world can aid the acquisition of abstract representations. We evaluated the potential of optical illusions to help hone abstract reasoning. Optical illusions occur when stimuli in the physical world do not match the viewer’s subjective experiences, and both the physical world and perceptual experience must be understood. This study proposed an educational program on optical illusions and subjective experience in the form of a workshop for high-school students in Japan. We designed optical illusion blocks by combining geometric figure patterns with the physical world and developed two specialized learning programs. The psychological experimental results were consistent with the rules of illusion. According to the post-intervention questionnaire, the participants felt they understood these rules based on the experiments in the first part of the program. The results demonstrated that they could apply the rules thus learned to some extent and that the proposed program based on the illusion phenomenon effectively improved abstract thinking abilities.

Ando H., Ono N.

In this paper, we discuss the effect of using an avatar on interpersonal communication. Past research has confirmed that changes in communication and cognition such as the “Proteus effect” and “disappearance of stereotypes” occur. In this research, we are discussing whether we can improve our own wellbeing. Users with a tendency to stutter cannot speak well face-to-face, but wearing an avatar reduces the number of times they stutter, and it was confirmed that stress was reduced from the biological response. Based on this, we discuss the impact of avatars on communication-related wellbeing.

Matsumoto M., Yamamoto K.

Ando H., Chen D., Watanabe J., Sakakura K.

The types of wellbeing can be broadly divided into medical health, entertainment pleasures, and a sustainable good state of mind. In particular, the third sustainable good state of mind can easily worsen the condition depending on the IT equipment (smartphone application, etc.) used daily. However, it is difficult for designers to predict many of these problems in advance. To address these issues, we have considered workshop methods and created manuals that work in situations where creative ideas are presented in the form of a hackathon. In this method, not only the IT designer, user, accounting, professional, creator, to form a group of the various positions, such as artists. Initially, from the beginning as a usual hackathon, not to consider the ideas towards the goal. We are in for a test bench of this approach, gathered members of such companies and students and local governments, we conducted seven workshops. And, for the ideas that were conceived using these techniques, we will introduce.

Dong R., Cai D., Hayano S., Nakagawa S., Ikuno S.

Abstract Bunraku theater is a traditional Japanese performing art. Bunraku puppeteering can invoke deep unconscious affective reactions from the audience, overcoming what is known as the uncanny valley effect. The authors analyze Bunraku plays, showing that the music tempo and puppet movements follow the Jo-Ha-Kyū principle, which refers to recursive and fractal artistic modulations such as changes of tempo and rhythm breaks. The authors then illustrate the difference between Bunraku and European dance and finally propose the application of Jo-Ha-Kyū in character animation design.