Age-Related Differences in the Evaluation of a Virtual Health Agent’s Appearance and Embodiment in a Health-Related Interaction: Experimental Lab Study

Abstract

Background Assistive technologies have become more important owing to the aging population, especially when they foster healthy behaviors. Because of their natural interface, virtual agents are promising assistants for people in need of support. To engage people during an interaction with these technologies, such assistants need to match the users´ needs and preferences, especially with regard to social outcomes. Objective Prior research has already determined the importance of an agent’s appearance in a human-agent interaction. As seniors can particularly benefit from the use of virtual agents 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 A 2×4 between-subjects design was used to investigate the age-related differences of appearance effects in a human-agent interaction. In this study, 46 seniors and 84 students interacted in a health scenario with a virtual agent, whose appearance varied (cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, cartoon-stylized machine-like agent, more realistic humanoid agent, and nonembodied agent [voice only]). After the interaction, participants reported on the evaluation of the agent, usage intention, perceived presence of the agent, bonding toward the agent, and overall evaluation of the interaction. Results The findings suggested that seniors evaluated the agent more positively (liked the agent more and evaluated it as more realistic, attractive, and sociable) and showed more bonding toward the agent regardless of the appearance than did students. In addition, interaction effects were found. Seniors reported the highest usage intention for the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent, whereas students reported the lowest usage intention for this agent. The same pattern was found for participant bonding with the agent. Seniors showed more bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent or voice only agent, whereas students showed the least bonding when interacting with the cartoon-stylized humanoid agent. Conclusions In health-related interactions, target group–related differences exist with regard to a virtual assistant’s appearance. When elderly individuals are the target group, a humanoid virtual assistant might trigger specific social responses and be evaluated more positively at least in short-term interactions.

Improving User Experience of Virtual Health Assistants: Scoping Review

“…Studies were most often published in conference proceedings in fields related to interdisciplinary research on intelligent virtual agents and human-computer interactions, with fewer published in health-related fields. No significant effect [48] a , [51] No significant effect [48] a , [51,62] No significant effect [48] a Mixed negative [48] a , [62] 3 (7) Animated avatar (vs no visual representation)…”

Virtual Agent Representation for Critical Transactions

“…In [15], for instance, species and realism are identified as the key variables of agent appearance. The research indicates different species (human, animal, robots, objects, and mystical creatures) and realism levels (stylization, resolution, and detailedness) which, in later work by the same authors, was demonstrated to have an impact on older people's willingness to interact with an agent [16,17].…”

Look who's talking: appearance of embodied conversational agents in eHealth

“…Three articles researched the design feature agency (Gambino et al, 2019;Sin & Munteanu, 2019;Straßmann et al, 2020). The articles show ambiguous results.…”

“…Three articles researched the design feature rendering style Mostajeran et al, 2019;Straßmann et al, 2020). The articles show no effect of the ECA's rendering style (realistic or cartoony) on user's intention to use (Straßmann et al, 2020), (intention towards) behaviour change , usability and user experience (Straßmann et al, 2020), the user's perception of the ECA's characteristics , perceived realism, likeability, trustworthiness, competence, attractiveness and sociability (Straßmann et al, 2020) and the user's relation with the ECA (Straßmann et al, 2020). However, a study by Mostajeran et al shows an effect of the ECA's rendering style.…”

“…,,Mostajeran et al (2019),Straßmann et al (2020),,, Clothing: professional (vs. other) Nguyen & Masthoff (2007), Parmar et al (2018), ter Stal et al (2020), Zalake et al (2018) Body shape: slim (vs. fat)  Schmeil & Suggs (2014), Skalski et al (2007), van Vugt et al (2006) Gender: female (vs. male)  Alsharbi & Richards (2017), Azevedo et al (2018), Forlizzi et al (2007), Malhotra et al (2016), Mostajeran et al (2019), ter Stal et al (2020), ter Stal et al (2020), ter Stal et al (submitted) Age: young (vs. old)  Alsharbi & Richards (2017), Azevedo et al (2018), ter Stal et al (2020), ter Stal et al (2020), ter Stal et al (submitted), Wissen et al (2016) Cultural tailoring (vs. no)  Alsharbi & Richards (2017), Yin et al (2010), Zhou et al (2014), Zhou et al…”