Exhibition Program

Science of Communication and Computation

12

Measuring emotional response and emotion sharing

- Quantitative assessment of empathic communication -

Abstract

Empathy is the basis of people's social lives. However, the mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated because it is a complex phenomenon consisting of subjectivity, physiology, and behavior. The purpose of this study is to quantify empathy from a multifaceted point of view considering individual differences. We examined how physiology, behavior and cognition are related in an individual, and how they are shared with other individuals. In order to deal with the large individual difference in the subjective judgment, we built a computational model that explains the individual difference from their personality traits, exploiting the wisdom of the group approach which aggregates the judgment of multiple individuals. This kind of framework for quantitative measurement of empathy including individual differences will make it possible to assess and predict the effects of interventions that promote empathy tailored to individuals. We believe this is an essential step toward improving human well-being.

References

  • [1] M. Perusquia-Hernandez, S. Ayabe-Kanamura, K. Suzuki, S. Kumano, “The Invisible Potential of Facial Electromyography: a Comparison of EMG and Computer Vision when Distinguishing Posed from Spontaneous Smiles,” in Proc. Conf. Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI), 2019.
  • [2] L. Antaket, M. Matsuda, K. Otsuka, S. Kumano, “Analyzing Generation and Cognition of Emotional Congruence using Empathizing- Systemizing Quotient,” International Journal of Affective Engineering, Vol. 17, No. 3, pp. 183-192, 2018.

Poster

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Contact

Shiro Kumano, Sensory Resonance Research Group, Human Information Science Laboratory
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