Dynamic vs. Static

Abstract

Technological advances will allow virtual agents to increasingly assist individuals with everyday living tasks. As such, virtual agents will interact with people of all ages and experiences. Facial expressions are often used to facilitate social interaction. However, older and younger adults do not label human (Ruffman et al., 2008) or virtual agent (Beer et al., 2009; 2010) facial expressions in the same way, with older adults commonly mislabeling certain expressions. Dynamic formation, or motion, of facial expression may provide additional facial information potentially making emotions less ambiguous (Bould & Morris, 2008). This study examined how motion affects younger and older adults in recognizing emotion displayed by a virtual agent. Participants viewed videos of the dynamic formation or static pictures of emotive facial expressions. Older adults were found to better recognize static pictures than the dynamic formation of emotions. Older adults had lower recognition rates for anger, fear, happiness, and sadness than younger adults.