Seniors’ Sensing of Agents’ Personality from Facial Expressions

The presented study investigated the preferences of seniors towards artificial avatars showing personality both from a pragmatic and a hedonic point of view. Also, preferences for technological devices were considered. The involved participants were 45 adults (20 female) aged 65+ years in good health. They were asked to watch video clips of 4 agents (two males and two females) showing different personality traits (i.e. angry, depressed, joyful, and practical), and subsequently had to complete a questionnaire. Subjects were not informed about an avatar’s personality and not openly interviewed regarding this subject. Rather, the administered questionnaire was devoted to test their perception of agents and whether such complies with the intended characteristics. Results show that subjects prefer female agents with a positive personality (joyful and practical) on both pragmatic and hedonic dimensions of the interactive system.