Theory of Affect
Part One
MS2306
Affective Gaming(haptic feedback)
Watch• Watch• Affective Gaming
• More reading…• Chapter one of Where
the Action is by Paul Dourish
• Cognitive and Cultural Views of Emotions by Rogério DePaula and Paul Dourish
Question
• What is the difference between 'affect' and 'effect'?
‘Affect' and ‘Effect'?
• To effect something is a rather formal way of saying `to make it happen'.
• To cause and effect
AskOxford.com
‘Affect' and ‘Effect'?• Confusingly, either may produce
an 'effect' or result.
• The stability of the wall was affected by passing lorries.
• The demolition of the wall was effected by the detonation of a charge of dynamite.
• The dynamite did not just 'affect' (influence) the demolition of the wall: it caused it.
AskOxford.com
Not a Theory of Effect
• To affect something is to change or influence it
To Influence?
To Affect?
• What was affected?
• What was influenced?
• Affect of sound might impact decisions? • Scores go down with sound turned off
How does the theoretical concept of affect relate to your research?
Focus on the User
User-Centred-DesignUser-Experience-Design
Cognitive HCI• Conceptual framework
from cognitive psychology
• How users establish mental models about a process
• Ordering a book from Amazon
• Playing a game
User-Centred-Design
• The focusing of– Attention– Understanding – Memory
• Decision-making processes – interface design – games design
Mind/Computer
Understanding decision-making
Mental Models
Emotional Design
Shift away from cognitive models
Towards design focused on emotions, feelings, affect, reflection and behaviour
Cognition/Affect
Representation/Nonrepresentation
What is in the box?
Representation/Nonrepresentation
What is in the box?
Representation/Nonrepresentation
What is in the box?
Representation/Nonrepresentation
What is in the box?The Amygdala in 5 Minutes
Emotion and Computing
Emotion and Computing
How many of us become upset using computers?
Emotional Design
Norman’s distinction between (2004 pp. 11-33)
1. Affect (visceral)2. Cognition 3. Emotion
Affect (visceral)
• Subconscious, beneath conscious awareness
• Affect = Rapid judgments, determined by environmental pressures (safety, danger)
Gut Feeling
• Visceral =• Queasy, uneasy,
tense, edgy, shocked, jolted, jump out your skin = affect
• Muscles tighten, digestive system upset
Cognition
• Consciousness, arrives late, after affect
• Info processing – interprets, makes sense of the world
Emotion
• Conscious experience of affect
• Attribution of cause and identification of its object – allows decision to be made
• Anger at a particular cause = emotion
What might this distinction (affect, cognition, emotion) tell us about
decision-making processes?
Decision Making
• Norman notes how cognition and affect can influence each other, but that the affective system is independent of conscious thought
• Question: How does affect influence decision-making processes?
How does affect influence decision making processes?
• Tightrope Walk
– 1ft above the ground– 3ft above the ground
– Now what bout 2,000ft above the ground?
Affective system is independent of conscious thought
• The viscera of affect changes our decision
• How reflection rationalizes that it’s the same tightrope – requiring no more skill or balance, but the visceral side (fear of heights) takes over…
Conscious rationalization comes after affective system has released
its chemicals of fear
Affect
• Question - Why is all this of interest to interface and games designers?
Affect
• Answer - Emotions that follow affect are judgmental; prepare a body’s response to unforeseen events
• They influence decision-making processes
Emotional Design
• Cognitive attention, understanding and memory play an important part in decision-making processes
• However!
Noncognitive
• The noncognitive realm of affect provides a critical backdrop that assists decision making process
• … making rapid selections between…
Friend or Foe?
How can you influence the affective system of the user?
Good or Bad?
How can you “measure” the emotional response of the user?
Happy or Sad?
How can you manipulate the user’s response to a character?
Safety or Danger?
How can you manipulate the user’s response to an event?
What else does affect tell us about usability & everyday things
• Usability (consumability) and aesthetics are related
• Aesthetics – of the senses
• From the design of ATMs to wine glasses
Affective Design
• Beauty and function are related
• Sensory environments and function are related
• Emotion and functionality are related
Affective Design
Affect and Ease of Use
Ease of Use
• Cognitive science argues that when anxious, scared or frightened, cognitive attention narrows
Affect and Ease of Use
• When people are relaxed, happy or aroused, thought processes expand, becoming more creative, imaginative and likely to have fun
• Funology
Affect and Ease of Use
• Therefore Norman’s assertion
• Attractive things make people feel good and that heightened creativity makes it easier to find solutions
Norman’s Model of Experience Processing
Three Levels of Processing
Norman’s Model of Experience Processing
Visceral (affective)– Automatic,
unconscious, prewired – supports fixed routines
Norman’s Model of Experience Processing
Behavioural– Brain process that control
everyday behaviours – Not conscious
– e.g. Experience of driving a familiar route in a car
– Learned performance– Highly skilled (practiced)
players/workers able to focus on higher level of play/work
Norman’s Model of Experience Processing
Reflective– Contemplative part of the
brain– Highest level of cognition,
conscious thought– Learning of new concepts and
generalizations of the world
Norman’s claim“You cannot escape affect”
1. All three levels interact with each other
2. Bottom up driven by perception and gut feelings/reactions
3. Top down driven by thought
4. Everything has a cognitive and affective component
“You cannot escape affect”
• Cognitive assigns “meaning” – culturally learned responses
• Affective assigns “value” – changes how we think
Engineers are having fun with affective technology…
• Affective Computing (see affect part two)
• Affective Gaming –
• "The Sinking City of Atlantis"
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=AZO8sfmpKIQ
Affective PingPongPlus
•http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=XEuy7Zpo4IE
Tony’s Seminar
Test Affect
Users and Testers
• Watch
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t80sdBtB-Gc
Observing Facial Expression During User Experience
Look at current use of this technology http://www.affectiva.com/affdex/#pane_overview
Duchenne de Boulogne
How to gauge what users feel about their user experience?
• Attribute an emotion to the following six faces
• Watch video on emotions and the brain (30mins)
1
2
3
4
5
6
1
Contempt:Slight pressing of the lips and a raising of the corners on one side.
2
Happiness:Corners of the lips are drawn back and up.The mouth may or may not be parted, with teeth exposed or not.A wrinkle (the naso-labial fold) runs down from the nose to the outer edge beyond the lip corners.The cheeks are raised.The lower eyelid shows wrinkles below it, and may be raised but not tense.Crow's-feet wrinkles go outward from the outer corners of the eyes (but may be covered by hair).There may also be a sparkle in the eyes, a glistening.
3
Surprise:The brows are raised, so that they are curved and high.The skin below the brow is stretchedHorizontal wrinkles go across the foreheadThe eyelids are opened, the upper lid raised and the lower lid drawn down; the white of the eye (the sclera) shows above the iris, and often below as well.The jaw drops open so that the lips and teeth are parted, but there is no tension or stretching of the mouth.
4
Anger:The brows are lowered and drawn together.Vertical lines appear between the brows.The lower lid is tensed and may or may not be raised.The upper lid is tensed and may or may not be lowered by the action of the brow.The eyes have a hard stare and may have a bulging appearance.The lips are in either of two basic positions: pressed firmly together with the corners straight or down; or open, tensed in a squarish shape as if shouting.The nostrils may be dilated, but this is not essential to the anger facial expression and may also occur in sadness.There is ambiguity unless anger is registered in all three facial areas.
5
Fear:The brows are raised and drawn together.The wrinkles in the forehead are in the center, not across the entire forehead.The upper eyelid is raised, explosing sclera (whites of the eyes), and the lower eyelid is tensed and drawn up.The mouth is open and the lips are either tensed slightly and drawn back or stretched and drawn back.
6
Disgust:The upper lip is raised.The lower lip is also raised and pushed up to the upper lip, or is lowered and slightly protruding.The nose is wrinkled.The cheeks are raised.Lines show below the lower lid, and the lid is pushed up but not tense.The brow is lowered, lowering the upper lid.
Reading Mixed Emotions
Sleight Sadness Fear mixed with surprise
Happiness and contempt
Sadness and fear
Disgust and contempt
Fear and surprise Questioning surprise
Neutral
Documentary on emotions and the brain:
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZu5J472_RY
• 30mins
Joseph LeDouxNeuroscience
• The Amygdala in 5 Minutes
• The Amygdala and Unconscious Memories
• Joseph LeDoux's Biggest Discoveries
Game
Unmasking the Facehttp://www.neurodiversity.com/nvc/index.html