Non-verbal signals for grounding in embodied conversational agent

In face-to-face conversation, speakers present non-verbal signals collateral with verbal information. Nodding and gazing at a speaker are known to provide positive feedback from listeners, which contributes to establishing common ground (a process called grounding). However, previous theories and computational models of grounding were mainly concerned with verbal grounding acts, and there have not been enough discussion about how nonverbal behaviors are used in the process of grounding. This thesis first compares face-to-face conversation to conversation without co-presence, revealing how nonverbal behaviors are used in the process of grounding in human communication. Results of the analysis show that, in face-to-face communication, non-verbal behaviors are changing during an utterance and a typical transition pattern of non-verbal behaviors is also different depending on the type of verbal act. Then, the implementation of grounding functionality onto an Embodied Conversational Agent is presented. The dialogue state updating mechanism in the Dialogue Manager accesses non-verbal information conveyed by a user and judges the groundedness of presented materials based on the results of empirical study.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2002

Author dc:creator

• Nakano, Yukiko I., 1963-

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Justine Cassell.

• Architecture. Program In Media Arts and Sciences.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/62369

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/62369