Investigating the behavioural and cerebral bases of empathy using human-computer interactions

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Empathy is the ability to understand and share to some extent the feeling of another person. This complex phenomenon has been studied from a neuroscience and neurophysiological perspective for a number of years. Even if this research on the cerebral bases of empathy has advanced considerably in the last decade, this field has met a number of challenges. One of these challenges has been the use of well-controlled but not very engaging experimental designs involving emotions or pain, thus not very representative of actual interactions. The main goal of this project is to continue the study of empathy by looking at the responses of the human body and brain during empathic interactions. This time, we will bring it to another level by using human-machine interactions, where the machine (computer-generated characters, also named avatars or virtual agents) can play either the role of the person suffering or of the care taker. The first objective of this project is to study the participants' neurophysiological responses to (1) non-verbal behaviours, (2) incongruent behaviours and (3) the expression of combined affective states (more than one emotion at the time), all presented by virtual agents. We will use various contexts of pain and emotions to study both the perspectives of the sufferer or of the carer. For the second objective, we will record the behaviour and physiological responses of large groups of participants interacting with virtual agents and use advanced statistical methods (machine learning) to determine which one ("markers") are the most predictive of an empathic reaction. Then, the third objective will be to create and test the use of the predictive combination of markers (algorithms) to introduce real-time adaptive retroactions from the computer-generated characters. This empathic virtual agent will be compared to pre-programmed virtual agents. Finally, the fourth objective is to improve human-human interactions by using the same algorithms previously developed to send information to a common device such as a computer screen (augmented empathy). This will allow people interacting together to obtain cues, which are typically not available to them, about the affective state of the other person. This research programme will provide unique and stimulating multidisciplinary training opportunities to students and personnel from different fields of research. The project will contribute to a better understanding of human's cerebral and physiological responses during empathic interactions, while also having an impact on the development of virtual agents and computer interfaces that take into account the emotional state of the use. Finally, it will open the door to designing state-of-the-art technological means to improve human-human interaction.