Frontiers in Computer Science (Nov 2023)

Older adults' perspectives on multimodal interaction with a conversational virtual coach

  • Mira El Kamali,
  • Leonardo Angelini,
  • Leonardo Angelini,
  • Denis Lalanne,
  • Omar Abou Khaled,
  • Elena Mugellini

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fcomp.2023.1125895
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 5

Abstract

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IntroductionThe use of multiple interfaces may improve the perception of a stronger relationship between a conversational virtual coach and older adults. The purpose of this paper is to show the effect of output combinations [single-interface (chatbot, tangible coach), multi-interface (assignment, redundant-complementary)] of two distinct conversational agent interfaces (chatbot and tangible coach) on the eCoach-user relationship (closeness, commitment, complementarity) and the older adults' feeling of social presence of the eCoach.MethodsOur study was conducted with two different study settings: an online web survey and a face to face experiment.ResultsOur online study with 59 seniors shows that the output modes in multi-interface redundant-complementary manner significantly improves the eCoach-user relationship and social presence of the eCoach compared to only using single-interfaces outputs. Whereas in our face to face experiment with 15 seniors, significant results were found only in terms of higher social presence of multi-interface redundant complementary manner compared to chatbot only.DiscussionWe also investigated the effect of each study design on our results, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.

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