Modeling Emotion and Its Expression in Virtual Humans

A growing body of work in psychology and the neurosciences has documented the functional, often adaptive role of emotions in human behavior. This has led to a significant growth in research on computationalmodels of human emotional processes, fueled both by their basic research potential as well as the promise that the function of emotion in human behavior can be exploited in a range of applications. Computational models transform theory construction by providing a framework for studying emotion processes that augments what is feasible in more traditional laboratory settings. Modern research in the psychological processes and neural underpinnings of emotion is also transforming the science of computation. In particular, findings on the role that emotions play in human behavior have motivated artificial intelligence and robotics research to explore whether modeling emotion processes can lead to more intelligent, flexible and capable systems. Further, as research has revealed the deep role that emotion and its expression play in human social interaction, researchers have proposed that more effective human computer interaction can be realized if the interaction is mediated both by a model of the user’s emotional state as well as by the expression of emotions.