The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context

Jeunese A. Payne; Graham I. Johnson; Andrea Szymkowiak

doi:10.14236/ewic/HCI2011.28

The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context

Jeunese A. Payne, Graham I. Johnson, Andrea Szymkowiak

Department of Cybersecurity and Computing

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

4 Citations (Scopus)

148 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Our research investigated whether the presence of an interface agent - or virtual assistant (VA) - in a self-service checkout context has behavioural effects on the transaction process during particular tasks. While many participants claimed to have not noticed a VA within the self-service interface, behaviour was still affected, i.e. fewer people made errors with the VA present than in the voice-only and control conditions. The results are explained as reflective of an unconscious observation of non-verbal cues exhibited by the VA. The results are discussed in relation to possible behavioural outcomes of VA presence.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of HCI 2011 the 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction
Publisher	BCS Learning & Development Ltd.
Pages	58-63
Number of pages	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/HCI2011.28
Publication status	Published - 1 Jul 2011
Event	25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction: Health, Wealth & Happiness - Northumbria University’s City Campus, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom Duration: 4 Jul 2011 → 8 Jul 2011 Conference number: 25th https://web.archive.org/web/20110821060227/http://hci2011.co.uk/site

Publication series

Name	Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)
Publisher	BCS Learning & Development
ISSN (Print)	1477-9358

Conference

Conference	25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction
Abbreviated title	HCI 2011
Country/Territory	United Kingdom
City	Newcastle Upon Tyne
Period	4/07/11 → 8/07/11
Internet address	https://web.archive.org/web/20110821060227/http://hci2011.co.uk/site

Keywords

Psychology
Performance
Error rates
Self-service
Interface agent
Virtual assistant

Access to Document

10.14236/ewic/HCI2011.28Licence: CC BY

Johnson_TheBehaviouralImpactOfAVisuallyRepresentedVirtualAssistant_Published_2011Final published version, 338 KBLicence: CC BY

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2305329

Applied psychology in human-computer interaction: the social impact of a virtual assistant's gender and human-likeness in self-service
Payne, J. (Author), Szymkowiak, A. (Supervisor) & Carson, L. (Supervisor), Mar 2014
Student thesis: Doctoral Thesis

Cite this

@inproceedings{9a7a1ce61fee47c98eebfdec86153cc2,

title = "The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context",

abstract = "Our research investigated whether the presence of an interface agent - or virtual assistant (VA) - in a self-service checkout context has behavioural effects on the transaction process during particular tasks. While many participants claimed to have not noticed a VA within the self-service interface, behaviour was still affected, i.e. fewer people made errors with the VA present than in the voice-only and control conditions. The results are explained as reflective of an unconscious observation of non-verbal cues exhibited by the VA. The results are discussed in relation to possible behavioural outcomes of VA presence.",

author = "Payne, \{Jeunese A.\} and Johnson, \{Graham I.\} and Andrea Szymkowiak",

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month = jul,

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doi = "10.14236/ewic/HCI2011.28",

language = "English",

series = "Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)",

publisher = "BCS Learning \& Development Ltd.",

pages = "58--63",

booktitle = "Proceedings of HCI 2011 the 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction",

note = "25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction : Health, Wealth \& Happiness, HCI 2011 ; Conference date: 04-07-2011 Through 08-07-2011",

url = "https://web.archive.org/web/20110821060227/http://hci2011.co.uk/site",

}

Payne, JA, Johnson, GI & Szymkowiak, A 2011, The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context. in Proceedings of HCI 2011 the 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction. Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC), BCS Learning & Development Ltd., pp. 58-63, 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction, Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom, 4/07/11. https://doi.org/10.14236/ewic/HCI2011.28

The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context. / Payne, Jeunese A.; Johnson, Graham I.; Szymkowiak, Andrea.
Proceedings of HCI 2011 the 25th BCS Conference on Human Computer Interaction. BCS Learning & Development Ltd., 2011. p. 58-63 (Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC)).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

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AB - Our research investigated whether the presence of an interface agent - or virtual assistant (VA) - in a self-service checkout context has behavioural effects on the transaction process during particular tasks. While many participants claimed to have not noticed a VA within the self-service interface, behaviour was still affected, i.e. fewer people made errors with the VA present than in the voice-only and control conditions. The results are explained as reflective of an unconscious observation of non-verbal cues exhibited by the VA. The results are discussed in relation to possible behavioural outcomes of VA presence.

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The behavioural impact of a visually represented virtual assistant in a selfservice checkout context

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

Access to Document

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Student theses

Applied psychology in human-­computer interaction: the social impact of a virtual assistant's gender and human-likeness in self-service

Cite this

Applied psychology in human-computer interaction: the social impact of a virtual assistant's gender and human-likeness in self-service