MEASUREMENT OF EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO SENSORY STIMULI

• US 20120035428A1
• Filed: 06/17/2011
• Published: 02/09/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Forethought
• Original Assignee: Forethought
• Inventors: Wong, Elaine, Roberts, Kenneth George
• Granted Patent: US 8,939,903 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 600/300
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/165 Evaluating the state of mind, e.g. depression, anxiety
• CPC Class Codes: A61B 5/744 Displaying an avatar, e.g. an animated cartoon character
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/004 Artificial life, i.e. computing arrangements simulating life
• CPC Class Codes: G06N 3/006 based on simulated virtual individual or collective life forms, e.g. social simulations or particle swarm optimisation [PSO]
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0203 Market surveys; Market polls
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 10/20 for electronic clinical trials or questionnaires
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 50/70 for mining of medical data, e.g. analysing previous cases of other patients

Abstract

A method of measuring emotional response of at least one subject to a specific sensory stimulus comprises establishing (202) a plurality of basic emotions for measurement, including one or more positive affect emotions and one or more negative affect emotions. The subject is presented (302) with the specific sensory stimulus, and for each basic emotion is further presented (306) with a computer-generated display comprising interactive animated visual images representative of a metaphorical concept corresponding with the basic emotion. Input is then received (308) from the subject, who is enabled to adapt the animated visual images to accord with an emotional response to the sensory stimulus. The received input is converted to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value for each basic emotion. The quantitative emotional response value may be a difference value derived from a change in emotional state of the subject and based upon an initial calibration of emotional state performed prior to presenting the subject with the sensory stimulus. A visual presentation (1000) is generated, which comprises representations (1004, 1012, 1014) of the quantitative emotional response values for each of the plurality of basic emotions, whereby the relative emotional response of the subject in respect of each basic emotion is visually distinguishable.

Claims

1. A method of measuring emotional response of at least one subject to a specific sensory stimulus, comprising the steps of:

establishing a plurality of basic emotions for measurement, including one or more positive affect emotions and one or more negative affect emotions;

presenting the subject with the sensory stimulus;

for each basic emotion, presenting the subject with a computer-generated display comprising interactive animated visual images representative of a metaphorical concept corresponding with the basic emotion;

receiving input from the subject whereby the subject is enabled to adapt the animated visual images to accord with an emotional response to the sensory stimulus;

converting the received input to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value for each basic emotion; and

generating a visual presentation comprising representations of the quantitative emotional response values for all of the plurality of basic emotions, whereby the relative emotional response of the subject in respect of each basic emotion is visually distinguishable.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising, prior to presenting the subject with the sensory stimulus, performing a calibration of an initial emotional state of the subject in respect of each basic emotion, and

wherein the step of converting the received input to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value comprises determining a difference value for each basic emotion based upon a change in emotional state of the subject from the initial emotional state.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the calibration comprises steps of:

for each basic emotion, presenting the subject with the computer-generated display comprising interactive animated visual images representative of a metaphorical concept corresponding with the basic emotion; and

receiving input from the subject whereby the subject is enabled to adapt the animated visual images to accord with a current emotional state,

wherein determining a difference value comprises subtracting an initial emotional state value from a corresponding value associated with the input received in response to the sensory stimulus.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of basic emotions comprises positive affect emotions selected from the group:

love;

pride;

contentment; and

happiness.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of basic emotions comprises negative affect emotions selected from the group:

anger;

sadness;

shame; and

anxiety.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the plurality of basic emotions further includes one or more neutral affect emotions.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein a neutral affect emotion comprises surprise.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein animated visual images corresponding with each basic emotion are established by a method comprising the steps of:

identifying a plurality of candidate metaphorical concepts and associated visual images;

testing each candidate image with a panel of test subjects to determine a strength of association of the image with the basic emotion;

selecting the candidate image with the strongest association with the basic emotion; and

developing a computer-implemented sequence of animated interactive visual images representative of the metaphorical concept associated with the selected candidate image.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein, prior to or during the step of receiving input, the subject is presented with a reminder of the sensory stimulus.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the sensory stimulus comprises an audiovisual presentation, and the reminder comprises a still image or a short sequence excerpted from the audiovisual presentation.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the interactive animated visual images comprise an avatar representing the subject, which the subject manipulates to position the avatar both literally and metaphorically closer to, or further from, a position representative of a strong emotional response.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the quantitative emotional response value is a numerical value corresponding with the avatar position input by the subject on a scale from most distant to least distant from the position representative of the strong emotional response.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the quantitative emotional response value takes one of a plurality of discrete values.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual presentation comprises a numerical presentation.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the visual presentation comprises a graphical presentation.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the at least one subject comprises a plurality of subjects and the corresponding quantitative emotional value for each basic emotion is a single value derived from the combined input of all subjects.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the step of converting the received input to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value comprises calculating an average response value for each basic emotion.

18. A method of comparing the emotional response of at least one subject to one or more specific sensory stimuli with a desired emotional response, including the steps of:

(a) establishing a plurality of basic emotions for measurement, including one or more positive affect emotions and one or more negative affect emotions;

(b) determining desired relative emotional response values for each of the plurality of basic emotions;

(c) presenting the subject with a first sensory stimulus;

(d) for each basic emotion, presenting the subject with a computer-generated display comprising interactive animated visual images representative of metaphorical concept corresponding with the basic emotion;

(e) receiving input from the subject whereby the subject is enabled to adapt the animated visual images to accord with an emotional response to the sensory stimulus;

(f) converting the received input to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value for each basic emotion; and

(g) generating a visual presentation comprising comparative representations of the quantitative emotional response values of the subject or all of the plurality of basic emotions, along with the corresponding desired emotional response values, whereby the correlation between the relative emotional response of the subject in respect of each basic emotion and the corresponding desired emotional response is visually distinguishable.

19. The method of claim 18 wherein the at least one subject is further presented with one or more further sensory stimuli, and steps (d) to (g) are repeated for each said further sensory stimulus.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein a sensory stimulus is adaptively modified to improve the correlation between measured quantitative emotional response values and the predetermined desired emotional response values.

21. The method of claim 18 further comprising selecting one of the plurality of specific sensory stimuli on the basis of correlation between measured quantitative emotional response values and the desired emotional response values.

22. A computer-implemented system for measuring the emotional response of at least one subject to a specific sensory stimulus, the system comprising:

at least one microprocessor;

at least one memory device, operatively coupled to the microprocessor; and

at least one input/output peripheral interface, operatively coupled to the microprocessor,

wherein the memory device contains executable instruction code which, when executed by the microprocessor, causes the system to implement a method comprising the steps of;

for each one of a plurality of basic emotions, including one or more positive affect emotions and one or more negative affect emotions, presenting the subject via the peripheral interface with a computer-generated display comprising interactive animated visual images representative of a metaphorical concept corresponding with the basic emotion;

receiving input from the subject via the peripheral interface whereby the subject is enabled to adapt the animated visual images to accord with an emotional response to a sensory stimulus previously presented to the subject;

converting the received input to a corresponding quantitative emotional response value for each basic emotion; and

generating a visual presentation comprising representations of the quantitative emotional response values for all of the plurality of basic emotions, whereby the relative emotional response of the subject in respect of each basic emotion is visually distinguishable.