Relationship between Kawaii Feeling and Biological Signals

Abstract

“Kawaii” is a Japanese word that represents a kansei value; it has positive meanings, such as cute, lovable, and small. In this article, we introduce our trials to measure kawaii feeling, a positive and dynamic feeling that occurs when “kawaii” stimulus is presented, by examining biological signals. The stimulus was presented as a screen with a colored surface in the first experiment, and as a virtual object of a certain size in the second experiment. The average heart rate obtained in these experiments indicated a significant difference between “kawaii” stimuli and “non-kawaii” stimuli, suggesting that the mental state while watching “kawaii” stimuli is more active than that while watching “non-kawaii” stimuli.