Abstract
In recent times, robots such as, service, communication, and cooperative robots, have been developed to assist humans in various tasks. Smooth communication is an important parameter to ensure appropriate assistance by robots. In communication, understanding the comprehension status of the partner leads to an easy-to-understand explanation. However, it is difficult to accurately understand the comprehension status of the partner. The purpose of this study is to clarify the relationship between thinking status and pupil size and blink rate. Word association tasks were conducted, wherein subjects associated a theme from five auditory words. Pupil size and blink rate were measured during the task using gaze measurement. The result showed that pupil size tended to increase during thinking and decrease with association. Decrease in blink rate distribution was observed after presentation of a word, following which a temporary peak occurred before association. However, no change in blink rate was observed after the association. Based on the results of the present study, it was revealed that thinking may be associated with pupil size and blink rate, and it can be suggested that the eye could be an index to evaluate thinking status.
