Effects of Synchronous Movement with a Virtual Agent Using the Kinect Sensor on Impressions of Exercise Activity

Abstract

Synchronous movement strengthens a bond with others and facilitates positive social impressions. Our previous study expanded such findings observed between humans to human and agent. However, in the psychological experiment, the participants synchronously repeated sit-down and stand-up with the virtual agent in the video using a metronome, as we needed to control their body movements. It suggests that synchronization may not occur if the tempo of the participants’ movements changes due to fatigue and boredom, considering social applications. This study introduced an agent which recognized body movement and reacted automatically using the Kinect sensor based on an informatics and engineering approach. Furthermore, we corrected the experimental procedure and investigated the robustness of the effects of synchronous movement. The results showed that positive impressions of the factors in the synchronous condition, such as a sense of unity with and active use of the agent in rehabilitation and training, were significantly higher than those in the non-synchronous one. The novelty of our work suggests the effects’ robustness and potential social applications.