‘More like a person than reading text in a machine': characterizing user choice of embodied agents vs. conventional GUIS on smartphones,”
Abstract
Embodied conversational agents (ECAs) provide an interface modality on smartphones that may be particularly effective for tasks with significant social, affective, reflective, and narrative aspects, such as health education and behavior change counseling. However, the conversational medium is significantly slower than conventional graphical user interfaces (GUIs) for brief, time-sensitive tasks. We conducted a randomized experiment to determine user preferences in performing two kinds of health-related tasks—one affective and narrative in nature and one transactional—and gave participants a choice of a conventional GUI or a functionally equivalent ECA on a smartphone to complete the task. We found significant main effects of task type and user preference on user choice of modality, with participants choosing the conventional GUI more often for transactional and time-sensitive tasks.
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In a study of a health education and behavior change counseling app, users felt embodied conversational agents can mimic humans and can further lead to better DTA.
“In a study of a health education and behavior change counseling app, researchers found that users felt the embodied conversational agents can mimic human, and can further lead to better DTA (70).”
From Digital Therapeutic Alliance With Fully Automated Mental Health Smartphone Apps: A Narrative Review (2022) · cites this paper as [70]
Conversational agents are an alternative for older users and users with lower computer and smartphone literacy.
“Olafsson et al. (2021) found that even though traditional tap and swipe user interfaces are often preferred over conversational interfaces for tasks under time pressure and for quick transactional tasks, conversational agents are an alternative for older users and users with lower computer and smartphone literacy.”
From Use and acceptance of voice assistants among people with aphasia in Germany (2023) · cites this paper as Olafsson et al., 2021
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Digital Therapeutic Alliance With Fully Automated Mental Health Smartphone Apps: A Narrative Review
Tong, F., Lederman, R., D'Alfonso, S., Berry, K., & Bucci, S. (2022) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.819623 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Use and acceptance of voice assistants among people with aphasia in Germany
Núñez Macías, N., Hielscher-Fastabend, M., & Buschmeier, H. (2023) · Frontiers in Communication · doi:10.3389/fcomm.2023.1176475 · Cited by 5 · see citing works
- Authors
- Olafsson, S., Parmar, D., Kimani, E., K. O'Leary, T., & Bickmore, T.
- Affiliations
- Khoury College of Computer and Information Sciences Northeastern University, United States
- Northeastern University (US)
- Northeastern University, United States
- Venue
- Extended Abstracts of the 2021 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems
- Publisher
- ACM
- Published
- 2021-05-08
- Pages
- 1-6
- OpenAlex
- W3163161466
- Cited by
- 6
- References
- 25
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 1 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 1
- FWCI
- 1.28
- Type
- conference paper
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- CHI Conference Extended Abstracts on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA) (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Innovative Human-Technology Interaction
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Artificial Intelligence › Speech and dialogue systems
- Keywords
- embodied conversational agents, graphical user interface, smartphone interface, user preferences, health education, behavior change counseling, task type
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