On The Power of Subtle Expressive Cues in the Perception of Human Affects

In this study, we introduce a sketch-based method for testing how subtle expressive cues influence the perception of affect in illustrations of human figures. We specifically study the impact of human posture and gaze direction, implicitly specified through nose orientation, on perceived emotions and mood. Through a series of user studies using sketchy illustrations of a running figure, where a professional illustrator manipulated gaze direction through adjustments on the nose orientation, we found that this simple change resulted in a diverse range of perceived affects, spanning from fear to concern and wonder. These findings shed light on the importance of fine details in defining context for context-aware system designs and underscore the importance of recognizing and expressing affect. Understanding minor expressive cues is crucial to developing emotionally intelligent systems capable of expressing affect.