Building virtual humans with back stories: Training interpersonal communication skills in medical students

Andrew Cordar, Michael Borish, Adriana Elena Foster, Benjamin Lok

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

17 Scopus citations

Abstract

We conducted a study which investigated if we could overcome challenges associated with interpersonal communication skills training by building a virtual human with back story. Eighteen students interacted with a virtual human who provided back story, and seventeen students interacted with the same virtual human who did not provide back story. Back story was achieved through the use of cutscenes which played throughout the virtual human interaction. Cutscenes were created with The Sims 3 and depicted short moments that occurred in the virtual human's life. We found medical students who interacted with a virtual human with a back story, when interacting with a standardized patient, were perceived by the standardized patient as more empathetic compared to the students who interacted with the virtual human without a back story. The results have practical implications for building virtual human experiences to train interpersonal skills. Providing back story appears to be an effective method to overcome challenges associated with training interpersonal skills with virtual humans.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationIntelligent Virtual Agents - 14th International Conference, IVA 2014, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer Verlag
Pages144-153
Number of pages10
ISBN (Print)9783319097664
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Event14th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA 2014 - Boston, MA, United States
Duration: Aug 27 2014Aug 29 2014

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume8637 LNAI
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Other

Other14th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA 2014
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBoston, MA
Period8/27/148/29/14

Keywords

  • back story
  • cutscenes
  • empathy
  • virtual humans

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Theoretical Computer Science
  • General Computer Science

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