Multimodal embodied mimicry in interaction

Abstract

Nonverbal behavior plays an important role in human-human interaction. One particular kind of nonverbal behavior is mimicry. Behavioral mimicry supports harmonious relationships in social interaction through creating affiliation, rapport, and liking between partners. Affective computing that employs mimicry knowledge and that is able to predict how mimicry affects social situations and relations can find immediate application in human-computer interaction to improve interaction. In this short paper we survey and discuss mimicry issues that are important from that point of view: application in human-computer interaction. We designed experiments to collect mimicry data. Some preliminary analysis of the data is presented. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.