News Release

Major hurdle seen for the future of digital interaction

Combination of human/computerized identities leaves users mistrustful

Business Announcement

Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Columbus, Ohio – April 12, 2007 -- A recent study featured in Human Communication Research details a study in which users interacted with an automated system using combinations of human and artificial voices and faces. The users were asked a variety of personal questions and the results showed that interviewees revealed fewer personal details when questioned by a system that was only partially human, as opposed to one that was wholly human or completely artificial. Women in particular did not trust the system when human and humanoid elements were mixed. This finding counters a popular practice in the computer applications industry that tends to use the best available technology for each element.

"People are very good at recognizing when something is real or artificial," says the lead author Li Gong. "When they see a human face speaking with a computerized voice, or vice-versa, they have a difficult time processing the information or trusting it." While this does not seem to be an issue in the entertainment industry, where human voices are the basis for dozens of computer-generated characters, it is a potential concern for industries hoping to create computerized entities to interact with the public for business or personal matters.

"We need to do more research to determine whether more realistic humanoid voices and faces will affect the level of trust that people will have in these situations," says Gong. "As artificial intelligence develops and humanoid computerized entities become more common, it may change the way we perceive them and the way we perceive ourselves as humans."

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This study by Li Gong and Clifford Nass is published in the latest issue of Human Communications Research. Media wishing to receive a PDF of this article may contact journalnews@bos.blackwellpublishing.net.

Li Gong is an assistant professor in the School of Communication at Ohio State University and can be reached for questions at gong.33@osu.edu .

Clifford Nass is the Thomas M. Storke Professor in the Communication Department at Stanford University and can be reached for questions at nass@stanford.edu.

Human Communication Research is one of the official journals of the prestigious International Communication Association and concentrates on presenting the best empirical work in the area of human communication. It is a top-ranked communication studies journal and one of the top ten journals in the field of human communication. Major topic areas for the journal include language and social interaction, nonverbal communication, interpersonal communication, organizational communication and new technologies, mass communication, health communication, intercultural communication, and developmental issues in communication. For more information, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com/hcr.

Blackwell Publishing is the world’s leading society publisher, partnering with 665 medical, academic, and professional societies. Blackwell publishes over 800 journals and has over 6,000 books in print. The company employs over 1,000 staff members in offices in the US, UK, Australia, China, Singapore, Denmark, Germany, and Japan and officially merged with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.'s Scientific, Technical, and Medical business in February 2007. Blackwell’s mission as an expert publisher is to create long-term partnerships with our clients that enhance learning, disseminate research, and improve the quality of professional practice. For more information on Blackwell Publishing, please visit www.blackwellpublishing.com or www.blackwell-synergy.com.


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