A André Kuijsters

Inducing sadness and anxiousness through visual media: Measurement techniques and persistence

The persistence of negative moods (sadness and anxiousness) induced by three visual Mood Induction Procedures (MIP) was investigated. The evolution of the mood after the MIP was monitored for a period of 8 min with the Self-Assessment Manikin (SAM; every 2 min) and with recordings of skin conductance level (SCL) and electrocardiography (ECG). The SAM pleasure ratings showed that short and longer film fragments were effective in inducing a longer lasting negative mood, whereas the negative mood induced by the IAPS slideshow was short lived. The induced arousal during the anxious MIPs diminished quickly after the mood induction; nevertheless, the SCL data suggest longer lasting arousal effects for both movies. The decay of the induced mood follows a logarithmic function; diminishing quickly in the first minutes, thereafter returning slowly back to baseline. These results reveal that caution is needed when investigating the effects of the induced mood on a task or the effect of interventions on induced moods, because the induced mood diminishes quickly after the mood induction.

Lighting to make you feel better: Improving the mood of elderly people with affective ambiences

Current lighting technologies extend the options for changing the appearance of rooms and closed spaces, as such creating ambiences with an affective meaning. Using intelligence, these ambiences may instantly be adapted to the needs of the room’s occupant(s), possibly improving their well-being. We hypothesized that ambiences with a clearly recognizable, positive affective meaning could be used to effectively mitigate negative mood in elderly. After inducing a sad mood with a short movie one group of elderly was immersed in a positive high arousing (i.e., activating) ambience, and another group in a neutral ambience. Similarly, after inducing anxiety with a short movie one group of elderly was immersed in a pleasant low arousing (i.e., cozy) ambience, and another group in a neutral ambience. We monitored the evolution of the mood of the four groups of elderly over a period of ten minutes after the mood induction, with both self-reported mood measurements (every 2 minutes) and constant measurements of the skin conductance response (SCR) and electrocardiography (ECG). In line with our hypothesis we found that the activating ambience was physiologically more arousing than the neutral ambience. The cozy ambience was more effective in calming anxious elderly than the neutral ambience, as reflected by both the self-reported and physiological measurements.

Affective ambiences created with lighting for older people

Current lighting technologies provide huge flexibility in creating ambiences that may be adapted to the needs of an occupant in a room. These ambiences not only satisfy visual needs, but may also improve people’s well-being. This paper describes one possible application of adaptable light ambiences, namely to counteract negative mood states that older people often experience in care centres. To this end, we wanted to create a pleasant, relaxing ambience to counteract anxiousness and a pleasant, activating ambience to counteract sadness. We asked 15 (relatively young) lighting designers to create these ambiences and averaged their input to create both ambiences in a real room. Subsequently, these ambiences were evaluated with the Atmosphere questionnaire by younger and older participants. The affective connotation of the ambiences in terms of the Atmosphere dimensions was well recognized by the younger participants but significantly less so by the older people. Hence, a photo interview with older people was used to make the ambiences more appropriate for them. A final validation experiment confirmed that the affective connotation of these new ambiences was well recognized by the older people.

Human sensitivity to eye contact in 2D and 3D videoconferencing

Gaze awareness and eye contact serve important functions in social interaction. In order to maintain those functions in 2D and 3D videoconferencing systems, human sensitivity to eye contact and gaze direction needs to be taken into account in the design of such systems. Here we experimentally investigate human perception of eye contact and gaze direction in 2D and 3D, using a within-subjects design. Our results indicate that the disparity between the optical axis of the camera and the looking direction of a looker (a photographed face) should be at most 1.2° in horizontal direction, and 1.7° in vertical direction to support eye contact. Maximum tolerable offsets for the perception of eye contact are independent of (monoscopic or stereoscopic) display conditions. Asymmetric sensitivity to eye contact is explained by the underestimation of the vertical component of a lookers gaze direction.

Design Considerations for Adaptive Lighting to Improve Seniors’ Mood

The advance of LED technologies allows for new design opportunities in the area of lighting for psychological health. Research has shown that lighting in various colors and intensities can be used to improve people’s moods, e.g. through its effects on melatonin levels. This is especially interesting in the context of ambient assisted living and care environments where people are less mobile and spend long hours indoors. The presented work aims at creating a technical system that can detect an older resident’s mood and consequently adapt the lighting in the room to either calm or activate the person. As part of the system’s design process we conducted interviews with caregivers in different care settings (day care, stationary care and home care) to gather requirements for the system. The study provides insights into moods of seniors and their detection, which is formulated in a preliminary mood model, as well as design considerations for different living- and care-settings.