Colin Matheson

Speaking the users' languages

The authors describe a system that generates descriptions of museum objects tailored to the user. The texts presented to adults, children, and experts differ in several ways, from the choice of words used to the complexity of the sentence forms. M-PIRO can currently generate text in three languages: English, Greek, and Italian. The grammar resources are language independent as much as possible. M-PIROs system architecture is significantly more modular than that of its predecessor ILEX. In particular, the linguistic resources, database, and user-modeling subsystems are now separate from the systems that perform the natural language generation and speech synthesis.

Pilot randomised controlled trial of Help4Mood, an embodied virtual agent-based system to support treatment of depression

Introduction Help4Mood is an interactive system with an embodied virtual agent (avatar) to assist in self-monitoring of patients receiving treatment for depression. Help4Mood supports self-report and biometric monitoring and includes elements of cognitive behavioural therapy. We aimed to evaluate system use and acceptability, to explore likely recruitment and retention rates in a clinical trial and to obtain an estimate of potential treatment response with a view to conducting a future randomised controlled trial (RCT). Methods We conducted a pilot RCT of Help4Mood in three centres, in Romania, Spain and Scotland, UK. Patients with diagnosed depression (major depressive disorder) and current mild/moderate depressive symptoms were randomised to use the system for four weeks in addition to treatment as usual (TAU) or to TAU alone. Results Twenty-seven individuals were randomised and follow-up data were obtained from 21 participants (12/13 Help4Mood, 9/14 TAU). Half of participants randomised to Help4Mood used it regularly (more than 10 times); none used it every day. Acceptability varied between users. Some valued the emotional responsiveness of the system, while others found it too repetitive. Intention to treat analysis showed a small difference in change of Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-2) scores (Help4Mood –5.7 points, TAU –4.2). Post-hoc on-treatment analysis suggested that participants who used Help4Mood regularly experienced a median change in BDI-2 of –8 points. Conclusion Help4Mood is acceptable to some patients receiving treatment for depression although none used it as regularly as intended. Changes in depression symptoms in individuals who used the system regularly reached potentially meaningful levels.

Incremental Information State Updates in an Obligation-Driven Dialogue Model

We sketch the outlines of a dialogue model using discourse obligations in a formal framework of information states. We propose a set of practical inference rules which incrementally update information states and assign intentional structures to sequences of dialogue moves. In this way we show that an obligation-driven approach can account for a wide range of phenomena which are assumed to be crucial for modelling any kind of dialogue. In particular, our analysis will focus on providing a treatment of questions and assertions in dialogue, thus covering some of the basic reasoning processes involved in information-oriented interaction.

Adaptive Tutorial Dialogue Systems Using Deep NLP Techniques

We present tutorial dialogue systems in two different domains that demonstrate the use of dialogue management and deep natural language processing techniques. Generation techniques are used to produce natural sounding feedback adapted to student performance and the dialogue history, and context is used to interpret tentative answers phrased as questions.

Adaptive Natural Language Interaction

The subject of this demonstration is natural language interaction, focusing on adaptivity and profiling of the dialogue management and the generated output (text and speech). These are demonstrated in a museum guide use-case, operating in a simulated environment. The main technical innovations presented are the profiling model, the dialogue and action management system, and the text generation and speech synthesis systems.