Affective Composites: Autonomy and Proxy in Pedagogical Agent Networks, in Affective Computing and Intelligent

Abstract. This paper proposes an alternative paradigm for building affective competencies in embodied conversational agents (ECAs). The key feature of this approach-- and the reason for referring to it as an alternative paradigm--entails use of hybrid ECAs that are expressive both autonomously and as pass-through proxies for human communications. The context in which this hybrid ECA paradigm is currently under investigation involves animated pedagogical agents. Other domains for which ECAs are under current and envisioned use, however, such as medical interviews, may also be appropriate for their applica-tion. One critical research question involves testing the conjecture that human affect shared through an agent reverberates to or scaffolds the empathic credi-bility, trustworthiness or effectiveness of the agent when it is functioning autonomously.