Emotion non-verbal behaviour modelling: Low and high exhibitors

The key role that emotion non verbal behavior may play in the interaction between human and artificial agents, including anthropomorphic robots, is today well-known. Within this broad research area, this study took into consideration the role of the individual style in emotion multimodal expression as a relevant feature to achieve an effective and natural emotional interaction between human and robot. We analyzed the multimodal emotional behavior of 163 human subjects who were watching an emotional disgusting film (Gross, 1998). All subjects were asked to answer three questionnaires to assess their dispositional regulatory strategies. Results showed: (1) different use of multiple behavioral categories; (2) strong inter-individual variability among low and high exhibitors; (3) significant differences with respect to individual styles of regulation and coping, when their measure is highly contextualized. All these factors should be considered when modeling emotion.