Affectology

Foodparing

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:09:44 +0900

異なる食材の新しい組み合わせ方を共有するサイト．例えば，ラム，レーズン，ヘーゼルナッツ，ライムのカクテルとか，トマトケチャップを使ったデザートとか．

食材の組み合わせ方については理論化の試みが過去無くはないけれど，成功していると思えるものはほとんどない．あるいは，「澱粉＋油＋塩」とか鉄板クラスの組み合わせがあるのみだ．無理に理論化するよりも，サンプルを多数並べておくという解は解空間が有限の場合は有効かもしれない．

デニス・ダットン「美の進化論的起源」

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:31:00 +0900

デニス・ダットン「美の進化論的起源」:

美術や音楽といったものが持つ美は単に「見る人の目の中にある」のではなく、進化に深い起源を持つ人間本性の一部なのだというデニス・ダットンの美に関する挑発的な理論を、アニメーターのアンドリュー・パークの協力を得て図解しています。

Beyond Sentiment: The Manifold of Human Emotions

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:20:41 +0900

Beyond Sentiment: The Manifold of Human Emotions:

感情を有限要素の集合ではなく連続な多様体としてモデル化した研究．議論としてはとても興味深いのだけれど，役に立つのかどうかは疑問が残る．．．が，読んでみて損はない論文と思う．

Abstract Sentiment analysis predicts the presence of positive or negative emotions in a text document. In this paper we consider higher dimensional extensions of the sentiment concept, which represent a richer set of human emotions. Our approach goes beyond previous work in that our model contains a continuous manifold rather than a finite set of human emotions. We investigate the resulting model, compare it to psychological observations, and explore its predictive capabilities. Besides obtaining significant improvements over a baseline without manifold, we are also able to visualize different notions of positive sentiment in different domains.

What it takes to build great machine learning products

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 09:56:13 +0900

What it takes to build great machine learning products:

If you want to build a rich ML product, you need to have a rich product/design/research/engineering team.

機械学習に基づいたサービス（音声認識，自然言語理解など）を作るときの壁は，機械学習そのものの問題ではなく，問題領域の設定である．

もし優れた機械学習サービスを作りたければ，優れたプロダクト，デザイン，研究，エンジニアリングチームを持たねばならない．

配偶者の選び方に関する工学的考察

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 22:34:21 +0900

配偶者の選び方に関する工学的考察:

パロディ論文．

Feeling the Future: The Emotional Oracle Effect

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:55:08 +0900

Feeling the Future: The Emotional Oracle Effect:

Abstract This research uncovers an intriguing phenomenon: Individuals who have higher trust in their feelings are better able to predict the outcomes of future events than individuals with lower trust in their feelings. This emotional oracle effect was found across eight field and lab studies involving predictions of a variety of future outcomes, including (a) the 2008 U.S. Democratic presidential nominee, (b) movie successes, (c) the winner of American Idol, (d) movements of the Dow Jones Index, and even (e) the weather. The phenomenon was observed both when trust in feelings was manipulated experimentally and when it was simply measured. Furthermore, it appears that it is high trust in feelings that improves prediction accuracy rather than low trust in feelings that impairs it. We speculate that trust in one‘s feelings encourages access to a ―privileged window‖ into the vast amount of information that people learn consciously and unconsciously about their environment.

脳波で動く猫耳

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:48:31 +0900

脳波で動く猫耳

"人間は長い間、感情を低次なものと見てきた。原始的なものであり、動物であった過去の時代から引き継ぐ残念なものにすぎないとして。..."

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 09:57:00 +0900

“

人間は長い間、感情を低次なものと見てきた。原始的なものであり、動物であった過去の時代から引き継ぐ残念なものにすぎないとして。

例えばケーキを食べ過ぎたり間違った人とベッドをともにしたり、サブプライム・ローンを借りたりするなどの愚かな行動をとったとき、われわれはふつう、それを短視眼的な「感情」のせいだとする。さらに、激情から犯罪を犯す人はいるが、理性から犯罪を犯す人はいない、とも考える。

感情に対してこうしたバイアスを持つため、人は常に理性は正しいと考えがちだ。難しいジレンマに直面したとき、ほとんどの人々は選択肢を注意深く評価し、情報を集めて意識的に検討する方法がいちばんいいと考える。

しかし、もしわれわれの感情が、より賢く、事態をよりよく把握しているとしたらどうだろう。最近、たくさんの変数を含む複雑な決定においては、「感情的なシステム」や無意識のほうが「意識的な脳」よりも優れている場合があるという研究が行われている（日本語版記事）。

非合理的で衝動的だとして見下されてきたプロセスが、少なくともある条件下では、より「知的」であるかもしれないのだ。

”

- 感情が「理性より賢い」とき（WIRED.jp）

Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day inferred from Twitter

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:09:19 +0900

Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day inferred from Twitter:

Twitterのつぶやきの内容からムードを推測し，付随する位置情報を利用して米国内のムードを図化してみるプロジェクト．

吉川の一般設計学序説を読む - 菊池誠 [PDF]

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:43:44 +0900

吉川の一般設計学序説を読む - 菊池誠 [PDF]:

吉川の一般設計学序説における論述の問題点を詳述しているのだが，同時に一般設計学の簡潔かつ十分な解説にもなっている．一般設計学そのものに対する批判では無い（と読んだ）．

The Case of the Disappearing Ox: Seeing Through Digital Images to an Analysis of Ancient Texts

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 13:08:00 +0900

The Case of the Disappearing Ox: Seeing Through Digital Images to an Analysis of Ancient Texts:

ABSTRACT There are numerous settings where people examine, scrutinize and discuss the details of images in the course of their work. In most medical domains, scans and x-rays are used in the diagnosis of cases; in most areas of science, methods of visualization have been adopted to assist in the analysis of data; and images of different kinds are critical for many research fields in the social sciences and humanities. It is not surprising that recently technologies have been proposed to assist with the analysis and examination of images. In this paper, we consider requirements for technologies in a rather distinctive domain of research, the classics. Drawing upon an analysis of the detailed ways in which classicists work with digital images, we discuss the requirements for systems to support researchers in this domain, and also provide further considerations on the general development of image processing technologies and visualization techniques.

Positive words carry less information than negative words

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:32:58 +0900

Positive words carry less information than negative words:

会話において，肯定的な感情語はシャノンの意味での情報量が少なく（否定的な感情語よりも多く出現する），かつ心理的な意味での情報量も少ない（否定的な感情語のほうがより多くの心理的情報を伝える）．

Abstract We show that the frequency of word use is not only determined by the word length [1] and the average information content [2], but also by its emotional content. We have analysed three established lexica of aﬀective word usage in English, German, and Spanish, to verify that these lexica have a neutral, unbiased, emotional content. Taking into account the frequency of word usage, we ﬁnd that words with a positive emotional content are more frequently used. This lends support to Pollyanna hypothesis [3] that there should be a positive bias in human expression. We also ﬁnd that negative words contain more information than positive words, as the informativeness of a word increases uniformly with its valence decrease. Our ﬁndings support earlier conjectures about (i) the relation between word frequency and information content, and (ii) the impact of positive emotions on communication and social links.

Knowing Where and When to Look in a Time-Critical Multimodal Dual Task [PDF]

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:14:00 +0900

Knowing Where and When to Look in a Time-Critical Multimodal Dual Task [PDF]:

人間がどれだけうまくマルチタスク処理を出来るか．

ABSTRACT Human-computer systems intended for time-critical multitasking need to be designed with an understanding of how humans can coordinate and interleave perceptual, memory, and motor processes. This paper presents human performance data for a highly-practiced time-critical dual task. In the first of the two interleaved tasks, participants tracked a target with a joystick. In the second, participants keyed-in responses to objects moving across a radar display. Task manipulations include the peripheral visibility of the secondary display (visible or not) and the presence or absence of auditory cues to assist with the radar task. Eye movement analyses reveal extensive coordination and overlapping of human information processes and the extent to which task manipulations helped or hindered dual task performance. For example, auditory cues helped only a little when the secondary display was peripherally visible, but they helped a lot when it was not peripherally visible.

恋愛における告白の成否の規定因に関する研究

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:02:05 +0900

恋愛における告白の成否の規定因に関する研究:

要約すると，告白は知りあって3ヶ月以内がそれ以降よりもうまくいく，初デート前よりも後のほうがうまくいく，当たって砕けろは本当に砕け散る．

恋愛関係における別れに関する研究(2) : 別れ後の感情と行動に及ぼす告白の立場と別れの主導権の影響

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 13:13:59 +0900

恋愛関係における別れに関する研究(2) : 別れ後の感情と行動に及ぼす告白の立場と別れの主導権の影響 :

恋愛における別れ後の好意と後悔に関して，告白の立場と別れの主導権との関係を調べた論文である．方法は「恋愛における別れに関するアンケート」調査によっており，対象は香川県内の大学生344名である．結果として，交際期間が短い（3ヶ月未満）場合，相手だけが恋愛関係に夢中である場合，相手のほうだけが自分に尽くしていた場合，自分から別れを切り出した場合に，別れ後，相手のことを嫌っている人が多かったと報告されている．

【要約】本研究は，青年期の男女が別れに際してもつネガティブな感情や行動的反応が告白の立場と別れの主導権により異なるかを調べた．被調査者は大学生344名(男性135名，女性209名)であった．そのうち，異性とつきあった後に，別れた経験のある223名を分析の対象とした．調査の結果，約40%の対象者が別れた後も相手に対して好意を持っていた．交際期間が短い場合，自分から別れを切り出した場合，相手だけが恋愛関係に夢中で，尽していた場合に別れ後に相手を嫌いであった．別れ後の感情・行動については，自分から告白して自分から別れを切り出した人は泣くことが少なかった．また，自分から告白して相手からふられた人は再び相手を好きになることが少なかった．さらに，別れた後も積極的に相手と会うという人は少なかったが，相手から告白されて自分からふった場合に特に少なかった．全般的に，別れ後の感情や行動に及ぼす告白の立場の影響は小さく，別れの主導権の影響が大きかった．

恋愛関係における別れに関する研究(1): 別れの主導権と別れの季節の探求 [PDF]

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:00:00 +0900

恋愛関係における別れに関する研究(1): 別れの主導権と別れの季節の探求 [PDF]:

A study of the breakups in heterosexual romantic relationships (1): A research for the control of the breakups and the season of the breakups.

男性135名，女性209名，平均年齢19.1歳の男女を対象に行なった「別れ」に関するアンケート調査の結果報告である．主だった主張は以下のとおり．

別れの主導権：女性
最も多い別れた月（女性）：3月，10月
最も多い別れた月（男性）：3月，2月・5月・8~10月
最も多い別れ話をした時刻：22時，21時，23時

本論文を紹介しているページがある．

Abstract This study was designed to research on the breakups in heterosexual romantic relationships. This study targeted the Japanese young people who have experienced the breakups. Three hundreds and forty-four undergraduate students took part in a survey by completing a questionnaire. The results were as follows: (1) Many young couples break up their romantic relationships in March. In those cases, Males tend to say good-bye to females. (2) Many young couples have the last meeting about their breakup from 9:00p.m. to 11:00p.m. (3) Young couples break up their romantic relationships mainly because of their gaps in values. However males tend to break up their relationships because they have other lovers, and female tend to break up because they come to dislike their lovers.

A computer system allows a machine to recognize a person's emotional state

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 15:49:00 +0900

A computer system allows a machine to recognize a person's emotional state:

音声から感情を認識するために “To automatically detect these feelings, information regarding the tone of voice, the speed of speech, the duration of pauses, the energy of the voice signal and so on, up to a total of sixty different acoustic parameters, was used” とある．

ABSTRACT Scientists at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid (UC3M) and the Universidad de Granada (UGR) have developed a new computer system that allows a machine to automatically recognize the emotional state of a person who is orally communicating with it.

Affectiva raises $5.7M to sense and measure emotion

Wed, 20 Jul 2011 06:44:00 +0900

Affectiva raises $5.7M to sense and measure emotion:

【ニュース】マサチューセッツ州に拠点を置くMIT発ベンチャー企業Affectivaは570万USD（1億2千万円）の調達に成功した．本資金は人間の感情を計測する技術の研究にあてられる．

Affectiva, a Massachusetts start-up spun out of the MIT Media Lab, has nabbed $5.7 million in Series B funding to help it pursue technology which helps recognize and measure human emotions. The new financing was led by Kantar, the consumer insights group for marketing firm WPP and Myrian Capital.

Effect of background noise on food perception

Sun, 17 Oct 2010 19:09:00 +0900

Effect of background noise on food perception:

バックグラウンドノイズが味覚に与える影響．実験を通して，食事と関係のないノイズは味覚を鈍らせると結論．

ABSTRACT We investigated the effects of auditory background noise on the perception of gustatory food properties (sugar level, salt level), food crunchiness and food liking. Participants blindly consumed different foods whilst passively listening to either no sound, or quiet or loud background white noise. The foods were then rated in terms of sweetness, saltiness and liking (Experiment 1) or in terms of overall flavour, crunchiness and liking (Experiment 2). Reported sweetness and saltiness was significantly lower in the loud compared to the quiet sound conditions (Experiment 1), but crunchiness was reported to be more intense (Experiment 2). This suggests that food properties unrelated to sound (sweetness, saltiness) and those conveyed via auditory channels (crunchiness) are differentially affected by background noise. A relationship between ratings of the liking of background noise and ratings of the liking of the food was also found (Experiment 2). We conclude that background sound unrelated to food diminishes gustatory food properties (saltiness, sweetness) which is suggestive of a cross-modal contrasting or attentional effect, whilst enhancing food crunchiness.

Quantifying the Independence of Human Finger Movements: Comparisons of Digits, Hands, and Movement Frequencies [PDF]

Tue, 17 Aug 2010 15:22:00 +0900

Quantifying the Independence of Human Finger Movements: Comparisons of Digits, Hands, and Movement Frequencies [PDF]:

ヒトの手指がどれだけ独立に動かせるかを定量的に調べた論文．指ごとの独立性の違い，右手（利き手）と左手の違い，自分で決めたペースと強制的に3Hzにしたときの違いについて調べている．手指の動きについて，利き手は反対の手に比べて独立性が高くなく，2Hzまでの自分で決めたペースならば3Hzの動きより独立性が高い．左右各指の独立性指標を10名の被験者から算出している．（論文に示された数値からは，薬指以外は大差ないとも読める．）

ABSTRACT To determine whether other digits move when normal humans attempt to move just one digit, we asked 10 right-handed subjects to move one finger at a time while we recorded the motion of all five digits simultaneously with both a video motion analysis system and an instrumented glove. We quantified the independence of the digits to compare (1) the different digits, (2) the right versus the left hand, and (3) movements at a self-paced frequency versus externally paced movements at 3 Hz. We also quantified the degree to which motion occurred at the proximal, middle, or distal joint of each digit. Even when asked to move just one finger, normal human subjects produced motion in other digits. Movements of the thumb, index finger, and little finger typically were more highly individuated than were movements of the middle or ring fingers. Fingers of the dominant hand were not more independent than were those of the nondominant hand. Self-paced movements made at ~2 Hz were more highly individuated than were externally paced movements at 3 Hz. Angular motion tended to be greatest at the middle joint of each digit, with increased angular motion at the proximal and distal joints during 3 Hz movements. Simultaneous motion of noninstructed digits may result in part from passive mechanical connections between the digits, in part from the organization of multitendoned finger muscles, and in part from distributed neural control of the hand.