Abstract

Early researchers suggested that virtual humans (animated pedagogical agents) required a persona if they were to be anthropomorphized by the user. Over the past two decades, research has focused on design features that target the perception of persona in order to increase the anthropomorphization of the agent toward the end of increased learning outcomes. This systematic narrative review analyzes studies that have measured agent persona using the Agent Persona Instrument to assess whether there is evidence that persona increases learning outcomes. Our findings suggest that significantly higher persona ratings have little effect on learning outcomes. However, design features such as facial expressions and gestures were more important moderators of agent persona than voice and agent type, and environmental details such as study domain or student population suggested no clear direction in the perception of persona. The article concludes with a discussion of future directions for study designs and potential frontiers.

摘要

早期的研究人员建议，如果虚拟人（动画教学人员）要被用户拟人化，则需要一个角色。在过去的二十年中，研究集中在针对人物角色感知的设计功能上，以期在增加学习成果的最后阶段增加代理人的拟人化程度。这项系统的叙述性评论会使用“代理人角色”工具分析已测量代理人角色的研究，以评估是否有证据表明角色增加了学习成果。我们的发现表明，较高的人物角色评分对学习成果影响很小。但是，面部表情和手势之类的设计功能是座席角色的重要主持人，而不是语音和座席类型，和环境细节（例如研究领域或学生群体）表明，在角色认知方面没有明确的方向。本文最后讨论了研究设计和潜在领域的未来方向。