Max Louwerse | Tilburg University (original) (raw)

Papers by Max Louwerse

Research paper thumbnail of Toward a taxonomy of a set of discourse markers in dialog: A theoretical and computational linguistic account.

Discourse Processes, 2003

Discourse markers are verbal and non-verbal devices that mark transition points in communication.... more Discourse markers are verbal and non-verbal devices that mark transition points in communication. They presumably facilitate the construction of a mental representation of the events described by the discourse. A taxonomy of these relational markers is one important beginning in investigations of language use. While several taxonomies of coherence relations have been proposed for monolog, only a few have been proposed for dialog. This paper presents a taxonomy of between-turn coherence relations in dialog and discusses several issues that arise out of constructing such a taxonomy. A large number of discourse markers was sampled from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English. Two judges substituted each type of these markers for all other markers. This extensive substitution test determined whether hyponymous, hypernymous and synonymous relations existed between the markers from this corpus of dialogs. Evidence is presented for clustering coherence relations into four categories: direction, polarity, acceptance and empathics.

Research paper thumbnail of The Multimodal Nature of Embodied Conversational Agents

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Immersive virtual reality benefits for visuomotor training

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Measures of prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy in visuomotor learning

Experimental Brain Research, Feb 2, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Effect of Context on Humor: A Constraint-Based Model of Comprehending Verbal Jokes

Discourse Processes, Jan 29, 2010

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of various constraints on the processing of ... more Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of various constraints on the processing of jokes. Participants read humorous jokes and nonhumorous alternatives of the jokes, which were presented in 3 conditions that manipulated discourse context (comedy, political, and control). In Experiment 1, participants rated the funniness of texts and provided some recall data. In Experiment 2, participant's eye movements were collected to examine the effects of the different contexts on the online processing of the texts. Results confirmed ...

Research paper thumbnail of Benefits of immersive collaborative learning in CAVE-based virtual reality

International journal of educational technology in higher education, Nov 16, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Multimodal Communication in Face-to-Face Computer-Mediated Conversations

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Neurophysiological changes in visuomotor sequence learning provide insight in general learning processes: Measures of brain activity, skin conductance, heart rate and respiration

International Journal of Psychophysiology, May 1, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs

Research paper thumbnail of How fundamental is embodiment to language comprehension? Constraints on embodied cognition

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting Manipulated Second Language Reading Texts

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Feedback in Learning Form-Meaning Mappings

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Dialog Act Classification Using N-Gram Algorithms

The Florida AI Research Society, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Non-invasive neurophysiological measures of learning: A meta-analysis

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Apr 1, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Avoiding the language-as-a-fixed-effect fallacy : How to estimate outcomes of linear mixed models

Research paper thumbnail of Age Differences in Learning-Related Neurophysiological Changes

Journal of Psychophysiology, Jul 1, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Verifying properties from different emotions produces switching costs : Evidence for coarse-grained language statistics and fine-grained perceptual simulation

Research paper thumbnail of Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic ... more Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human faces, real and manipulated, considering two factors of predicted influence, i.e., corneal reflections and skin contrast. Corneal reflections referred to the bright points in each eye that occur when the ambient light reflects from the surface of the cornea. Skin contrast referred to the degree to which skin surface is rough versus smooth. We conducted two memory experiments, one with high-quality virtual agent faces (Experiment 1) and the other with the photographs of human faces that were manipulated (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 showed better memory for virtual faces with increased corneal reflections and skin contrast (rougher rather than smoother skin). Experiment 2 replicated these findings, s...

Research paper thumbnail of Training Machine Learning Models to Detect Group Differences in Neurophysiological Data using Recurrence Quantification Analysis based Features

Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents

Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 2021

Abstract Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclea... more Abstract Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclear which aspects of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) make them identifiable as human-like agents. In three experiments and a computational study, we investigated which specific facial features in static IVAs contribute to judging them human-like. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with facial images of state-of-the-art IVAs and humans and asked to rate these stimuli on human-likeness. The results showed that IVAs were judged less human-like compared to photographic images of humans, which led to the hypothesis that the discrepancy in human-likeness was driven by skin and eye reflectance. A follow-up computational analysis confirmed this hypothesis, showing that the faces of IVAs had smoother skin and a reduced number of corneal reflections than human faces. In Experiment 2, we validated these findings by systematically manipulating the appearance of skin and eyes in a set of human photographs, including both female and male faces as well as four different races. Participants indicated as quickly as possible whether the image depicted a real human face or not. The results showed that smoothening the skin and removing corneal reflections affected the perception of human-likeness when quick perceptual decisions needed to be made. Finally, in Experiment 3, we combined the images of IVA faces and those of humans, unaltered and altered, and asked participants to rate them on human-likeness. The results confirmed the causal role of both features for attributing human-likeness. Both skin and eye reflectance worked in tandem in driving judgements regarding the extent to which the face was perceived human-like in both IVAs and humans. These findings are of relevance to computer graphics artists and psychology researchers alike in drawing attention to those facial characteristics that increase realism in IVAs.

Research paper thumbnail of Toward a taxonomy of a set of discourse markers in dialog: A theoretical and computational linguistic account.

Discourse Processes, 2003

Discourse markers are verbal and non-verbal devices that mark transition points in communication.... more Discourse markers are verbal and non-verbal devices that mark transition points in communication. They presumably facilitate the construction of a mental representation of the events described by the discourse. A taxonomy of these relational markers is one important beginning in investigations of language use. While several taxonomies of coherence relations have been proposed for monolog, only a few have been proposed for dialog. This paper presents a taxonomy of between-turn coherence relations in dialog and discusses several issues that arise out of constructing such a taxonomy. A large number of discourse markers was sampled from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English. Two judges substituted each type of these markers for all other markers. This extensive substitution test determined whether hyponymous, hypernymous and synonymous relations existed between the markers from this corpus of dialogs. Evidence is presented for clustering coherence relations into four categories: direction, polarity, acceptance and empathics.

Research paper thumbnail of The Multimodal Nature of Embodied Conversational Agents

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Immersive virtual reality benefits for visuomotor training

Applied Cognitive Psychology, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of Measures of prefrontal functional near-infrared spectroscopy in visuomotor learning

Experimental Brain Research, Feb 2, 2021

Research paper thumbnail of The Effect of Context on Humor: A Constraint-Based Model of Comprehending Verbal Jokes

Discourse Processes, Jan 29, 2010

Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of various constraints on the processing of ... more Two experiments were conducted to assess the effects of various constraints on the processing of jokes. Participants read humorous jokes and nonhumorous alternatives of the jokes, which were presented in 3 conditions that manipulated discourse context (comedy, political, and control). In Experiment 1, participants rated the funniness of texts and provided some recall data. In Experiment 2, participant's eye movements were collected to examine the effects of the different contexts on the online processing of the texts. Results confirmed ...

Research paper thumbnail of Benefits of immersive collaborative learning in CAVE-based virtual reality

International journal of educational technology in higher education, Nov 16, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Multimodal Communication in Face-to-Face Computer-Mediated Conversations

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2007

Research paper thumbnail of Neurophysiological changes in visuomotor sequence learning provide insight in general learning processes: Measures of brain activity, skin conductance, heart rate and respiration

International Journal of Psychophysiology, May 1, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of Modality switch effects emerge early and increase throughout conceptual processing: Evidence from ERPs

Research paper thumbnail of How fundamental is embodiment to language comprehension? Constraints on embodied cognition

Research paper thumbnail of Detecting Manipulated Second Language Reading Texts

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Feedback in Learning Form-Meaning Mappings

Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 2009

Research paper thumbnail of Dialog Act Classification Using N-Gram Algorithms

The Florida AI Research Society, 2006

Research paper thumbnail of Non-invasive neurophysiological measures of learning: A meta-analysis

Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, Apr 1, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Avoiding the language-as-a-fixed-effect fallacy : How to estimate outcomes of linear mixed models

Research paper thumbnail of Age Differences in Learning-Related Neurophysiological Changes

Journal of Psychophysiology, Jul 1, 2023

Research paper thumbnail of Verifying properties from different emotions produces switching costs : Evidence for coarse-grained language statistics and fine-grained perceptual simulation

Research paper thumbnail of Corneal reflections and skin contrast yield better memory of human and virtual faces

Cognitive Research: Principles and Implications

Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic ... more Virtual faces have been found to be rated less human-like and remembered worse than photographic images of humans. What it is in virtual faces that yields reduced memory has so far remained unclear. The current study investigated face memory in the context of virtual agent faces and human faces, real and manipulated, considering two factors of predicted influence, i.e., corneal reflections and skin contrast. Corneal reflections referred to the bright points in each eye that occur when the ambient light reflects from the surface of the cornea. Skin contrast referred to the degree to which skin surface is rough versus smooth. We conducted two memory experiments, one with high-quality virtual agent faces (Experiment 1) and the other with the photographs of human faces that were manipulated (Experiment 2). Experiment 1 showed better memory for virtual faces with increased corneal reflections and skin contrast (rougher rather than smoother skin). Experiment 2 replicated these findings, s...

Research paper thumbnail of Training Machine Learning Models to Detect Group Differences in Neurophysiological Data using Recurrence Quantification Analysis based Features

Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Agents and Artificial Intelligence, 2022

Research paper thumbnail of Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents

Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 2021

Abstract Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclea... more Abstract Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclear which aspects of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) make them identifiable as human-like agents. In three experiments and a computational study, we investigated which specific facial features in static IVAs contribute to judging them human-like. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with facial images of state-of-the-art IVAs and humans and asked to rate these stimuli on human-likeness. The results showed that IVAs were judged less human-like compared to photographic images of humans, which led to the hypothesis that the discrepancy in human-likeness was driven by skin and eye reflectance. A follow-up computational analysis confirmed this hypothesis, showing that the faces of IVAs had smoother skin and a reduced number of corneal reflections than human faces. In Experiment 2, we validated these findings by systematically manipulating the appearance of skin and eyes in a set of human photographs, including both female and male faces as well as four different races. Participants indicated as quickly as possible whether the image depicted a real human face or not. The results showed that smoothening the skin and removing corneal reflections affected the perception of human-likeness when quick perceptual decisions needed to be made. Finally, in Experiment 3, we combined the images of IVA faces and those of humans, unaltered and altered, and asked participants to rate them on human-likeness. The results confirmed the causal role of both features for attributing human-likeness. Both skin and eye reflectance worked in tandem in driving judgements regarding the extent to which the face was perceived human-like in both IVAs and humans. These findings are of relevance to computer graphics artists and psychology researchers alike in drawing attention to those facial characteristics that increase realism in IVAs.