Cyberoception: Finding a Painlessly-Measurable New Sense in the Cyberworld Towards Emotion-Awareness in Computing
Tadashi Okoshi, Zexiong Gao, Tan Yi Zhen, Takumi Karasawa, Takeshi Miki, Wataru Sasaki, Rajesh K. Balan
TL;DR
Cyberoception introduces a painless, smartphone-based sense that parallels interoception by using embedded device sensors to capture users’ perceptions of daily interactions. In a 10-day hybrid study with in-lab and in-the-wild components, the authors identify Turning On as a cyberoceptive metric significantly associated with emotional valence, suggesting cyberoception as a foundational element for emotion-aware applications. However, the findings show that cyberoception cannot yet replace physiological interoception, given mixed correlations across metrics and contexts. The work demonstrates a practical framework for real-time, noninvasive affective sensing and highlights six measurable smartphone interaction metrics to enable future emotion-aware services.
Abstract
In Affective computing, recognizing users' emotions accurately is the basis of affective human-computer interaction. Understanding users' interoception contributes to a better understanding of individually different emotional abilities, which is essential for achieving inter-individually accurate emotion estimation. However, existing interoception measurement methods, such as the heart rate discrimination task, have several limitations, including their dependence on a well-controlled laboratory environment and precision apparatus, making monitoring users' interoception challenging. This study aims to determine other forms of data that can explain users' interoceptive or similar states in their real-world lives and propose a novel hypothetical concept "cyberoception," a new sense (1) which has properties similar to interoception in terms of the correlation with other emotion-related abilities, and (2) which can be measured only by the sensors embedded inside commodity smartphone devices in users' daily lives. Results from a 10-day-long in-lab/in-the-wild hybrid experiment reveal a specific cyberoception type "Turn On" (users' subjective sensory perception about the frequency of turning-on behavior on their smartphones), significantly related to participants' emotional valence. We anticipate that cyberoception to serve as a fundamental building block for developing more "emotion-aware", user-friendly applications and services.