Using a human face in an interface

TLDR

The study investigates whether adding human‑like features to interfaces improves user experience, concluding that careless anthropomorphism can worsen it. Participants completed a questionnaire while viewing a synthesized talking face on a computer screen. Compared to text, the talking face prompted longer responses, fewer errors, and more comments; a stern face elicited similar benefits but lower enjoyment.

Abstract

We investigated subjects’ responses to a synthesized talking face displayed on a computer screen in the context of a questionnaire study. Compared to subjects who answered questions presented via text display on a screen, subjects who answered the same questions spoken by a talking face spent more time, made fewer mistakes, and wrote more comments. When we compared responses to two different talking faces, subjects who answered questions spoken by a stern face, compared to subjects who answered questions spoken by a neutral face, spent more time, made fewer mistakes, and wrote more comments. They also liked the experience and the face less. We interpret this study in the light of desires to anthropomorphize computer interfaces and suggest that incautiously adding human characteristics, like face, voice, and facial expressions, could make the experience for users worse rather than better.