New Mobile Adaptation System for Better Avatar-mediated communication; Facial Expressions in Memoji

Abstract

Avatars, including Apple's Memojis, represent users on digital platforms, and future investigations will address questions beyond computer-mediated communication, such as group communication, non-verbal communication, and organizational communication. Currently, Memojis' emotional conveyance is receiving much attention. We investigated how people perceive and judge the emotional quality of the Memojis. An online survey collected user assessments of emotional expressions in Memojis. We created Memojis of seven emotions based on 28 images from the Japanese and Caucasian facial expressions of emotion (JACFEE) database using an iPhone running iOS 15.2. The emotional appeals of individual Memojis were judged. In general, Memojis were insufficient to communicate emotions. Happiness and sadness are the most robust, while fear and disgust had a low level of conveyance, and anger, contempt, and surprise were relatively inaccurately perceived. The results suggested developing an adaption system that detects the intended emotion and expresses it in the exaggerated way that cartoon-like characters convey emotions. The limitations and challenges of the proper use of Memojis for better figure-based and non-verbal communication are also discussed.