"Look!": using the gaze direction of embodied agents

This paper describes the results of three studies investigating an embodied agent that supports its interaction with the user by gazing at corresponding objects within its close environment. Three experiments were conducted in order to research whether users can detect an agent's line of sight, whether the agent's gaze direction can help to guide the users' attention towards designated locations and whether such a setup can be used to improve realistic interaction situations. The results show that a) users can detect the agent's gaze direction quickly (within 200 ms) but not very exactly, b) the use of the agent's gaze direction can speed up but also slow down the detection of objects in dependence on their location and c) that the agent's gaze towards corresponding objects during the interaction can have counterproductive effects in realistic settings.