People follow motivation-structural rules when they react to synthetised sounds

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Acoustics
• Human-Computer Interaction

Background:

• Emotionally expressive vocalizations influence approach-avoidance behaviors in humans and animals.
• Understanding how artificial sounds affect human behavior is crucial for designing effective human-robot interactions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate whether artificially generated sounds elicit approach-avoidance responses in humans.
• To determine the link between acoustic properties (pitch, loudness, length) and perceived valence/intensity, and human behavioral responses.
• To explore the potential application of these findings in regulating human-robot interaction distances.

Main Methods:

• Generated 343 artificial sounds varying in call length, fundamental frequency, and acoustic features across 7 categories and 3 biological complexity levels.
• Assessed hypothetical behavioral responses using an online questionnaire with a manikin task involving 172 participants.
• Analyzed the relationship between sound characteristics and approach-avoidance decisions.

Main Results:

• Quieter sounds elicited approach, while loud sounds were associated with avoidance.
• The effect of pitch was modulated by sound category, call length, and loudness; low pitch in complex sounds prompted avoidance, while high pitch in loud sounds had a distancing effect.
• Higher intensity and negative valence sounds elicited avoidance, with longer sounds promoting avoidance, especially at high frequencies.

Conclusions:

• Acoustic properties of artificial sounds significantly influence human approach-avoidance behaviors.
• Findings suggest that biologically inspired acoustic signals can be used to regulate interaction distance with social robots.
• This capability offers advantages for designing more intuitive and effective human-robot interaction scenarios.