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Main Authors: Wrobel, Michal R., Barkana, Duygun Erol, Landowska, Agnieszka
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11668
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author Wrobel, Michal R.
Barkana, Duygun Erol
Landowska, Agnieszka
author_facet Wrobel, Michal R.
Barkana, Duygun Erol
Landowska, Agnieszka
contents Although pervasive sensing technologies are increasingly capable of continuously detecting human emotional states, there is still a critical challenge: how to unobtrusively communicate this sensed data back to the user. Realistic avatars are effective but often unsuitable for the limited screen space and peripheral nature of wearable. Abstract geometric animation offers a promising, rapidly interpretable alternative, but its cross-cultural validity remains under-explored. This study investigates the universality of animated emotion representations. We conducted a comparative study with 105 participants from Poland and Turkey and analyzed how they map emotions to visual parameters, such as color, shape, size, speed, and animation type. The results indicate that color and object size are universally understood as carriers of emotional meaning, making them suitable for global visualization models. However, some cultural variation in dynamic range preferences was revealed by animation speed. These results lay the groundwork for developing generative visualization algorithms that translate continuous sensor data into intuitive, culturally relevant feedback for pervasive environments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_11668
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Animated Representations of Emotions for Wearable Interfaces
Wrobel, Michal R.
Barkana, Duygun Erol
Landowska, Agnieszka
Human-Computer Interaction
Although pervasive sensing technologies are increasingly capable of continuously detecting human emotional states, there is still a critical challenge: how to unobtrusively communicate this sensed data back to the user. Realistic avatars are effective but often unsuitable for the limited screen space and peripheral nature of wearable. Abstract geometric animation offers a promising, rapidly interpretable alternative, but its cross-cultural validity remains under-explored. This study investigates the universality of animated emotion representations. We conducted a comparative study with 105 participants from Poland and Turkey and analyzed how they map emotions to visual parameters, such as color, shape, size, speed, and animation type. The results indicate that color and object size are universally understood as carriers of emotional meaning, making them suitable for global visualization models. However, some cultural variation in dynamic range preferences was revealed by animation speed. These results lay the groundwork for developing generative visualization algorithms that translate continuous sensor data into intuitive, culturally relevant feedback for pervasive environments.
title A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Animated Representations of Emotions for Wearable Interfaces
topic Human-Computer Interaction
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11668