Special Track on Affective Computing

Affective computing is an emerging field that aspires to narrow the communicative gap between the highly emotional human and the emotionally challenged computer by developing computational systems that recognize and respond to the affective states (such as moods, emotions) of the user. One of the basic principles of affective computing is that automatically recognizing and responding to a user's affective states during interactions with a computer can enhance the quality of the interaction, thereby making the computer interface more usable, enjoyable, and effective. For example, an affect-sensitive learning environment that detects and responds to student frustration is expected to increase motivation, engagement, and learning gains. Although the last decade has been ripe with theory and applications relevant to affective computing, these advances are accompanied by a new set of challenges. By providing a framework to discuss and evaluate novel research, we hope to leverage recent advances to speed up future research in this area.