Emotional Bandwidth: Information Theory Analysis of Affective Response Ratings Using a Continuous Slider

Emotions are an important part of the user experience in human machine interaction. More standardized methods of emotion measurement are required to assist in evaluating and comparing these experiences. This research introduces the concept of Emotional Bandwidth, a psychometric property of self-reported emotion measured through a continuous, quantitative slider. Emotional Bandwidth is illustrated in a videoconference watching case study. The Shannon-Weaver measure of informational entropy was used to quantify the rating usage bandwidth, which relates to the number of levels of emotional rating effectively utilized by participants. Significant differences in rating usage strategy were found, with four groups being identified; across the four experimental blocks, entropy either increased, decreased, remained constant or irregular. Emotional Bandwidth, the information-theoretic analysis of affect ratings collected with a continuous slider, may be used to characterize changes in participants’ emotional self-rating during experiments and evaluations.