An Empirical Study on the Effects of Embodied Conversational Agents on User Retention Performance and Perception in a Simulated Mobile Environment

The paper presents a user study designed to examine the impact of the presence of a multimodal ECA on the user’s ability to retain content of cultural value with variable degree of difficulty (i.e., technical and simple content). The study was conducted in the lab, using a high resolution panorama representing four locations in an archaeological attraction. The content participants perceived differed both in terms of complexity and length. Participants interacted with an ECA-based system and then with a non-ECA system that provided content about popular locations in the attraction. Results indicate that participants who used the system with the ECA retained content of variable difficulty more consistently, than those who used the system without the ECA. However, we also found that if text is added as an additional output modality to an ECA-based information system it can positively impact the perception of the technical content, which can potentially lead to enhanced retention of technical content.