Summary
“Emotions provide the energy behind virtually every attitude people take, every day of their lives.” It is from this observation that Dave Meeker, vice-president of the company Isobar, started to develop a real-time emotion measurement system, during virtual reality experiences.
A multitude of medical technologies to capture emotions
By combining several medical technologies, Isobar, in partnership with MIT, has created “the first objective, non-invasive and reliable program to measure the emotional response of humans to visual stimuli”. Isobar, which is already specialized in emotion analysis, therefore created this tool, intended for marketers, to assess the effectiveness of VR experiences and improve its impact.
“Emotions are hard to measure,” continues Dave Meeker. To do this, the system created by Isobar is based on eye tracking, electroencephalography, electrocardiography and on the analysis of electrodermal activity and facial electromyography. Behind these complicated words is the observation of heart rate, facial muscles, sweating, nervous system and brain activity.
Enter the experience to “see” the emotions
The program does more than analyze emotional responses: it allows the viewer toenter the VR experience and see the avatar of the person who lived it. There, he notices the emotions he felt at such or such moment of the experience. This results in changes in the color of the avatar: when it is golden, it feels interest, pink it is happy, and green, disappointed.
“Brands that invest in VR can now have a precise and sensitive method, which measures major pitfalls and successes, without depending on self-verification, language, cognitive effort, memory or even the user's willingness to give an honest answer, ”says Dave Meeker.
