Eye contact as trigger for modification of virtual character behavior

The increasing use of virtual reality in the treatment of phobias translates in a just as expanding need for realism in its scenes and characters. Virtual characters need to seem gifted with intelligence. A first step in achieving this is by giving them the possibility to interact with real people. In this paper we present an eye-tracking based method to obtain interactive virtual characters. We use eye-tracking data in order to determine whether a virtual character is being looked at or not during a public speaking exercise. We then use this in order to animate the character, making it look attentive when being looked at and bored when not. We present the results we have obtained from ratings of 12 healthy people who tested our application. Finally, we discuss the relevance of our application in the treatment of social phobia.