Contact information
Matthijs Pontier, M.Sc
PhD student Agent Systems Research
Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
Department of Computer Science
De Boelelaan 1081a
1081 HV Amsterdam
The Netherlands
phone: +31 (0)20 598 7756
fax: +31 (0)20 598 7653
email: mpr210@few.vu.nl
office: T-320b
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Bio
Matthijs Pontier was born in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, and went to the VU University of Amsterdam. He studied Artificial Intelligence as well as (Cognitive) Psychology, and obtained his Masters degree in the direction of Cognitive Science in 2007. Currently, he is employed as a PhD student at the VU University of Amsterdam.
Research interests
Cognitive Modelling:
- Emotion Regulation
- Emotion Elicitation
- Affective Decision Making
Applications of Cognitive Models in:
- (Serious) Games
- Applications in a clinical environment
PhD Project
Virtual Agents for Human Communication - Emotion Regulation and Involvement-Distance Trade-Offs in Embodied Conversational Agents and Robots
Thus far, conversational agents and social robots were mainly developed from a technical point of view; e.g., ELIZA (Weizenbaum, 1966). The underlying model was almost lay theory, showing that smiles express happiness and frowns sadness (cf. Breazeal, 2002). Yet, most agents and robots fail conversation-wise because they cannot apply the right emotional response to the right situation. In this interdisciplinary research project, we will apply theories and models from mediated interpersonal communication, human-computer interaction and media psychology to embodied conversational agents. In doing so, the agents will be capable of social interaction and human-like communication. Ideally, theory and simulation should be so good that in a Turing Test (Turing, 1964), people will not be able to tell the difference. If there are significant differences, the experiments will show where the used theories and models have to be improved.
Publications
In all publications listed below except the ones marked with a *, equal authorship is handled, and therefore the authors are listed in alphabetical order.
Book Publications
2011
- Pontier, M.A., Virtual Agents for Human Communication - Emotion Regulation and Involvement-Distance Trade-Offs in Embodied Conversational Agents and Robots. PhD Thesis. Preliminary version: pdf
Journal Publications
2011
- Hoorn, J.F., Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., Coppélius' Concoction: Similarity and Complementarity Among Three Affect-related Agent Models. Cognitive Systems Research Journal, in press. Preliminary version: pdf
2010
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M.A., and Treur, J., A Computational Model based on Gross’ Emotion Regulation Theory. Cognitive Systems Research Journal, Vol. 11, 2010, pp. 211-230. Preliminary version: pdf. Elsevier Link
2008
- Hoorn, J.F., and Pontier, M.A., Robot communication - human contact with androids. Information Design Journal, 2008, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 236-241. Preliminary version: pdf.
Conference Publications
2011
- Bosse, T., Brenninckmeyer, J., Kallisch, R., Paret, C., and Pontier, M.A., Matching Skin Conductance Data to a Computational Model of Reappraisal In: Proceedings of of the 33th International Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci'11, 2011, pp. 1888-1893. Preliminary version: pdf
2010
- *Pontier, M.A., Siddiqui, G.F., and Hoorn, J., Speed Dating with an Affective Virtual Agent - Developing a Testbed for Emotion Models In: J. Allbeck et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA'10, 2010, Lecture Notes in Computer Science, Vol. 6356, pp. 91-103. Preliminary version: pdf
Affective Agent Performing a Speed-date (Downloading and installing Haptek Player is required to view this application)
- Bosse, T., Gratch, J., Hoorn, J.F.,Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., Comparing Three Computational Models of Affect In: Y. Demazeau et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Practical Applications of Agents and Multi-Agent Systems, PAAMS'10, 2010, Advances in Soft Computing, Vol. 70, pp. 175-184. Preliminary version: pdf
2009
- Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., An Affective Agent Playing Tic-Tac-Toe as Part of a Healing Environment In: J.J. Yang et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the 12th International Conference on Principles of Practice in Multi-Agent Systems, PRIMA'09, Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, Vol. 5925, Springer Verlag, 2009, pp. 33-47. Preliminary version: pdf
Affective Agent Playing Tic-Tac-Toe (Downloading and installing Haptek Player is required to view this application)
- Pontier, M. A., and Siddiqui, G.F., Silicon Coppélia: Integrating three affect-related models for establishing richer agent interaction In: Proceedings of the Eighth IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, IAT'09, 2009, pp. 194-202. Preliminary version: pdf
- Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., Affective agents perceiving each other’s actions. In: Otamendi, J., Bargiela, A., Montes, J.L., Pedrera, L.M.D. (eds.), Proceedings of the 23rd European Conference on Modelling and Simulation, ECMS'2009. European Council for Modelling and Simulation, 2009, pp. 194-202. Preliminary version: pdf
Nominated for best paper award.
2008
- Hoorn, J.F., Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., When the user is instrument to robot goals. In: Proceedings of the Seventh IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, IAT'08, 2008, pp. 296-301. Preliminary version: pdf
- Bosse, T., Hoorn, J.F., Pontier, M.A,, and Siddiqui, G.F., Robot’s Experience of Another Robot: Simulation. In: Sloutsky, V., Love, B.C., and McRae, K. (eds.), Proceedings of the 30th International Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci'08, 2008, pp. 2498-2503. Preliminary version: pdf
- Pontier, M.A., and Siddiqui, G.F., A virtual therapist that responds empathically to your answers. In: Prendinger, H., Lester, J., and Ishizuka, M. (eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA’08, 2008, pp. 417-425. Preliminary version: pdf
Prototype Virtual Therapist application (Downloading and installing Haptek Player is required to view this application)
- Pontier, M.A., Simulating the Effects of Therapies and Traumas on Emotion Regulation. In: Louca, L. S., Chrysanthou, Y., Oplatkova, Z., and Al-Begain, K. (eds.) Proceedings of the 22nd European Conference on Modeling and Simulation, ECMS'08, 2008, pp. 104-110. Preliminary version: pdf
2007
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M.A., Siddiqui, G.F., and Treur, J., Incorporating Emotion Regulation into Virtual Stories. In: Pelachaud, C., Martin, J.C., Andre, E., Chollet, G., Karpouzis, K., and Pele, D. (eds.), Proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents, IVA'07. Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence, vol. 4722. Springer Verlag, 2007, pp. 339-347. Preliminary version: pdf
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M., and Treur, J., A Computational Model for Adaptive Emotion Regulation. In: Lin, T.Y., Bradshaw, J.M., Klusch, M., Zhang, C., Broder, A., and Ho, H.(eds.), Proceedings of the Sixth IEEE/WIC/ACM International Conference on Intelligent Agent Technology, IAT'07. IEEE Computer Society Press, 2007, pp. 289-293. Preliminary version: pdf
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M., and Treur, J., A Dynamical System Modelling Approach to Gross’ Model of Emotion Regulation. In: Lewis, R.L., Polk, T.A., Laird, J.E.(eds.), Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Cognitive Modeling, ICCM'07. Taylor and Francis, 2007, pp. 187-192. Preliminary version: pdf
Poster Publications
2010
- *Pontier, M.A., Otte, M., and Hoorn, J.F., An Affective Virtual Agent for Natural Human-Agent Interaction. SNN Intelligent Machines Symposium 2010 pdf
2008
- Bosse, T., Hoorn, J.F., Pontier, M.A,, and Siddiqui, G.F., Robot’s Experience of Another Robot: Simulation. 30th International Annual Conference of the Cognitive Science Society, CogSci'08, 2008, pdf
(Extended Abstracts)
2010
- *Pontier, M.A., Otte, M., and Hoorn, J.F., An Affective Virtual Agent for Natural Human-Agent Interaction. SNN Intelligent Machines Symposium 2010 pdf
2007
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M.A., Siddiqui, G.F., and Treur, J., Incorporating Emotion Regulation into Virtual Stories. Proceedings of the 19th Belgian-Dutch Conference on Artificial Intelligence, BNAIC’07 pdf
- Bosse, T., Pontier, M., and Treur, J., A Dynamical System Modelling Approach to Gross’ Model of Emotion Regulation. Proceedings of the 19th Belgian-Dutch Conference on Artificial Intelligence, BNAIC’07 pdf
Teaching
2009 Instructor Psychology of Media Use
2009 2nd reader of Master's Thesis of Sven Stam
2009 Instructor Integrative Modelling
2008 Instructor Introduction to Modelling and Simulation
2008 2nd reader of Master's Thesis of Frank de Lange
2007 Instructor Self-Organising Systems / Introduction to Modelling and Simulation
2007 Instructor Functieleer practicum
International Program Committee Membership
2012 European Conference on Modelling and Simulation (ECMS 2012)
2011 European Conference on Modelling and Simulation (ECMS 2011)
2010 European Conference on Modelling and Simulation (ECMS 2010)
Links
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