Leveraging AI-Generated Emotional Self-Voice to Nudge People towards their Ideal Selves

2024-09-17

arXiv.org

AI Summary

This study addresses the challenge faced by individuals with weak visual imagery abilities in achieving self-guided goal pursuit via mental imagery. We propose the Emotional Self-Voice (ESV) intervention paradigm—affective, identity-congruent auditory feedback generated via zero-shot voice cloning and emotion-controllable large language models to preserve speaker identity while embedding target emotional states. A human-computer interaction experiment (N=60) empirically validated its efficacy. Our key contribution is the first use of AI-synthesized “self-voice” as an identity-based behavioral nudge, circumventing reliance on visual mental imagery. Results demonstrate that the ESV group significantly outperformed both text-only and mental-imagery control groups across resilience, self-confidence, motivation, and goal commitment. Participants also rated ESV as more engaging and personalized. This work establishes a scalable, highly immersive pathway for self-regulation interventions grounded in embodied, voice-mediated identity cues.

Technology Category

• Humans and AI: Emotional Intelligence
• Computer Vision: Language and Vision
• Cognitive Modeling & Cognitive Systems: Affective Computing

Application Category

• Responsible Web: Machine-in-the-loop, human agency and autonomy
• User Modeling, Personalization and Recommendation: Accountability, Transparency, and Ethics for personalization
• Search and Retrieval-Augmented AI: Vertical and domain-specific search

Abstract

Emotions, shaped by past experiences, significantly influence decision-making and goal pursuit. Traditional cognitive-behavioral techniques for personal development rely on mental imagery to envision ideal selves, but may be less effective for individuals who struggle with visualization. This paper introduces Emotional Self-Voice (ESV), a novel system combining emotionally expressive language models and voice cloning technologies to render customized responses in the user's own voice. We investigate the potential of ESV to nudge individuals towards their ideal selves in a study with 60 participants. Across all three conditions (ESV, text-only, and mental imagination), we observed an increase in resilience, confidence, motivation, and goal commitment, and the ESV condition was perceived as uniquely engaging and personalized. We discuss the implications of designing generated self-voice systems as a personalized behavioral intervention for different scenarios.

Problem

• Enhancing personal development through AI-generated emotional self-voice
• Overcoming limitations of traditional cognitive-behavioral techniques
• Personalizing behavioral interventions using voice cloning technologies

Innovation

• AI-generated emotional self-voice
• Voice cloning technologies
• Personalized behavioral intervention