Affective Computing

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Overview

Affective computing studies how machines can infer and work with emotion, mood, engagement, and related states from speech, facial and bodily behavior, text, and physiological signals. Common approaches include supervised classifiers, multimodal fusion, temporal models that track changing affect, and appraisal-based or language-model methods for interpreting context. Applications span healthcare and wearables, education, human-robot interaction, and emotionally responsive digital tools, with evaluation increasingly extending from controlled datasets to naturalistic conversations and daily-life settings. A central challenge is that emotional cues are ambiguous and vary across people and cultures, so accuracy must be balanced with uncertainty, fairness, privacy, and respect for the limits of what a system can infer about an individual.

Latest papers

CardsList

141 papers14 papers in the last four weeks, down 18% on the four weeks before. 0.1% of all new papers.

  1. The 2026 ACII Dyadic Conversations (DaiKon) Workshop & Challenge

    May 4, 2026Panagiotis Tzirakis, Alice Baird, Jeffrey Brooks +6Turn-Taking PredictionAffective Computing

    Hume AI New York, USA · University of Music Nuremberg Nuremberg, Germany · BMW Group Munich, Germany

  2. MooD: Perception-Enhanced Efficient Affective Image Editing via Continuous Valence-Arousal Modeling

    May 4, 2026Xinyi Yin, Yiduo Wang, Tingqi Hu +6Valence-Arousal ModelingImage Editing

    School of Cyber Science and Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450002, China · School of Computer Science and Technology, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China · School of Journalism and New Media, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China +1

  3. Introducing WARM-VR: Benchmark Dataset for Multimodal Wearable Affect Recognition in Virtual Reality

    Apr 30, 2026Karim Alghoul, Faisal Mohd, Fedwa Laamarti +2Wearable SensingMultimodal Emotion Recognition

    School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Ottawa, Canada · Computer Vision Department, Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence, Abu Dhabi, UAE

  4. PPG-Based Affect Recognition with Long-Range Deep Models: A Measurement-Driven Comparison of CNN, Transformer, and Mamba Architectures

    Apr 28, 2026Karim Alghoul, Hussein Al Osman, Abdulmotaleb El SaddikSelective SSMsRecurrent Neural Networks

    School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science University of Ottawa Ottawa, Canada

  5. Unrequited Emotions: Investigating the Gaps in Motivation and Practice in Speech Emotion Recognition Research

    Apr 28, 2026Taryn Wong, Zeerak Talat, Hanan Aldarmaki +1Speech Emotion RecognitionEmotion Recognition

    Johns Hopkins University · University of Edinburgh · MBZUAI

  6. The Nonverbal Syntax Framework: An Evidence-Based Tiered System for Inferring Learner States from Observable Behavioral Cues

    Apr 28, 2026Sherzod Turaev, Mary John, Jaloliddin Rustamov +4AI in EducationEducation

    Department of Computer Science & Software Engineering, College of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates · Academic Support Department, Abu Dhabi Polytechnic, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates · Department of Information Systems and Security, College of Information Technology, College of Information Technology, United Arab Emirates University, Al Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates

  7. Emotive Architectures: The Role of LLMs in Adjusting Work Environments

    Apr 28, 2026Lara Vartziotis, Tina Vartziotis, Frank Beutenmueller +4Human-Centered AIHuman-AI Collaboration

    National Technical University of Athens, Greece · TWT GmbH Science & Innovation, Stuttgart, Germany · Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge USA

  8. Modeling Induced Pleasure through Cognitive Appraisal Prediction via Multimodal Fusion

    Apr 26, 2026Nastaran Dab, Raziyeh Zall, Mohammadreza KangavariMultimodal Model InterpretabilityMultimodal Fusion

    Department of Computer Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran.

  9. EmoTrans: A Benchmark for Understanding, Reasoning, and Predicting Emotion Transitions in Multimodal LLMs

    Apr 25, 2026He Hu, Tengjin Weng, Zebang Cheng +5Multimodal Large Language ModelsMultimodal Model Evaluation

    Shenzhen University Shenzhen, China · Guangdong Laboratory of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Economy (SZ) Shenzhen, China · Queen Mary University of London +3

  10. UKP_Psycontrol at SemEval-2026 Task 2: Modeling Valence and Arousal Dynamics from Text

    Apr 23, 2026Darya Hryhoryeva, Amaia Zurinaga, Hamidreza Jamalabadi +1Valence-Arousal ModelingAffective Computing

    Ubiquitous Knowledge Processing Lab (UKP Lab), Technical University of Darmstadt · National Research Center for Applied Cybersecurity ATHENE, Germany · Psychiatric Control Systems Lab, Marburg University

  11. Detecting Alarming Student Verbal Responses using Text and Audio Classifier

    Apr 17, 2026Christopher Ormerod, Gitit KehatMultimodal ClassificationAffective Computing

  12. GAViD: A Large-Scale Multimodal Dataset for Context-Aware Group Affect Recognition from Videos

    Apr 17, 2026Deepak Kumar, Abhishek Pratap Singh, Puneet Kumar +2Multimodal Emotion RecognitionEmotion Recognition

    Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India · Indian Institute of Technology Ropar, Punjab, India · Zhejiang University, China +1

  13. Mechanistic Decoding of Cognitive Constructs in Large Language Models

    Apr 16, 2026Yitong Shou, Manhao GuanLLM InterpretabilityCausal Interventions in Language Models

    Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China. · The authors are with the College of Computer Science and Technology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, China.

  14. A Hormone-inspired Emotion Layer for Transformer language models (HELT)

    Apr 13, 2026Eslam Reda, Sara El-MetwallyEmotion Representation in Language ModelsEmotion-Aware Dialogue Generation

    Artificial Intelligence Program Faculty of Computers and Information Mansoura University Mansoura 35516 Egypt · Computer Science Department Faculty of Computers and Information Mansoura University Mansoura 35516 Egypt

  15. AIM-Bench: Benchmarking and Improving Affective Image Manipulation via Fine-Grained Hierarchical Control

    Apr 12, 2026Shi Chen, Xuecheng Wu, Heli Sun +8Image Editing EvaluationAffective Computing

    Xi’an Jiaotong University · Zhengzhou University · National University of Singapore +2

  16. Persona-E2^2: A Human-Grounded Dataset for Personality-Shaped Emotional Responses to Textual Events

    Apr 10, 2026Yuqin Yang, Haowu Zhou, Haoran Tu +7Affective ComputingEmotion Recognition

    School of Future Technology, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

  17. ActFER: Agentic Facial Expression Recognition via Active Tool-Augmented Visual Reasoning

    Apr 10, 2026Shifeng Liu, Zhengye Zhang, Sirui Zhao +7Facial Expression RecognitionAffective Computing

    State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Intelligence, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China · Tsinghua University, Beijing, China · University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China +2

  18. Beyond the Mean: Modelling Annotation Distributions in Continuous Affect Prediction

    Apr 8, 2026Kosmas Pinitas, Ilias MaglogiannisAffective ComputingAnnotator Disagreement

    Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus

  19. LaScA: Language-Conditioned Scalable Modelling of Affective Dynamics

    Apr 8, 2026Kosmas Pinitas, Ilias MaglogiannisAffective ComputingMultimodal Emotion Recognition

    Department of Digital Systems, University of Piraeus

  20. Busemann energy-based attention for emotion analysis in Poincaré discs

    Apr 8, 2026Zinaid Kapić, Vladimir JaćimovićEmotion RecognitionAffective Computing

    Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, University of Montenegro, Cetinjski put, bb., 81000 Podgorica, Montenegro

  21. Emotion Entanglement and Bayesian Inference for Multi-Dimensional Emotion Understanding

    Apr 1, 2026Hemanth Kotaprolu, Kishan Maharaj, Raey Zhao +2Emotion RecognitionAffective Computing

    Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India · IBM Research · University of Texas at Austin, Texas, United States

  22. Structural Stress and Learned Helplessness in Afghanistan: A Multi-Layer Analysis of the AFSTRESS Dari Corpus

    Mar 28, 2026Jawid Ahmad Baktash, Mursal Dawodi, Nadira AhmadiAffective ComputingMulti-Label Classification

    Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany · Technical University of Applied Sciences Würzburg-Schweinfurt (THWS), Germany

  23. TAAC: A gate into Trustable Audio Affective Computing

    Mar 26, 2026Xintao Hu, Feng-Qi CuiPrivacy-Preserving Speech ProcessingAffective Computing

    Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, China

  24. Foundation Model Embeddings Meet Blended Emotions: A Multimodal Fusion Approach for the BLEMORE Challenge

    Mar 24, 2026Masoumeh Chapariniya, Aref Farhadipour, Sarah Ebling +2Emotion RecognitionMultimodal Emotion Recognition

    Department of Computational Linguistics, University of Zürich, Switzerland

  25. Reading Between the Lines: How Electronic Nonverbal Cues shape Emotion Decoding

    Mar 22, 2026Taara Kumar, Kokil JaidkaEmotion RecognitionAffective Computing

    Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, Singapore · Centre for Trusted Internet and Community, National University of Singapore, Singapore

  26. Profiling learners' affective engagement: Emotion AI, intercultural pragmatics, and language learning

    Mar 20, 2026Robert Godwin-JonesComputer-Assisted Language LearningAffective Computing

    Virginia Commonwealth University

  27. The Nonverbal Gap: Toward Affective Computer Vision for Safer and More Equitable Online Dating

    Mar 20, 2026Ratna Kandala, Niva Manchanda, Akshata Kishore MoharirAffective Computing

    University of Kansas · University of Maryland

  28. Dual-Model Prediction of Affective Engagement and Vocal Attractiveness from Speaker Expressiveness in Video Learning

    Mar 19, 2026Hung-Yue Suen, Kuo-En Hung, Fan-Hsun TsengAffective ComputingHuman Behavior Prediction

    Technology Application and Human Resource Development, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan · Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 701, Taiwan

  29. Memory Bear AI Memory Science Engine for Multimodal Affective Intelligence: A Technical Report

    Mar 18, 2026Deliang Wen, Ke Sun, Yu WangAffective ComputingEmotion Recognition

  30. Emotion-Aware Classroom Quality Assessment Leveraging IoT-Based Real-Time Student Monitoring

    Mar 17, 2026Hai Nguyen, Hieu Dao, Hung Nguyen +2AI in EducationAffective Computing

    Posts and Telecommunications Institute of Technology (PTIT), Km 10 Nguyen Trai Street, Ha Dong District, Hanoi, Vietnam