Communications of the ACM
New Computer Program Redefines Interview Preparation
The new My Automated Conversation Coach (MACH) helps users practice social interactions, which it records and analyzes.
Credit: Purple-Consultancy.com
University of Rochester researchers have developed My Automated Conversation Coach (MACH), an interactive program designed to strengthen users' social skills, especially as they pertain to conversations. Users practice social interactions in front of a computer screen that is equipped with an animated character that can visibly respond to them. The interaction is then recorded and analyzed.
The conversational criteria that the program analyzes include social cues such as smiles, tone of voice, speed of talking, eye contact, and the use of filler words. "The data is super objective, but how we each interpret them is super subjective," says Rochester researcher Mohammed Hoque.
The researchers tested 90 Massachusetts Institute of Technology undergraduates by having them interact with counselors at the career center, with some of the participants also using the MACH system. All 90 subjects returned to the same counselor for a second interaction, which were then rated by additional counselors. The results show that the MACH-trained participants scored higher.
"That's a really good indication that people are not only learning how to interact with the system, but learning how to generalize [their social interactions] to other people," Hoque says.
From University of Rochester News
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