Research

Below are my research projects since launching the Aspire Lab. For my previous research, please see my personal website.

Browse Projects by Research Theme ▽ Funded Projects ▼

Kawaii Vocalics

Kawaii vocalics, or kawaii voice user experience (UX), is a new area of study aiming to explain the properties and effects of kawaii (Japanese "cute") voice phenomena. Kawaii vocalics fills the gap between the psychological study of kawaii and human-computer interaction (HCI) by considering how the design of virtual agents with kawaii voices can affect first impressions, trust, rapport, and compatibility. We will explore the nature and attributes of kawaii vocalics compared to kawaii visuals and emotion and behaviour elicitation through virtual agents with kawaii voices.

Projects

Kawaii Computing

Kawaii computing explores the Japanese concept of cute in human-computer interaction contexts. We consider the socio-cultural features of kawaii in interactive experiences with computers.

カワイイ・コンピューティングは、ヒューマン・コンピュータ・インタラクションの文脈における日本の「カワイイ」の概念を探求している。我々は、コンピュータとのインタラクティブな体験における「カワイイ」の社会文化的特徴を考察する。

Modelling Kawaii Vocalics

Little is known about kawaii as a sound phenomenon. What features of visual kawaii transfer? What unique properties does kawaii sound have? We ask.

音の現象としてのカワイイについてはほとんど知られていない。視覚的なカワイイにはどのような特徴があるのか？カワイイ音声にはどんなユニークな特性があるのか？我々は問う。

Kawaii Game Voice UX

Kawaii game voice user experiences (voice UX) are characterized by visual and sound phenomena associated with characters and other diegetic agents.

カワイイゲーム音声UX（ボイスUX）は、キャラクターや他のダイスジェティックエージェントに関連する視覚的・音響的現象が特徴です。

Voice UX

Voice is a natural mode of communication. As an aural medium, voice is used to deliver information (speech) as well as express characteristics of the speaker (vocalics). Advances in sound production and machine learning alongside the proliferation of intelligent assistants and dictation interfaces have pushed voice user experiences (voice UX) to the forefront of modern human-computer interactions. We explore the paradigm of voice UX through systematic reviews, critical design studies, and controlled experiments.

Projects

Voice Against Bias

Can voice influence attitudes towards age? We aim to find out with MAKOTO, our “older adult” voice assistant.

音声は年齢に対する意識に影響を与えることができるのか？お年寄りぽい音声アシスタント「MAKOTO」を使って、それを明らかにすることを目指します。

Evaluating Voice UX

We're exploring ways to measure and evaluate interactions with voice-based agents, interfaces, and environments.

音声エージェント、インターフェース、環境とのインタラクションを測定・評価する方法を模索しています。

Morphologies in Voice and Body

What kinds of bodies should voice-based agents have, if any? We explore a range of modalities and morphologies.

音声ベースのエージェントは、どのような身体を持つべきなのでしょうか。私たちは、さまざまなモダリティとモルフォロジーを探求しています。

Interactions in the Negaverse

Are we living in a negaverse? Critical scholarship has drawn attention to a range of ways in which technology exploits, affords, or even celebrates negative experiences. Dark patterns and persuasive interfaces, misinformation and fake news, maldaimonic UX and dark participation … even gamification can have an adverse effects, whether intentionally or not. We explore how negative user experiences and orientations play out across a range of interactive systems, as well as how they can be disrupted.

Projects

ELEMI: Exoskeleton for the Mind

Exploring whether and how a metacognitive agent can help us grapple with misinformation on social media.

メタ認知エージェントがSNS上の誤報に対処するのに役立つかどうか、またどのように対処するかを探ります。

Trust in AI

What factors affect trust and reliance in AI-based agents, systems, and environments? Exploring layperson and expert perspectives.

AIを活用したエージェント、システム、環境に対する信頼や信用に影響を与える要因とは？一般人や専門家の視点を探ります。

Interface Deception

Exploring "dark patterns," manipulative UI, and interface sludge.

ダークパターン、欺瞞的なインターアクション、説得力のあるインターフェイスを探ります。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Shun Hidaka
    Sota Kobuki
    Tatsuya Itagaki
    Mizuki Watanabe
    Miu Kojima
    Jo Yukami
    Julia Keckeis
    Yijia Wang
    Hiroki Kamakura
    Weichen Joe Chang
    Gloria Zhang
    Taro Nakajima
    Paul Riesch
    Tobias Pellkvist
    Elena Petrovskaya
  • Publications:
  • Timeline: FY21~
Maldaimonic Game UX

Maldaimonic player orientations and experiences are all about having fun being bad without harming others.

マルダイモニックなプレーヤーの志向と経験は、他人を傷つけることなく、悪いことを楽しむことにあります。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Satoru Iseya
    Shruti Chandra
  • Publications:
  • Timeline: FY22~

AI and Intersectional Design

Intersectional design examines how power operates through design practice with respect to overlapping factors of social identity, such as gender, age, and race. Designers, knowingly or not, draw on social models of how we look and sound, think and behave, and interact with the world. Users, too, respond in kind. We approach this phenomenon from an intersectional perspective, focusing on whether human diversity is reflected in design and research practice as well as how user reactions are shaped by biases embedded in the design of intelligent agents and interactive experiences.

Projects

Gender Neutrality in Robots and AI

We’re exploring whether and how robots and other AI can be perceived as gender-neutral.

ロボットや他の人工知能がジェンダー中性と認識されるかどうかを探っています。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Takao Fujii
  • Publications:
  • Funding:Engineering Academy Young Scientist Encouragement Award
  • Timeline: FY22~
Social Identity in Robots and AI

We're exploring how social identity affects human-agent interactions.

社会的アイデンティティが人間と人工知能の相互作用にどのような影響を与えるかを探検します。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Haruki Kotani
    Takao Fujii
  • Publications:
  • Timeline: FY22~
Biases in Robots and AI

We're approaching biases within and around us from an intersectional lens.

私たちの中や周りのバイアス・偏見に、交差点的なレンズを実施すると研究します。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Yeongdae Kim
    Shruti Chandra
  • Publications:
  • Funding:Engineering Academy Young Scientist Encouragement Award
  • Timeline: FY22~

Meta Operandi

Let us zoom out and consider the meta level of research practice. From meta-analysis and meta-synthesis to Open Science and Open Source to cross-cultural translation, we aim for aspirational rigour in pursuit of human knowledge.

Projects

Systematic Review-lution

We aim to increase awareness and rigour in systematic review work. Find out more on the homepage.

システマティック・レビューに対する認識と厳密性を高めることを目指しています。 HPで詳しく読めます。

  • Publications:
  • Timeline: FY23~
Project Translate Japan

Our goal is to translate all Japanese research into Japanese for the Japanese public and provide these translations in Open Science venues like Jxiv.

私たちの目標は、すべての日本の研究を日本の人々のために日本語に翻訳し、これらの翻訳をJxivのようなオープンサイエンスの場で提供することです。

  • Lab Members:
    Katie Seaborn
    Suzuka Yoshida
    Yuto Sawa
    Mutsumi Kashiwabara
    Miu Kojima
  • Publications:
  • Timeline: FY24~
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Independent

Discovering and Dismantling Dark Patterns in Everyday Interfaces

Online manipulation and interface deception are pressing, global threats to everyday users of the Internet. At the user interface (UI) level are tricky and coercive interactive elements found in everyday digital products, variably known as "dark patterns," deceptive designs, and manipulative UI. As a PRESTO・さきがけ fellow, I aimed to untangle the nature of such forms of interface deception in Japan, discover how are they perceived by professionals and the public, and explore how they can be redressed.

Timeline

October 2024 to March 2028 due to JST regulations and my move to Cambridge, the grant was cancelled in January 2026

Principal Investigators & Collaborators

Prof. Katie Seaborn (Science Tokyo)
Prof. Tomohiro Nagashima (Saarland University)

Funding & Web

JST PRESTO・さきがけProject Website

Discovering and Dismantling Dark Patterns in Everyday Interfaces
Kawaii Vocalics

Collaboration

Kawaii Vocalics

This project will focus on the novel concept of kawaii vocalics. The two research trajectories are: (i) what is the nature of kawaii vocalics compared to kawaii visuals, which comprises almost all work on kawaii science so far (theoretical extension); and (ii) what emotions and behaviour do kawaii voices elicit compared to kawaii visuals (methodological extension).

Timeline

April 2024 to March 2028

Principal Investigators & Collaborators

Prof. Katie Seaborn (Science Tokyo)
Dr. Jun Kato (AIST)
Dr. Mayu Koike (Science Tokyo) (left in December 2025)
Dr. Xiuzhu Gu (Science Tokyo) (joined in December 2025)

Funding & Web

JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research B (KAKENHI Kiban B)

Collaboration

Aromanoidics

We explored people's mental models of robot scent: imagined and real. To this end, we conducted exploratory human participant research on scent-to-robot matching and controlled experiments of different scents for different robots. We aimed to spark research on robot aroma and olfactory interaction. The results may be used in the design of robots that work closely with people, such as in the workplace, in the home, as (aroma)therapeutic robots, and in customer service settings, especially at storefronts.

Timeline

June 2023 to June 2024

Principal Investigators & Collaborators

Prof. Katie Seaborn (Science Tokyo)
Prof. Gentiane Venture (The University of Tokyo)

Funding & Web

16th Shiseido Female Researcher Science Grant

Aromanoidics
Voice Against Bias

Independent

Voice Against Bias

We explored the use of a virtual assistant with the voice of an older adult as a novel method of reducing implicit ageism. Such cognitive biases, as natural functions of the human mind, are influenced by the external world in positive and negative ways. Through co-design methodologies, intergenerational user studies, and long-term "in the wild" evaluations, we examined whether voice assistant "elders" could shift biases in a prosocial direction.

Timeline

April 2021 to March 2025

Principal Investigators & Collaborators

Prof. Katie Seaborn (Science Tokyo)

Funding & Web

JSPS Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists (JSPS KAKENHI Wakate)

Collaboration

Project Elemi

Our goal was to create and evaluate Elemi, an "exoskeleton for the mind." In short, Elemi is an AI-powered intelligent support system designed to augment metacognition in social media environments. Built with and for the public, Elemi helps people grapple with the misinformation crisis online by leveraging a range of evidence-based realtime strategies, from blurring out known misinformation to prompting reflection before consuming suspicious content.

Timeline

September 2020 to March 2022

Principal Investigators & Collaborators

Prof. Jacqueline Urakami (Science Tokyo)
Prof. Hiroki Oura (Science Tokyo / Tokyo University of Science)
Dr. Yeongdae Kim (Project Researcher, Science Tokyo)

Funding & Web

DLab Challenge Grant

Project Elemi