The media equation: how people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places
The persona effect: affective impact of animated pedagogical agents
Proceedings of the ACM SIGCHI Conference on Human factors in computing systems
Are computers scapegoats?: attributions of responsibility in human-computer interaction
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
The impact of animated interface agents: a review of empirical research
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
International Journal of Human-Computer Studies
Evaluating an Animated Pedagogical Agent
ITS '00 Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Perceived Characteristics and Pedagogical Efficacy of Animated Conversational Agents
ITS '02 Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Looking at human-computer interface design: Effects of ethnicity in computer agents
Interacting with Computers
Affective Gendered Learning Companions
Proceedings of the 2009 conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education: Building Learning Systems that Care: From Knowledge Representation to Affective Modelling
MetaTutor: Analyzing Self-Regulated Learning in a Tutoring System for Biology
Proceedings of the 2009 conference on Artificial Intelligence in Education: Building Learning Systems that Care: From Knowledge Representation to Affective Modelling
Effects of facial similarity on user responses to embodied agents
ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction (TOCHI)
The impact of learner attributes and learner choice in an agent-based environment
Computers & Education
Similarity effects in online training: Effects with computerized trainer agents
Computers in Human Behavior
Animated agents and learning: Does the type of verbal feedback they provide matter?
Computers & Education
Representation sequencing in computer-based engineering education
Computers & Education
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The similarity attraction hypothesis posits that humans are drawn toward others who behave and appear similar to themselves. Two experiments examined this hypothesis with middle-school students learning electrical circuit analysis in a computer-based environment with an Animated Pedagogical Agent (APA). Experiment 1 was designed to determine whether matching the gender of the APA to the student has a positive impact on learning outcomes or student perceptions. One hundred ninety-seven middle-school students learned with the computer-based environment using an APA that matched their gender or one which was opposite in gender. Female students reported higher program ratings when the APA matched their gender. Male students, on the other hand, reported higher program ratings than females when the APA did not match their gender. Experiment 2 systematically tested the impact of providing learners the choice among four APAs on learning outcomes and student perceptions. Three hundred thirty-four middle-school students received either a pre-assigned random APA or were free to choose from four APA options: young male agent, older male agent, young female agent, or older female agent. Learners had higher far transfer scores when provided a choice of animated agent, but student perceptions were not impacted by having the ability to make this choice. We suggest that offering students learner control positively impacts student motivation and learning by increasing student perceptions of autonomy, responsibility for the success of the instructional materials, and global satisfaction with the design of materials.