Abstract. ElectroEncephaloGraphy signals have been studied in relation to emotion even prior to the establishment of Affective Computing as a research area. Technological advancements in the sensor and network communication technology allowed EEG collection during interaction with low obtrusiveness levels as opposed to earlier work which classified physiological signals as the most obtrusive modality in affective analysis. The current article provides a critical survey of research work dealing with broadly affective analysis of EEG signals collected during natural or naturalistic interaction. It focuses on sensors that allow such natural interaction (namely NeuroSky and Emotiv), related technological features and affective aspects of applications in several application domains. These aspects include emotion representation approach, induction method and stimuli and annotation chosen for the application. Additionally, machine learning issues related to affective analysis (such as incorporation of multiple modalities and related issues, feature selection for dimensionality reduction and classification architectures) are revised. Finally, future directions of EEG incorporation in affective and natural interaction are discussed.

This article describes the use of evolutionary psychology to inform the design of a serious computer game aimed at improving 9-12-year-old children's conflict resolution skills. The design of the game will include dynamic narrative generation and emotional tagging, and there is a strong evolutionary rationale for the effect of both of these on conflict resolution. Gender differences will also be taken into consideration in designing the game. In interview research in schools in three countries (Greece, Portugal, and the UK) aimed at formalizing the game requirements, we found that gender differences varied in the extent to which they applied cross-culturally. Across the three countries, girls were less likely to talk about responding to conflict with physical aggression, talked more about feeling sad about conflict and about conflicts over friendship alliances, and talked less about conflicts in the context of sports or games. Predicted gender differences in anger and reconciliation were not found. Results are interpreted in terms of differing underlying models of friendship that are motivated by parental investment theory. This research will inform the design of the themes that we use in game scenarios for both girls and boys.

As overaging is becoming a main societal challenge, the development of AAL (Ambient Assisted Living) systems has become the centre of many research projects the last years. Our own work is targeted towards the development of an AAL system-called CARE-that provides assistance in form of recommendations helping its users overcome typical difficulties of everyday life, and contributes positively to their well-being. To inform the design of the envisioned CARE system we recruited two peer groups of potential users, a group of 20 Greek seniors, and a group of 27 German seniors, and conducted structured interviews which were focused on the seniors' lifestyle , medical needs, attitude towards AAL technologies, and, more specifically, on desired functions and system configurations of a recommendationgiving CARE system. We discuss outcomes of the conducted interviews and sketch a first CARE prototype which appears as an augmented digital picture frame that interleaves the display of photos with recommendations and interventions to improve the seniors' lifestyle and well-being.

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