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reaction is both correct and instantaneous; the Patient is doing an excellent job
of problem-solving and rapidly selecting optimal behavior.
But this behavioral sequence is also perplexing; the chain of logic that con-
nects the Overseer's presence and the various environmental props to the Pa-
tient's actions is not displayed to the user, being jumped over in the instanta-
neous change from one behavior to another.
With transitions, attempts are made to make the reasons behind the be-
havioral change clearer (Figure 2). Again, the behavior starts with the Patient
reading the schedule. This time, when the Overseer approaches, the Patient just
glances at the Overseer and returns to reading. Since the Patient normally has
a strongly fearful reaction to the Overseer (and by this time the Overseer's en-
thusiasm for punishing the Patient has already generally aroused sympathy in
the user's mind), the user has a good chance of understanding that this simple
glance without further reaction means that the Patient has not really processed
that the Overseer is standing behind it.
Suddenly, the Patient becomes startled and quickly looks back at the Over-
seer again. Now, the user can get the impression that the Patient has registered
the Overseer's presence. Whatever happens next must be a reaction to that pres-
ence. Next, the Patient checks the time and the schedule of activities to deter-
mine that it is time to exercise. Then the Patient whirls to face the Overseer
and frantically and energetically begins exercising, tapering off in enthusiasm
as the Overseer departs. This transition narrativizes the agent's behavior in the
following ways:
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the agent design is predicated on the user's context-dependent interpreta-
tion, e.g. that the user will interpret the agent's short glance at the Overseer
differently now than earlier in the story;
-
the transition communicates that the change in behavior is connected to
several factors: the presence of the Overseer, the clock, and the sched-
ule. This is in contrast with the transition-less sequence, in which there
is no clear connection between any of the environmental factors and the
Patient's behavioral change;
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the subsequent exercising behavior is altered to fit into a narrative se-
quence by making it more frantic in response to the agent's panic during
the transition.
