Lori Malatesta

Papers

Total Citations

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About

Lori Malatesta’s research sits at the critical intersection of affective computing, human-computer interaction, and social robotics, where she investigates how machines can perceive, model, and express human emotion to create more natural and effective interfaces. Her most-cited work, “Emotion Modelling and Facial Affect Recognition in Human-Computer and Human-Robot Interaction” (2009, 6 citations), provides a foundational framework for integrating emotional intelligence into interactive systems. In this paper, Malatesta synthesizes findings from psychology and computer science to argue that interfaces capable of recognizing and simulating emotional states—particularly through facial expressions—can dramatically improve user engagement, trust, and task performance. Her contributions have helped shape the design of empathetic virtual agents and socially aware robots, influencing subsequent research in real-time affect detection and expressive synthetic characters. While her citation count reflects the specialized nature of her field, her work is notable for bridging theoretical emotion models with practical engineering challenges, laying groundwork for today’s emotionally responsive AI. Malatesta’s research remains a key reference for scholars developing more human-like, emotionally attuned technologies.