Atsumu Kubota
Papers
2
Total Citations
11
H-Index
2
About
Atsumu Kubota is a researcher at the forefront of understanding human social behavior, with a particular focus on the intersection of virtual reality, infection avoidance, and perceived naturalness in human-agent interaction. His work explores how fundamental social cues—like coughing—can trigger deep-seated behavioral responses, even in simulated environments. In his highly cited 2022 study, "Stay away from me: Coughing increases social distance even in a virtual environment" (9 citations), Kubota demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic’s influence on physical distancing has extended into virtual spaces, showing that virtual agents’ coughing prompts users to maintain greater distance, a finding with significant implications for designing realistic social simulations and public health communication tools. Further expanding this line of inquiry, his 2021 paper, "From When to When: Evaluating Naturalness of Reaction Time via Viewing Turn around Behaviors" (2 citations), investigates the subtle timing of reactions—specifically, how quickly a virtual agent should turn toward a touch stimulus to appear natural. By pinpointing the “sweet spot” for reaction times, Kubota’s work provides critical design guidelines for creating more believable and comfortable interactions with virtual characters, bridging the gap between human psychology and immersive technology.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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- 2