On the logic of agent’s emotions

Emotions can be instrumental in shaping the cognition of an intelligent agent. This work presents a yet another attempt to formalize emotions based on the Ortony-Clore-Collins (OCC) model. Specifically, we are interested in emotions, the appraisal of which evaluates the consequences for others. The formal modeling framework introduced here is based on the multiagent Affective Probabilistic Logic (AfPL), which allows us to compute the potential of a given emotion, which represents the emotion’s intensity. The value of this potential allows us to distinguish experienced emotions from mere affective responses using a threshold. The framework describes basic as well as compound emotions. An illustrative practical application scenario in the field of intelligent tutoring is analyzed, demonstrating that the model is robust and practically useful in real-life applications. Broader impact and future research directions are discussed.