scholarly journals Design of Effective Robotic Gaze-Based Social Cueing for Users in Task-Oriented Situations: How to Overcome In-Attentional Blindness?

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (16) ◽  
pp. 5413
Author(s):  
WonHyong Lee ◽  
Chung Hyuk Park ◽  
Seyun Jang ◽  
Hye-Kyung Cho

Robotic eye-gaze-based cueing has been studied and proved to be effective, in controlled environments, in achieving social functions as humans gaze. However, its dynamic adaptability in various real interactions has not been explored in-depth. This paper addresses a case where a simplistic robotic gaze fails to achieve effective social cueing in human–robot communication, primarily due to in-attentional blindness (IB), and presents a method that enables the robot to deliver gaze-based social signals adequately. To understand the implications of IB and figure out ways to overcome any limitations from IB, which frequently arise in task-oriented situations, we designed a set of 1-on-1 communication experiments consisting of a robotic tutor and human learners participating in multiple-choice quiz sessions (task-oriented situation). Here, multimedia contents were utilized alongside the robot as visual stimuli competing for the human’s attention. We hypothesized that quiz scores would increase when humans successfully recognize the robot’s gaze-based cue signals hinting answers. We compared the impacts of two different cueing methods: oblique cueing (OC), where cues were straightforwardly provided regardless of whether participants were potentially experiencing IB or not, and leading cueing (LC), where cueing procedures were led through achieving eye contact and securing the participants’ attention before signaling the cue. By comparing participants’ test scores achieved by the control group with no cueing (NC) and two experimental groups of OC and LC, respectively, we found that there was a significant increase in test scores only when the LC method was utilized. This experiment illustrates the importance of proactively guiding a user’s attention through sophisticated interaction design in effectively attaining a user’s attention and successfully delivering cues. In future studies, we aim to evaluate different methods by which a social robot can intentionally shift a human’s attention, such as incorporating stimuli from various multi-modal human communication channels.

2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Traxler ◽  
Franz Schinabeck ◽  
Eva Baum ◽  
Edith Klotz ◽  
Barbara Seebacher

Abstract Background Large studies have shown that stroke is among the most relevant causes of acquired adult disability. Walking and balance impairment in stroke survivors often contribute to a restriction in daily activities and social participation. Task-oriented training (TOT) is an effective treatment strategy and manual therapy (MT) is used successfully to enhance ankle joint flexibility in this population. No study, however, has compared TOT against its combination with MT in a randomised controlled trial. Aims of this pilot study are therefore to explore the feasibility of a full-scale RCT using predefined feasibility criteria. Secondary aims are to explore the preliminary effects of specific TOT with a combined specific TOT-MT versus a control group in people post stroke. Methods This is a protocol of a 4-week prospective randomised controlled parallel pilot trial in people post stroke at the chronic stage with limited upper ankle joint mobility and an impairment in balance and mobility. At a German outpatient therapy centre using 1:1:1 allocation, 36 patients will be randomised into one of three groups: 15-min talocrural joint MT plus 30-min specific TOT (group A), 45-min specific TOT (group B), and controls (group C). Training will be goal-oriented including tasks that are based on daily activities and increased in difficulty utilising predefined progression criteria based on patients’ skill levels. Interventions will be provided face-to-face 2 times per week, for 4 weeks, in addition to 20-min concurrent x4 weekly home-based training sessions. Data will be collected by blinded assessors at baseline, post-intervention and 4-week follow-up. The primary outcome will be feasibility assessed by recruitment, retention and adherence rates, compliance, adverse events, falls and the acceptability of the intervention. Secondary outcomes will be walking speed, single and dual tasking functional mobility, ankle range of motion, disability and health-related quality of life. Discussion Feasibility provided, results from this study will be used to calculate the sample size of a larger randomised controlled trial to investigate the effects of specific TOT and specific TOT-MT compared to a post stroke control group. Trial registration German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00023068. Registered on 21.09.2020, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00023068.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Traxler ◽  
Franz Schinabeck ◽  
Eva Baum ◽  
Edith Klotz ◽  
Barbara Seebacher

Abstract Background: Large studies have shown that stroke is among the most relevant causes of acquired adult disability. Walking and balance impairment in stroke survivors often contribute to a restriction in daily activities and social participation. Task-oriented training (TOT) is an effective treatment strategy and manual therapy (MT) is used successfully to enhance ankle joint flexibility in this population. No study, however, has compared TOT against its combination with MT in a randomised controlled trial. Aims of this pilot study are therefore to explore the feasibility of a full-scale RCT and the preliminary effects of specific TOT with a combined specific TOT-MT versus a control group in people post stroke.Methods: This is a protocol of a 4-week prospective randomised controlled parallel pilot trial in people post stroke at the chronic stage with limited upper ankle joint mobility and an impairment in balance and mobility. At a German outpatient therapy centre using 1:1:1 allocation, 36 patients will be randomised into one of three groups: 15-minute talocrural joint MT plus 30-minute specific TOT (Group A); 45-minute specific TOT (Group B); controls (Group C). Training will be goal-oriented including tasks that are based on daily activities and increased in difficulty ulilising predefined progression criteria. Interventions will be provided face-to-face 2 times per week, for 4 weeks, in addition to 20-minute concurrent x4 weekly homebased training sessions. Data will be collected by blinded assessors at baseline, post-intervention and 4-week follow-up. The primary outcome will be feasibility assessed by recruitment, retention and adherence rates, compliance, adverse events, falls and the acceptability of the intervention. Secondary outcomes will be walking speed, single and dual tasking functional mobility, ankle range of motion, disability and health-related quality of life.Discussion: Results from this study will inform a larger randomised controlled trial to investigate the effects of specific TOT and specific TOT-MT compared to a post stroke control group. We hope that the study findings help to enhance stroke rehabilitation.Trial registration: German Clinical Trials Register, DRKS00023068. Registered on 21.09.2020, https://www.drks.de/drks_web/navigate.do?navigationId=trial.HTML&TRIAL_ID=DRKS00023068.


Author(s):  
NORLIZA ABDULLAH ◽  
ZULKIFLI OSMAN ◽  
ABDUL MUNIR ISMAIL

Kajian lalu menunjukkan kebolehan mengarang karangan dalam kalangan murid sekolah rendah adalah rendah. Oleh hal yang demikian, kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji kesan penggunaan peta pemikiran terhadap tahap penulisan karangan Bahasa Melayu dalam kalangan murid tahun lima. Penyelidik menggunakan kaedah eksperimen kuasi melibatkan satu sampel kajian yang terdiri daripada 64 murid sekolah rendah yang dibahagikan sama rata kepada satu kumpulan perlakuan dan satu kumpulan kawalan. Para murid dalam kumpulan pertama menggunakan peta pemikiran dalam pengajaran karangan, sementara kumpulan kedua menggunakan kaedah tradisional. Ujian pra dan ujian pasca digunakan untuk mendapatkan data yang dianalisis dengan Statistical Package For Social Science (SPSS) versi 21. Bagi kumpulan perlakuan, analisis data menunjukkan skor pasca ujian min murid adalah lebih tinggi dari skor pra ujian min mereka, sekali gus menunjukkan mereka memperoleh peningkatan dalam penulisan karangan dari segi kandungan dan pengolahan idea. Dapatan yang sama juga menunjukkan skor pasca ujian min murid dalam kumpulan perlakuan adalah lebih tinggi dari min skor yang sama bagi mereka dalam kumpulan kawalan, sekali gus menunjukkan kumpulan perlakuan adalah lebih berprestasi daripada kumpulan kawalan. Dapatan kajian ini mempunyai implikasi dalam amalan pengajaran semasa. Guru mata pelajaran Bahasa Melayu boleh menggunakan peta pemikiran sebagai satu alat pengajaran bagi membantu murid sekolah rendah belajar menulis karangan dengan lebih berkesan.   Studies have shown that students’ essay writing abilities of primary school students are low. As such, this study was carried out to examine the extent of the effects of using thinking maps on the teaching of Malay language essay writing among Year Five students. In this study, the researchers used a quasi-experimental method involving a study sample consisting of 64 primary school students were divided equally into a treatment group and a control group. The former used thinking maps in essay writing learning, while the latter used a traditional method. A pre-test and a post-test were used to obtain the data, which were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 21. For the treatment group, the analysis of data showed students’ mean post-test scores were significantly higher than their mean pre-test scores, indicating they made significant improvements in essay writing in terms of content and ideation. The same analysis also showed students’ mean post-test scores in the treatment group were significantly higher than those of the control group, indicating the former outperformed the latter. These findings have a practical implication for the current teaching practice. Malay language teachers can use thinking maps as a teaching tool to help primary school students effectively learn to write essays.


Author(s):  
Barbara Zych ◽  
Witold Błaż ◽  
Ewa Dmoch-Gajzlerska ◽  
Katarzyna Kanadys ◽  
Anna Lewandowska ◽  
...  

The experience of hospitalization of a newborn in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) may become distressing both for the baby and parent. The study aimed to assess the degree of parental stress and coping strategies in parents giving KMC to their babies hospitalized in NICU compared to the control group parents not giving KMC. The prospective observational study enrolled a cohort of 337 parents of premature babies hospitalized in NICU in 2016 in Eastern Poland. The Parental Stressor Scale: Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Coping Inventory for Stressful Situations were used. The level of stress in parents giving KMC was defined as low or moderate. Analysis confirmed its greater presence in the group of parents initiating KMC late (2–3 weeks) compared to those starting this initiative in week 1 of a child’s life. An additional predictor of a higher level of stress in parents initiating KMC “late” was the hospital environment of a premature baby. Task oriented coping was the most common coping strategy in the study group. KMC and direct skin-to-skin contact of the parent with the baby was associated with a higher level of parental stress only initially and decreased with time and KMC frequency.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beata Grzyb ◽  
Gabriella Vigliocco

Language has predominately been studied as a unimodal phenomenon - as speech or text without much consideration of its physical and social context – this is true both in cognitive psychology/psycholinguistics as well as in artificial intelligence. However, in everyday life, language is most often used in face-to-face communication and in addition to structured speech it comprises a dynamic system of multiplex components such as gestures, eye gaze, mouth movements and prosodic modulation. Recently, cognitive scientists have started to realise the potential importance of multimodality for the understanding of human communication and its neural underpinnings; while AI scientists have begun to address how to integrate multimodality in order to improve communication between human and artificial embodied agent. We review here the existing literature on multimodal language learning and processing in humans and the literature on perception of artificial agents, their comprehension and production of multimodal cues and we discuss their main limitations. We conclude by arguing that by joining forces AI scientists can improve the effectiveness of human-machine interaction and increase the human-likeness and acceptance of embodied agents in society. In turn, computational models that generate language in artificial embodied agents constitute a unique research tool to investigate the underlying mechanisms that govern language processing and learning in humans.


Author(s):  
Rea C. Parungao

This study aimed to determine the effects of using manipulatives in teaching fractions.   Quasi- experimental method of research was used in this study. It was conducted during the first quarter of S.Y. 2019-2020 among the respondents were randomly selected. Two sections of Arayat National High School were the respondents of the study. The control group was the 7-Rosal while the 7-Sampaguita was the experimental group. Both groups were given a pretest prior to the discussion about fractions and a posttest after instruction using the traditional method (control group) and the use of manipulatives (experimental group). The results were then evaluated, analysed through SPSS, and interpreted. Mean, t-test and ANCOVA were utilized to analyze and interpret the data. This study found out that the post-test scores of the respondents from the two groups improved in comparison to their pre-test scores.  The mean pretest and mean posttest scores of both groups showed significant difference. The results showed that the use of virtual manipulatives in converting fractions to decimals had significant difference compared the use of the traditional method. On the contrary, teaching fractions on a number line did not have significant difference. Out of the four operations on fractions, three showed that the use of concrete manipulatives was highly effective. This study recommends that teachers must test the prior knowledge of their students before discussing about fractions to determine the students’ strengths and weaknesses. Although both traditional method and the manipulative approach showed improvement on the post-test results in teaching fractions, still, teachers are encouraged to use manipulatives in teaching fractions to improve students’ performance. It is important for teachers to provide their students opportunities for hands-on manipulation of objects in order to grasp the concepts of fractions more easily. Lastly, teachers must develop the use of concrete and virtual manipulatives in teaching fractions to promote active learning that can enhance students’ mathematics performance and can help them to realize that mathematics is an enjoyable subject.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Bock ◽  
Christina Thomas ◽  
Marius Heitzer ◽  
Philipp Winnand ◽  
Florian Peters ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Applying sandwich principle to lectures has proven to be more effective for learning outcomes than classical lectures. Supposedly, this teaching format also leads to a beneficial knowledge transfer when applied to other teaching formats. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the effect of the sandwich principle on instructional videos and how its use was evaluated by students.Methods: Participants (n = 51) were randomly allocated into two groups. Both groups were given a test to assess the baseline level of knowledge. Afterwards, the control group watched the normal instructional video on cleft lips and palates, while the sandwich group watched the same video modified according to the sandwich principle. The participants then had to answer 30 single-choice questions to assess their knowledge gain and evaluate the instructional video. Long-term retention of the knowledge was tested again 6 months later using the same test questions.Results: Comparison of the pre-test and post-test results of both groups showed significantly increased test scores (p < 0.0001). Regarding long-term retention, the mean test scores were still significantly higher in both groups than before watching the video (p < 0.0001). The evaluation showed that the students highly appreciated the modified video and found the interruptions for repetition of previously learned knowledge useful.Conclusion: The hypothesis that the modification of instructional videos according to the sandwich principle would lead to an improved learning outcome could not be proved subjectively or objectively. Nevertheless, the teaching format was highly appreciated by the students and may have increased their motivation to learn with instructional videos.


Autism ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 136236132095169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roser Cañigueral ◽  
Jamie A Ward ◽  
Antonia F de C Hamilton

Communication with others relies on coordinated exchanges of social signals, such as eye gaze and facial displays. However, this can only happen when partners are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in planning eye gaze and making facial displays during conversation, evidence from real-life dyadic tasks is scarce and mixed. Across two studies, here we investigate how eye gaze and facial displays of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen and potential to show true gaze direction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video, video-call and face-to-face. Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and produced more facial displays when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial motion patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial displays as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies. Lay abstract When we are communicating with other people, we exchange a variety of social signals through eye gaze and facial expressions. However, coordinated exchanges of these social signals can only happen when people involved in the interaction are able to see each other. Although previous studies report that autistic individuals have difficulties in using eye gaze and facial expressions during social interactions, evidence from tasks that involve real face-to-face conversations is scarce and mixed. Here, we investigate how eye gaze and facial expressions of typical and high-functioning autistic individuals are modulated by the belief in being seen by another person, and by being in a face-to-face interaction. Participants were recorded with an eye-tracking and video-camera system while they completed a structured Q&A task with a confederate under three social contexts: pre-recorded video (no belief in being seen, no face-to-face), video-call (belief in being seen, no face-to-face) and face-to-face (belief in being seen and face-to-face). Typical participants gazed less to the confederate and made more facial expressions when they were being watched and when they were speaking. Contrary to our hypotheses, eye gaze and facial expression patterns in autistic participants were overall similar to the typical group. This suggests that high-functioning autistic participants are able to use eye gaze and facial expressions as social signals. Future studies will need to investigate to what extent this reflects spontaneous behaviour or the use of compensation strategies.


Author(s):  
Eliza Bliss-Moreau ◽  
Gilda Moadab

In the 140-plus years since Darwin popularized the study of nonhuman animal emotion, interest in the emotional lives of nonhuman animals has expanded rapidly. On the basis of Darwin’s anecdotal observations about facial behaviors, it is often assumed that facial behaviors give evidence of emotion in both humans and nonhuman animals. These assumptions are then used to support claims about the evolution of emotion. In this chapter, we explore the empirical evidence about the structure and meaning of facial behaviors generated by macaque monkeys. Evidence indicates that individual facial behaviors occur in a wide variety of contexts and subserve a variety of social functions. Furthermore, macaques are not particularly good at discriminating between all facial behavior categories. Taken together, the evidence suggests that facial behaviors in macaques do not give evidence of specific emotions, but rather serve as complex social signals.


2012 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 1241-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Esther Duflo ◽  
Rema Hanna ◽  
Stephen P Ryan

We use a randomized experiment and a structural model to test whether monitoring and financial incentives can reduce teacher absence and increase learning in India. In treatment schools, teachers' attendance was monitored daily using cameras, and their salaries were made a nonlinear function of attendance. Teacher absenteeism in the treatment group fell by 21 percentage points relative to the control group, and the children's test scores increased by 0.17 standard deviations. We estimate a structural dynamic labor supply model and find that teachers respond strongly to financial incentives. Our model is used to compute cost-minimizing compensation policies. (JEL I21, J31, J45, O15)


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