Developmental Robots - A New Paradigm

It has been proved to be extremely challenging for humans to program a robot to such a sufficient degree that it acts properly in a typical unknown human environment. This is especially true for a humanoid robot due to the very large number of redundant degrees of freedom and a large number of sensors that are required for a humanoid to work safely and effectively in the human environment. How can we address this fundamental problem? Motivated by human mental development from infancy to adulthood, we present a theory, an architecture, and some experimental results showing how to enable a robot to develop its mind automatically, through online, real time interactions with its environment. Humans mentally “raise” the robot through “robot sitting” and “robot schools” instead of task-specific robot programming

The anatomical distance of functional connections predicts brain network topology in health and schizophrenia.

The human brain is a topologically complex network embedded in anatomical space. Here, we systematically explored relationships between functional connectivity, complex network topology, and anatomical (Euclidean) distance between connected brain regions, in the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging brain networks of 20 healthy volunteers and 19 patients with childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS). Normal between-subject differences in average distance of connected edges in brain graphs were strongly associated with variation in topological properties of functional networks. In addition, a club or subset of connector hubs was identified, in lateral temporal, parietal, dorsal prefrontal, and medial prefrontal/cingulate cortical regions. In COS, there was reduced strength of functional connectivity over short distances especially, and therefore, global mean connection distance of thresholded graphs was significantly greater than normal. As predicted from relationships between spatial and topological properties of normal networks, this disorder-related proportional increase in connection distance was associated with reduced clustering and modularity and increased global efficiency of COS networks. Between-group differences in connection distance were localized specifically to connector hubs of multimodal association cortex. In relation to the neurodevelopmental pathogenesis of schizophrenia, we argue that the data are consistent with the interpretation that spatial and topological disturbances of functional network organization could arise from excessive "pruning" of short-distance functional connections in schizophrenia.PEV is supported by the Medical Research Council (grant number MR/K020706/1). This work was supported by the Neuroscience in Psychiatry Network (NSPN) which is funded by a Wellcome Trust strategy award to the University of Cambridge and University College London. ETB is employed half-time by the University of Cambridge and half-time by GlaxoSmithKline; he holds stock in GSK.This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jcpp.12365/full

Early multisensory attention as a foundation for learning in multicultural Switzerland

Traditional laboratory research on visual attentional control has largely focused on adults, treated one sensory modality at a time, and neglected factors that are a constituent part of information processing in real-world contexts. Links between visual-only attentional control and children’s educational skills have emerged, but they still do not provide enough information about school learning. The present thesis addressed these gaps in knowledge through the following aims: 1) to shed light on the development of the neuro-cognitive mechanisms of attention engaged by multisensory objects in a bottom-up fashion, together with attentional control over visual objects in a top-down fashion, 2) to investigate the links between developing visual and multisensory attentional control and children’s basic literacy and numeracy attainment, and 3) to explore how contextual factors, such as the temporal predictability of a stimulus or the semantic relationships between stimulus features, further influence attentional control mechanisms. To investigate these aims, 115 primary school children and 39 adults from the French-speaking part of Switzerland were tested on their behavioural performance on a child-friendly, multisensory version of the Folk et al. (1992) spatial cueing paradigm, while 129-channel EEG was recorded. EEG data were analysed in a traditional framework (the N2pc ERP component) and a multivariate Electrical Neuroimaging (EN) framework. Taken together, our results demonstrated that children’s visual attentional control reaches adult-like levels at around 7 years of age, or 3rd grade, although children as young as 5 (at school entry) may already be sensitive to the goal- relevance of visual objects. Multisensory attentional control may develop only later. Namely, while 7-year-old children (3rd grade) can be sensitive to the multisensory nature of objects, such sensitivity may only reach an adult-like state at 9 years of age (5th grade). As revealed by EN, both bottom-up multisensory control of attention and top-down visual control of attention are supported by the recruitment of distinct networks of brain generators at each level of schooling experience. Further, at each level of schooling, the involvement of specific sets of brain generators was correlated with literacy and numeracy attainment. In adults, visual and multisensory attentional control were further jointly influenced by contextual factors. The semantic relationship between stimulus features directly influenced visual and multisensory attentional control. In the absence of such semantic links, however, it was the predictability of stimulus onset that influenced visual and multisensory attentional control. Throughout this work, the N2pc component was not sensitive to multisensory or contextual effects in adults, or even traditional visual attention effects in children, and it was owing to EN that the mechanisms of visual and multisensory attentional control were clarified. The present thesis demonstrates the strength of combining behavioural and EEG/ERP markers of attentional control with advanced EEG analytical techniques for investigating the development of attentional control in settings that closely approximate those that we encounter in everyday life

College of Arts and Sciences summary of research and creative activities, July 1, 1980 to June 30, 1981

Summary of research and creative activities of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Central Florida, July 1, 1980 - June 30, 1981

Uncovering the Potential Learning in Short-Term Study Abroad

The purpose of this quantitative study was to identify the facets of intercultural learning that might be achievable through faculty-led, short-term study abroad. Exploring changes in various facets of students’ intercultural competence pre- to post-study abroad, we found that the largest gains were in the cultural knowledge domain. Findings also point to vast differences in how individual students do, and do not, show gains across multiple measures of intercultural competence after studying abroad

Outlook Magazine, Summer/Fall 2010

https://digitalcommons.wustl.edu/outlook/1180/thumbnail.jp

Design, development and assessment of the Java Intelligent Tutoring System

The "Java Intelligent Tutoring System" (JITS) research project focused on designing, constructing, and determining the effectiveness of an Intelligent Tutoring System for beginner Java programming students at the postsecondary level. The participants in this research were students in the School of Applied Computing and Engineering Sciences at Sheridan College. This research involved consistently gathering input from students and instructors using JITS as it developed. The cyclic process involving designing, developing, testing, and refinement was used for the construction of JITS to ensure that it adequately meets the needs of students and instructors. The second objective in this dissertation determined the effectiveness of learning within this environment. The main findings indicate that JITS is a richly interactive ITS that engages students on Java programming problems. JITS is equipped with a sophisticated personalized feedback mechanism that models and supports each student in his/her learning style. The assessment component involved 2 main quantitative experiments to determine the effectiveness of JITS in terms of student performance. In both experiments it was determined that a statistically significant difference was achieved between the control group and the experimental group (i.e., JITS group). The main effect for Test (i.e., pre- and postiest), F( l , 35) == 119.43,p < .001, was qualified by a Test by Group interaction, F( l , 35) == 4.98,p < .05, and a Test by Time interaction, F( l , 35) == 43.82, p < .001. Similar findings were found for the second experiment; Test by Group interaction revealed F( 1 , 92) == 5.36, p < .025. In both experiments the JITS groups outperformed the corresponding control groups at posttest

Clemson Catalog, 1979-1980, Volume 54

https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/clemson_catalog/1134/thumbnail.jp