Fake people, real effects : the presence of virtual onlookers can impair performance and learning

Can effects of social influence be elicited in virtual contexts, and if so, under which conditions can they be observed? Answering these questions has theoretical merit, as the answers can help broaden our understanding of the interaction mechanisms described by social psychology. The increasing popularity of immersive media in training applications, however, has made these questions of practical significance. Virtual reality (VR), in particular, is a weapon of choice in designing training and education simulations, as it can be used to generate highly realistic characters and environments. As a consequence, it is key to understand under which circumstances virtual ‘others’ can facilitate or impede performance and – especially – learning. In this study, we investigated the impact of virtual onlookers on an adapted Serial Reaction Time (SRT) task that was presented in VR. In each trial, participants responded to a series of spherical stimuli by tapping them with handheld controllers when they lit up. Depending on the experiment block, the sequence order was either the permutation of a fixed order (and therefore predictable given the first stimulus), or fully random (and therefore unpredictable). Participants were divided into three groups (audience variable), depending on the environment in which the task was set: a group without onlookers (none condition), a group with a computer-generated audience (CGI condition), and a group being watched by a prerecorded audience (filmed condition). Results showed that the presence of a virtual audience can hamper both overall performance and learning, particularly when the audience appears more realistic. This study further reinforces the notion that the effects of social influence transcend the physical presence of others, but rather extend to virtual audiences

Controlling actions and experiencing control: the influence of movement execution and goal achievement on the Sense of Agency

Some recent theoretical models of the Sense of Agency - i.e., the feeling of controlling one's movements and their impact on the external environment (Aarts et al., 2012; Moore & Fletcher, 2012; Tsakiris et al., 2010) - suggest that this experience relies on the integration of various cues (Synofzik, 2008; Moore & Fletcher, 2012). However, only a few studies (Caspar, et al., 2016; David et al., 2016) manipulated in the same paradigm information about the executed movement and information about the achievement of the goal of the action. Hence, the respective roles of these two action cues for the Sense of Agency remains unclear. My Ph.D. thesis presents the results of two studies aimed at filling this gap. During my Ph.D., my colleagues and I devised a novel paradigm where participants performed a simple goal-directed action – pressing a button of a certain color – while they observed a virtual hand performing an action in a virtual scenario from a first-person perspective. The virtual action could be similar or different with respect to the one executed by the participant, and information about movement and about the achievement of the goal of the action could be independently and simultaneously manipulated. While participants performed the task, we collected direct and indirect measures of their Sense of Agency. In addition, we measured participant’s reaction times: indeed, a second aim of these two studies was to understand whether unexpected movement and goal related information also affects participant’s behavior and leads to behavioral adjustments, similarly to the commission of real errors (Danielmeier & Ullsperger, 2011). A detailed description of the paradigm, and the results of two behavioral studies where we employed it are reported in the thesis. In chapter 1, I provide an overview of literature supporting the fact that the Sense of Agency is sensitive both to the control of one's movements and to the achievement of the goal of the action. However, I also show that these two action cues were mostly investigated separately, which prevents a comparison of their relevance for the Sense of Agency. In chapter 2 I present the result of the first study. Our aim was to understand how violated predictions concerning movement execution and the achievement of the goal of the action influence the Sense of Agency. In Chapter 3, I present the results of the second study, where we compared the effects of the manipulation of information relative to movement execution and goal achievement respectively in freely chosen and cued actions. In particular, we wanted to investigate the influence of freedom to act on the Sense of Agency. Finally, in the Appendix I report preliminary results of an experiment where we investigated the neurocognitive processes (by means of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation) underlying a different but related topic: the capacity of the individuals to exert agency, i.e., to control one’s own ocular movements when one is exposed to potentially distracting social stimuli (i.e., other’s gaze). Overall, the results of the studies described in chapters 2 and 3 suggest that the Sense of Agency is mostly influenced by movement related information, and that under some specific circumstances the feeling of control is also influenced by goal achievement and by freedom to act. Additionally, unexpected information concerning both the executed movement and the achievement of the goal of the action may lead to behavioral adjustments

Facial expression of pain: an evolutionary account.

This paper proposes that human expression of pain in the presence or absence of caregivers, and the detection of pain by observers, arises from evolved propensities. The function of pain is to demand attention and prioritise escape, recovery, and healing; where others can help achieve these goals, effective communication of pain is required. Evidence is reviewed of a distinct and specific facial expression of pain from infancy to old age, consistent across stimuli, and recognizable as pain by observers. Voluntary control over amplitude is incomplete, and observers can better detect pain that the individual attempts to suppress rather than amplify or simulate. In many clinical and experimental settings, the facial expression of pain is incorporated with verbal and nonverbal vocal activity, posture, and movement in an overall category of pain behaviour. This is assumed by clinicians to be under operant control of social contingencies such as sympathy, caregiving, and practical help; thus, strong facial expression is presumed to constitute and attempt to manipulate these contingencies by amplification of the normal expression. Operant formulations support skepticism about the presence or extent of pain, judgments of malingering, and sometimes the withholding of caregiving and help. To the extent that pain expression is influenced by environmental contingencies, however, "amplification" could equally plausibly constitute the release of suppression according to evolved contingent propensities that guide behaviour. Pain has been largely neglected in the evolutionary literature and the literature on expression of emotion, but an evolutionary account can generate improved assessment of pain and reactions to it

Exploring the Darkverse: A Multi-Perspective Analysis of the Negative Societal Impacts of the Metaverse

The Metaverse has the potential to form the next pervasive computing archetype that can transform many aspects of work and life at a societal level. Despite the many forecasted benefits from the metaverse, its negative outcomes have remained relatively unexplored with the majority of views grounded on logical thoughts derived from prior data points linked with similar technologies, somewhat lacking academic and expert perspective. This study responds to the dark side perspectives through informed and multifaceted narratives provided by invited leading academics and experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The metaverse dark side perspectives covered include: technological and consumer vulnerability, privacy, and diminished reality, human–computer interface, identity theft, invasive advertising, misinformation, propaganda, phishing, financial crimes, terrorist activities, abuse, pornography, social inclusion, mental health, sexual harassment and metaverse-triggered unintended consequences. The paper concludes with a synthesis of common themes, formulating propositions, and presenting implications for practice and policy

Exploring the darkverse: a multi-perspective analysis of the negative societal impacts of the metaverse

The Metaverse has the potential to form the next pervasive computing archetype that can transform many aspects of work and life at a societal level. Despite the many forecasted benefits from the metaverse, its negative outcomes have remained relatively unexplored with the majority of views grounded on logical thoughts derived from prior data points linked with similar technologies, somewhat lacking academic and expert perspective. This study responds to the dark side perspectives through informed and multifaceted narratives provided by invited leading academics and experts from diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The metaverse dark side perspectives covered include: technological and consumer vulnerability, privacy, and diminished reality, human–computer interface, identity theft, invasive advertising, misinformation, propaganda, phishing, financial crimes, terrorist activities, abuse, pornography, social inclusion, mental health, sexual harassment and metaverse-triggered unintended consequences. The paper concludes with a synthesis of common themes, formulating propositions, and presenting implications for practice and policy

Encouraging Trust and Cooperation in Digital Negotiations

One of the most important issues in modern society is how society modifies the way in which its members develop relationships and foster cooperation in the face of new communication technologies. I explore theoretical and empirical parameters of this process and their implications for encouraging trust and cooperation in negotiations. I begin with an argument for the role of trust and cooperation as part of the foundation of digital commerce by expanding the reach of the social contract theory (ISCT) of Donaldson and Dunfee (1994; 1999). I argue that a digital community is a community in the ISCT sense, and that the basic framework of ISCT can apply to the digital business world. I then analyze the roles of trust and cooperation within this framework, explaining their moral relevance for e-commerce. I follow this discussion with two empirical papers to begin to uncover the nature of digital norms. In Negotiating with the Millennial Generation I use a series of behavioral studies and online chat analyses to show that people build trusting relationships online, often resulting in more cooperation than when they talk face to face. I then look at what type of texting creates stronger relationships, showing that longer texting conversations that go beyond small talk generated greater trust and rapport. I also use a behavioral study involving a smartphone application to discuss how over time people learn to use new forms of communication to build trusting relationships through digital media. In the third paper Why the F*** Don\u27t They TRUST I develop the notion that particular behaviors can affect online trust development. Using analyses of online texts and additional behavioral studies I show how norm-defying online incivility decreases trust while norm-abiding use of capital letters does not. I show that encouraging people to abide by civility norms develops more trusting and cooperative online environments

Performing dreams in England and Spain, 1570-1670

This thesis investigates the performance of dreams and dreaming in a few early modern English and Spanish plays, namely William Shakespeare’s 'The Taming of the Shrew' and 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream', Pedro Calderón de la Barca’s 'Life Is a Dream' and 'Sometimes Dreams Come True' and Aphra Behn’s 'The Young King'. Chapter 1 introduces the cultural milieus in which my case studies operate and validate my comparative approach by calling attention to the fact that both dramas attend to similar preoccupations regarding traditional rank and gender hierarchies. Furthermore, it provides an account of the dream theories in force at that time and underscores that dreams are seen as either negligible or very significant entities. Chapter 2 elucidates why I have chosen to study the dreams within the selected plays focusing on their phenomenal, generic and ideological attributes. Phenomenological analysis allows me to prove that the dreams I consider are deeply sensory occurrences that look and feel like reality and vividly expose disturbing (male) habits of power attainment and safeguarding. The plays at issue predictably terminate with the celebration of the (socio-political or religious) values of the patriarchy; nonetheless, I argue that the lifelike dreams have throughout cast doubt on the legitimacy of the beliefs that prevail on- and off-stage and, hence, cannot be simply set aside at the end of the performance. Chapter 3 considers 'The Taming of the Shrew' and 'A Midsummer Night’s Dream' in order to: 1) show that in these two comedies powerful male figures exploit dreams to shape the visual/ideological perceptions of socially inferior characters; and, 2) verify that the simultaneously illusory and tangible quality of dream (and performance) is not easily dismiss-able as ‘airy nothing’. Chapter 4 and 5 respectively explore 'Life Is a Dream' and 'Sometimes Dreams Come True' and demonstrate that the dreams in question paradoxically endorse and query the philosophical and religious core of these two plays. In fact, life may be a dream, but in it the acquisition of political authority matters very much; Catholic dogma may be true, but it only comes to life via (supposedly insubstantial) dreams. By investigating 'The Young King', the last chapter of this thesis again proves the phenomenal and cultural weight dreams acquire on early modern stages: the dreams within this tragicomedy intensely reveal the artificiality of established gender positions and powerfully portray ‘natural’ male pre-eminence in an equivocal light

Recovering Disability in Early Modern England

Introduction : ethical staring : disabling the English Renaissance / Allison P. Hobgood and David Houston Wood -- Dwarf aesthetics in Spenser's Faerie queene and the early modern court / Sara van den Berg -- Maternal culpability in fetal defects : Aphra Behn's satiric interrogations of medical models / Emily Bowles -- Disability humor and the meanings of impairment in early modern England / David M. Turner -- Antic dispositions : mental and intellectual disabilities in early modern revenge tragedy / Lindsey Row-Heyveld -- Disabling allegories in Edmund Spenser's Faerie queene / Rachel E. Hile -- Performing blindness : representing disability in early modern popular performance and print / Simone Chess -- "There is no suff'ring due" : metatheatricality and disability drag in Volpone / Lauren Coker -- Richard recast : Renaissance disability in a postcommunist culture / Marcela Kostihová -- The Book of common prayer, theory of mind, and autism in early modern England / Mardy Philippian, Jr -- Freedom and (dis)ability in early modern political thought / Nancy Hirschmann -- Coda : Shakespearean disability pedagogy / Allison P. Hobgood and David Houston Wood.Item embargoed for five year

FREEHAND DIGITAL DRAWING: A BOOST TO CREATIVE DESIGN. THE OBSERVER’S EYE AND THE DRAFTSMAN’S BRAIN

Representation of an architectural project aims at several intents; one of the most relevant being the visualization of a design. The subject of this dissertation is therefore the relationship between the draftsman, the creativity of his brain, the represented design, and the mind of the observer, while raising the question whether the current habit of an ever increasing digitalisation may be detrimental or advantageous to such relationship. After an analysis of architectural representation in history since Renaissance times, as reported in Part 1, the current techniques are reviewed and discussed. The first question, addressed in Part 2, has been whether the simulation of reality with renders of photographic quality, a product of automated computerisation, would relate to the observer better or worse than a traditionally hand drawn image. A questionnaire has been constructed to probe the communication and representation qualities of the images. The results suggested that these two qualities were best represented in the case of freehand drawing compared to photorealistic renders. The Part 3 was focused on the designer and used the instruments provided by neuroscience, i.e. the EEG and evoked responses, to quantify the brain activity in connection with freehand and CAD drawing. Because the involved technology had never been applied before to a drawing subject, the investigation had to be divided into three separate experiments. The first was dedicated to find a reliable way to perform the recordings in a subject who freely moved arm and hand while drawing for a few minutes; the second and third experiment were aimed at the analysis of cerebral activity occurring before and after the drawing movement. All results demonstrated that a definitely larger cerebral activity preceded and followed each movement in freehand drawing compared to CAD design. This finding may be considered a robust step towards the notion that also creativity is consequently improved. The final conclusion is that the freehand drawn images make a better link between author and observer, and at the same time the very movement and haptic perception of the hand elicit creativity. Nevertheless, the most recent advances in digitalising analogic dimensions through drawing tablets, have provided a new medium for freehand drawing, which can exploit the capacity of data handling of computers, time and effort saving, with the natural movement of using pencil and paper, ending up in an identical product. A wise usage of modern technology can therefore merge together the human factor of hand and brain reciprocal thrust with the fictitious world of the bits