The good of boredom

I argue that the state of boredom (i.e., the transitory and non-pathological experience of boredom) should be understood to be a regulatory psychological state that has the capacity to promote our well-being by contributing to personal growth and to the construction (or reconstruction) of a meaningful lif

The responses of people to virtual humans in an immersive virtual environment

This paper presents an experiment investigating the impact of behavior and responsiveness on social responses to virtual humans in an immersive virtual environment (IVE). A number of responses are investigated, including presence, copresence, and two physiological responses—heart rate and electrodermal activity (EDA). Our findings suggest that increasing agents’ responsiveness even on a simple level can have a significant impact on certain aspects of people’s social responses to humanoid agents. Despite being aware that the agents were computer-generated, participants with higher levels of social anxiety were significantly more likely to avoid “disturbing” them. This suggests that on some level people can respond to virtual humans as social actors even in the absence of complex interaction. Responses appear to be shaped both by the agents’ behaviors and by people’s expectations of the technology. Participants experienced a significantly higher sense of personal contact when the agents were visually responsive to them, as opposed to static or simply moving. However, this effect diminished with experienced computer users. Our preliminary analysis of objective heart-rate data reveals an identical pattern of responses

The benefits of autonomy support for adolescents with severe emotional and behavioral problems

The benefits of autonomy support in the domain of education have been well established within the general population, but have yet to be demonstrated within clinical populations. The present study investigated the benefits of an autonomy-supportive interpersonal style on teenage girls’ internalization of a tedious clinical workshop and their subjective experience during this task. Participants were female teenagers placed in a social rehabilitation center for their severe emotional and behavioral problems (n = 29). An experimental design allowed comparing the impact of learning a tedious, but important workshop with or without autonomy support on internalization and experiential outcomes. Results demonstrate that autonomy support leads to higher perceived task’s value, task liking as well as less negative affect compared to a condition without autonomy-support. Participants in the autonomy-supportive condition also perceived the instructor as more competent. By uncovering benefits of autonomy support to a clinical population of adolescents, the present study supports self-determination theory’s tenet that the benefits of autonomy support are universal

Potential sources of foreign language learning boredom: A Q methodology study

The present study employed an interpretive approach to investigate individual learners’ viewpoints on foreign language learning boredom (FLLB). To this aim, a Q method, which shares features of both qualitative and quantitative research approaches, was used to explore 37 Iranian English as a foreign language (EFL) learners’ perceptions of potential sources of boredom in the classroom. Nonprobability purposeful sampling was used to select participants from two private language institutes in Mashhad, Iran. A hybrid-type Q sampling was employed to produce 40 statements related to the sources of FLLB. Using PQ Method, an exclusive statistical package for Q methodology, the Q sorts were intercorrelated and factor-analyzed. Three factors were extracted and rotated using varimax rotation and hand adjustment. Factor arrays and qualitative analyses were utilized to find and interpret three different accounts of FLLB. The three factors showed that the students held three divergent prototypical points of view about the sources of boredom experienced in EFL learning in class: (a) teacher-induced boredom, (b) student-induced boredom, and (c) activity-induced boredom. The findings also showed that different learner prototypes experience FLLB distinctly. Thus teachers should consider using different strategies to prevent or reduce this negative emotion in the context of L2 learning since otherwise this process could be impeded

Can Universities Encourage Students Continued Motivation For Knowledge Sharing And How Can This Help Organizations?

Both practitioners and researchers recognize the increasing importance of knowledge sharing in organizations (Bock, Zmud, Kim, & Lee, 2005; Vera-Muz, Ho, & Chow, 2006). Knowledge sharing influences a firm\u27s knowledge creation, organizational learning, performance achievement, growth, and competitive advantage (Bartol & Srivastava, 2002; Bock & Kim, 2002; Vera-Muz et al., 2006). However, an individual\u27s natural tendency is to hoard knowledge rather than to share knowledge (Davenport, 1997; Ruggles, 1998). So, how can knowledge sharing be encouraged? Extrinsic rewards are believed to effectively motivate desired behaviors (Bartol & Locke, 2000). Under certain environmental conditions, extrinsic rewards are also believed to develop a more sustained motivation, called self-determined motivation, for these behaviors (Deci & Ryan, 1991). These ideas raise the following questions: (a) Do extrinsic rewards motivate students to share knowledge? and (b) How can universities encourage individuals to develop the self-determined motivation to take part in desired behaviors such as knowledge sharing? This study investigates the effect of extrinsic rewards on knowledge sharing in a team setting. It also examines whether universities can facilitate individuals\u27 continued or self-determined motivation to share knowledge using certain environmental conditions. To examine these questions, I perform an experiment with 113 undergraduate students from accounting and management classes who are working on team projects. Results suggest that specifically rewarding knowledge sharing can increase individuals\u27 knowledge-sharing behaviors and, in the right environment, their internalization of the motivation to share knowledge

Robotic Rabbit Companions: amusing or a nuisance?

Most of the studies in human-robot interaction involve controlled experiments in a laboratory and only a limited number of studies have put robotic companions into people’s home. Introducing robots into a real-life environment does not only pose many technical challenges but also raises several methodological issues. And even though there might be a gain in ecological validity of the findings, there are other drawbacks that limit the validity of the results. In this paper we reflect on some of these issues based on the experience we gained in the SERA project where a robotic companion was put in the homes of a few people for ten days. We try to draw some general lessons from this experience

Quantifying the sense of presence in virtual reality using physiological data

Les mesures fisiològiques de l'experiència de joc (PX) durant el joc han anat incrementant en popularitat en les comunitats de recerca sobre jocs. La sensació de presència, que es refereix a la impressió psicològica d'estar en un entorn virtual, és vista com un factor principal influent en el PX. Aquesta tesi explora com les mesures fisiològiques hi estan relacionades mentre es juga a un joc de rol de realitat virtual (VR). En trobem una correlació negativa significativa amb la temperatura de la pell, la qual interpretem com a relacionada amb que la manca de confort tèrmic estigui associada amb nivells menors de sensació de presència. Un dispositiu wearable no invasiu comunament utilitzat per a mesures fisiológiques és la pulsera E4 d'Empatica, que ofereix múltiples mesures fisiològiques incloent l'activitat electrodèrmica, la freqüència cardíaca i la temperatura de la pell. Tanmateix, la integració de l'E4 amb motors de joc populars com Unity resulta difícil a causa d'obstacles com errors de programari crítics gens evidents a la llibreria i la limitada aplicabilitat de la documentació en el context de Unity. Així doncs presentem E4UnityIntegration-MIT, un plugin de Unity de codi obert dissenyat per a mitigar els reptes associats amb integrar l'E4 a projectes de Unity. El plugin exposa l'API de l'E4 permetent-ne la interacció amb scripts C# de Unity, habilitant així el recull i seguiment de dades en temps real, i proveeix la funcionalitat de guardar-les en un fitxer extern per permetre'n l'anàlisi. L'estudi presentat, que va dependre de E4UnityIntegration-MIT, alhora en serveix de validació.Las medidas fisiológicas de la experiencia de juego (PX) durante el juego han ido incrementando en popularidad en los círculos de investigación de juegos. La sensación de presencia, que se refiere a la impresión psicológica de estar en un entorno virtual, es vista como un factor principal influyente en el PX. Esta tesis explora como las medidas fisiológicas estan relacionadas con ella mientras se juega a un juego de rol de realidad virtual (VR). Hallamos una correlación negativa significativa con la temperatura de la piel, la cual interpretamos como relacionada con que el disconfort térmico esté asociado con niveles menores de sensación de presencia. Un dispositivo wearable comúnmente usado para medidas fisiológicas es la pulsera E4 de Empatica, que ofrece múltiples medidas fisiológicas incluyendo la actividad electrodérmica, la frecuencia cardíaca y la temperatura de la piel. Sin embargo, la integración del E4 con motores de juego populares como Unity resulta difícil a causa de obstáculos como errores de software críticos nada obvios en la librería y la limitada aplicabilidad de su documentación en el contexto de Unity. Así pues presentamos E4UnityIntegration-MIT, un plugin de Unity de código abierto diseñado para mitigar los retos asociados con integrar el E4 en proyectos de Unity. El plugin expone la API del E4 permitiendo su interacción con scripts de C# de Unity, habilitando así la recolección y el seguimiento de los datos en tiempo real, y provee la funcionalidad de guardarlos en un fichero externo para permitir su análisis. El estudio presentado, que dependió de E4UnityIntegration-MIT, sirve al mismo tiempo como su validación.Physiological measurement of player experience (PX) during gameplay has been of increasing interest within game research circles. Sense of presence, which refers to players’ psychological feeling of being in a virtual environment, is seen as a major factor influencing PX. This thesis work explores how physiological measurements relate to sense of presence while playing a virtual reality (VR) roleplaying game. We find a significant negative correlation with skin temperature, which we interpret as having to do with thermal discomfort being associated with lower levels of sense of presence in VR. A commonly-used non-invasive wearable device for physiological measurement is the Empatica E4 wristband, which offers multiple physiological metrics including electrodermal activity, heart rate and skin temperature. That said, the E4’s integration with popular game engines such as Unity proves difficult due to obstacles such as non-obvious critical bugs in the library and limited documentation applicability within the Unity context. We thus present E4UnityIntegration-MIT, an open-source Unity plugin designed to mitigate the challenges associated with integrating the E4 into Unity projects. The plugin exposes the E4’s API for interfacing with Unity C# scripts, thereby enabling realtime data collection and monitoring, and provides the affordance of saving the data in an external file for data analysis purposes. The study here presented, which relied on E4UnityIntegration-MIT, also serves as a validation study for the plugin.Outgoin

Exploring The Factors And Experiences Of Academic Procrastination Among Libyan Students: A Qualitative Study

Academic procrastination is a prevalent problem among students that has significant negative impacts on their academic performance and well-being. This qualitative study aims to explore the factors and experiences of academic procrastination from the perspective of students. The study involved in-depth interviews with a sample of students who have experienced academic procrastination. The data collected were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify common themes and patterns related to procrastination behavior. The results of this study provide insight into the underlying factors that contribute to academic procrastination and the experiences of students who struggle with this behavior. The study results indicate that there are several factors that influence students and contribute to academic procrastination, such as ineffective time management, lack of motivation or self disipline, lack of planning skills, fear of failure, and boredom with tasks