EmojiGrid: A 2D Pictorial Scale for the Assessment of Food Elicited Emotions

Research on food experience is typically challenged by the way questions are worded. We therefore developed the EmojiGrid: a graphical (language-independent) intuitive self-report tool to measure food-related valence and arousal. In a first experiment participants rated the valence and the arousing quality of 60 food images, using either the EmojiGrid or two independent visual analog scales (VAS). The valence ratings obtained with both tools strongly agree. However, the arousal ratings only agree for pleasant food items, but not for unpleasant ones. Furthermore, the results obtained with the EmojiGrid show the typical universal U-shaped relation between the mean valence and arousal that is commonly observed for a wide range of (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory) affective stimuli, while the VAS tool yields a positive linear association between valence and arousal. We hypothesized that this disagreement reflects a lack of proper understanding of the arousal concept in the VAS condition. In a second experiment we attempted to clarify the arousal concept by asking participants to rate the valence and intensity of the taste associated with the perceived food items. After this adjustment the VAS and EmojiGrid yielded similar valence and arousal ratings (both showing the universal U-shaped relation between the valence and arousal). A comparison with the results from the first experiment showed that VAS arousal ratings strongly depended on the actual wording used, while EmojiGrid ratings were not affected by the framing of the associated question. This suggests that the EmojiGrid is largely self-explaining and intuitive. To test this hypothesis, we performed a third experiment in which participants rated food images using the EmojiGrid without an associated question, and we compared the results to those of the first two experiments. The EmojiGrid ratings obtained in all three experiments closely agree. We conclude that the EmojiGrid appears to be a valid and intuitive affective self-report tool that does not rely on written instructions and that can efficiently be used to measure food-related emotions

Development and validation of a highly dynamic and reusable picture-based scale: A new affective measurement tool

Emotion measurement is crucial to conducting emotion research. Numerous studies have extensively employed textual scales for psychological and organizational behavior research. However, emotions are transient states of organisms with relatively short duration, some insurmountable limitations of textual scales have been reported, including low reliability for single measurement or susceptibility to learning effects for multiple repeated use. In the present article, we introduce the Highly Dynamic and Reusable Picture-based Scale (HDRPS), which was randomly generated based on 3,386 realistic, high-quality photographs that are divided into five categories (people, animals, plants, objects, and scenes). Affective ratings of the photographs were gathered from 14 experts and 209 professional judges. The HDRPS was validated using the Self-Assessment Manikin and the PANAS by 751 participants. With an accuracy of 89.73%, this new tool allows researchers to measure individual emotions continuously for their research. The non-commercial use of the HDRPS system can be freely accessible by request at http://syy.imagesoft.cc:8989/Pictures.7z. HDRPS is used for non-commercial academic research only. As some of the images are collected through the open network, it is difficult to trace the source, so please contact the author if there are any copyright issues

That Robot Touch that Means so Much: On the Psychological Effects of Human-Robot Touch

Robots are unique compared to other forms of artificial intelligence because they own a physical body that allows them to get into physical contact with humans. There is a huge amount of literature and empirical work that demonstrates the importance of touch for the development of man as well as other species as monkeys. Especially, the positive impact of interpersonal touch on health, bonding and attachment has been frequently observed. Furthermore, positive evaluative consequences of interpersonal touch on the toucher, i.e., the initiator of touch, and the surroundings has been revealed, as well as an influence on compliance and helping. Taken together it seems as if touch is a powerful way of nonverbal communication that is capable to increase the well-being of the receiver, and the initiator of touch, too. Against the background of earlier work in the realm of human-computer interaction that demonstrated that people equate interactions with interactive media as computers or robots with interpersonal interactions (media equation: Nass & Moon, 2000; Reeves & Nass, 1996; see also Krämer & Hoffmann, 2016, for an updated overview), it is assumed that touch from a robot can result in comparable positive impacts on human well- being. As a prerequisite for the examination of the physiological and psychological effects of human-robot touch, basic research was first necessary to structure the field of human- robot touch in comparison to interpersonal touch. For that purpose, four empirical studies were conducted that untangled the perception of human-robot touch referring to research on interpersonal touch, to test whether the media equation also applies to a fundamental interpersonal phenomenon such as touch. Therefore, the perception of different forms of human-robot touch with different robots (Study 1 & 2) in different interaction contexts (Study 3) were first considered in the most controllable way by means of the observation and evaluation of photographs. In addition, the underlying appraisal process that decides upon the final reaction to robot touch was theoretically and practically considered based on expectancy violations theory (Burgoon, 1983; Burgoon & Hale, 1988) that originates from the field of interpersonal communication. Finally, actual touch initiated by a robot to participants in a laboratory experiment were regarded and analyzed with respect to the impact of robot touch on participants’ subjective evaluation, as well as on observable reactions as laughing, compliance and helping (Study 4). In conclusion, influencing variables that determine the desirability of human-robot touch were revealed, namely characteristics of the robot (morphology and size), characteristics of the person (e.g., attitudes towards touch, attitudes towards robots, touch expectancies), the intimacy and direction of touch, i.e., who touches whom, and the meaning assigned to human-robot touch regarding relational interpretations of closeness and affection. Finally, positive emotional reactions to actual robot-initiated touch, and heightened compliance have been observed in a laboratory experiment.Roboter sind im Vergleich zu anderen Formen der künstlichen Entitäten einzigartig, da sie über einen physischen Körper verfügen, der ihnen erlaubt, in Berührung mit Menschen zu gelangen. Eine Vielzahl an empirischen Studien konnte bereits zeigen, dass die Bedeutung eine fundamentale Rolle in der Entwicklung von Menschen wie auch anderen Arten wie zum Beispiel Affen spielt. Allem voran wurde die positive Wirkung der zwischenmenschlichen Berührung auf die individuelle Gesundheit wie auch die zwischenmenschliche Bindung häufig belegt. Darüber hinaus wurden positive Konsequenzen der zwischenmenschlichen Berührung auf die Evaluation des Berührers, d. h. des Initiators der Berührung, und der Umgebung aufgedeckt, sowie ein Einfluss auf die Bereitschaft einer Bitte nachzukommen und Hilfeleistung zu zeigen. Zusammengenommen scheint Berührung eine einflussreiche Form nonverbaler Kommunikation zu sein, die in der Lage ist, das Wohlbefinden des Empfängers wie auch Initiators zu erhöhen. Vor dem Hintergrund früherer Arbeiten auf dem Gebiet der Mensch-Computer Interaktion, die zeigen, dass Menschen dazu neigen Interaktionen mit interaktiven Medien wie Computern oder Robotern mit der zwischenmenschlichen Kommunikation gleichsetzen (media equation: Nass & Moon, 2000; Reeves & Nass, 1996; see also Krämer & Hoffmann, 2016, für einen aktuellen Überblick), wird davon ausgegangen, dass eine Berührung durch einen Roboter vergleichbare positive Auswirkungen auf das menschliche Wohlbefinden haben kann. Als Voraussetzung für die Untersuchung der physiologischen und psychologischen Auswirkungen von Mensch-Roboter Berührung war zunächst grundlegende Forschung notwendig, um das Gebiet der Mensch-Roboter Berührung im Vergleich zur zwischenmenschlichen Berührung zu strukturieren. Zu diesem Zweck wurden vier empirische Studien durchgeführt, die dazu dienten die Wahrnehmung und Beurteilung von Mensch-Roboter Berührung mit der der Wahrnehmung und Beurteilung zwischenmenschlicher Berührung zu vergleichen, um anschließend theoretische und empirische Befunde aus dem zwischenmenschlichem Kontext auf den Bereich der Mensch-Roboter Interaktion übertragen zu können. Dazu wurde die Wahrnehmung verschiedener Formen von Mensch-Roboter Berührung mit verschiedenen Robotern (Studie 1 & 2) in verschiedenen Interaktionskontexten (Studie 3) zunächst durch die kontrollierte Beobachtung und Bewertung von Fotos untersucht. Darüber hinaus wurde der zugrundeliegende Beurteilungsprozess, der von der ersten Wahrnehmung von Mensch-Roboter Berührung über die Interpretation und Beurteilung schließlich für die finale Reaktion auf Berührung verantwortlich ist, auf Basis der Expectancy Violations Theory (Burgoon, 1983; Burgoon & Hale, 1988) betrachtet. Abschließend wurde im Rahmen eines Laborexperimentes, der Effekt tatsächlicher Berührung durch einen humanoiden Roboter auf das subjektive Empfinden und beobachtbare Reaktionen wie Lachen, Einwilligungsbreitschaft und Hilfeverhalten untersucht (Studie 4). Zusammenfassend lässt sich feststellen, dass Eigenschaften des Roboters (Morphologie und Größe), Merkmale der Person (z.B. Einstellungen gegenüber zwischenmenschlicher Berührung, Einstellung gegenüber Robotern, Berührungserwartungen), die Intimität und Richtung der Berührung, d.h. wer berührt wen, und die zugeschriebene Bedeutung der Berührung einen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmung und Akzeptanz on Mensch-Roboter Berührung nehmen. Schlussendlich konnte im Rahmen eines Laborexperimentes gezeigt werden, dass positive emotionale Konsequenzen und eine erhöhte Einwilligungsbereitschaft auf die echte Berührung durch einen Roboter folgten

E-Learning

Technology development, mainly for telecommunications and computer systems, was a key factor for the interactivity and, thus, for the expansion of e-learning. This book is divided into two parts, presenting some proposals to deal with e-learning challenges, opening up a way of learning about and discussing new methodologies to increase the interaction level of classes and implementing technical tools for helping students to make better use of e-learning resources. In the first part, the reader may find chapters mentioning the required infrastructure for e-learning models and processes, organizational practices, suggestions, implementation of methods for assessing results, and case studies focused on pedagogical aspects that can be applied generically in different environments. The second part is related to tools that can be adopted by users such as graphical tools for engineering, mobile phone networks, and techniques to build robots, among others. Moreover, part two includes some chapters dedicated specifically to e-learning areas like engineering and architecture

The Difference Between Saying and Doing: Comparing Subjective and Objective Measures of Effort Among Fifth Graders

The first goal of this study is to examine the capacity of prominent survey-based effort proxies to predict real effort provision in children. Do children who "talk the talk" of hard work also "walk the walk" and make costly effort investments? The second goal is to assess how objective and subjective effort measures are related under two conditions: intrinsic (nonincentivized) motivation and extrinsic (incentivized) motivation. We measure objective "real" effort using three tasks and subjective self-reported effort using four psychological characteristics (conscientiousness, need for cognition, locus of control and delay of gratification) to understand to what extent material incentives affect the cognitive effort of children with different self-reported personalities. Data stem from real-effort experiments carried out with 420 fifth grade students from primary schools in Madrid, Spain. We find that some of the subjective and objective effort measures are positively correlated. Yet the power of personality to predict real effort is only moderate, but greater and more so in the extrinsic than the intrinsic motivation condition. In particular, need for cognition and conscientiousness are the most relevant correlates of objective effort. Overall, we find there is a big difference between saying and doing when it comes to exerting effort, and this difference is even larger when there are no direct material incentives in place to reward effort provision