Learning instructional communication skills in peer collaborative problem solving : a case of moving referent.

The present work is an attempt to combine two traditions of communication study: referential communication approach and sociolinguistic approach. The purpose was to examine how children ages 5 and 7 years learn to give instructions to each other in a peer collaborative problem solving situation. In an effort to identify interaction patterns and possible developmental progressions, various coding and categorization schemes were developed to analyze the processes of: negotiation of themes, establishing a common perspective toward the task, co-constructing messages and shared names. A comparison was made between the children\u27s development of spatial terms for a stationary referent and a moving referent. The analysis shows that 7-year-olds shared themes more actively, using explicit means, compared to 5-year-olds. The older children\u27s instructions were more informative and made in the task-appropriate referential perspective. For the purpose of establishing shared names, the older children engaged themselves in the naming process less often because they used names that can be more easily shared. The development of spatial terms for a moving referent seems to lag behind the development of those for a stationary referent. The children gradually learned, across ages and sessions, to participate to maximize the team effectiveness. Finally, dynamic changes in instructional messages were analyzed using a mode of graphic representation

Emotions and behaviors of Chinese and U.S. preschoolers in two emotionally challenging tasks

2013 Summer.Includes bibliographical references.As children develop during early childhood, they are expected to internalize and follow social rules, so as to interact with people and the larger society in emotionally and behaviorally appropriate ways. But societal expectations and corresponding emotional and behavioral responses of individuals are all embedded in the sociocultural context (Markus & Kitayama, 1991; Rothbaum & Rusk, 2011). Americans typically are more emotionally expressive than Chinese even in early childhood (Camras, et al., 2007; Tardif, Wang, & Olson, 2009). Emotional expression disrupts social harmony and is discouraged in Chinese children, but indicates individuality and is more accepted in American children. In more individualistic cultures such as the U.S., which emphasize autonomy and self-agency, one might be expected to direct behaviors outward to actively change the context to be less distressing; in collectivistic cultures like China, one might be more inclined to modify the self to feel or appear less distressed instead (Rothbaum & Rusk, 2011). Still, contextual demands may affect these patterns, particularly if appropriate behavior in the contexts is highly socialized, such that children may anticipate strong negative consequences for misbehavior. In this study, the emotional and behavioral responses of Chinese and American preschoolers were compared in two emotionally challenging situations that are important contexts for socialization--resistance to temptation and "breaking" someone's toy. Thirty-four Chinese (17 females) and 37 American (19 females) 3-3.5 year olds were observed across 5 episodes: 1. Introduction to a temptation toy, 2. Resistance to temptation; 3. Introduction to a clown doll; 4. Solitary play with the clown doll; 5. Period after child "breaks" clown doll (standard violation). Children's emotional and behavioral responses were coded second by second and the data were analyzed with repeated measures MANCOVAs. Emotionally, American children were found to be more expressive of happiness and sadness than Chinese children. Chinese children's anger responses showed a cumulative pattern across contexts. Except for the impact on Chinese children's anger, the contextual changes generated children's emotional responses in the expected direction, in that pleasant contexts generated more positive emotions and fewer negative emotions, whereas challenging contexts generated more negative emotions and fewer positive emotions. Behaviorally, American children were found to display more context-directed distraction behaviors than Chinese children; whereas Chinese children displayed more emotion-focused self-modification behaviors, including focal avoidance and self-soothing. Distraction behaviors of children from both samples varied according to contextual changes: most distraction in resistance to temptation, least distraction during play session, and slight increase in distraction during standard violation. But variation in American children's distraction across contexts was greater than that of the Chinese children. By taking a culture-specific, context-specific, and process-oriented approach, the study found evidence for cross-culture, cross-context, and cross-time variations in American and Chinese young children's emotional and behavioral responses toward social challenges. Results highlight the importance of considering children's culture, the immediate and preceding contexts, and time course since challenging events occurred when interpreting and responding to young children's behavior in order to more effectively promote positive development in those children

Neural plasticity and development in the first two years of life: Evidence from cognitive and socioemotional domains of research.

Three models that can be used to investigate the effects of different environmental events on brain development and organization are explored. The insult model argues against brain plasticity, and the environmental model regards the brain as infinitely plastic. Our work is guided by the transactional model, which views brain development and organization as an interaction between (a) genetically coded programs for the formation and connectivity of brain structures and (b) environmental modifiers of these codes. Data are reported from our cognitive and socioemotional research studies that support the notion of plasticity during the first 2 years of life. From our work with normal developmental processes, we draw parallels to abnormal development and speculate how the transactional model can be used to explain abnormal brain organization and development

Applications of Affective Computing in Human-Robot Interaction: state-of-art and challenges for manufacturing

The introduction of collaborative robots aims to make production more flexible, promoting a greater interaction between humans and robots also from physical point of view. However, working closely with a robot may lead to the creation of stressful situations for the operator, which can negatively affect task performance. In Human-Robot Interaction (HRI), robots are expected to be socially intelligent, i.e., capable of understanding and reacting accordingly to human social and affective clues. This ability can be exploited implementing affective computing, which concerns the development of systems able to recognize, interpret, process, and simulate human affects. Social intelligence is essential for robots to establish a natural interaction with people in several contexts, including the manufacturing sector with the emergence of Industry 5.0. In order to take full advantage of the human-robot collaboration, the robotic system should be able to perceive the psycho-emotional and mental state of the operator through different sensing modalities (e.g., facial expressions, body language, voice, or physiological signals) and to adapt its behaviour accordingly. The development of socially intelligent collaborative robots in the manufacturing sector can lead to a symbiotic human-robot collaboration, arising several research challenges that still need to be addressed. The goals of this paper are the following: (i) providing an overview of affective computing implementation in HRI; (ii) analyzing the state-of-art on this topic in different application contexts (e.g., healthcare, service applications, and manufacturing); (iii) highlighting research challenges for the manufacturing sector

Boosting children's creativity through creative interactions with social robots

Creativity is an ability with psychological and developmental benefits. Creative levels are dynamic and oscillate throughout life, with a first major decline occurring at the age of 7 years old. However, creativity is an ability that can be nurtured if trained, with evidence suggesting an increase in this ability with the use of validated creativity training. Yet, creativity training for young children (aged between 6-9 years old) appears as scarce. Additionally, existing training interventions resemble test-like formats and lack of playful dynamics that could engage children in creative practices over time. This PhD project aimed at contributing to creativity stimulation in children by proposing to use social robots as intervention tools, thus adding playful and interactive dynamics to the training. Towards this goal, we conducted three studies in schools, summer camps, and museums for children, that contributed to the design, fabrication, and experimental testing of a robot whose purpose was to re-balance creative levels. Study 1 (n = 140) aimed at testing the effect of existing activities with robots in creativity and provided initial evidence of the positive potential of robots for creativity training. Study 2 (n = 134) aimed at including children as co-designers of the robot, ensuring the robot’s design meets children’s needs and requirements. Study 3 (n = 130) investigated the effectiveness of this robot as a tool for creativity training, showing the potential of robots as creativity intervention tools. In sum, this PhD showed that robots can have a positive effect on boosting the creativity of children. This places social robots as promising tools for psychological interventions.Criatividade é uma habilidade com benefícios no desenvolvimento saudável. Os níveis de criatividade são dinâmicos e oscilam durante a vida, sendo que o primeiro maior declínio acontece aos 7 anos de idade. No entanto, a criatividade é uma habilidade que pode ser nutrida se treinada e evidências sugerem um aumento desta habilidade com o uso de programas validados de criatividade. Ainda assim, os programas de criatividade para crianças pequenas (entre os 6-9 anos de idade) são escassos. Adicionalmente, estes programas adquirem o formato parecido ao de testes, faltando-lhes dinâmicas de brincadeira e interatividade que poderão motivar as crianças a envolverem-se em práticas criativas ao longo do tempo. O presente projeto de doutoramento procurou contribuir para a estimulação da criatividade em crianças propondo usar robôs sociais como ferramenta de intervenção, adicionando dinâmicas de brincadeira e interação ao treino. Assim, conduzimos três estudos em escolas, campos de férias, e museus para crianças que contribuíram para o desenho, fabricação, e teste experimental de um robô cujo objetivo é ser uma ferramenta que contribui para aumentar os níveis de criatividade. O Estudo 1 (n = 140) procurou testar o efeito de atividade já existentes com robôs na criatividade e mostrou o potencial positivo do uso de robôs para o treino criativo. O Estudo 2 (n = 134) incluiu crianças como co-designers do robô, assegurando que o desenho do robô correspondeu às necessidades das crianças. O Estudo 2 (n = 130) investigou a eficácia deste robô como ferramenta para a criatividade, demonstrando o seu potencial para o treino da criatividade. Em suma, o presente doutoramento mostrou que os robôs poderão ter um potencial criativo em atividades com crianças. Desta forma, os robôs sociais poderão ser ferramentas promissoras em intervenções na psicologia