Ordered interpersonal synchronisation in ASD children via robots

Children with autistic spectrum disorders (ASD) experience persistent disrupted coordination in interpersonal synchronisation that is thought to be associated with deficits in neural connectivity. Robotic interventions have been explored for use with ASD children worldwide revealing that robots encourage one-to-one social and emotional interactions. However, associations between interpersonal synchronisation and emotional empathy have not yet been directly explored in French and Japanese ASD children when they interact with a human or a robot under analogous experimental conditions. Using the paradigm of actor-perceiver, where the child was the actor and the robot or the human the perceiver, we recorded the autonomic heart rate activation and reported emotional feelings of ASD children in both countries. Japanese and French ASD children showed different interpersonal synchronisation when they interacted with the human perceiver, even though the human was the same in both countries. However, they exhibited similar interpersonal synchronisation when the perceiver was the robot. The findings suggest that the mechanism combining interpersonal synchronisation and emotional empathy might be weakened but not absent in ASD children and that both French and Japanese ASD children do spontaneously and unconsciously discern non verbal actions of non human partners through a direct matching process that occurs via automatic mapping

Shame, Stigma, and Callousness: A Moderated Mediation Study of Sex Offender Empathy Strength

Callous, lacking sympathy, heartless, and cold are but a few synonyms for people that demonstrate a deficit in empathy. Psychologists, criminologists, and sociologists have tried to explain this phenomenon of callousness, or lack of empathy found in criminals for hundreds of years. Issues of definitions of empathy, personality disorders, character flaws, and even neurobiological issues have been studied in their relation to empathy. Theories of criminology have been presented to explain the reasons for lack of empathy. However, as of yet, no conclusive findings demonstrate the order or function in loss of empathy strength. This study will endeavor to describe the nature of empathy from the viewpoint of a moderation study that will demonstrate the cause-and-effect relationships of shame proneness, stigma, and empathy strength

Understanding player experience in social digital games : the role of social presence

Including others in a playful activity fundamentally changes the concept of play into social play. This thesis focuses on social play in digital gaming. Previous studies have revealed the crucial part of social interaction in play, as the intrinsic need to belong seems to be the core motivation for engaging in such activities. Besides interacting with the game and focusing on the game content, gamers are confronted with emotions, behaviours, opinions and performances of others that can easily be perceived when playing side by side (co-located co-play). However, the widespread penetration of the Internet also allows for social play without the restriction of co-players having to be in the same room (mediated co-play). In online co-play settings a smaller amount of social information can be exchanged compared to co-located co-play. These settings therefore differ in the way gamers can interact with each other, which has an influence on how digital gaming is experienced. Focus groups, contextual inquiries, and four experimental studies were employed to uncover which aspects of social play in digital gaming make mediated and co-located co-play feel different. The first study was conducted to explore the motivations of gamers to physically meet others to play digital games, compared to meeting them online. Based on interpersonal communications, focus groups and contextual inquiries, findings revealed that the appeal of co-located above online co-play results from the sociable, warm, sensitive, personal and intimate interactions that are possible when playing side-byside. Furthermore, co-located co-play offers the possibility to experience social fun before and after game play, which often is not afforded in online co-play. The first lab experiment was conducted to empirically demonstrate to what extent player experience is influenced by the way co-players are present; e.g. as a virtual (human controlled), mediated or co-located co-player. Results on self-reports indicated that playing sidebyside significantly adds to the enjoyment and involvement in games compared to playing against a virtual (i.e. computer controlled) or distant co-player. These results could be explained by introducing the concept of social presence, which is defined as the feeling of being together with another individual. Results demonstrated that social presence mediated the enjoyment in social play. In the second and third lab experiment the possibilities for verbal and non-verbal interaction were manipulated between coplayers in co-located co-play. One experiment investigated this for competitive play; a the other for collaborative play. Self-reports showed that interactions through auditory cues positively influenced player experience. Interestingly, the presence of visual cues of one’s co-player had no significant influence on play. Observation data of players confirmed that audio cues (e.g., talking, laughing) were far more often used than visual cues (e.g., eye contact, making gestures); visual cues were only used before and after play. Furthermore, we demonstrated that social presence – due to interaction by audio cues – mediates the enjoyment in social play. A final lab experiment was conducted to investigate the importance of the connection between players through the game for our results in the previous chapters. In this experiment players were colocated, but not always played together and/or were not always able to see each other’s scores. Results showed that a subjective shared experience increases the strength of the social connection between players, and positively affects feelings of social presence, enjoyment and involvement. Similar to the previous findings, social presence mediated the increase in feelings of enjoyment and involvement. In sum, our set of studies offered empirical support for when, why and how social interaction influences players’ experience in co-play settings. Furthermore, the results indicate the importance of social presence as a mediating factor of enjoyment and involvement in social play. This provides new theoretical insights for communication experiences in other media, and social presence in general. Furthermore, findings may be useful to game designers who may want to enhance players’ experiences in during digital play

Assessment of theory of mind in stroke populations

Over the last twenty years there have been several investigations exploring theory of mind (ToM) abilities within populations with acquired brain injury, including stroke survivors. Most neuropsychology studies involving people with acquired brain injury have assessed the cognitively-demanding, social-cognitive component of ToM, whereas the literature concerned with exploring social-perceptual ToM is limited by its reliance on measures that are not representative of ToM processes within real-world situations. The current study aimed to examine the use and utility of an ecologically-valid (verisimilitudinous) social-perceptual ToM task within stroke survivors, known as the Cambridge Mindreading Face-Voice Battery (CAM; Golan, Baron-Cohen, & Hill, 2006). Group comparisons of CAM performance between 22 stroke survivors and 20 age- and education-matched healthy control participants showed no significant differences. In addition, the CAM was unable to accurately distinguish between the groups. An exploratory cluster analysis revealed differential patterns of ToM impairment and preservation within the sample of stroke survivors. These findings suggest studies that have attempted to tap social-perceptual ToM through artificial tasks and/or static stimuli may be overestimating the deficits observed within stroke samples, and tentatively points towards functional fractionation of social-perceptual ToM abilities dependent on modality. Some recommendations for future research combining neuropsychology and neuroimaging methodology are discussed

Mobilizing Empathy: From Einfuhlung to Homo Empathicus

This dissertation traces the movements of empathy across and within diverse contexts. Empathy is shown to be conceptually amorphous with significant degrees of variation in its applications. With an analytic lens focused on use (conceived of as the mobilization of empathy) heterogeneous conceptions of empathy are examined, illuminating the different psychological and social realities that are created when empathy functions in different ways. This systematic reconstruction is facilitated through an analysis of empathys moral, relational, epistemic, natural, and aesthetic conceptual foundations, and its quantitative, gendered, pathological, political, educational, commodified, and professional uses. It is argued that at the core of empathy is a moral valence; specifically, that empathy is irreducibly connected to ethical questions and, thus, there is always a moral dimension inherent in its applications. Based on the reconstruction an ontology of empathy is derived that includes the individual, the other, and its moral valence. The dissertation concludes with considerations of the consequences of this ontology. Challenging empathy exclusively construed as a matter of individual intentionality, it is argued that socio-political, economic, and societal structures create, shape, and maintain much of what individuals have access to and experience empathically. For this critical understanding, the notion of empathy avoidance, arm-chair empathy, and regulated empathy, are introduced

Global Citizenship in Foreign Language Education

In light of increasing globalization, this collection makes the case for global citizenship education as a way forward for transforming foreign language learning and teaching to better address current and future global challenges in times of unprecedented change.　 The volume maps a multi-dimensional approach within foreign language pedagogy to take up the challenge of ""educating the global citizen"". Drawing on sociocultural, pedagogical, cosmopolitan, digital, and civic-minded perspectives, the book explores the challenges in constructing epistemological frameworks in increasingly global environments, the need for developing context-sensitive educational practices, the potential of linking up with work from related disciplines, and the impact of these considerations on different educational settings. The collection reflects an international range of voices, attuned to global and local nuances, to offer a holistic compilation of conceptual innovations to showcase the relevance of global citizenship issues in foreign language education and encourage future research. This book will be of interest to scholars in intercultural education, foreign language education, and language teaching, as well as policymakers and foreign language teachers