Emotion Transfer from Frontline Social Robots to Human Customers During Service Encounters: Testing an Artificial Emotional Contagion Modell

This research examines mood transitions during human-robot interactions (HRI) compared with human-human interactions (HHI) during service encounters. Based on emotional contagion and social identity theory, we argue that emotion transmission within HRI (e.g., between a frontline service robot and a human customer) may occur through the imitation of the robot’s verbal and bodily expressions by the customer and may be stronger for negative than for positive emotions. The customer’s positive attitude and anxiety toward robots will further be examined as contingencies that strengthen or weaken the emotion transition during the HRI. We already identified the five most important emotions during service encounters (critical incident study with 131 frontline employees). The subsequent output behavior was programmed to a Nao robot and validated (ratings from 234 students). In the next step, we attempt to manipulate the emotional expressions of a frontline social robot and a customer within an experimental study

Early intervention to improve later speech and language trajectories in young autistic children

The pivotal role of joint attention as a preverbal indicator of childhood autism and as a precursor for later language, play, and social development has been noted by many researchers. Despite the wide and varied literature highlighting the importance of joint attention deficits in young autistic children and calling for intervention approaches, only a small number of intervention studies exist. Few of these studies specifically target joint attention skills. Moreover, the small numbers of studies which directly teach joint attention do not provide sufficient detail to enable replication of the research. Clear objectives and rationales for the treatment are missing and often language is not considered as an outcome variable.The proposed research is an attempt to address this problem, and hence explored the impact of systematically promoting joint attention abilities in verbal autistic preschool children to improve later speech and language trajectories. The intervention sessions were explained by providing information on the general approach during intervention and specific sample tasks. Objectives of the intervention followed developmental trajectories of typically developing children and were clarified by providing rationales. A single subject multiple-baseline design across participants was implemented to evaluate intervention effects on four autistic children. It involved measurements taken from videos of each session of the intervention (coding of joint attention) and outcome variables (coding of language). In addition, there were quantitative measures completed with each child at pre-intervention, post-intervention and follow up stages. These involved an Autism Rating Scale and a battery of language measures. The proposed research had the potential to provide a framework for future research relating to specific intervention programs designed to develop joint attention and language skills in autistic children

Are future psychologists willing to accept and use a humanoid robot in their practice? Italian and English students' perspective.

Despite general scepticism from care professionals, social robotics research is providing evidence of successful application in education and rehabilitation in clinical psychology practice. In this article, we investigate the cultural influences of English and Italian psychology students in the perception of usefulness and intention to use a robot as an instrument for future clinical practice and, secondly, the modality of presentation of the robot by comparing oral versus video presentation. To this end, we surveyed 158 Italian and British-English psychology students after an interactive demonstration using a humanoid robot to evaluate the social robot’s acceptance and use. The Italians were positive, while the English were negative towards the perceived usefulness and intention to use the robot in psychological practice in the near future. However, most English and Italian respondents felt they did not have the necessary abilities to make good use of the robot. We concluded that it is necessary to provide psychology students with further knowledge and practical skills regarding social robotics, which could facilitate the adoption and use of this technology in clinical settings

Inclusion and Autism: General Education Teachers’ Perceptions

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate general education teachers’ perceptions of being prepared to work with students identified with autism, grade level assignments, time concerns, and the presence of an ancillary attendant in their classrooms. Participants in this study were located in one city school system in North East Tennessee. All data were collected through an online survey distributed to 230 teachers, of whom 79 responded. Four research questions were analyzed, 3 with single sample t tests and 1 with a one-way ANOVA. Results indicated no statistical significance regarding grade level assignments and general education teachers’ perceptions of inclusion of students identified with autism. General education teachers who participated in this research indicated significant negative perceptions of feeling prepared to manage social issues, communication issues, and aggressive behaviors associated with autism as well as having adequate time to work with students identified with autism. Significant positive perceptions were indicated for the presence of an ancillary attendant in their classroom to assist with students identified with autism

University Reporter - Volume 11, Number 06 - February 2007

This issue of the University Reporter includes articles about the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching\u27s recognition of UMass Boston, autism research at the University, Black History Month festivities, a public meeting concerning UMass Boston\u27s strategic planning process, Arts on the Point programs, the transition team for Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, the new Information Technology MS program at the University, and other news from UMass Boston

Beyond The ‘Untold’ Encountering Autism: Situated Insights On Ways To Enable Participation In Design

The number of people who experience autism is constantly increasing. In 2020, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention determined that, every year, approximately 1 out of 54 children is diagnosed with the autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In the last years, the number of research and studies dedicated to children with autism has increased; however, scarce attention was paid to research on adults with autism, particularly those on the severe end of the spectrum (low-functioning autism), who have limited verbal abilities and non-normative communication. Consequences of this include issues of social inclusion, lack of services, work opportunities, social and civil rights, to mention a few, which are not yet sufficiently explored nor implemented for this specific group of people. This thesis employs Participatory Design to explore novel ways to engage with people on the autistic spectrum, in the attempt to understand what processes and participatory dynamics become enacted in acknowledging them as equal, valuable presences in the constitution of our collective existence and society. In particular, the research looks at processes and activities that can lead to a collaboration between designers and adults with severe autism and non-normative communication abilities, and their active participation within the research process. By theoretically drawing from traditions of Feminist Theory and Participatory Design, this thesis considers one single case study, where collaboration with the participant is achieved by means of a situated approach to design research. My standpoint and philosophical positioning here are to acknowledge that there are multiple realities through which one can make sense of the world: this research envisions that each person constructs her or his own reality through their personal experiences. Such philosophical perspective aims at emphasising and valuing subjectivity, and the consequent, intrinsic partiality that constitute our human experience. Personalised and situated research objects are also used across the thesis as methodological elements, oriented to explore the potential of triggering participation, crossing the boundaries between different communication abilities and achieving mutual understanding between designer and participant. The contribution to knowledge provided from this research is three fold: first, it provides new insights about the creation of research objects that result from a situated and process-oriented approach to Participatory Design; second, it extends knowledge concerning design practices that involve the collaborative participation of people experiencing the severe 4 end of the autistic spectrum; third, it contributes to provide new narratives concerning peoplewith non-normative communication abilities and autism