No matter how real: Out-group faces convey less humanness

Past research on real human faces has shown that out-group members are commonly perceived as lacking human qualities, which links them to machines or objects. In this study, we aimed to test whether similar out-group effects generalize to artificial faces. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces and had to decide whether human traits (naturally and uniquely human) as well as emotions (primary and secondary) could or could not be attributed to them. In line with previous research, we found that naturally human traits and secondary emotions were attributed less often to the out-group (Indian) than to the in-group (Caucasian), and this applied to both real and artificial faces. The findings extend prior research and show that artificial stimuli readily evoke intergroup processes. This has implications for the design of animated characters, suggesting that outgroup faces convey less humanness regardless of how life-like their representation is

Real or Artificial? Intergroup Biases in Mind Perception in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Recent research suggests that attributions of aliveness and mental capacities to faces are influenced by social group membership. In this article, we investigated group related biases in mind perception in participants from a Western and Eastern culture, employing faces of varying ethnic groups. In Experiment 1, Caucasian faces that ranged on a continuum from real to artificial were evaluated by participants in the UK (in-group) and in India (out-group) on animacy, abilities to plan and to feel pain, and having a mind. Human features were found to be assigned to a greater extent to faces when these belonged to in-group members, whereas out-group faces had to appear more realistic in order to be perceived as human. When participants in India evaluated South Asian (in-group) and Caucasian (out-group) faces in Experiment 2, the results closely mirrored those of the first experiment. For both studies, ratings of out-group faces were significantly predicted by participants’ levels of ethnocultural empathy. The findings highlight the role of intergroup processes (i.e., in-group favoritism, out-group dehumanization) in the perception of human and mental qualities and point to ethnocultural empathy as an important factor in responses to out-groups

Behavioral and physiological responses to computers in the ultimatum game

Studies in the area of decision-making suggest clear differences in behavioral responses to humans versus computers. The current objective was to investigate decision-making in an economic game played only with computer partners. In Experiment 1, participants were engaged in the ultimatum game with computer agents and regular computers while their physiological responses were recorded. In Experiment 2, an identical setup of the game was used, but the ethnicity of the computer agents was manipulated. As expected, almost all equitable monetary splits offered by the computer were accepted. The acceptance rates gradually decreased when the splits became less fair. Although the obtained behavioral pattern implied a reaction to violation of the rule of fairness by the computer in the game, no evidence was found for participants’ corresponding emotional involvement. The findings contribute to the body of research on human-computer interaction and suggest that social effects of computers can be attenuated

HOW CAN 3D GIS BE USED TO BETTER STORE, INTEGRATE AND COMMUNICATE RESULTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENTS?

In the United Kingdom, the process of conducting the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is a legal requirement for projects of considerable size or those that can affect the environment. EIA results are presented as an Environmental Statement, which includes multiple long reports often covering thousands of pages on large developments and includes complex information that is hard to understand for the intended audience of planners and the general public. To facilitate understanding, environmental professionals often use 2D maps. However, this approach is only partially useful, as it is difficult to locate specific information or to identify information related to a specific location on a very large site. This paper presents a pilot study into whether 3D GIS provide an alternative to better present, integrate and communicate the EIA results, with specific focus on three core environmental datasets: noise, air quality and bats’ flight paths, in relation to the building model of a real world development site. We focus in particular on off-the-shelf technologies that would be available to a standard Environmental Consultancy not having access to bespoke development, and will be usable by the planners, public and other decision makers, and look at tasks including 3D georeferencing, integration and visualisation of the data to be explored. It was concluded that while 3D GIS has a potential for environmental modelling, current technology and standards of data collection limit the practical use of 3D GIS at this stage

When humans become objects: Out-group effects in real and artificial faces

Out-group members are commonly viewed as being less human than in-group members. They are deniedcertain human characteristics and in turn become associated with machines or automata. Specifically, out-groups are attributedless naturally and uniquely human traits, and they are also seen as being less able to experience complex emotions in comparison to the in-group. Such dissociations have been demonstrated with real human faces but in our study, we aimed to test whether similar effects generalize to their artificial versions. Caucasian participants were presented with images of male Caucasian and Indian faces. Their task was to evaluate to what extent naturally and uniquely human traits, as well as primary and secondary emotions, can be attributed to them. In line with previous research, it was found that positive naturally human traits were attributed to a greater degree to the in-group than to the outgroup, applying to both real and artificial faces. Moreover,negative naturally human traits and negative primary emotions were attributed more to the out-group. This indicates a positive bias towards the in-group and subtle out-group derogation. The results extend prior research based on real human faces and show that intergroup processes emerge similarly in response to artificial faces, which may have implications for the fields of computer graphics and animation. That is, even the most realistic face recognized as belonging to an out-group member may convey less humanness than that of an in-group member

Temporal variations in meibomian gland structure—A pilot study

Purpose: To investigate whether there is a measurable change in meibomian gland morphological characteristics over the course of a day (12h) and over a month.Methods: The study enrolled 15 participants who attended a total of 11 study visits spanning a 5-week period. To assess diurnal changes in meibomian glands, seven visits were conducted on a single day, each 2h apart. For monthly assessment, participants attended an additional visit at the same time of the day every week for three consecutive weeks. Meibography using the LipiView® II system was performed at each visit, and meibomian gland morphological parameters were calculated using custom semi-automated software. Specifically, six central glands were analysed for gland length ratio, gland width, gland area, gland intensity and gland tortuosity.Results: The average meibomian gland morphological metrics did not exhibit significant changes during the course of a day or over a month. Nonetheless, certain individual gland metrics demonstrated notable variation over time, both diurnally and monthly. Specifically, meibomian gland length ratio, area, width and tortuosity exhibited significant changes both diurnally and monthly when assessed on a gland-by-gland basis.Conclusions: Meibomian glands demonstrated measurable structural change over short periods of time (hours and days). These results have implications for innovation in gland imaging and for developing precision monitoring of gland structure to assess meibomian gland  health more accurately

Transition to Quorum Sensing in an Agrobacterium Population: A Stochastic Model

Understanding of the intracellular molecular machinery that is responsible for the complex collective behavior of multicellular populations is an exigent problem of modern biology. Quorum sensing, which allows bacteria to activate genetic programs cooperatively, provides an instructive and tractable example illuminating the causal relationships between the molecular organization of gene networks and the complex phenotypes they control. In this work we—to our knowledge for the first time—present a detailed model of the population-wide transition to quorum sensing using the example of Agrobacterium tumefaciens. We construct a model describing the Ti plasmid quorum-sensing gene network and demonstrate that it behaves as an “on–off” gene expression switch that is robust to molecular noise and that activates the plasmid conjugation program in response to the increase in autoinducer concentration. This intracellular model is then incorporated into an agent-based stochastic population model that also describes bacterial motion, cell division, and chemical communication. Simulating the transition to quorum sensing in a liquid medium and biofilm, we explain the experimentally observed gradual manifestation of the quorum-sensing phenotype by showing that the transition of individual model cells into the “on” state is spread stochastically over a broad range of autoinducer concentrations. At the same time, the population-averaged values of critical autoinducer concentration and the threshold population density are shown to be robust to variability between individual cells, predictable and specific to particular growth conditions. Our modeling approach connects intracellular and population scales of the quorum-sensing phenomenon and provides plausible answers to the long-standing questions regarding the ecological and evolutionary significance of the phenomenon. Thus, we demonstrate that the transition to quorum sensing requires a much higher threshold cell density in liquid medium than in biofilm, and on this basis we hypothesize that in Agrobacterium quorum sensing serves as the detector of biofilm formation

eCute: Difference is good

This paper provides an overview of ongoing research on cultural and emotional learning, thereby utilizing engaging roleplay with synthetic characters. The paper explains the underlying learning objectives and provides an overview of how we intend to achieve them. This includes a technical framework integrating affective AI characters and innovative interaction technologies. The framework will be used to realize a virtual learning environment hosting the synthetic characters. Finally a brief description of an evaluation approach for the anticipated learning objectives is given