scholarly journals Robots as Intentional Agents: Using neuroscientific methods to make robots appear more social

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Wiese ◽  
Giorgio Metta ◽  
Agnieszka Wykowska
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Social Cognitive ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Review Literature ◽  
Social Robots ◽  
Human Robot Interaction ◽  
Social Connection ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Intentional Agents

Robots are increasingly envisaged as our future cohabitants. However, while considerable progress has been made in recent years in terms of their technological realization, the ability of robots to inter-act with humans in an intuitive and social way is still quite limited. An important challenge for social robotics is to determine how to design robots that can perceive users’ needs, feelings, and intentions, and adapt to the users over a broad range of cognitive abilities. Consequently, robots would eventual-ly be accepted as social companions. We argue that the best way to achieve this is by using a system-atic experimental approach based on behavioral and physiological neuroscience methods, like mo-tion/eye tracking, electroencephalography (EEG), or functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) embedded in interactive human-robot paradigms. This approach requires understanding how humans interact with each other, how they perform tasks together and how they develop feelings of social connection over time, and using these insights to formulate design principles that make social robots attuned to the workings of the human brain. In this review, we put forward the argument that the likelihood of artificial agents being perceived as social companions can be increased by designing them in a way that they are perceived as intentional agents that activate areas in the human brain in-volved in social-cognitive processing. We first review literature related to social-cognitive mecha-nisms involved in human-human interactions, and highlight the importance of perceiving others as intentional agents to activate these brain areas. We then discuss how attribution of intentionality can positively affect human-robot interaction by (a) fostering feelings of social connection, empathy and prosociality, and by (b) enhancing performance on joint human-robot tasks. Lastly, we describe cir-cumstances under which attribution of intentionality to robot agents might be disadvantageous, and discuss challenges associated with designing social robots that are inspired by neuroscientific princi-ples.

scholarly journals Amplitude of fNIRS Resting-State Global Signal Is Related to EEG Vigilance Measures: A Simultaneous fNIRS and EEG Study

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuxuan Chen ◽  
Julia Tang ◽  
Yafen Chen ◽  
Jesse Farrand ◽  
Melissa A. Craft ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Temporal Correlation ◽  
Frequency Range ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Physical Constraints ◽  
Global Signal ◽  
Eeg Data

Recently, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has been utilized to image the hemodynamic activities and connectivity in the human brain. With the advantage of economic efficiency, portability, and fewer physical constraints, fNIRS enables studying of the human brain at versatile environment and various body positions, including at bed side and during exercise, which complements the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, like fMRI, fNIRS imaging can be influenced by the presence of a strong global component. Yet, the nature of the global signal in fNIRS has not been established. In this study, we investigated the relationship between fNIRS global signal and electroencephalogram (EEG) vigilance using simultaneous recordings in resting healthy subjects in high-density and whole-head montage. In Experiment 1, data were acquired at supine, sitting, and standing positions. Results found that the factor of body positions significantly affected the amplitude of the resting-state fNIRS global signal, prominently in the frequency range of 0.05–0.1 Hz but not in the very low frequency range of less than 0.05 Hz. As a control, the task-induced fNIRS or EEG responses to auditory stimuli did not differ across body positions. However, EEG vigilance plays a modulatory role in the fNIRS signals in the frequency range of less than 0.05 Hz: resting-state sessions of low EEG vigilance measures are associated with high amplitudes of fNIRS global signals. Moreover, in Experiment 2, we further examined the epoch-to-epoch fluctuations in concurrent fNIRS and EEG data acquired from a separate group of subjects and found a negative temporal correlation between EEG vigilance measures and fNIRS global signal amplitudes. Our study for the first time revealed that vigilance as a neurophysiological factor modulates the resting-state dynamics of fNIRS, which have important implications for understanding and processing the noises in fNIRS signals.

scholarly journals Imaging System Based on Silicon Photomultipliers and Light Emitting Diodes for Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 1068 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giovanni Maira ◽  
Antonio M. Chiarelli ◽  
Stefano Brafa ◽  
Sebania Libertino ◽  
Giorgio Fallica ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Light Emitting Diodes ◽  
Optical Tomography ◽  
System Optimization ◽  
Infrared Light ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Light Emitting

We built a fiber-less prototype of an optical system with 156 channels each one consisting of an optode made of a silicon photomultiplier (SiPM) and a pair of light emitting diodes (LEDs) operating at 700 nm and 830 nm. The system uses functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and diffuse optical tomography (DOT) imaging of the cortical activity of the human brain at frequencies above 1 Hz. In this paper, we discuss testing and system optimization performed through measurements on a multi-layered optical phantom with mechanically movable parts that simulate near-infrared light scattering inhomogeneities. The baseline optical characteristics of the phantom are carefully characterized and compared to those of human tissues. Here we discuss several technical aspects of the system development, such as LED light output drift and its possible compensation, SiPM linearity, corrections of channel signal differences, and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). We implement an imaging algorithm that investigates large phantom regions. Thanks to the use of SiPMs, very large source-to-detector distances are acquired with a high SNR and 2 Hz time resolution. The overall results demonstrate the high potentialities of a system based on SiPMs for fNIRS/DOT human brain imaging applications.

scholarly journals Differences in perceived duration between plausible biological and non-biological stimuli

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuliana Martinatti Giorjiani ◽  
Claudinei Eduardo Biazoli ◽  
Marcelo S. Caetano
Keyword(s):  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Biological Motion ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Visual Motion ◽  
Frame Rate ◽  
Cognitive Differences ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Reproduction Task ◽  
Neurophysiological Data ◽  
Perception Of Time

AbstractVisual motion stimuli can sometimes distort our perception of time. This effect is dependent on the apparent speed of the moving stimulus, where faster stimuli are usually perceived lasting longer than slower stimuli. Although it has been shown that neural and cognitive processing of biological motion stimuli differ from non-biological motion stimuli, no study has yet investigated whether perceived durations of biological stimuli differ from non-biological stimuli across different speeds. Here, a prospective temporal reproduction task was used to assess that question. Biological motion stimuli consisted in a human silhouette running in place. Non-biological motion stimuli consisted in a rectangle moving in a pendular way. Amount and plausibility of movement for each stimulus and frame-rate (speed) were evaluated by an independent group of participants. Although amount of movement was positively correlated to frame rate, movie clips involving biological motion stimuli were judged to last longer than non-biological motion stimuli only at frame rates in which movement was rated as plausible. These results suggest that plausible representations of biomechanical movement induce additional temporal distortions to those modulated by increases in stimulus speed. Moreover, most studies that have reported neural and cognitive differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli acquired neurophysiological data using fMRI. The present study aimed additionally to report differences in the processing of biological and non-biological motion stimuli across different speeds using functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), a less costly and portable form of neurophysiological data acquisition.

Design and Development of Two Channel Portable Near Infrared Spectroscopy System for Studies of Cerebral Oxygenation in Prefrontal Cortex of Human Brain

2014 ◽  
Vol 573 ◽  
pp. 814-818
Author(s):  
S. Bagyaraj ◽  
G. Ravindran ◽  
S. Shenbaga Devi
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Human Brain ◽  
Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Continuous Wave ◽  
Cerebral Oxygenation ◽  
Wave Length ◽  
Spatial Task ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy

Functional near infrared spectroscopy is a noninvasive, non harmful, low cost and safe optical technique that can be used to study the functional activities in the human brain. This paper describes the development of two channel Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) system and the results of the cerebral oxygenation changes during the different cognitive tasks. The objective of the study is to design, develop a portable non-invasive continuous wave NIRS system with dual wave length for determining the hemoglobin content of the blood chromophores during different activities of the prefrontal cortex of the brain. The two channel NIRS system designed and it was tested with 20 healthy, ie.,15 males and 5 females with an average age group of 21±2.25, they were given a 2 different mental tasks such as sequential subtraction (mathematical task) and spot the difference (Visuo-spatial task) and their Oxy & de-Oxy hemoglobin concentration was measured which showed more changes during the task period when compared to relaxation in both left and right part of pre-frontal cortex.

scholarly journals Monolingual and bilingual infants rely on the same brain networks: Evidence from resting-state functional connectivity

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Borja Blanco ◽  
Monika Molnar ◽  
Manuel Carreiras ◽  
Liam H. Collins-Jones ◽  
Ernesto Vidal ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Brain ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Near Infrared ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Functional Brain Imaging ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽  
Behavioural Research ◽  
Infant Brain

AbstractThis study examines whether bilingual exposure has a profound effect on the functional organization of the developing human brain during infancy. Recent behavioural research attests that monolingual vs. bilingual experience affects cognitive and linguistic processes already during the first months of life. However, to what extent the intrinsic organization of the infant human brain adapts to monolingual vs. bilingual environments is unclear. We measured spontaneous hemodynamic brain activity using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) in a large cohort (N=99) of 4-month-old monolingual and bilingual infants. We implemented well-established analysis approaches of functional brain imaging that enabled us to reveal the functional organization of the infant brain in large-scale cortical networks, and to perform group-level comparisons (i.e., monolingual vs. bilingual groups) in a reliable manner. Our results revealed no differences between the intrinsic functional organization of the developing monolingual and bilingual infant brain at 4 months of age.

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