Embodied Cognition for Autonomous Interactive Robots

In the past, notions of embodiment have been applied to robotics mainly in the realm of very simple robots, and supporting low‐level mechanisms such as dynamics and navigation. In contrast, most human‐like, interactive, and socially adept robotic systems turn away from embodiment and use amodal, symbolic, and modular approaches to cognition and interaction. At the same time, recent research in Embodied Cognition (EC) is spanning an increasing number of complex cognitive processes, including language, nonverbal communication, learning, and social behavior. This article suggests adopting a modern EC approach for autonomous robots interacting with humans. In particular, we present three core principles from EC that may be applicable to such robots: (a) modal perceptual representation, (b) action/perception and action/cognition integration, and (c) a simulation‐based model of top‐down perceptual biasing. We describe a computational framework based on these principles, and its implementation on two physical robots. This could provide a new paradigm for embodied human–robot interaction based on recent psychological and neurological findings.     

Psychogenic non‐epileptic seizures

Psychogenic non‐epileptic seizures (PNES) are diagnosed in at least 10–40% of the patients seen for long‐term monitoring of epilepsy, and it is no surprise that patients with PNES are often treated for epilepsy. Given the substantial economic costs and mental health burden of misdiagnosis, it is imperative to establish early identification, correct diagnosis, and effective treatment of PNES in order to provide the greatest opportunity for remission of events, improved psychological functioning, and social‐vocational outcome. This article outlines an informed, practical approach to diagnosing this common condition and provides a summary of factors, based on medical history and semiology, that may suggest PNES. We discuss also the issues of communicating the diagnosis to the patient and making treatment recommendations which should ideally be coordinated using a multi‐disciplinary team approach, involving the disciplines of neurology, psychiatry, psychology, social work, and nursing.     

The Role of Surprise in Learning: Different Surprising Outcomes Affect Memorability Differentially

Surprise has been explored as a cognitive‐emotional phenomenon that impacts many aspects of mental life from creativity to learning to decision‐making. In this paper, we specifically address the role of surprise in learning and memory. Although surprise has been cast as a basic emotion since Darwin's ( 1872 ) The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, recently more emphasis has been placed on its cognitive aspects. One such view casts surprise as a process of “sense making” or “explanation finding”: metacognitive explanation‐based theory proposes that people's perception of surprise is a metacognitive assessment of the cognitive work done to explain a surprising outcome. Or, to put it more simply, surprise increases with the explanatory work required to resolve it. This theory predicts that some surprises should be more surprising than others because they are harder to explain. In the current paper, this theory is extended to consider the role of surprise in learning as evidenced by memorability. This theory is tested to determine how scenarios with differentially surprising outcomes impact the memorability of those outcomes. The results show that surprising outcomes (less‐known outcomes) that are more difficult to explain are recalled more accurately than less‐surprising outcomes that require little (known outcomes) or no explanation (normal).     

Using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) to provide insight into female sexual difficulties

Sexual experiences and behaviour are particularly open to social and cultural influences; this is especially true within the area of female sexuality. While research into the social and cultural aspects of sexuality proliferated throughout the 1970s and 1980s, contemporary biomedical approaches to sexuality research have largely ignored the complex interplay of such dimensions. In this methodological paper, we reflect upon how Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) can be used by sexuality researchers to explore women's sexual experiences and difficulties and to locate these experiences within cultural and social contexts. By drawing on the authors’ experiences of using IPA to explore how women cope with the sexual side effects of antidepressant medication, we provide an overview of IPA as a research approach, briefly summarise studies which have used IPA to explore women's sexual experiences and difficulties and outline a series of steps on how to conduct an IPA study. It is hoped that this paper will stimulate debate, and encourage sexuality researchers to explore and consider the use of IPA to contribute to a research agenda based on women's individual needs and desires.     

On cognitive theories and causation in human behavior

Modern theories of social behavior are based on the largely unquestioned assumption that human activity is determined by cognitive variables. Physiology, environment, and behavior are seen as peripheral to the understanding of cognition, seen as central to the understanding of human nature. This paper argues that these approaches to psychology are essentially metaphorical models of behavior, inadequate as explanatory theories, because they rely on untestable assumptions concerning the centrality to human behavior of hypothetical and unmeasurable cognitive variables. Their lack of precision does not allow for the testing of specific predictions. This paper argues that contemporary cognitive-behavioral and cognitive-social theories cannot be salvaged as explanatory models.     

Head Transplants,Personal Identity and Neuroethics

The possibility of a human head transplant poses unprecedented philosophical and neuroethical questions. Principal among them are the personal identity of the resultant individual, her metaphysical and social status: Who will she be and how should the “new” person be treated - morally, legally and socially - given that she incorporates characteristics of two distinct, previously unrelated individuals, and possess both old and new physical, psychological, and social experiences that would not have been available without the transplant? We contend that this situation challenges linguistic conventions and conceptual binaries (“part-whole”), and calls into question the major philosophical approaches to personal identity: animalism and reductionism. We examine these views critically vis-a-vis head transplantation and conclude that they fail to provide an adequate account of the identity of the resultant individual because both neglect the key role of embodiment for personal identity. We maintain that embodiment is central to personal identity and a radical alteration of the body will also radically alter that person, making her a different person. Consequently, a human head transplant will result in an individual partly continuous with the head/brain (in terms of connected memories and mental events), and partly continuous with the body donor (in terms of the inputs and regulatory patterns afforded by the structure and functions of the nervous system, and the self-image of this new embodiment). We conclude that the resultant person would be different from both the individual whose head was transplanted and the one to whose body the “new” head is attached.     

Memory,Narrative, and the Consequences

Drawing on papers from three different areas — evolutionary psychology, developmental psychology, sociolinguistics analysis — this commentary states that there is by now an empirically grounded and theoretically reflected memory research that has begun to break with the traditional individual‐centric orientation of the memory sciences. This break, it is argued, is the consequence of a new interest in the dialectics between memory and language, between social (or collective or collaborative) remembering and narrative. On this view, memory is taken less as a substance and more as a set of practices, of intersubjective and interpretive acts of a remembering subject.     

Self–other integration and distinction in schizophrenia: A theoretical analysis and a review of the evidence

Difficulties in self–other processing lie at the core of schizophrenia and pose a problem for patients’ daily social functioning. In the present selective review, we provide a framework for understanding self–other integration and distinction, and impairments herein in schizophrenia. For this purpose, we discuss classic motor prediction models in relation to mirror neuron functioning, theory of mind, mimicry, self-awareness, and self-agency phenomena. Importantly, we also discuss the role of more recent cognitive expectation models in these phenomena, and argue that these cognitive models form an essential contribution to our understanding of self–other integration and distinction. In doing so, we bring together different lines of research and connect findings from social psychology, affective neuropsychology, and psychiatry to further our understanding of when and how people integrate versus distinguish self and other, and how this goes wrong in schizophrenia patients.     

The misclassification of facial expressions in generalised social phobia

The aim of this study was to investigate facial expression recognition (FER) accuracy in social phobia and in particular to explore how facial expressions of emotion were misclassified. We hypothesised that compared with healthy controls, subjects with social phobia would be no less accurate in their identification of facial emotions (as reported in previous studies) but that they would misclassify facial expressions as expressing threatening emotions (anger, fear or disgust). Thirty individuals with social phobia and twenty-seven healthy controls completed a FER task which featured six basic emotions morphed using computer techniques between 0 percent (neutral) and 100 percent intensity (full emotion). Supporting our hypotheses we found no differences between the groups on measures of the accuracy of emotion recognition but that compared with healthy controls the social phobia group were more likely both to misclassify facial expressions as angry and to interpret neutral facial expressions as angry. The healthy control group were more likely to misclassify neutral expressions as sad. The importance of the role of these biases in social phobia needs further replication but may help in understanding the disorder and provide an interesting area for future research and therapy.     

Web‐Based Experiments for the Study of Collective Social Dynamics in Cultural Markets

Social scientists are often interested in understanding how the dynamics of social systems are driven by the behavior of individuals that make up those systems. However, this process is hindered by the difficulty of experimentally studying how individual behavioral tendencies lead to collective social dynamics in large groups of people interacting over time. In this study, we investigate the role of social influence, a process well studied at the individual level, on the puzzling nature of success for cultural products such as books, movies, and music. Using a “multiple‐worlds” experimental design, we are able to isolate the causal effect of an individual‐level mechanism on collective social outcomes. We employ this design in a Web‐based experiment in which 2,930 participants listened to, rated, and downloaded 48 songs by up‐and‐coming bands. Surprisingly, despite relatively large differences in the demographics, behavior, and preferences of participants, the experimental results at both the individual and collective levels were similar to those found in Salganik, Dodds, and Watts (2006) . Further, by comparing results from two distinct pools of participants, we are able to gain new insights into the role of individual behavior on collective outcomes. We conclude with a discussion of the strengths and weaknesses of Web‐based experiments to address questions of collective social dynamics.     

Social cognitions,personality and chronic pain

The assumptions of cognitive social psychology provide a suitable analysis for the understanding of how chronic pain sufferers interpret information and make decisions about attendance for treatment. This approach pays particular attention to the social context in which the pain behaviour occurs. Studies of socio-cognitive aspects of pain are reviewed and the implications for future research are outlined.     

Non‐invasive brain stimulation of motor cortex induces embodiment when integrated with virtual reality feedback

Previous evidence highlighted the multisensory‐motor origin of embodiment – that is, the experience of having a body and of being in control of it – and the possibility of experimentally manipulating it. For instance, an illusory feeling of embodiment towards a fake hand can be triggered by providing synchronous visuo‐tactile stimulation to the hand of participants and to a fake hand or by asking participants to move their hand and observe a fake hand moving accordingly (rubber hand illusion). Here, we tested whether it is possible to manipulate embodiment not through stimulation of the participant's hand, but by directly tapping into the brain's hand representation via non‐invasive brain stimulation. To this aim, we combined transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), to activate the hand corticospinal representation, with virtual reality (VR), to provide matching (as contrasted to non‐matching) visual feedback, mimicking involuntary hand movements evoked by TMS. We show that the illusory embodiment occurred when TMS pulses were temporally matched with VR feedback, but not when TMS was administered outside primary motor cortex, (over the vertex) or when stimulating motor cortex at a lower intensity (that did not activate peripheral muscles). Behavioural (questionnaires) and neurophysiological (motor‐evoked‐potentials, TMS‐evoked‐movements) measures further indicated that embodiment was not explained by stimulation per se, but depended on the temporal coherence between TMS‐induced activation of hand corticospinal representation and the virtual bodily feedback. This reveals that non‐invasive brain stimulation may replace the application of external tactile hand cues and motor components related to volition, planning and anticipation.     

Embodied arts therapies

The body is a particular kind of object. It is the only “thing” that we can perceive from the inside as well as from the outside. For this reason, it is intricately related to the problem of consciousness. This article provides an insight into embodiment approaches as they are emerging in phenomenology and cognitive psychology. The authors introduce important principles of embodiment - unity of body and mind, bidirectionality of cognitive and motor systems, enaction, extension, types of embodiment, relation to empathy -, and connect them with the arts in therapy.     

Reactive psychosis. I. Does the pre-DSM-III concept define a third psychosis?

Reactive psychosis, schizoaffective disorder, and schizophreniform disorder have each been considered as possible third psychoses that are separate from schizophrenia and the affective psychoses. We review the history of one of these diagnoses, reactive psychosis, and critique studies that attempt to validate the category. Studies using modern research methods with well-defined criteria based on experience with patients who have received this diagnosis should test this category more rigorously. The salient features of the diagnosis are delineated by considering the rationale for its existence and examining the empirical form it has taken. In a second paper, we explore how these features may form a basis for criteria that may provide a more meaningful category in subsequent revisions of the DSM.     

Using participatory action research in a community-based initiative addressing complex mental health needs

OBJECTIVE: This paper describes the first phase of a larger project that utilizes participatory action research to examine complex mental health needs across an extensive group of stakeholders in the community. METHOD: Within an objective qualitative analysis of focus group discussions the social ecological model is utilized to explore how integrative activities can be informed, planned and implemented across multiple elements and levels of a system. Seventy-one primary care workers, managers, policy-makers, consumers and carers from across the southern metropolitan and Gippsland regions of Victoria, Australia took part in seven focus groups. All groups responded to an identical set of focusing questions. RESULTS: Participants produced an explanatory model describing the service system, as it relates to people with complex needs, across the levels of social ecological analysis. Qualitative themes analysis identified four priority areas to be addressed in order to improve the system's capacity for working with complexity. These included: (i) system fragmentation; (ii) integrative case management practices; (iii) community attitudes; and (iv) money and resources. CONCLUSIONS: The emergent themes provide clues as to how complexity is constructed and interpreted across the system of involved agencies and interest groups. The implications these findings have for the development and evaluation of this community capacity-building project were examined from the perspective of constructing interventions that address both top-down and bottom-up processes.     

Explanatory Correlates of Consciousness: Theoretical and Computational Challenges

Consciousness is a key feature of mammalian cognition and revealing its underlying mechanisms is one of the most important scientific challenges for the 21st century. In this article I review how computational and theoretical approaches can facilitate a transition from correlation to explanation in consciousness science. I describe progress towards identifying ‘explanatory correlates’ underlying four fundamental properties characterizing most if not all conscious experiences: (i) the co-existence of segregation and integration in conscious scenes, (ii) the emergence of a subjective first-person perspective, (iii) the presence of affective conscious contents, either transiently (emotion) or as a background (mood) and (iv) experiences of intention and agency that are characteristic of voluntary action. I also discuss how synthetic approaches can shed additional light on possible functions of consciousness, the role of embodiment in consciousness, and the plausibility of constructing a conscious artefact.     

Social goals and conflict strategies of individuals with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities who present problems of aggression

Background A few recent studies have adopted a social cognitive perspective to explore how individuals with intellectual disabilities (IDs), who present problems of aggression, view their social world. The focus has mainly been on participants' perceptions of others' behaviour within conflict situations. The present exploratory study aims to compliment existing research by exploring social cognitive factors that may influence how individuals respond to conflict. Methods Study was carried out with 20 aggressive and 20 non‐aggressive men and women who have a mild to moderate ID. The ‘Social Goals and Strategies for Conflict’ (SGASC) assessment was devised to explore whether group or gender differences could be found in participants' expected outcomes of aggressive strategies, their expected outcomes of submissive strategies and their emotional reaction to these outcomes. Participants' social goals within hypothetical situations of conflict were also explored. Results It was found that aggressive and non‐aggressive participants have different social goals. There were no significant differences for expected outcomes of aggression or submissiveness. Nevertheless, a number of trends suggest that more aggressive participants expect negative outcomes for submissiveness compared with their non‐aggressive peers. Conclusions While the findings of this study are tentative, investigating the social outcomes that are valued by individuals with ID who present problems of aggression appears to be a promising area for further research, with possible implications for clinical assessment and treatment.     

Harry Stack Sullivan Colloquium: George Herbert Mead and Harry Stack Sullivan: an unfinished synthesis.

HOW DO YOU create a new self? However he may phrase this question, it is a central theoretical and practical concern of the therapist every time he confronts a client who comes to him for help. What are the processes out of which the human self emerges? However he may phrase the question, it is a central concern of the social psychologist. The obvious convergence of interests indicated by these two questions should occasion no surprise among students of Sullivan and Mead. What perhaps should be surprising is that an effective synthesis of their theories has progressed no further than it has to date. My remarks today are based on the conviction that a more adequate psychiatric theory and practice and a more complete social psychological theory and research program depend on such a synthesis. Behavioral scientists concerned with the development of a truly interactionist social psychology are, I believe, generally agreed that George Herbert Mead (1863-1931), philosopher and social psychologist, and Harry Stack Sullivan (1892-1949), psychiatrist and social psychologist, have laid conceptual foundations upon which such a discipline can be erected. Now a vast assortment of activities is tagged as social psychology and its boundaries are, indeed, difficult to draw. However, for our present purposes we can define its focus as the study of the processes and products of inter- and intrapersonal and inter- and intragoup interaction, let the boundaries fall where they will.