A win-win situation: Does familiarity with a social robot modulate feedback monitoring and learning?

Social species rely on the ability to modulate feedback-monitoring in social contexts to adjust one's actions and obtain desired outcomes. When being awarded positive outcomes during a gambling task, feedback-monitoring is attenuated when strangers are rewarded, as less value is assigned to the awarded outcome. This difference in feedback-monitoring can be indexed by an event-related potential (ERP) component known as the Reward Positivity (RewP), whose amplitude is enhanced when receiving positive feedback. While the degree of familiarity influences the RewP, little is known about how the RewP and reinforcement learning are affected when gambling on behalf of familiar versus nonfamiliar agents, such as robots. This question becomes increasingly important given that robots may be used as teachers and/or social companions in the near future, with whom children and adults will interact with for short or long periods of time. In the present study, we examined whether feedback-monitoring when gambling on behalf of oneself compared with a robot is impacted by whether participants have familiarized themselves with the robot before the task. We expected enhanced RewP amplitude for self versus other for those who did not familiarize with the robot and that self-other differences in the RewP would be attenuated for those who familiarized with the robot. Instead, we observed that the RewP was larger when familiarization with the robot occurred, which corresponded to overall worse learning outcomes. We additionally observed an enhanced P3 effect for the high-familiarity condition, which suggests an increased motivation to reward. These findings suggest that familiarization with robots may cause a positive motivational effect, which positively affects RewP amplitudes, but interferes with learning.

Contrasting time and frequency domains: ERN and induced theta oscillations differentially predict post-error behavior.

The present study investigated the neural dynamics of error processing in both the time and frequency domains, as well as associated behavioral phenomena, at the single-trial level. We used a technique that enabled us to separately investigate the evoked and induced aspects of the EEG signal (Cohen & Donner, 2013, Journal of Neurophysiology, 110[12], 2752-2763). We found that at the single-trial level, while the (evoked) error-related negativity (ERN) predicted only post-error slowing (PES)-and only when errors occurred on incongruent trials-induced frontal midline theta power served as a robust predictor of both PES and post-error accuracy (PEA) regardless of stimulus congruency. Mediation models of both electrophysiological indices demonstrated that although the relationship between theta and PEA was mediated by PES, there was not a relationship between the ERN and PEA. Our data suggest that although the ERN and frontal midline theta index functionally related underlying cognitive processes, they are not simply the same process manifested in different domains. In addition, our findings are consistent with the adaptive theory of post-error slowing, as PES was positively associated with post-error accuracy at the single-trial level. More generally, our study provides additional support for the inclusion of a time-frequency approach to better understand the role of medial frontal cortex in action monitoring.

Error-Induced Blindness: Error Detection Leads to Impaired Sensory Processing and Lower Accuracy at Short Response-Stimulus Intervals.

Empirical evidence indicates that detecting one's own mistakes can serve as a signal to improve task performance. However, little work has focused on how task constraints, such as the response-stimulus interval (RSI), influence post-error adjustments. In the present study, event-related potential (ERP) and behavioral measures were used to investigate the time course of error-related processing while humans performed a difficult visual discrimination task. We found that error commission resulted in a marked reduction in both task performance and sensory processing on the following trial when RSIs were short, but that such impairments were not detectable at longer RSIs. Critically, diminished sensory processing at short RSIs, indexed by the stimulus-evoked P1 component, was predicted by an ERP measure of error processing, the Pe component. A control analysis ruled out a general lapse in attention or mind wandering as being predictive of subsequent reductions in sensory processing; instead, the data suggest that error detection causes an attentional bottleneck, which can diminish sensory processing on subsequent trials that occur in short succession. The findings demonstrate that the neural system dedicated to monitoring and improving behavior can, paradoxically, at times be the source of performance failures.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The performance-monitoring system is a network of brain regions dedicated to monitoring behavior to adjust task performance when necessary. Previous research has demonstrated that activation of the performance monitoring system following incorrect decisions serves to improve future task performance. However, the present study provides evidence that, when perceptual decisions must be made rapidly (within approximately half a second of each other), activation of the performance-monitoring system is predictive of impaired task-related attention on the subsequent trial. The data illustrate that the cognitive demands imposed by error processing can interfere with, rather than enhance, task-related attention when subsequent decisions need to be made quickly.

Speeded response errors and the error-related negativity modulate early sensory processing.

Empirical research demonstrates that when the time following error commission is constrained, subsequent sensory processing can be impaired (Buzzell et al., 2017). This reduction in sensory processing is presumably due to a bottleneck for cognitive resources produced by an overlap between error processing and subsequent stimulus processing. This finding suggests that the system dedicated to improving task performance can actually sometimes be the source of performance failures. Although this finding established that data-limited errors lead to a reduction in sensory processing at short response stimulus intervals (RSIs), it remains unclear if the relationship between error processing and subsequent sensory processing can be modulated by speeded-response errors. In the present study, event-related potentials and behavioral measures were recorded while participants performed a modified version of a Simon task, in which RSI duration was varied. We found that sensory processing, indexed by the P1 component, was reduced following errors at short (200-533 ms), but not long (866-1200 ms), RSIs. Moreover, the magnitude of error processing differentially influenced subsequent sensory processing as a function of RSI. However, whereas prior work demonstrated that the error positivity (Pe) modulated sensory processing on the subsequent trial, only the error-related negativity (ERN) did so within the Simon task. This suggests that although both data-limited errors and speeded-response errors can impact subsequent sensory processing, different stages of error processing appear to mediate this phenomenon.

Seeing minds in others: Mind perception modulates low-level social-cognitive performance and relates to ventromedial prefrontal structures.

In social interactions, we rely on nonverbal cues like gaze direction to understand the behavior of others. How we react to these cues is affected by whether they are believed to originate from an entity with a mind, capable of having internal states (i.e., mind perception). While prior work has established a set of neural regions linked to social-cognitive processes like mind perception, the degree to which activation within this network relates to performance in subsequent social-cognitive tasks remains unclear. In the current study, participants performed a mind perception task (i.e., judging the likelihood that faces, varying in physical human-likeness, have internal states) while event-related fMRI was collected. Afterwards, participants performed a social attention task outside the scanner, during which they were cued by the gaze of the same faces that they previously judged within the mind perception task. Parametric analyses of the fMRI data revealed that activity within ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was related to both mind ratings inside the scanner and gaze-cueing performance outside the scanner. In addition, other social brain regions were related to gaze-cueing performance, including frontal areas like the left insula, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and inferior frontal gyrus, as well as temporal areas like the left temporo-parietal junction and bilateral temporal gyri. The findings suggest that functions subserved by the vmPFC are relevant to both mind perception and social attention, implicating a role of vmPFC in the top-down modulation of low-level social-cognitive processes.

The effects of perspective taking primes on the social tuning of explicit and implicit views toward gender and race.

The current research aims to investigate whether perspective taking influences social tuning, or the alignment of one's self-views, explicit attitudes, and/or implicit attitudes with those of an interaction partner. In six different experiments, participants believed they would interact with a partner to complete a task. Prior to this ostensible interaction, participants were given a perspective taking mindset prime, or not, and information about their ostensible interaction partners views. Participants then completed attitude measures related to the partner's perceived views. Experiments 1a, 1b, and 2 examined whether perspective taking with an ostensible interaction partner who endorses gender traditional (or non-traditional) views align their self-views with this partner, including implicit self-views (Experiment 2). Experiments 3-5 investigated whether perspective taking leads to social tuning for egalitarian racial attitudes, including when the partner's expectations of how others will be and when the participant learns their ostensible IAT score at the beginning of the session. We predicted perspective takers would be more likely to social tune their explicit and implicit attitudes to the attitudes of their interaction partner than non-perspective takers. Across all experiments, perspective takers were more likely to social tune their self-views and explicit attitudes than non-perspective takers. However, social tuning never occurred for implicit attitudes. Thus, future research is needed to understand why perspective taking does not influence the tuning of implicit attitudes, but other motivations, like affiliative and epistemic, do.

Subthreshold error corrections predict adaptive post-error compensations.

Relatively little is known about the relation between subthreshold error corrections and post-error behavioral compensations. The present study utilized lateralized beta power, which has been shown to index response preparation, to examine subthreshold error corrections in a task known to produce response conflict, the Simon task. We found that even when an overt correction is not made, greater activation of the corrective response, indexed by beta suppression ipsilateral to the initial responding hand, predicted post-error speeding, and enhanced post-error accuracy at the single-trial level. This provides support for the notion that response conflict associated with errors can be adaptive, and suggests that subthreshold corrections should be taken into account to fully understand error-monitoring processes. Furthermore, we expand on previous findings that demonstrate that post-error slowing and post-error accuracy can be dissociated, as well as findings that suggest that frontal midline theta oscillations and the error-related negativity (ERN) are dissociable neurocognitive processes.

Determinants of intention to deviate from clinical practice guidelines.

The volitional nature of procedural violations in work systems creates a challenge for human factors research and practice. In order to understand how violations are caused and what can be done to mitigate them, there is a need to determine the influence of workers' beliefs about rules and guidelines. This study demonstrates the use of a social psychological approach to investigate the beliefs of anaesthetists about clinical practice guidelines. A survey was completed by 629 consultant anaesthetists, who rated their beliefs about deviation from three guidelines (performing pre-operative visits; checking anaesthetic equipment; handling intravenous fluid bags). Regression analysis indicated that the belief ratings predicted self-rated intention to deviate from the guidelines. Implications for understanding anaesthetists' adherence to guidelines are discussed. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: This study builds upon previous work by the authors, presenting a more detailed insight into potential causes of procedural violations in healthcare. The study also demonstrates the use of a social psychological method to the investigation of violations. Hence, it is of interest to researchers and practitioners interested in human reliability, especially in healthcare.

Learning From the Slips of Others: Neural Correlates of Trust in Automated Agents.

With the rise of increasingly complex artificial intelligence (AI), there is a need to design new methods to monitor AI in a transparent, human-aware manner. Decades of research have demonstrated that people, who are not aware of the exact performance levels of automated algorithms, often experience a mismatch in expectations. Consequently, they will often provide either too little or too much trust in an algorithm. Detecting such a mismatch in expectations, or trust calibration, remains a fundamental challenge in research investigating the use of automation. Due to the context-dependent nature of trust, universal measures of trust have not been established. Trust is a difficult construct to investigate because even the act of reflecting on how much a person trusts a certain agent can change the perception of that agent. We hypothesized that electroencephalograms (EEGs) would be able to provide such a universal index of trust without the need of self-report. In this work, EEGs were recorded for 21 participants (mean age = 22.1; 13 females) while they observed a series of algorithms perform a modified version of a flanker task. Each algorithm's degree of credibility and reliability were manipulated. We hypothesized that neural markers of action monitoring, such as the observational error-related negativity (oERN) and observational error positivity (oPe), are potential candidates for monitoring computer algorithm performance. Our findings demonstrate that (1) it is possible to reliably elicit both the oERN and oPe while participants monitored these computer algorithms, (2) the oPe, as opposed to the oERN, significantly distinguished between high and low reliability algorithms, and (3) the oPe significantly correlated with subjective measures of trust. This work provides the first evidence for the utility of neural correlates of error monitoring for examining trust in computer algorithms.

Measuring the performance of audible alarms for anaesthesia.

The ergonomic performance of an integrated set of 17 audible alarm sounds, divided into low, medium and high priority classes has been undertaken. The sounds were tested for their ease of learning/recall, and how closely their intrinsic perceived urgency matched to a clinical assessment of urgency. The tests were computer-administered and performed on 21 volunteers aged from 18 to 52, in two sessions a few days apart. Session 1 taught the meanings of the alarm sounds and session 2 measured the performance of the sounds. The mean correct identification rate for the sounds was 48.4% (range 10.3-90.0%) with 97.5% of misidentifications within sound priority class. The urgency correlation was statistically significant (r=0.85, p<0.001) with all priority classes included but within priority class correlations were not statistically significant. Poor within priority class performances were ascribable to a priori aspects of the design of the sound system.

On-line novelty detection for artefact identification in automatic anaesthesia record keeping.

We report the design of a kernel-based on-line novelty detector (ADDaM - Automatic Dynamic Data Mapper) and its use in the detection of artefacts in an automatic anaesthesia record keeper (AARK).ADDaM produces a partitioned history of any ordered data stream and constructs a probability distribution function (PDF) from that history using Gaussian kernels. Two forms of PDF are possible: a static PDF where the prior probability of each kernel is determined by the number of observations it represents and a temporal PDF where more recent observations have a higher prior probability. Testing against the current PDF assesses the novelty of the next point entering the stream. The performance of this method for artefact detection in heart rate data was compared to Kalman, ARIMA and moving mean filters using receiver operator characteristic (ROC) curves. Performance was measured using the area under the curves (AUC), and the false positive rate (FPR) and positive predictive value (PPV) calculated at the optimal cost-point on the curves. The results obtained were: ADDaM (Static PDF) AUC 0.92, FPR 0.12, PPV 0.12 and ADDaM (Temporal PDF) AUC 0.97, FPR 0.12, PPV 0.15. Both ADDaM-based methods out performed all other on-line methods tested.

Physician adoption of electronic health record systems: United States, 2011.

Data from the 2011 Physician Workflow study In 2011, 55% of physicians had adopted an electronic health record (EHR) system. About three-quarters of physicians who have adopted an EHR system reported that their system meets federal "meaningful use" criteria. Eighty-five percent of physicians who have adopted an EHR system reported being somewhat (47%) or very (38%) satisfied with their system. About three-quarters of adopters reported that using their EHR system resulted in enhanced patient care. Nearly one-half of physicians currently without an EHR system plan to purchase or use one already purchased within the next year.

Automatic detection of apnoea of prematurity.

The detection of the incidents of apnoea of prematurity (AP) in preterm infants is important in the intensive care unit, but this detection is often based on simple threshold techniques, which suffer from poor specificity. Three methods for the automatic detection of AP were designed, tested and evaluated using approximately 2426 h of continuous recording from 54 neonates (µ = 44 h and σ = 7 h). The first method was based on the cumulative sum of the time series of heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR) and oxygen saturation (SpO(2)) along with the sum of their Shannon entropy. The performance of this method gave 94.53% sensitivity, 74.72% specificity and 77.84% accuracy. The second method was based on the correlation between the time series of HR, RR and SpO(2), which were used as inputs to an artificial neural network. This gave 81.85% sensitivity, 75.83% specificity and 76.78% accuracy. The third method utilized the derivative of the three time series and yielded a performance of 100% sensitivity, 96.19% specificity and 96.79% accuracy. Although not optimized to work in real time, the latter method has the potential for forming the basis of a real time system for the detection of incidents of AP.

Extending hierarchical task analysis to identify cognitive demands and information design requirements.

While hierarchical task analysis (HTA) is well established as a general task analysis method, there appears a need to make more explicit both the cognitive elements of a task and design requirements that arise from an analysis. One way of achieving this is to make use of extensions to the standard HTA. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the use of two such extensions--the sub-goal template (SGT) and the skills-rules-knowledge (SRK) framework--to analyse the cognitive activity that takes place during the planning and delivery of anaesthesia. In quantitative terms, the two methods were found to have relatively poor inter-rater reliability; however, qualitative evidence suggests that the two methods were nevertheless of value in generating insights about anaesthetists' information handling and cognitive performance. Implications for the use of an extended HTA to analyse work systems are discussed.

National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey: 2007 summary.

OBJECTIVES: This report describes ambulatory care visits made to physician offices in the United States. Statistics are presented on selected characteristics of the physician's practice, the patient, and the visit. METHODS: The data presented in this report were collected in the 2007 National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey (NAMCS), a national probability sample survey of visits to nonfederal office-based physicians in the United States. Sample data are weighted to produce annual national estimates of physician visits. RESULTS: During 2007, an estimated 994.3 million visits were made to physician offices in the United States, an overall rate of 335.6 visits per 100 persons. About one-third of office visits, 34.9 percent, were made to practices with all or partial electronic medical records systems, while 85.1 percent of the visits were made to practices with all or partial electronic submission of claims. From 1997 to 2007, the percentage of visits to physicians who were solo practitioners decreased 21 percent. During the same period, visits to physicians who were part of a group practice with 6-10 physicians increased 46 percent. There were an estimated 106.5 million injury- or poisoning-related office visits in 2007, representing 10.7 percent of all visits. Medications were ordered, supplied, or administered at 727.7 million office visits, accounting for 73.2 percent of all office visits. In 2007, about 2.3 billion drugs were ordered, supplied, or administered, resulting in an average of 226.3 drug mentions per 100 visits.

Identifying violation-provoking conditions in a healthcare setting.

Procedural violations (intentional deviations from established protocols) are prone to occur in many occupational settings, with a potentially detrimental effect on quality or safety. They are thought to result from organisational practices and the social characteristics of rule-related behaviour. This study makes use of qualitative methods to investigate the nature and causes of violations in anaesthetic practice. Twenty-three consultant anaesthetists took part in the study, which involved naturalistic observations and semi-structured interviews. Several factors influencing anaesthetic violations were identified. These include the nature of the rule, the anaesthetist (both as an individual and as a professional group) and the situation. Implications for the understanding and management of human reliability issues within an organisation are discussed. This study provides an insight into procedural violations, which pose a threat to organisational safety but are distinct from human errors. The study also demonstrates the value of qualitative methods in ergonomics research. It is of relevance to researchers and practitioners interested in human reliability and error, especially in healthcare.

Improved quantitative dynamic regional oxygen-enhanced pulmonary imaging using image registration.

Oxygen-enhanced MR imaging has been demonstrated in a number of recent studies as a potential method to visualize regional ventilation in the lung. A quantitative pixel-by-pixel analysis is hampered by motion and volume change due to breathing. In this study, image registration via active shape modeling is shown to produce significant improvements in the regional analysis of both static and dynamic oxygen-enhanced pulmonary MRI for five normal volunteers. The method enables the calculation of regional change in relaxation rate between breathing air and 100% oxygen, which is proportional to the change in regional oxygen concentration, and regional oxygen wash-in and wash-out time constants. Registration-corrected mapping of these parameters is likely to provide improved information in the regional assessment of a range of lung diseases.

A qualitative evaluation of questions and responses from five occupational questionnaires developed to assess exposures.

Questionnaires are increasingly being used in the workplace to assess exposures to chemicals and other agents. Although the literature contains much information on questionnaire design in general, little information is available on the challenges related to questionnaires applied to the occupational setting. Questionnaires on dry cleaning workers, nurses, farmers, car mechanics, and truck drivers were administered to a total of 25 people currently performing one of these jobs. After asking each question, the interviewer probed to identify the difficulties the respondents had in answering the questions. Overall, the respondents were able to answer the questions. Problems were found, however, with particular questions that reduced the effectiveness of the questionnaire. These included the use of unclear terms, questions open to multiple interpretations, difficult computational requirements (e.g., asking for averages for highly variable tasks), ineffective transitions between topics, and overlapping response categories. This type of testing is a crucial part of questionnaire development and can be used to effectively identify potential problems with questions and, therefore, improve them to enhance collection of higher-quality data for assessments of occupational exposures.