Does watching Han Solo or C-3PO similarly influence our language processing?

Several studies have demonstrated that perceiving an action influences the subsequent processing of action verbs. However, which characteristics of the perceived action are truly determinant to enable this influence is still unknown. The current study investigated the role of the agent executing an action in this action-language relationship. Participants performed a semantic decision task after seeing a video of a human or a robot performing an action. The results of the first study showed that perceiving a human being executing an action as well as perceiving a robot facilitate subsequent language processing, suggesting that the humanness (The term "humanness" is used as meaning "belonging to human race" and not to refer to a personal quality) of the agent is not crucial in the link between action and language. However, this experiment was conducted with Japanese people who are very familiar with robots; thus, an alternative explanation could be that it is the unfamiliarity with the agent that could perturb the action-language relationship. To assess this hypothesis, we carried out two additional experiments with French participants. The results of the second study showed that, unlike the observation of a human agent, the observation of a robot did not influence language processing. Finally, the results of the third study showed that, after a familiarization phase, French participants too were influenced by the observation of a robot. Overall, the outcomes of these studies indicate that, more than the humanness of the agent, it is the familiarity which we have with this agent that is crucial in the action-language relationship.

Manifesto for new directions in developmental science.

Although developmental science has always been evolving, these times of fast-paced and profound social and scientific changes easily lead to disorienting fragmentation rather than coherent scientific advances. What directions should developmental science pursue to meaningfully address real-world problems that impact human development throughout the lifespan? What conceptual or policy shifts are needed to steer the field in these directions? The present manifesto is proposed by a group of scholars from various disciplines and perspectives within developmental science to spark conversations and action plans in response to these questions. After highlighting four critical content domains that merit concentrated and often urgent research efforts, two issues regarding "how" we do developmental science and "what for" are outlined. This manifesto concludes with five proposals, calling for integrative, inclusive, transdisciplinary, transparent, and actionable developmental science. Specific recommendations, prospects, pitfalls, and challenges to reach this goal are discussed.

Emotion-related cerebral blood flow changes in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex: An NIRS study.

The current study examined whether cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes in the anterior ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) represent responses to emotional stimuli instead of cognitive control of emotion during distraction tasks, as suggested by our previous near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) study. The functional distinction of MPFC regions is occasionally difficult due to their multiple functions. Here, we addressed some remaining concerns from our previous distraction studies, and employed the distraction paradigm, in which negative or neutral images are presented as emotional stimuli; a rest period is included in one condition and working memory (distraction) tasks in the other. To extract the components of CBF changes associated with responses to negative emotional stimuli (defined as emotion-related CBF changes), we subtracted the CBF changes obtained in the neutral condition from those in the negative condition. We found that emotion-related CBF changes in the anterior left VMPFC were significantly greater in the rest condition than in the distraction task condition. These findings imply that the distraction task decreased unnecessary brain activities, resulting in decrease in the emotion-related CBF changes. They support our previous findings, indicating that CBF changes in anterior VMPFC regions, measured using NIRS, are specifically associated with responses to emotional stimuli.

Subtle temporal delays of mothers' responses affect imitation learning in children: Mother-child interaction study.

The relationship between temporal contiguity of mothers' teaching behaviors and children's imitation learning was investigated. Participants (2-year-old children) observed their mothers' demonstration of using novel toys over a double television system under live and delayed conditions. The dyads normally interacted in the live condition, whereas they interacted with a 1-s time delay inserted between the children's actions and mothers' responses in the delayed condition. Then, the children were tested with identical toys. Results indicated that children's smiling responses and imitation performances were significantly decreased in the delayed condition compared with the live condition, although mothers' teaching approach did not differ between conditions. These results suggest that a subtle temporal delay in mothers' responses could affect young children's imitation learning.

Causal Dynamics of Scalp Electroencephalography Oscillation During the Rubber Hand Illusion.

Rubber hand illusion (RHI) is an important phenomenon for the investigation of body ownership and self/other distinction. The illusion is promoted by the spatial and temporal contingencies of visual inputs near a fake hand and physical touches to the real hand. The neural basis of this phenomenon is not fully understood. We hypothesized that the RHI is associated with a fronto-parietal circuit, and the goal of this study was to determine the dynamics of neural oscillation associated with this phenomenon. We measured electroencephalography while delivering spatially congruent/incongruent visuo-tactile stimulations to fake and real hands. We applied time-frequency analyses and calculated renormalized partial directed coherence (rPDC) to examine cortical dynamics during the bodily illusion. When visuo-tactile stimulation was spatially congruent, and the fake and real hands were aligned, we observed a reduced causal relationship from the medial frontal to the parietal regions with respect to baseline, around 200 ms post-stimulus. This change in rPDC was negatively correlated with a subjective report of the RHI intensity. Moreover, we observed a link between the proprioceptive drift and an increased causal relationship from the parietal cortex to the right somatosensory cortex during a relatively late period (550-750 ms post-stimulus). These findings suggest a two-stage process in which (1) reduced influence from the medial frontal regions over the parietal areas unlocks the mechanisms that preserve body integrity, allowing RHI to emerge; and (2) information processed at the parietal cortex is back-projected to the somatosensory cortex contralateral to the real hand, inducing proprioceptive drift.

Distraction decreases prefrontal oxygenation: A NIRS study.

When near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is used to measure emotion-related cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes in the prefrontal cortex regions, the functional distinction of CBF changes is often difficult because NIRS is unable to measure neural activity in deeper brain regions that play major roles in emotional processing. The CBF changes could represent cognitive control of emotion and emotional responses to emotional materials. Supposing that emotion-related CBF changes in the prefrontal cortex regions during distraction are emotional responses, we examined whether oxygenated hemoglobin (oxyHb) decreases. Attention-demanding tasks cause blood flow decreases, and we thus compared the effects of visually paced tapping with different tempos, on distraction. The results showed that the oxyHb level induced by emotional stimulation decreased with fast-tempo tapping significantly more than slow-tempo tapping in ventral medial prefrontal cortex regions. Moreover, a Global-Local task following tapping showed significantly greater local-minus-global response time (RT) difference scores in the fast- and mid-tempo condition compared with those in the slow-tempo, suggesting an increased attentional focus, and decreased negative emotion. The overall findings indicate that oxyHb changes in a relatively long distraction task, as measured by NIRS, are associated with emotional responses, and oxyHb can be decreased by successfully performing attention-demanding distraction tasks.

Behavioral and neural differences during two versions of cognitive shifting tasks in young children and adults.

The present study examined how young children and adult participants activated inferior prefrontal regions when they were given different cognitive shifting tasks. Children and adults were given two versions of the Dimensional Change Card Sort task (the standard and advanced versions), and brain activations during the tasks were examined using near infrared spectroscopy. On the behavioral level, the performance of both children and adults deteriorated during the advanced version as compared to the standard version. On the neural level, adults exhibited similar bilateral inferior prefrontal activations during the advanced version and the standard version. On the other hand, children showed the significant differences of the activations between the regions during the advanced version, but not during the standard version. The results indicated that children recruited different inferior prefrontal areas depending on the demands of cognitive shifting.

Future optimism group based on the chronological stress view is less likely to be severe procrastinators.

Previous studies have shown that procrastinators tend to disregard the future. However, the "time view" of procrastinators, including their impressions of the future, has not been sufficiently examined. Therefore, we introduced new indices, "chronological stress view" and "chronological well-being view," which treat impressions of the past, present, and future (= time view) as time-series data via stress and well-being, respectively. The results showed that the group that believed that stress did not increase as they moved into the future had a lower percentage of severe procrastinators. No relationship was found between the chronological well-being view and procrastination. This result suggests that people who are relatively optimistic about the future based on the chronological stress view are less likely to be severe procrastinators. This may suggest the importance of having a hopeful prospect in the future to avoid procrastinating on actions that should yield greater rewards in the future.

Neural correlates of attentional orienting with neutral and fearful gaze cues in 12-month-olds.

Infants use information on gaze direction and facial expressions for social referencing when encountering various objects in their environment. However, it remains unclear how these social cues influence attentional orienting in infants. Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the neural correlates of attentional orienting cued by an averted gaze with neutral and fearful expressions in 12-month-olds. We focused on the ERPs in response to a face (N290, P400, and Nc) as well as a saccade toward the target (the presaccadic spike potential: SP) and found that the amplitudes of the face-sensitive ERPs (N290 and P400) were larger for directed than averted gaze direction irrespective of facial expression. Furthermore, the amplitude of the SP involved in overt orienting was larger for fearful expressions than for neutral expressions, irrespective of gaze congruency. These results suggest that information on gaze direction and facial expression, specifically neutral and fearful expressions, may be processed independently, and that fearful expressions dominantly influence the neural correlates of attentional orienting in infants around 12 months of age.

Infants' interoception is associated with eye contact in dyadic social interactions.

Interoception, that is, the perception of visceral stimuli, is the basis of socio-emotional development. However, no studies have demonstrated the relationship between the two in infants. This study aimed to elucidate the relationship between interoception and social behavior in infants and mothers. Visual preference for cardio-visual synchronous and asynchronous stimuli was assessed using a preferential-looking paradigm in 6-month infants and their mothers. The infant-mother interaction was also measured to assess social behavior, such as eye contact and positive facial expressions. The results showed that infants looked at asynchronous cardio-visual stimuli longer than synchronous cardio-visual stimuli, whereas mothers looked at synchronous cardio-visual stimuli longer than asynchronous cardio-visual stimuli. The proportion of looking time toward asynchronous cardio-visual stimuli in infants was positively correlated with infant-mother gaze and affect (positive facial expression) synchrony. Furthermore, mediation analyses showed that the relationship between infants' interoception and eye contact behavior is attributable to mother's positive facial expression. Our findings suggest that in infant-mother interactions, infants' interoception may play a role in eye contact behavior through the mother's positive facial expression, highlighting the importance of infants' interoception on social cognitive development.

Mother-child inter-brain synchrony during a mutual visual search task: A study of feedback valence and role.

Parent and child have been shown to synchronize their behaviors and physiology during social interactions. This synchrony is an important marker of their relationship quality and subsequently the child's social and emotional development. Therefore, understanding the factors that influence parent-child synchrony is an important undertaking. Using EEG hyperscanning, this study investigated brain-to-brain synchrony in mother-child dyads when they took turns performing a visual search task and received positive or negative feedback. In addition to the effect of feedback valence, we studied how their assigned role, i.e., observing or performing the task, influenced synchrony. Results revealed that mother-child synchrony was higher during positive feedback relative to negative feedback in delta and gamma frequency bands. Furthermore, a main effect was found for role in the alpha band with higher synchrony when a child observed their mother performing the task compared to when the mother observed their child. These findings reveal that a positive social context could lead a mother and child to synchronize more on a neural level, which could subsequently improve the quality of their relationship. This study provides insight into mechanisms that underlie mother-child brain-to-brain synchrony, and establishes a framework by which the impact of emotion and task demand on a dyad's synchrony can be investigated.

Social robots as effective language tutors for children: empirical evidence from neuroscience.

The aim of the current study was to investigate children's brain responses to robot-assisted language learning. EEG brain signals were collected from 41 Japanese children who learned French vocabularies in two groups; half of the children learned new words from a social robot that narrated a story in French using animations on a computer screen (Robot group) and the other half watched the same animated story on the screen but only with a voiceover narration and without the robot (Display group). To examine brain activation during the learning phase, we extracted EEG functional connectivity (FC) which is defined as the rhythmic synchronization of signals recorded from different brain areas. The results indicated significantly higher global synchronization of brain signals in the theta frequency band in the Robot group during the learning phase. Closer inspection of intra-hemispheric and inter-hemispheric connections revealed that children who learned a new language from the robot experienced a stronger theta-band EEG synchronization in inter-hemispheric connections, which has been previously associated with success in second language learning in the neuroscientific literature. Additionally, using a multiple linear regression analysis, it was found that theta-band FC and group assignment were significant predictors of children's language learning with the Robot group scoring higher in the post-interaction word recognition test. These findings provide novel neuroscientific evidence for the effectiveness of social robots as second language tutors for children.

Cultural differences in the development of cognitive shifting: East-West comparison.

Prior research has documented that Japanese children's performance on the Dimensional Change Card Sorting (DCCS) task can be influenced by their observation of another person completing the task, which is referred to as social transmission of disinhibition. The current study explored whether Canadian children would also show a social transmission of disinhibition and whether their performance would be comparable to that of Japanese children. In this study, 3- and 4-year-olds in Canada and Japan were given both the standard version and social version of the DCCS. Results indicated that Canadian children displayed the social transmission of disinhibition, but their effects were significantly weaker than those with Japanese children. On the other hand, performance on the standard DCCS was comparable between children in the two countries. We discuss the results in terms of cultural differences in the relationship between self and other.

Neural origin of cognitive shifting in young children.

Cognitive shifting is the ability to adapt to changes in the environment. Extensive research has revealed that the prefrontal cortex plays an important role in cognitive shifting. Adult neuroimaging studies have shown that the inferior prefrontal cortex is activated during cognitive shifting tasks. Developmental studies have shown that cognitive shifting changes significantly during preschool years. It is known that 3-year-old children often perseverate to previous mental sets, whereas 5-year-old children do not. Developmental psychologists assume that maturation of the prefrontal cortex plays an essential role in the development of shifting; however, direct supporting evidence is lacking. We used near-infrared spectroscopy and showed that inferior prefrontal activation is associated with successful shifting in young children. We also showed that even preschool children display adult-like inferior prefrontal activation during a simple cognitive shifting task. This report demonstrates the neural origins of cognitive shifting in young children. These results have the potential to contribute to our understanding of cognitive and brain development in both typically and atypically developed children.

Synergistic effects of disgust and anger on amygdala activation while recalling memories of interpersonal stress: An fMRI study.

Occurrence of an unpleasant interpersonal event in daily life may cause an individual to experience unpleasant emotions and recall memories regarding it. These emotions, manifesting in daily social interactions, are often complex and mixed. In the laboratory, autobiographical recall is frequently used to induce emotions; however, it often involves recalling memories associated with a specific discrete emotion (e.g., sadness). To examine the neural activity of emotions similar to real-life experiences, we examined neural activity while recalling memories of stressful interpersonal events in daily life, without specifying a discrete emotion. Of the 23 university students recruited, 21 were analyzed and asked to freely recall memories and answer a series of questions on a monitor concerning their recalled memories while their neural activity was measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging. Amygdala activity increased while receiving the instructions, followed by a decrease in activity. This indicates that the participants' arousal and vigilance initially increased in response to a novel stimulus, and then decreased by habituation. Disgust and anger, which frequently occur as negative interpersonal feelings, were most prominently produced with strong associations with each other. More importantly, activation of the right amygdala while responding to questions regarding the recalled memories was positively correlated with disgust or anger only when not controlling for anger or disgust, respectively. These results indicate that responding to questions facilitated the generation of a mixed emotional response compared to during free recall alone. Furthermore, disgust and anger as a mixed emotion can synergistically activate amygdala.

Third-party punishment by preverbal infants.

Third-party punishment of antisocial others is unique to humans and seems to be universal across cultures. However, its emergence in ontogeny remains unknown. We developed a participatory cognitive paradigm using gaze-contingency techniques, in which infants can use their gaze to affect agents displayed on a monitor. In this paradigm, fixation on an agent triggers the event of a stone crushing the agent. Throughout five experiments (total N = 120), we show that eight-month-old infants punished antisocial others. Specifically, infants increased their selective looks at the aggressor after watching aggressive interactions. Additionally, three control experiments excluded alternative interpretations of their selective gaze, suggesting that punishment-related decision-making influenced looking behaviour. These findings indicate that a disposition for third-party punishment of antisocial others emerges in early infancy and emphasize the importance of third-party punishment for human cooperation. This behavioural tendency may be a human trait acquired over the course of evolution.

Brain activity in an awake chimpanzee in response to the sound of her own name.

The brain activity of a fully awake chimpanzee being presented with her name was investigated. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were measured for each of the following auditory stimuli: the vocal sound of the subject's own name (SON), the vocal sound of a familiar name of another group member, the vocal sound of an unfamiliar name and a non-vocal sound. Some differences in ERP waveforms were detected between kinds of stimuli at latencies at which P3 and Nc components are typically observed in humans. Following stimulus onset, an Nc-like negative shift at approximately 500 ms latency was observed, particularly in response to SON. Such specific ERP patterns suggest that the chimpanzee processes her name differently from other sounds.

Detection of visual feedback delay in active and passive self-body movements.

Temporal congruency between the efference copy of a motor command and the reafferent sensory feedback is crucial for identifying self-generated body movements. We investigated how temporal discrepancy between the efference copy and visual feedback affects the self-body movement recognition process. Subjects experienced active and passive hand movements under conditions of delayed visual feedback (118-352 ms) and judged whether observed hand movements were delayed with respect to the felt movement. The results showed that the discrimination threshold of visual feedback delay (50% detection rate) was not significantly different between active and passive movements. In contrast, the judgment probability curve was significantly steeper for active than passive movements. This indicates that the efference copy enhances the contrast between synchronous and asynchronous movements but does not narrow the time window in this process. We discuss processing of active and passive movements in relation to the senses of self-agency and self-ownership.

Passive Brain-Computer Interfaces for Enhanced Human-Robot Interaction.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) have long been seen as control interfaces that translate changes in brain activity, produced either by means of a volitional modulation or in response to an external stimulation. However, recent trends in the BCI and neurofeedback research highlight passive monitoring of a user's brain activity in order to estimate cognitive load, attention level, perceived errors and emotions. Extraction of such higher order information from brain signals is seen as a gateway for facilitation of interaction between humans and intelligent systems. Particularly in the field of robotics, passive BCIs provide a promising channel for prediction of user's cognitive and affective state for development of a user-adaptive interaction. In this paper, we first illustrate the state of the art in passive BCI technology and then provide examples of BCI employment in human-robot interaction (HRI). We finally discuss the prospects and challenges in integration of passive BCIs in socially demanding HRI settings. This work intends to inform HRI community of the opportunities offered by passive BCI systems for enhancement of human-robot interaction while recognizing potential pitfalls.

Association between Behavioral Ambidexterity and Brain Health.

Appropriately handling and switching exploration of novel knowledge and exploitation of existing knowledge is a fundamental element of genuine innovation in society. Moreover, a mounting number of studies have suggested that such "ambidexterity" is associated not only with organizational performance but also with the human brain. Among these reports, however, there have not been any definitive MRI-based parameters that objectively and easily evaluate such ambidexterity. Therefore, an MRI-based index derived from gray matter volume, called the gray-matter brain healthcare quotient (GM-BHQ), was used to measure the association between ambidexterity and the entire human brain. For this purpose, 200 healthy adults were recruited as subjects to undergo structural T1-weighted imaging and to answer multiple psychological questionnaires. Ambidexterity was evaluated using two scales: the Curiosity and Exploration Inventory II and the Short Grit Scale, as exploration-exploitation indicators of curiosity and grit, respectively. Additionally, to enrich the understanding of these associations, three additional positive thinking scales were used-the General Self-Efficacy Scale, the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, and the Life Orientation Test-to evaluate self-efficacy, self-esteem, and optimism, respectively. The authors discovered the GM-BHQ was weakly associated with curiosity, grit, and self-efficacy individually after controlling for age and sex. Furthermore, the GM-BHQ was directly associated with curiosity but indirectly associated with grit in the path model. However, no significant association was found between the GM-BHQ and the other outcome indicators (i.e., self-esteem and optimism). These results suggest that brain health is weakly associated with ambidexterity evaluated using psychological tests.