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Exploring Infant Sensitivity to Visual Language using Eye Tracking and the Preferential Looking Paradigm
Published on: May 15, 2019
Infants' psychophysiological responses to eye contact with a human and with a humanoid robot
Samuli Linnunsalo1, Santeri Yrttiaho1, Chiara Turati2
1Human Information Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Insights
Infants aged 6-8 months respond to human and robot gaze, showing attention and affective responses. This suggests infants recognize the social significance of gaze in both humans and robots.
Area of Science:
- Developmental psychology
- Human-robot interaction
- Cognitive neuroscience
Background:
- Eye contact elicits psychophysiological responses in adults.
- Developmental origins of these responses are poorly understood.
- Limited research on infant responses to humanoid robot gaze.
Purpose of the Study:
- Investigate infant (6-8 months) psychophysiological responses to human and humanoid robot gaze.
- Compare infant attention orienting, affective arousal, and valence to direct/averted gaze.
- Determine if infants differentiate gaze cues from non-humanoid objects.
Main Methods:
- 114 infants (6-8 months) participated.
- Measured heart rate deceleration (attention), skin conductance (arousal), and facial muscle activity (valence).
- Exposed infants to direct/averted gaze of a human, a humanoid robot, and a control object (vase).
Main Results:
- Infants showed stronger attention orienting to averted gaze from humans and robots, but not the control object.
- Attention orienting was similar for human and robot gaze, and less for the control object.
- Facial muscle activity indicated sensitivity to human and robot gaze direction, but not the control object.
Conclusions:
- Infants (6-8 months) attribute attentional and affective significance to robot gaze, similar to human gaze.
- This indicates early-developing abilities to recognize social cues from non-human agents.
- Findings advance understanding of the developmental trajectory of social perception and human-robot interaction.
Abstract:
Eye contact with a human and with a humanoid robot elicits attention- and affect-related psychophysiological responses. However, these responses have mostly been studied in adults, leaving their developmental origin poorly understood. In this study, 114 infants (6-8 months old) viewed direct and averted gaze directions of a live human and an embodied humanoid robot while their heart rate deceleration (attention orienting), skin conductance (affective arousal), and facial muscle activity (affective valence) were measured. In addition, a non-humanoid object (a vase) was used as a control stimulus. Infants' attention orienting was stronger to averted versus direct gaze of a human and a robot, but indifferent to the averted versus direct orientation of the non-humanoid object. Moreover, infants' attention orienting was equally intensive toward a human and a robot, but less intensive toward a non-humanoid object. Affective arousal was insensitive to gaze direction and did not differ between the human, the robot, and the non-humanoid object. Facial muscle responses showed sensitivity to the gaze direction of a human and of a robot but not to the orientation of the non-humanoid object. These results suggest that infants recognize the attentional and affective/affiliative significance not only in a human's gaze but also in a robot's gaze.
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