Scientists Are Teaching Robots to Laugh

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When robot Nao laughs, he does so with his whole body: slapping his knees, shaking his head. But the adorable android, made by SoftBank Robotics, is not merely good at expressing mirth; he can correctly identify as much as 65 percent of happy laughter outbursts in humans, according to a study presented in 2015 at a nonverbal language workshop in the Netherlands. Once robots like Nao master human laughter, they will make far more likable and realistic companions.

Nao's creators and other scientists are studying the minutiae of human laughter—acoustics, breath, body movements and vibrations—to translate them into algorithms that robots and avatars can learn. And that includes learning how to be funny. In 2016 researchers in South Korea and Singapore showed that Nao is already quite good at telling jokes. When he did a stand-up routine alongside an experienced actor, his taped performance was later consistently rated just half a point below the human on a scale of 1 to 7. Moreover, people were less disgusted by disparaging jokes if the robot told them. Nao “exceeded my expectations,” says Taezoon Park, an industrial engineer then at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University and the study's lead author. Park says that in the future, scientists will optimize the robot's tone of voice, facial expressions and subtle gestures to fine-tune his comedy.

Robots still have a long way to go to fully understand human laughter, which can signify anything from happiness and amusement to sexual interest, embarrassment or anger. Also baffling to machines is the fact that laughter can vary: there is the classic ha-ha-ha laughter, speech laughter (when you speak while laughing) and smile speech (talking while smiling). Distinguishing among these types will be vital for better human-robot interactions. “Because laughter is such a crucial part of what it means to be human, we won't have convincing artificial intelligence until our machines can laugh along with us,” says Gary McKeown, a psychologist at Queen's University Belfast who also works with Nao but was not involved with the new research.

Further, for robots to laugh convincingly with humans, they must be able to tell when a person wants such an interaction. “The inviting laugh is longer and louder and has a higher pitch than an isolated laugh,” says Khiet Truong, a computer scientist at the University of Twente in the Netherlands who studies how people interact with virtual agents and robots. “Humans respond to an inviting laugh within half a second on average,” Truong says. “We hypothesize that robots should do the same—otherwise it is no longer natural.”

If these efforts succeed, we may soon have humorous robots and avatars that can assist the elderly, cheer up hospital patients, play with kids and help keep us amused.

Testosterone Linked to Snap Judgments, Less Reflection

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A new study found that men given doses of testosterone were more likely to rely on snap judgments during a brain-teaser test rather than rely on cognitive reflection; that is, stopping to consider whether their gut reaction to something is correct.

“What we found was the testosterone group was quicker to make snap judgments on brain teasers where your initial guess is usually wrong,” said Dr. Colin Camerer, the Robert Kirby Professor of Behavioral Economics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

“The testosterone is either inhibiting the process of mentally checking your work or increasing the intuitive feeling that ‘I’m definitely right.'”

The study involved 243 males who were randomly selected to receive a dose of testosterone gel or placebo gel before taking a cognitive reflection test. A math task was also given to control for participant engagement, motivation level, and basic math skills.

The questions included on the cognitive reflection test were similar to the following: A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

For many people, the first answer that comes to mind is that the ball costs 10 cents, but that answer is incorrect because then the bat would cost only 90 cents more than the ball. The correct answer is that the ball costs 5 cents and the bat costs $1.05.

A person prone to relying on their gut instincts would be more likely to accept their first answer of 10 cents. However, another person might realize their initial mistake through cognitive reflection and come up with the correct answer.

Participants were given as much time as they needed to complete the questions and were offered $1 for each correct answer and an additional $2 if they answered all the questions correctly.

The results show that the group that received testosterone scored significantly lower than the group that received the placebo, on average answering 20 percent fewer questions correctly.

The men given testosterone also “gave incorrect answers more quickly, and correct answers more slowly than the placebo group,” the authors write. The same effect was not seen in the results of the basic math tests administered to both groups.

The researchers believe that this phenomenon can be linked to testosterone’s effect of increasing confidence in humans. Testosterone is thought to generally enhance the male drive for social status, and recent studies have shown that confidence enhances status.

“We think it works through confidence enhancement. If you’re more confident, you’ll feel like you’re right and will not have enough self-doubt to correct mistakes,” Camerer says.

Camerer says the new findings raise questions about the potential pitfalls of the growing testosterone-replacement therapy industry, which mainly targets the declining sex drive experienced by many middle-aged men.

“If men want more testosterone to increase sex drive, are there other effects? Do these men become too mentally bold and thinking they know things they don’t?”

The study was conducted by researchers from Caltech, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Western University of Health Sciences and ZRT Laboratory in Oregon, and is published in the journal Psychological Science.

Source: California Institute of Technology

Psychology Around the Net: April 29, 2017

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Happy Saturday, sweet readers!

Regardless of which day you read this, chances are I’m trying (or have succeeded for that day) to get some exercise in. I made an appointment with my doctor last week to find out why I’ve been so, so exhausted lately. Any mental health concerns were ruled out, and my blood test results were top notch (as usual — go me!). So, she asked me about my exercise routine and, well…let’s just say my answer wasn’t what she wanted to hear.

Most of us know exercise is great for our mental health (and we should all know it’s key to physical health!), but did you know exercise can also help with fatigue and exhaustion? I did, but I suppose I was in denial. Oops.

Anyway, while I get my act together, enjoy this week’s edition which covers exercise as a way to help keep older folks’ brains sharp, how one artist uses sketches to illustrate her schizophrenia symptoms, the type of personality disorder that might be linked to certain types of social media use, and more.

Exercise ‘Keeps the Mind Sharp’ in Over-50s, Study Finds: Using a variety of brain tests, researchers saw evidence that aerobic exercises can help improve cognitive functions like thinking, learning, reasoning, and reading, and that muscle training exercises can help with memory and “executive functions” such as the ability to plan and organize.

These Illustrations Show What It’s Like to Live with Schizophrenia: After years of being diagnosed with various mental health conditions, 18-year-old artist Kate Fenner was finally diagnosed with schizophrenia and has used her talent to create art that represents her schizophrenia symptoms including hallucinations and how her condition sometimes robs her of self-esteem. Fenner hopes her honesty will help people understand Hollywood’s stereotypes are inaccurate (and often promote stigma) and also help others feel more comfortable talking about their mental illness.

How to Keep Your Energy Up When You’re Totally Stressed Out: Stress can zap both your physical and mental energy levels, but if you learn how to practice and prioritize, you can get those levels up and balanced.

Tanning Addiction May Be Linked to Alcohol Dependency, Mental Health Issues: A recent study from the Yale School of Public Health (funded in part by the National Institutes of Health, the National Cancer Society, and a grant from the American Cancer Society) examined a possible link between “tanning addiction” and people with other addictions and/other other mental health conditions. People with a psychological and physical dependence on tanning often also show other dependent behaviors and mental/emotional problems such as depression, exercise addiction, and alcoholism.

Gender Differences in Depression Appear at Age 12: A new study analysis based on findings from existing studying covering approximately 3.5 million people in 90 countries confirmed that depression affects more females than males. These gender differences relate to both symptoms and diagnoses and focus on depression appearing at 12 years old.

Having Lots of Facebook Friends and Instagram Photos Could Be a Sign of This Personality Disorder: That’s right, more studies on social media and mental health. Past research has already linked social media to depression and low-self esteem, but now a new study has found a “weak to moderate” link between social media use (especially people who have many social media friends and many uploaded photos) and grandiose narcissism (grandiose narcissism is the type associated with a superiority complex).

Sydney Harbor Bridge Climb

from Youtube-All Hypnosis Feeds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8eWeR-Dr6o
via IFTTT

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