Department of Psychology, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
Department of Computer Science, UiT The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway.
PLoS One. 2024 May 15;19(5):e0303704. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0303704. eCollection 2024.
There is currently no systematic review of the growing body of literature on using social robots in early developmental research. Designing appropriate methods for early childhood research is crucial for broadening our understanding of young children's social and cognitive development. This scoping review systematically examines the existing literature on using social robots to study social and cognitive development in infants and toddlers aged between 2 and 35 months. Moreover, it aims to identify the research focus, findings, and reported gaps and challenges when using robots in research. We included empirical studies published between 1990 and May 29, 2023. We searched for literature in PsychINFO, ERIC, Web of Science, and PsyArXiv. Twenty-nine studies met the inclusion criteria and were mapped using the scoping review method. Our findings reveal that most studies were quantitative, with experimental designs conducted in a laboratory setting where children were exposed to physically present or virtual robots in a one-to-one situation. We found that robots were used to investigate four main concepts: animacy concept, action understanding, imitation, and early conversational skills. Many studies focused on whether young children regard robots as agents or social partners. The studies demonstrated that young children could learn from and understand social robots in some situations but not always. For instance, children's understanding of social robots was often facilitated by robots that behaved interactively and contingently. This scoping review highlights the need to design social robots that can engage in interactive and contingent social behaviors for early developmental research.
目前，针对使用社交机器人进行早期发展研究的文献不断增加，但尚未对其进行系统综述。为了拓宽我们对幼儿社会和认知发展的理解，为幼儿研究设计适当的方法至关重要。本范围综述系统地考察了使用社交机器人研究 2 至 35 个月大婴儿和幼儿社会和认知发展的现有文献。此外，它旨在确定使用机器人进行研究时的研究重点、发现、报告的差距和挑战。我们纳入了 1990 年至 2023 年 5 月 29 日期间发表的实证研究。我们在 PsychINFO、ERIC、Web of Science 和 PsyArXiv 中搜索文献。符合纳入标准的研究有 29 项，并使用范围综述方法进行了映射。我们的研究结果表明，大多数研究为定量研究，采用实验室设计，在实验室环境中，儿童与实体或虚拟机器人一对一接触。我们发现，机器人被用于研究四个主要概念：生物性概念、动作理解、模仿和早期对话技能。许多研究关注幼儿是否将机器人视为代理人或社会伙伴。这些研究表明，在某些情况下，幼儿可以从社交机器人中学习并理解它们，但并非总是如此。例如，当机器人表现出互动性和恰适性时，儿童对社交机器人的理解往往会得到促进。本范围综述强调了为早期发展研究设计能够进行互动和恰适性社会行为的社交机器人的必要性。
