Human Information Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Human Information Processing Laboratory, Faculty of Social Sciences/Psychology, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
Biol Psychol. 2024 Oct;192:108858. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108858. Epub 2024 Aug 17.
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.
眼神接触无论是与人类还是与类人机器人，都会引起注意和情感相关的生理反应。然而，这些反应大多在成年人中进行了研究，其发展起源知之甚少。在这项研究中，114 名 6-8 个月大的婴儿观察了真人和实体机器人的直视和回避眼神方向，同时测量了他们的心率减速（注意力定向）、皮肤电导率（情感唤醒）和面部肌肉活动（情感效价）。此外，还使用了一个非类人机器人的物体（花瓶）作为控制刺激。与直视相比，婴儿对人类和机器人的回避眼神注视更能引起注意力定向，但对非类人机器人的回避和直视没有区别。此外，婴儿对人类和机器人的注意力定向强度相同，但对非类人机器人的注意力定向强度较弱。情感唤醒对注视方向不敏感，且在人类、机器人和非类人机器人之间没有差异。面部肌肉反应对人类和机器人的注视方向敏感，但对非类人机器人的注视方向不敏感。这些结果表明，婴儿不仅能识别人类的注视，也能识别机器人的注视所具有的注意力和情感/亲和意义。
