Cross, E. S. , Riddoch, K. A., Pratts, J., Titone, S., Chaudhury, B. and Hortensius, R. (2019) A neurocognitive investigation of the impact of socializing with a robot on empathy for pain. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 374(1771), 20180034. (doi: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0034) (PMID:30852995)
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Abstract
To what extent can humans form social relationships with robots? In the present study, we combined functional neuroimaging with a robot socializing intervention to probe the flexibility of empathy, a core component of social relationships, towards robots. Twenty-six individuals underwent identical fMRI sessions before and after being issued a social robot to take home and interact with over the course of a week. While undergoing fMRI, participants observed videos of a human actor or a robot experiencing pain or pleasure in response to electrical stimulation. Repetition suppression of activity in the pain network, a collection of brain regions associated with empathy and emotional responding, was measured to test whether socializing with a social robot leads to greater overlap in neural mechanisms when observing human and robotic agents experiencing pain or pleasure. In contrast to our hypothesis, functional region-of-interest analyses revealed no change in neural overlap for agents after the socializing intervention. Similarly, no increase in activation when observing a robot experiencing pain emerged post-socializing. Whole-brain analysis showed that, before the socializing intervention, superior parietal and early visual regions are sensitive to novel agents, while after socializing, medial temporal regions show agent sensitivity. A region of the inferior parietal lobule was sensitive to novel emotions, but only during the pre-socializing scan session. Together, these findings suggest that a short socialization intervention with a social robot does not lead to discernible differences in empathy towards the robot, as measured by behavioural or brain responses. We discuss the extent to which long-term socialization with robots might shape social cognitive processes and ultimately our relationships with these machines. This article is part of the theme issue ‘From social brains to social robots: applying neurocognitive insights to human–robot interaction’.
Item Type: | Articles |
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Additional Information: | The authors gratefully acknowledge funding from the European Research Council to ESC (H2020-ERC-2015-StG-67720-SOCIAL ROBOTS), and ESRC 1+3 Industrial Strategy studentship funding to KAR/ESC. |
Status: | Published |
Refereed: | Yes |
Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: | Cross, Professor Emily and Chaudhury, Mrs Bishakha and Hortensius, Dr Ruud |
Authors: | Cross, E. S., Riddoch, K. A., Pratts, J., Titone, S., Chaudhury, B., and Hortensius, R. |
College/School: | College of Medical Veterinary and Life Sciences > School of Psychology & Neuroscience |
Journal Name: | Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences |
Publisher: | The Royal Society |
ISSN: | 0962-8436 |
ISSN (Online): | 1471-2970 |
Published Online: | 11 March 2019 |
Copyright Holders: | Copyright © 2019 The Authors |
First Published: | First published in Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 374(1771): 20180034 |
Publisher Policy: | Reproduced in accordance with the publisher copyright policy |
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