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The current success of Reinforcement Learning algorithms for its performance in complex environments has inspired many recent theoretical approaches to cognitive science. Artistic environments are studied within the cognitive science community as rich, natural, multi-sensory, multi-cultural environments. In this work, we propose the introduction of Reinforcement Learning for improving the control of artistic robot applications. Deep Q-learning Neural Networks (DQN) is one of the most successful algorithms for the implementation of Reinforcement Learning in robotics. DQN methods generate complex control policies for the execution of complex robot applications in a wide set of environments. Current art painting robot applications use simple control laws that limits the adaptability of the frameworks to a set of simple environments. In this work, the introduction of DQN within an art painting robot application is proposed. The goal is to study how the introduction of a complex control policy impacts the performance of a basic art painting robot application. The main expected contribution of this work is to serve as a first baseline for future works introducing DQN methods for complex art painting robot frameworks. Experiments consist of real world executions of human drawn sketches using the DQN generated policy and TEO, the humanoid robot. Results are compared in terms of similarity and obtained reward with respect to the reference inputs.

Previous reports show that a substantial proportion of (near) medical errors in the operating theatre is attributable to ineffective communication between healthcare professionals. Speaking up about observed medical errors is a safety behaviour which promotes effective communication between health care professionals, consequently optimising patient care by reducing medical error risk. Speaking up by healthcare professionals (e.g., nurses, residents) remains difficult to execute in practice despite increasing awareness of its importance. Therefore, this paper discourses a computational model concerning the mechanisms known from psychological, observational, and medical literature which underlie the speaking up behaviour of a health care professional. It also addresses how a doctor may respond to the communicated message. Through several scenarios we illustrate what pattern of factors causes a healthcare professional to speak up when witnessing a (near) medical error. We moreover demonstrate how introducing an observant agent can facilitate effective communication and help to ensure patient safety through speaking up when a nurse can not. In conclusion, the current paper introduces an adaptive computational model which predicts speaking up behaviour from the perspective of the speaker and receiver, with the addition of a virtual coach to further optimise patient safety when a patient could be in harm's way.

It is well-established that familiar and unfamiliar faces are processed differently, but surprisingly little is known about how familiarity builds up over time and how novel faces gradually become represented in the brain. Here, we used event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in a pre-registered, longitudinal study to examine the neural processes accompanying face and identity learning during the first eight months of knowing a person. Specifically, we examined how increasing real-life familiarity affects visual recognition (N250 Familiarity Effect) and the integration of person-related knowledge (Sustained Familiarity Effect, SFE). Sixteen first-year undergraduates were tested in three sessions, approximately one, five, and eight months after the start of the academic year, with highly variable “ambient” images of a new friend they had met at university and of an unfamiliar person. We observed clear ERP familiarity effects for the new friend after one month of familiarity. While there was an increase in the N250 effect over the course of the study, no change in the SFE was observed. These results suggest that visual face representations develop faster relative to the integration of identity-specific knowledge.

Interpersonal trust shows developmental changes during adolescence. The current study used a longitudinal design to examine the development of trust behavior, the presence of gender differences in these developmental trajectories, and the association between individual differences in these developmental trajectories and perspective-taking abilities. The participants played a trust game with a hypothetical trustworthy partner and a trust game with a hypothetical untrustworthy partner in 3 consecutive years (Mage = 12.55 years, Mage = 13.54 years, and Mage = 14.54 years). Concerning the development of trust behavior, the results showed an age-related increase in initial trust behavior and indicated increasingly adaptive trust behavior with age during untrustworthy interactions, whereas no evidence was found for age-related changes in the adaptation of trust during trustworthy interactions. Gender differences were found for the development of initial trust behavior (with boys showing a stronger increase with age than girls), whereas no support was found for the presence of gender differences in the developmental trajectories of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. Furthermore, no evidence was found for perspective-taking abilities to explain individual differences in the development of initial trust behavior or in the development of adaptive trust behavior during trustworthy and untrustworthy interactions. The results provide evidence that, during adolescence initial trust behavior increased with age, more for boys than for girls, and that both boys and girls showed a stronger adaptive response to the untrustworthy partner but not to the trustworthy partner.

International audience; Research into the neuroanatomical basis of emotions has resulted in a plethora of studies over the last twenty years. However, studies about positive emotions and pleasant sensations remain rare and their anatomical-functional bases are less understood than that of negative emotions. Pleasant sensations can be evoked by electrical brain stimulations (EBS) during stereotactic electroencephalography (SEEG) performed for pre-surgical exploration in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 10 106 EBS performed in 329 patients implanted with SEEG in our epileptology department. We found that 13 EBS in 9 different patients evoked pleasant sensations (.60% of all responses). By contrast we collected 111 emotional responses of negative valence (i.e., 5.13% of all responses). EBS evoking pleasant sensations were applied at 50 Hz with an average intensity of 1.4 ± .55 mA (range .5e2 mA). Pleasant sensations were reported by nine patients of which three patients presented responses to several EBS. We found a male predominance among the patients reporting pleasant sensations and a prominent role of the right cerebral hemisphere. Results show the preponderant role of the dorsal anterior insula and amygdala in the occurrence of pleasant sensations.

Tolerance of minority beliefs and practices is typically considered a critical ingredient for an equal and diverse society. Psychologically, people can use both intuitive and deliberative cognitive sources to make tolerance judgments. Following dual-process theories, this research uses survey experiments to manipulate intuitive versus deliberative thinking to examine whether deliberative thinking increases tolerance of minority practices. Across three studies using nationally representative samples of Dutch majority members (

During social interactions in daily life, people possess imperfect knowledge of their interdependence (i.e., how behaviors affect each person's outcomes), and what people infer about their interdependence can shape their behaviors. We review theory and research that suggests people can infer their interdependence with others along several dimensions, including mutual dependence, power, and corresponding-versus-conflicting interests. We discuss how perceptions of interdependence affect how people cooperate and punish others’ defection in everyday life. We propose that people understand their interdependence with others through knowledge of the action space, cues during social interactions (e.g., partner behaviors), and priors based on experience. Finally, we describe how learning interdependence could occur through domain-specific and domain-general mechanisms.

Visual experience plays an important role in facilitating referee decision-making. Video training can be used to train these perceptual-cognitive skills in discrete scenarios, for instance in foul situations in football, but is less suitable in other instances such as when seeking to make decisions in open-play scenarios due to a lack of representativeness. Recent technological advances enable the use of virtual reality (VR) to replicate game situations in a controlled and realistic manner. It is however not yet known how representative behaviour in VR would be of behaviour on-field in the natural environment. The aim of the study was therefore to examine the degree to which visual behaviour of football referees in virtual reality would reflect behaviour found when adjudicating matches on-field. Sub-elite football referees completed decision-making tasks in three experimental conditions: on-field (in a real match), in virtual reality and when observing video footage. Across the three environments we compared decision-making performance, visual behaviour (including search rate, fixation duration, and head movements) and the user experience of the referees. Results revealed that behaviour in the VR environment was indistinguishable from that on-field. In contrast, visual-motor behaviour when observing video footage was markedly different to that found on-field (and in VR). The results show that visual-motor behaviour in VR is representative of that found on-field and therefore suggests that VR offers promise as a representative training environment for sports officials to improve on-field performance in the natural environment.

Background and objectives: Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is an effective treatment for individuals suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). However, EMDR is not typically offered to people with PTSD who also meet the criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD). This study examines the feasibility and clinical benefits of EMDR for PTSD delivered in addition to the onset of treatment as usual (TAU) for BPD. Methods: In a non-concurrent, multiple baseline design, 12 patients with BPD and PTSD received fifteen weekly 45-min sessions of TAU. During this period, eight weekly 90-min EMDR sessions were added. Outcome measures were obtained weekly for self-reported PTSD symptoms (PTSD checklist for DSM-5), levels of psychopathology (Brief Symptom Checklist), and the effect of psychopathology on different areas of life (Sheehan Disability Scale). Results: 9 participants completed the treatment protocol. In the EMDR phase, PTSD severity scores decreased significantly between sessions, while no between-session drop in scores occurred during the TAU only phase. Similar results were obtained for general symptoms and disability. No adverse events were reported. Limitations: Results on the efficacy and safety of EMDR in patients with BPD and PTSD need to be replicated in larger samples and in RCTs before they can be generalized to the entire population. Conclusions: The results of our study suggest that EMDR may be feasible and effective in reducing PTSD symptoms in patients concurrently receiving BPD treatment. EMDR appears to be a promising intervention for patients with BPD and comorbid PTSD.

Transformative Organizational Change becomes more and more significant both practically and academically, especially in the context of organizational culture and learning. However computational modeling and a formalization of organizational change and learning processes are still largely unexplored. This paper aims to provide an adaptive network model of transformative organizational change and translate a selection of organizational learning and change processes into computationally modeled processes. Additionally, it sets out to connect the dynamic systems view of organizations to self-modelling network models. The creation of the model and the implemented mechanisms of organizational processes are based on extrapolations of an extensive literature study and grounded in related work in this field, and then applied to a specified hospital-related case scenario in the context of safety culture. The model was evaluated by running several simulations and variations thereof. The results of these were investigated by qualitative analysis and comparison to expected emergent behaviour based on related available academic literature. The simulations performed confirmed the occurrence of an organizational transformational change towards a constant learning culture by offering repeated and effective learning and changes to organizational processes. Observations about various interplays and effects of the mechanism have been made, and they exposed that acceptance of mistakes as a part of learning culture facilitates transformational change and may foster sustainable change in the long run. . Further, the model confirmed that the self-modelling network model approach applies to a dynamic systems view of organizations and a systems perspective of organizational change. The created model offers the basis for the further creation of self-modelling network models within the field of transformative organizational change and the translated mechanisms of this model can further be extracted and reused in a forthcoming academic exploration of this field.

Joint decision-making can be seen as the synchronization of actions and emotions, usually via nonverbal interaction between people while they show empathy. The aim of the current paper was (1) to develop an adaptive computational model for the type of synchrony that can occur in joint decision-making for two persons modeled as agents, and (2) to visualize the two persons by avatars as virtual agents during their decision-making. How to model joint decision-making computationally while taking into account adaptivity is rarely addressed, although such models based on psychological literature have a lot of future applications like online coaching and therapeutics. We used an adaptive network-oriented modelling approach to build an adaptive joint decision-making model in an agent-based manner and simulated multiple scenarios of such joint decision-making processes using a dedicated software environment that was implemented in MATLAB. Programming in the Unity 3D engine was done to virtualize this process as nonverbal interaction between virtual agents, their internal and external states, and the scenario. Although our adaptive joint decision model has general application areas, we have selected a therapeutic session as example scenario to visualize and interpret the example simulations.

Temporal characteristics of neural signals are often overlooked in traditional fMRI developmental studies but are critical to studying brain functions in ecologically valid settings. In the present study, we explore the temporal properties of children’s neural responses during naturalistic mathematics and grammar tasks. To do so, we introduce a novel measure in developmental fMRI: neural entropy, which indicates temporal complexity of BOLD signals. We show that temporal patterns of neural activity have lower complexity and greater variability in children than in adults in the association cortex but not in the sensory-motor cortex. We also show that neural entropy is associated with both child-adult similarity in functional connectivity and neural synchrony, and that neural entropy increases with the size of functionally connected networks in the association cortex. In addition, neural entropy increases with functional maturity (i.e., child-adult neural synchrony) in content-specific regions. These exploratory findings suggest the hypothesis that neural entropy indexes the increasing breadth and diversity of neural processes available to children for analyzing mathematical information over development.

There are not enough psychotherapists to offer individual trauma intervention to the tens of millions of people traumatized around the world. Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a proven trauma treatment but requires substantial time and financial resources for training. One solution may be low-intensity intervention with the flash technique (FT) offered one-on-one online and based on highly scripted instructions in which participants can work on their distressing memories independently. The FT is a protocol that was originally developed for the preparation phase of EMDR and only requires a few hours of training. In this study, we aim to explore whether a scripted FT protocol used by inexperienced student clinicians might be effective. Nine master-level social work students, trained in FT and under licensed supervision, offered individual FT treatment online using a scripted protocol. Participants were admitted to the study with an Impact of Event Scale—Revised (IES-R) score of >24. Pre- and posttreatment surveys were collected from 30 participants who each received 6 sessions of individual therapy. No follow-up study data was collected. The IES-R data dropped from a pretreatment mean of 45.97 (SD= 14.5, 95% CI = [40.78, 51.16]) to posttreatment mean of 25.33 (SD= 14.92, 95% CI = [19.99, 30.67]), with ap-value of d= 1.4, showed a large effect size. Interpretation of the study results is limited due to a lack of a control group and a relatively small sample size (n= 30). Furthermore, since we did not follow participants posttreatment, the impact of the intervention over time is unknown for this study. Even so, the data suggested that the scripted FT protocol might be usable even by inexperienced student clinicians, paving the way for its use as a low-intensity trauma intervention.

Declarative concepts are abstract concepts denoted by key terms and short definitions that can be applied in a variety of scenarios (e.g., positive reinforcement in psychology; Rawson et al., 2015). One common learning goal for declarative concepts is to instill knowledge that students can use to support the application of content in novel scenarios. Given theoretical perspectives and empirical evidence from related literatures, one promising approach for supporting declarative concept application is learning examples. The purpose of the current research was to evaluate the utility of using examples as primary targets of learning for declarative concept application. In two experiments, participants read a textbook passage that included the definition and an example of 10 declarative concepts. Participants then learned the target material by recalling either the definition or the example of each concept. Across both experiments, declarative concept application was greater following practice focused on learning examples versus definitions. Results suggest that using this strategy may be an effective technique for supporting the application of definitions, which are foundational to many introductory courses. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Skilled actors rely on deception to disrupt the perceptual ability of opponents who seek to anticipate action intentions. Common-coding theory (Prinz, 1997) purports that action and perception share common origins in the brain, and therefore it seems plausible that the ability to ‘see through’ a deceptive action would be associated with a capacity to perform the same action. The aim of this study was to investigate whether the ability to perform a deceptive action would be related to the ability to perceive the same type of action. Fourteen skilled rugby players performed deceptive (side-step) and non-deceptive actions while running towards a camera. The deceptiveness of those participants was determined by testing the ability of a separate group of eight equally skilled observers to anticipate the impeding running directions using a temporally occluded video-based test. Based on the overall response accuracies, participants were separated into high- and low-deceptiveness groups. These two groups then themselves took part in a video-based test. Results revealed that the skilled deceivers had a significant advantage in their ability to better anticipate the action outcomes of highly deceptive actions. The skilled deceivers’ sensitivity to discriminate deceptive from non-deceptive actions was significantly better than that of less-skilled deceivers when viewing the most-deceptive actor. Moreover, the skilled perceivers performed actions that appeared to be better disguised than those of the less-skilled perceivers. These findings suggest that, consistent with common-coding theory, the perception of deceptive and non-deceptive actions is associated with the capability to produce deceptive actions and vice versa.

La thérapie de désensibilisation et de retraitement par les mouvements oculaires (EMDR) est considérée comme un traitement fondé sur des données probantes pour le traitement du trouble stress post-traumatique (TSPT) chez l’adulte, mais il y a des différences dans la façon dont les diverses directives internationales de traitement jugent la solidité de cette base de preuves. En outre, dans des domaines autres que le TSPT de l’adulte, les principales lignes directrices diffèrent encore davantage quant à la solidité de ces preuves et quant au moment où on utilisera l’EMDR. En 2019 a été lancée la Commission de chercheurs sur l’avenir de la thérapie EMDR (Council of Scholars : The Future of EMDR Therapy Project). Plusieurs groupes de travail ont été créés dans cette commission, l’un d’entre eux étant centré sur la recherche. Le présent article a été produit par ce groupe de travail. Le groupe a tout d’abord conclu qu’il y avait cinq domaines pour lesquels il existait une certaine base factuelle indiquant que l’EMDR était efficace, mais que davantage de données étaient nécessaires pour augmenter la probabilité qu’elle soit prise en compte dans les futures directives internationales de traitement. Ces domaines couvraient le TSPT chez les enfants et les adolescents, les interventions EMDR précoces, les TSPT liés aux conflits armés, la dépression unipolaire et la douleur chronique. Les recherches portant sur le rapport coût-efficacité de la thérapie EMDR ont été en outre identifiées comme l’une des priorités à aborder. Nous avons employé un système de hiérarchisation pour classer et évaluer les preuves dans les différents domaines abordés. Après avoir évalué les 120 études de résultats relatives à ces domaines, nous concluons ici que pour deux d’entre eux (le TSPT chez l’enfant et l’adolescent, et les recherches portant sur les interventions EMDR précoces), la force des preuves est évaluée au niveau le plus élevé, tandis que les autres domaines obtiennent le deuxième niveau le plus élevé. Nous formulons également quelques recommandations générales pour améliorer la qualité des futures recherches sur l’efficacité de la thérapie EMDR.