Empirical and modeling study of emotional state dynamics in social videogame paradigms

The objective of this work was to study the dynamics of human emotional states in the process of social interaction in a virtual environment. The previously developed for this purpose prototypes of the virtual actor (NPC) and its virtual environment simulator “Teleport” underwent significant re-design and modification. The experimental platform was re-implemented and used in experiments with college student participants, combining electromyography, emotion recognition in facial recordings and model-based game log analysis in a social videogame paradigm. Participants interacted with two virtual actors implemented based on the eBICA cognitive architecture (Samsonovich, 2013, 2018). Positive correlations were found between eBICA model predictions and participant affects extracted from their facial expressions and facial muscle activity. Affective dynamics of social phenomena, such as the establishment of partnership or an act of betrayal, were characterized and found consistent with the model predictions. Other findings include a gradually developing emotional reaction, possibly due to the integration of appraisals of game events. Overall, obtained results confirm the eBICA model, suggesting its further extension and refinement.     

个人信息的有意隐藏：藏秘及其后果和应对

藏秘在日常生活中十分常见, 但由于秘密的不公开性, 使得藏秘的研究发展缓慢。近年来学界主要关注藏秘的消极影响(如负担感及自我惩罚等), 而对藏秘的积极影响研究(如社会保护及亲社会谎言等)较少。学者们提出了秘密抑制模型、专注模型、持续性思维模型和共享现实理论等来解释消极影响的机制, 并发现通过吐露秘密、发挥创造性、训练情绪标记和自我意识等途径可以应对藏秘的消极影响。未来研究应对藏秘的概念做出更准确统一的界定, 并寻求更精准特定的测量与操纵方式, 探索藏秘的积极结果及影响机制, 深化藏秘的理论研究, 并推动藏秘研究在不同领域的应用。     

虚实相融的“元宇宙+心理学”发展新趋势

元宇宙是近期的热点话题,引发了社会各界的广泛关注。元宇宙对于心理学领域可能的影响包括通过创建教育元宇宙从而提供全景式的学习过程新场域,通过创建MOOC元宇宙从而打造更加科学和新颖的教学模式,通过打破"魔力怪圈"从而缓解人际回避进而促进个体的社交行为,通过塑造元宇宙赛博朋克文化圈从而增强个体的自我认同,通过搭建元宇宙心理体验馆从而提高学校心理健康教育工作的有效性,以及通过创建基于传统行为疗法的元宇宙心理干预系统从而提升心理咨询工作的有效性等。然而,由元宇宙所代表的新兴科技是一把双刃剑,不仅需要重视这一创造"完美的"世界或创造奇迹的机会,还需要谨防其对人类社会发展所造成的潜在危害。     

Affordance Compatibility Effect for Word Learning in Virtual Reality

Rich sensorimotor interaction facilitates language learning and is presumed to ground conceptual representations. Yet empirical support for early stages of embodied word learning is currently lacking. Finding evidence that sensorimotor interaction shapes learned linguistic representations would provide crucial support for embodied language theories. We developed a gamified word learning experiment in virtual reality in which participants learned the names of six novel objects by grasping and manipulating objects with either their left or right hand. Participants then completed a word–color match task in which they were tested on the same six words and objects. Participants were faster to respond to stimuli in the match task when the response hand was compatible with the hand used to interact with the named object, an effect we refer to as affordance compatibility. In two follow up experiments, we found that merely observing virtual hands interact with the objects was sufficient to acquire a smaller affordance compatibility effect, and we found that the compatibility effect was driven primarily by responses with a compatible hand and not by responses in a compatible spatial location. Our results support theoretical views of language which ground word representations in sensorimotor experiences, and they suggest promising future routes to explore the sensorimotor foundations of higher cognition through immersive virtual experiments.     

“Being there” and remembering it: Presence improves memory encoding

Few studies have investigated the link between episodic memory and presence: the feeling of “being there” and reacting to a stimulus as if it were real. We collected data from 244 participants after they had watched the movie Avengers: Age of Ultron. They answered questions about factual (details of the movie) and temporal memory (order of the scenes) about the movie, as well as their emotion experience and their sense of presence during the projection. Both higher emotion experience and sense of presence were related to better factual memory, but not to temporal order memory. Crucially, the link between emotion and factual memory was mediated by the sense of presence. We interpreted the role of presence as an external absorption of the attentional focus toward the stimulus, thus enhancing memory encoding. Our findings could shed light on the cognitive processes underlying memory impairments in psychiatric conditions characterized by an altered sense of reality.     

“说出即相信”效应的影响因素和理论解释

在人际沟通中, 沟通者向听众态度方向调整关于目标人物的信息, 并且随后沟通者对目标人物的记忆和评价也会出现相应的偏差, 这就是“说出即相信”效应。“说出即相信”效应的影响因素包括沟通目的、反馈、沟通者与听众的关系、求知需求、沟通者的人格特征等。研究者用基本信息过程、认知失调理论、分享现实理论等来解释这一效应。未来的研究可以将这一效应推广到群体领域, 完善理论机制并开展更多的应用研究。     

幼儿心理理论表现的任务特异性分析

研究以90名3～5岁幼儿为被试,采用相同材料和标准评估幼儿外表-事实的区分和错误信念认识,考察幼儿表现的任务特异性及材料刺激的影响。结果表明;幼儿的表现仍存在任务特异性,并且实验材料对儿童的外表-事实区分和错误信念认识具有重要影响。在解释这些结果时,特殊领域知识习得观似乎优于表征缺失理论。     

Contextual fear conditioning predicts subsequent avoidance behaviour in a virtual reality environment

Avoidance behaviour is a crucial component of fear and is importantly involved in the maintenance of anxiety disorders. Presumably, fear conditioning leads to avoidance of the feared object or context. A virtual reality contextual fear conditioning paradigm was used to investigate the association between explicit conditioning effects and subsequent avoidance behaviour. Mild electric shocks were administered in one context (anxiety context), but never in a second context (safety context). Subsequent avoidance behaviour was assessed by asking participants to choose two out of three contexts (a neutral context was added) to visit again. Participants avoided the anxiety context, but did not prefer the safety over the neutral context. Participants with substantial conditioning effects, as reflected in differential valence, arousal and anxiety ratings, avoided the anxiety context but not the safety context. In sum, we demonstrated an association between context conditioning effects on an explicit level and later avoidance behaviour.     

Matter and Form in the Science of Kabbalah

In this lecture, given on 16 June 2004, the author expounds on the definition of Matter and Form in the science of Kabbalah, and the boundaries of our perception of the two. He also explains about the difference between the perspective of Kabbalah and the perspective of conventional science with regard to one's perception of reality. The last section of the lecture touches on the essence of spiritual perception (attainment) and the way by which it is enhanced.