Fast mapping in word-learning: A case study on the humanoid social robots' impacts on Children's performance

Abstract

The evolution of robotic technology has heightened the demands for robots capable of social interaction with humans, also known as social robots. The encouraging prospects of deploying this advanced assistive tool in entertainment, healthcare, and education have, in turn, promoted substantial growth in studies conducted on the human-robot interaction (HRI) topic. One hot HRI subject is the examination of social robots' efficacy within various educational scenarios, e.g., word learning. In the context of word learning, fast mapping (FM) is a well-established technique through which novel words are taught by contrasting them with previously known words. The concept of this approach originates from how infants comprehend new vocabularies' referents. In this study, we investigated the potential benefits of utilizing social robots during educational interventions, based on the FM strategy, by means of two measures, alternative forced-choice (AFC) test and gaze data analysis. The first metric explores participants' retention after a 10-min and a one-week delay, while the second is concerned with scrutinizing their gaze focus during training sessions. Our findings indicate that the utility of social robots during FM interventions could enhance children's engagement, attention, and retention of novel words.