Context Of Social Interactions Research Articles

THÖR-MAGNI: A large-scale indoor motion capture recording of human movement and robot interaction

We present a new large dataset of indoor human and robot navigation and interaction, called THÖR-MAGNI, that is designed to facilitate research on social human navigation: for example, modeling and predicting human motion, analyzing goal-oriented interactions between humans and robots, and investigating visual attention in a social interaction context. THÖR-MAGNI was created to fill a gap in available datasets for human motion analysis and HRI. This gap is characterized by a lack of comprehensive inclusion of exogenous factors and essential target agent cues, which hinders the development of robust models capable of capturing the relationship between contextual cues and human behavior in different scenarios. Unlike existing datasets, THÖR-MAGNI includes a broader set of contextual features and offers multiple scenario variations to facilitate factor isolation. The dataset includes many social human–human and human–robot interaction scenarios, rich context annotations, and multi-modal data, such as walking trajectories, gaze-tracking data, and lidar and camera streams recorded from a mobile robot. We also provide a set of tools for visualization and processing of the recorded data. THÖR-MAGNI is, to the best of our knowledge, unique in the amount and diversity of sensor data collected in a contextualized and socially dynamic environment, capturing natural human–robot interactions.

The Effects of Social Approval Signals on the Production of Online Hate: A Theoretical Explication

This essay explicates a middle range theory to predict and explain the propagation and magnification of hate messages on social media. It builds upon an assumption that people post hate messages in order to garner signals of social approval from other social media users. It articulates specific propositions involving several constructs, including signals of social approval, disapproval, and sufficiency of social approval. Six derived hypotheses predict how these dynamics apply in certain contexts of social media interaction involving hate posting. It reviews empirical research that applies to these hypotheses, raises issues for future research, and reviews concurrence and distinctions between this approach and other theories.

Can Subaltern Exist? Reinterpreting the Issue of Subalternity (Case Study of Blimbingsari Village - Jembrana Regency and Pegayaman Village - Buleleng Regency)

The objective of this study is to further elucidate a significant inquiry posed by Gayatri Spivak, namely, the ability of the subaltern to articulate their voice. This inquiry's significance arises within the context of social interactions, where there are discernible patterns of social dominance. Is it possible for a social group to survive without the active participation and expression of its members? This study aims to investigate how a village can persist within a social, cultural, and political framework that actively conceals its presence. The aforementioned pressure is commonly acknowledged as an inherently social phenomenon, indicating the presence of a mechanism of social hegemony. The hegemonic process is enacted through the implementation of village norms, particularly about customary villages (desa adat). The majority of villages in Bali adhere to a dual system of governance, consisting of office villages (desa dinas) and customary villages desa adat. Nevertheless, it is worth noting that the focus of this research lies solely on two specific villages, both of which adhere to a single type of governance known as the official village. The two villages under consideration are Blimbingsari in the Jembrana district and Pegayaman in Bali's Buleleng district. Both communities remain independent settlements in Bali to this day. Nevertheless, the dynamics and obstacles that exist are not straightforward. This research tries to listen to the voices of the subaltern and classifies them into four main issues, namely: 1) cultural politics; 2) political economy; 3) Ideology; 4) Conscientization. Through these four issues, an understanding of how these two villages continue to exist amid existing social harmonization is obtained.

COVID-19-related mental health and well-being: A qualitative study of Czech adolescents’ lived experiences

ABSTRACT The present study aimed to explore lived experiences of Czech adolescents with a focus on mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic. To meet the study objective, the qualitative analysis employed focus group interviews with 12 selected adolescent participants. The participants described a wide array of behavioral changes, feelings, experiences, and opinions related to their mental health and well-being across a wide range of contexts. The thematic analyses revealed 23 specific factors characteristic to the context of the response to the pandemic emerged within the context of school and study, followed by the context of families, peer and social interactions, as well as the situation of coronavirus and pandemic in society. The specifically emerged themes were described as potential factors leading to aggravating or mitigating mental health problems in reference to already published findings. The results can potentially draw implications for public health policy in the event of the reemergence of potential societal threats.

Fostering Pedagogical Excellence: Theoretical Foundations for Designing a Teaching Module on Chinese Ancient Poetry Art Songs for Undergraduate Students in China

This paper explored the fundamental theoretical aspects involved in creating a comprehensive teaching module tailored for undergraduate students in China, with a specific emphasis on Chinese ancient poetry art songs. The process of constructing an effective teaching module was intricate, demanding a thorough exploration of various models and educational theories that laid the foundation for its development. The paper offered an overview of the theoretical framework employed in this undertaking, incorporating the ADDIE Model and key educational theories such as Jean Piaget's Constructivist Theory, Lev Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory, and Howard Gardner's Multiple Intelligences. The ADDIE Model provided a structured approach to module development, guiding the systematic design, implementation, and evaluation phases to ensure that teaching materials were well-organized, efficient, and adaptable to diverse learning environments. Furthermore, the paper delved into the educational theories influencing the design of the teaching module. Piaget's Constructivist Theory emphasized active learning through hands-on experiences, Vygotsky's Sociocultural Theory underscored the role of social interaction and cultural context in learning, emphasizing collaborative learning experiences, and Gardner's Multiple Intelligences theory recognized the diversity of students' cognitive strengths, emphasizing the need for varied instructional strategies to cater to different learning styles. Through the integration of these theoretical foundations, this research aimed to develop a comprehensive, engaging, and effective educational resource tailored to the unique needs and learning preferences of students. The anticipated outcome of the teaching module was to enable educators to cultivate a greater understanding and appreciation of Chinese ancient poetry art songs among students.

Oxytocin predicts positive affect gains in a role-play interaction.

Role-play, a key creative process in theatre, is used in therapeutic interventions to improve social skills, emotion regulation, and memory. Although role-play is widely used as a psychotherapeutic technique, its mechanisms of action are not fully understood. Our study introduces a standardized controlled procedure for promoting role-play in the laboratory based on the portrayal of a fictional persona and examines its effects on anxiety, affect, prosocial attitudes, and salivary oxytocin dynamics in 38 participants. In our experiment, role-play significantly increased positive affect and prosocial attitudes and decreased anxiety compared to a control condition. Basal salivary oxytocin levels predicted higher gains in positive affect following role-play, suggesting a specific moderating effect of oxytocin. The fictional persona used in the procedure was rated as very happy by subjects, creating a positive social context for the role-play social interaction. We propose that the observed moderation effect of oxytocin in our study is specific to the role-play condition due to the capacity of role-play to generate an affective regulatory context based on congruency toward the emotional state of the fictional persona. Our findings indicate that basal oxytocin levels could predict specific outcomes of role-play in therapeutical setting. We discuss several psychological and biological mechanisms that could account for the observed effects of role-play and how oxytocin could act as a substrate for them.

Misinformation in social interaction: examining the role of discussion

ABSTRACT Memory is a reconstructive process that is prone to intrusions and distortions. These processes can be amplified by the emergence and propagation of false information in the social environment. While the acceptance of misinformation is well documented in individual memory tasks, the production of false memories in social interaction contexts presents mixed findings. One factor that may contribute to these inconsistencies is the collaboration method used, which may vary in the opportunities they offer for more (free-for-all) or less (turn-taking) discussion. The current study contrasts these two collaboration methods in misinformation acceptance. Participants watched a video, followed by an individual recall task. Then, they completed a questionnaire containing true and misinformation about the video, individually or in pairs (using free-for-all or turn-taking methods). Finally, participants were given a new individual recall task. Results revealed that participants responding to the questionnaire using the free-for-all method were more accurate and accepted less misinformation (vs. turn-taking and individual conditions). Critically, in the second individual recall, these participants also recalled less misinformation from the questionnaire than those in the turn-taking condition. These results suggest that discussion opportunities during social interaction enhance correction and error-pruning and reduce misinformation acceptance.

Examining the Attitudes and Perceptions of Students and Tutors towards the Integrated Approach Pedagogy (IAP) in the Ghanaian Language Classroom

This investigation examined integrated approach pedagogy as a progressive educational framework that emphasizes the interconnectedness of various subjects and promotes active learning and critical thinking. This paper will be insightful as it will support students to appreciate their culture and accommodate other students in Ghanaian Language classroom. One of the significances is students would build communication confident and collaborative skills. In the context of the Ghanaian Language Classroom, this study aims to investigate the attitudes and perceptions of both students and teachers towards the integration of subjects within language instruction. This research employs qualitative interviews, to explore the experiences of students and tutors with the integrated approach. A purposive sampling technique was used to select participants, one hundred and fifty (150) students and teachers were selected from different regions and socio-economic backgrounds. Bono region fifty (50), Central region fifty (50), Western region fifty (50). The qualitative phase involves in-depth interviews with selected students and teachers to gain deeper and fuller insights into their personal experiences, perceptions, and recommendations related to the integrated approach pedagogy (IAP). The findings of this research contributed to the existing literature on pedagogical methods in the Ghanaian education system, shedding light on the effectiveness of the integrated approach pedagogy (IAP) in the context of language learning. The theory that underpinned this study was sociocultural theory by Lev, Vygotsky. This theory emphasized the role of social interaction and cultural context in learning.

Linguistics of Ghanaian Language: A Platform to Embed Formal Education in Culture

This study examined the linguistic landscape of Ghana as a rich and diverse, reflecting the country’s cultural heritage and its linguistic complexity. This explored the significance of incorporating Ghanaian languages into the formal education system as a means to preserve and promote cultural identity while enhancing educational outcomes. Ghana is a multilingual nation with over 80 languages spoken across various regions. However, English has traditionally been the dominant language of instruction in formal education, often overshadowing indigenous languages. This approach has had unintended consequences, leading to a disconnection between students’ cultural backgrounds and the education system. This investigation took into consideration descriptive design. The approach adapted for the investigation was qualitative. One hundred (100) participants were involved in this investigation. Purposive sampling was its technique. Interview, observation and focus group discussion were the data collection instruments to elicit significant information to support the analysis. The investigation revealed that it enhances the academic performance of students. It was identified that it fosters a sense of inclusivity and promotes equity in education, as it reduces language barriers that marginalized communities may face. The theory that buttressed the investigation was Vygotsky (1930) sociocultural theory. This theory emphasizes the role of social interaction and cultural context in children’s cognitive development

Neurophysiology of creativity in conditions of competitive social interaction: data of EEG hyperscanning study

Brain activity changes significantly across various social interaction conditions. However, the impact of social interaction context on neurophysiological correlates of cognitive and creative activity per se remains insufficiently explored [1]. Two distinct types of interactions can be identified when it comes to resolving tasks: cooperation or competition. The aim of this study was to evaluate how competition conditions affect the amplitudes of event-related potentials (ERP) when solving creative and non-creative problems. Subjects (26 men and 18 women) performed two types of tasks both individually and in pairs of the same gender. The tasks consisted of creative and non-creative activities. In the creative tasks, participants were asked to describe unusual uses of everyday objects, such as a brick, newspaper, or paper clip. In the non-creative tasks, participants were requested to list items from various proposed categories, such as transport, furniture, or sports. A total of over one hundred samples of each type were provided for both individual and joint performance. The order of task performance, whether individual or joint, was randomized between pairs of participants. When tasks were performed in pairs, the first responding participant’s answer created competitive conditions and was considered the first response. During the tasks, we recorded EEG/ERP data synchronously using a Mitsar-202 electroencephalograph (LLC Mitsar, St. Petersburg) and the WinEEG software package (Ponomarev V.A., Kropotov Yu.D., No. State Registration 2001610516 dated 08.05.2001). The recording was monopolar from 15 leads with a referent — combined ear electrode. We modified the 10/20 system with a sampling rate of 500 Hz, and a recording band of 0.53–150 Hz. We analyzed the data using a band of 1.6–30 Hz and a 50 Hz cutoff filter. ERPs for each task (creative or non-creative) were compared between the competition and individual performance conditions by conducting a repeated-measures ANOVA for the STATE factor (individual performance/competition conditions) and STATExZONE factor interaction (15 EEG leads) in the selected time intervals showing differences. Competition conditions resulted in decreased amplitudes of both sensory components, P1 and P2, and semantic components with N400 and P600 latency in both creative and non-creative activities. This suggests the presence of difficulty in finding an answer. The proportion of correct responses was significantly lower in the competitive conditions than during individual task performance. The median correct response rate was 45% (31–55) compared to 56% (49–74) in the creative task, and 87% (82–93) compared to 66% (60–76) in the non-creative task, during competition and individual performance, respectively. Probably, a significant portion of the resources used when performing the task in social interaction conditions were aimed at evaluating the partner’s reactions and responses. This assessment was reflected in the reduction of earlier components associated with attention (P1, P2) as well as later components associated with semantic processing of stimuli (N400, P600). The conditions of the competition had a more noticeable impact on the ERP in the creative task as compared to the non-creative task.

“Who Said That?” Applying the Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique to Social Telepresence

As with all remotely controlled robots, successful teleoperation of social and telepresence robots relies greatly on operator situation awareness; however, existing situation awareness measurements, most being originally created for military purposes, are not adapted to the context of social interaction. We propose an objective technique for telepresence evaluation based on the widely accepted Situation Awareness Global Assessment Technique, adjusted to suit social contexts. This was trialled in a between-subjects participant study ( n = 56) comparing the effect of mono and spatial (binaural) audio feedback on operator situation awareness during robot teleoperation in a simulated social telepresence scenario. Subjective data were also recorded, including questions adapted from Witmer and Singer’s Presence Questionnaire, as well as qualitative feedback from participants. No significant differences in situation awareness measurements were detected; however, correlations observed between measures call for further research. This study and its findings are a potential starting point for the development of social situation awareness assessment techniques, which can inform future social and telepresence robot design decisions.

An ecological perspective on the flow of compassion among Iranian learners of English as a foreign language

As a social-interactional positive behavior, the flow of compassion (i.e., self-compassion, compassion for others, and compassion from others), which refers to sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it, has yet to be investigated in a highly social-interactional context such as foreign language learning classrooms. Thus, the present study adopted an ecological perspective within Bronfenbrenner’s (1979, 1993) analytic nested ecosystems model to explore how the flow of compassion is rooted in such a context. Sixteen Iranian English as a foreign language learners took part in the current study, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews. Employing the framework of the nested ecosystems model, we identified both influential individual and environmental factors underlying the flow of compassion among the participants. The flow of compassion proved to be influenced differently at different ecosystemic levels by individual and environmental factors. At the individual level, negative and positive emotions, fears, non-judgmental attitudes, intimacy, well-being, improvement, motivation, and action were found as influential factors in emerging the flow of compassion. At the contextual level, the identified influential factors included past experiences outside of the classroom, extracurricular activities, institution policy and criteria, cultural and social values, as well as the use of technology and the internet. Limitations and implications of the present study are also discussed.

1 Moral Reasoning in Individuals with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum

Objective:Previous research has demonstrated that individuals with Agenesis of the Corpus Callosum (AgCC), the congenital absence of all or part of the corpus callosum, exhibit a pattern of cognitive and psychosocial deficits, even with a FSIQ in the normal range (FSIQ > 80; Brown & Paul, 2019). This includes a core deficit in their complex reasoning and novel problem-solving (Brown & Paul, 2019), with secondary deficits in capacity to imagine complex emotional/cognitive consequences of potential actions involving others (Young et al, 2019), deficits in emotionperception (Symington et at., 2010, Bridgman et al 2014), and difficulty with cognitively processing emotions within the context of social interactions (Anderson et al., 2017). This constellation of deficits is likely to also impact moral reasoning. While previous research has demonstrated differences in moral reasoning among other neuropsychological populations such as those with ventromedial prefrontal damage (Moretto et al., 2010) and frontotemporal dementia (Gleichgerrcht et al., 2011), there is no research reported regarding moral judgements in AgCC. This study employed the Moral Dilemmas Scale (Greene, 2001) to compare the moral judgements of persons with AgCC to neurotypical controls. It was predicted that individuals with AgCC would be less contextually nuanced than neurotypical controls in responding to moral dilemmas.Participants and Methods:Results consist of data derived from 57 neurotypical control participants (ages 23 to 64 years) recruited from MTurk Cloud and 19 AgCC participants (ages 23 to 77 years) with normal-range FSIQ (>80) drawn from the individuals with AgCC involved with the Human Brain and Cognition Lab at the Travis Research Institute. All participants completed an online version of the Moral Dilemmas Scale (Greene, 2001). The scale consists of 25 dilemmas, of which 11 are considered high-conflict, 7 low-conflict and 7 impersonal. Participants were instructed to read each dilemma and rate whether they found the action to be “appropriate” or not. The high-conflict dilemmas share a similar structure in which responses reflect either a utilitarian or deontological judgement.Results:“Approve” responses to each of the 3 categories of dilemma were separately tallied for each individual and subjected to a 2group ANOVA. Results revealed the control group produced a significantly higher rate of “appropriate” responses to high-conflict dilemmas than did the individuals with AgCC (F=8.17, p = .006, n2 =.113). However, no significant differences were found among the two groups for results on low (n2 = .013) and impersonal (n2 = .003) dilemmas alone. Furthermore, a X2 analysis of responses to each high conflict dilemma revealed a significant difference in 5 out of the 11 such that more persons with AgCC gave a deontological judgement.Conclusions:Results suggested that adults with AgCC respond similarly to neurotypical controls with respect to the low conflict orimpersonal dilemmas. However, with respect to high conflict dilemmas, compared to controls they tend to respond in a more deontological than utilitarian basis - that is, based on general principles without contextual nuance. These findings are consistent with the conclusion of Renteria-Vasquez et al. (2021) that persons with AgCC have difficulty imagining the wider implications of present information.

Problem of Identity between Theory and Practice: Saudi Arabia as a Case Study

Objectives: This study aims at analyzing and investigating the problem of identity between theory and practice through studying different aspects of Saudi identity as well as questions related to it. Methods: This study has employed a case study approach in order to analyze primary and secondary literature on this subject matter. This method of research would enable the researcher to provide an in-depth investigation and understanding of different variables and influences of the Saudi identity. Results: Social and economic transformations in Saudi Arabia, dictates, to diversify resources of revenue that could generate social and economic challenges. Therefore, social responsibility should be observed in order to establish an effective and institutional social system. Moreover, the emerging national identity should not be perceived as exclusionary and a replacement to the traditional Saudi identity. Furthermore, in relation to foreign policy, state sovereignty should be emphasized as well as the principle of non-intervention in other states affairs. In addition to that, a vast regional and international reference should be established in order to tackle disputed issues with regional and international parties as regional and international stability is a high Saudi interest. Conclusion: This study concludes that Saudi identity in its traditional and conservative aspects was established and developed within a context of social, historical, political, religious and economic interaction with a dominant religious discourse. However, the ongoing current developments within the context of the 2030 Vision started to change the concept of Saudi identity towards pluralist and open national identity This study has employed a case study approach in addition to certain theoretical perspectives related to identity problem in order to analyse primary and secondary literature on this subject matter so understand different dynamics of Saudi identity. This study concludes that Saudi identity in its traditional and conservative aspect was established and developed within a context of social, historical, political, religious and economic interaction with a dominant religious discourse. However, the ongoing current developments within the context of 2030 Vision started to change the concept of Saudi identity towards pluralist and open national identity.

A performative perspective on sensing, seizing, and transforming in small- and medium-sized enterprises

ABSTRACT This study investigates organizational sensing, seizing, and transforming, which are critical activities in developing and exercising dynamic capabilities (DCs)––an organization’s capacity to reconfigure its resources in response to a changing environment. Previous research on small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) has predominantly focused on well-established business processes that are considered functional DCs, including product development, portfolio planning, and customer management, highlighting their role in facilitating resource reconfiguration. However, these studies implicitly assume the existence of functional DCs, without explaining what contributes to their development. We build on recent theoretical arguments emphasizing the performative dimensions of the DC construct and examine how SME practitioners sense and seize opportunities and threats, and subsequently transform their resources and operations. Our findings highlight a series of practices employed in ongoing social interactions to develop functional DCs or reconfigure established routines. These practices are situated in social interaction contexts characterized by distinct modes of communication, including resonance, generativity, and call for action. By offering a communicative explanation of the performance and dynamization of sensing, seizing, and transforming, this study underscores the pivotal role of interpersonal dynamics in facilitating resource reconfiguration.

A Novel Head-Fixed Assay for Social Touch in Mice Uncovers Aversive Responses in Two Autism Models.

Social touch, an important aspect of social interaction and communication, is essential to kinship across animal species. How animals experience and respond to social touch has not been thoroughly investigated, in part because of the lack of appropriate assays. Previous studies that examined social touch in freely moving rodents lacked the necessary temporal and spatial control over individual touch interactions. We designed a novel head-fixed assay for social touch in mice, in which the experimenter has complete control to elicit highly stereotyped bouts of social touch between two animals. The user determines the number, duration, context, and type of social touch interactions, while monitoring an array of complex behavioral responses with high resolution cameras. We focused on social touch to the face because of its high translational relevance to humans. We validated this assay in two different models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the Fmr1 knock-out (KO) model of Fragile X syndrome (FXS) and maternal immune activation (MIA) mice. We observed higher rates of avoidance running, hyperarousal, and aversive facial expressions (AFEs) to social touch than to object touch, in both ASD models compared with controls. Fmr1 KO mice showed more AFEs to mice of the same sex but whether they were stranger or familiar mice mattered less. Because this new social touch assay for head-fixed mice can be used to record neural activity during repeated bouts of social touch it could be used to uncover underlying circuit differences.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Social touch is important for communication in animals and humans. However, it has not been extensively studied and current assays to measure animals' responses to social touch have limitations. We present a novel head-fixed assay to quantify how mice respond to social facial touch with another mouse. We validated this assay in autism mouse models since autistic individuals exhibit differences in social interaction and touch sensitivity. We find that mouse models of autism exhibit more avoidance, hyperarousal, and aversive facial expressions (AFEs) to social touch compared with controls. Thus, this novel assay can be used to investigate behavioral responses to social touch and the underlying brain mechanisms in rodent models of neurodevelopmental conditions, and to evaluate therapeutic responses in preclinical studies.

When a smile is still a conflict: Affective conflicts from emotional facial expressions of ingroup or outgroup members occur irrespective of the social interaction context

Facial expressions play a crucial role in human interactions. Typically, a positive (negative) expression evokes a congruent positive (negative) reaction within the observer. This congruent behavior is inverted, however, when the same positive (negative) expression is displayed by an outgroup member. Two approaches provide an explanation for this phenomenon. The social intentions account proposes underlying social messages within the facial display, whereas the processing conflict account assumes an affective conflict triggered by incongruent combinations of emotion and the affective connotation of group membership. In three experiments, we aimed at further substantiating the processing conflict account by separating the affective conflict from potential social intentions. For this, we created a new paradigm, in which the participant was an outside observer of a social interaction scene between two faces. Participants were required to respond to the emotional target person that could represent an ingroup or outgroup member. In all three experiments, irrespective of any social intention, responses were consistently affected by the group relation between participant and emotional target, i.e., the affective (in)congruency of the target seen by participants. These results further support the processing conflict account. The implications for the two theoretical accounts are discussed.

From attitudes to social networks: National gender-role attitudes and gender differences in late-life social relationships

Studies often find gender differences in social networks in later life, but are these findings universal, or do they differ in various cultural contexts? To address this research gap, the current study examines the association between gender differences in social relationships and country-level gender-role attitudes. We combined data from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) of individuals aged 50 years and older with country-level data on gender-role attitudes from the European Values Survey (EVS) for 15 European countries. We estimated a series of multivariate hierarchical regression models that predicted the size of the personal social network, its emotional closeness, and the proportion of the spouse, children, and friends in the network. The results indicated gender differences in social network characteristics. Women reported larger social networks and were more likely to have larger proportions of children and friends but smaller proportions of the spouse in their social networks. The magnitude of gender differences was associated with country-level gender-role attitudes. In countries with more egalitarian gender-role attitudes, women had larger networks with a larger proportion of friends compared to men. In countries with more traditional gender-role attitudes, women had larger proportions of their children and spouse in their social networks and had emotionally closer networks. Our findings suggest that the societal context and opportunity structures for social interactions play an important role in shaping the structure of women’s and men’s social relationships in later life.

Predictive Mouse Ultrasonic Vocalization Sequences: Uncovering Behavioral Significance, Auditory Cortex Neuronal Preferences, and Social-Experience-Driven Plasticity.

Mouse ultrasonic vocalizations (USVs) contain predictable sequential structures like bird songs and speech. Neural representation of USVs in the mouse primary auditory cortex (Au1) and its plasticity with experience has been largely studied with single-syllables or dyads, without using the predictability in USV sequences. Studies using playback of USV sequences have used randomly selected sequences from numerous possibilities. The current study uses mutual information to obtain context-specific natural sequences (NSeqs) of USV syllables capturing the observed predictability in male USVs in different contexts of social interaction with females. Behavioral and physiological significance of NSeqs over random sequences (RSeqs) lacking predictability were examined. Female mice, never having the social experience of being exposed to males, showed higher selectivity for NSeqs behaviorally and at cellular levels probed by expression of immediate early gene c-fos in Au1. The Au1 supragranular single units also showed higher selectivity to NSeqs over RSeqs. Social-experience-driven plasticity in encoding NSeqs and RSeqs in adult females was probed by examining neural selectivities to the same sequences before and after the above social experience. Single units showed enhanced selectivity for NSeqs over RSeqs after the social experience. Further, using two-photon Ca2+ imaging, we observed social experience-dependent changes in the selectivity of sequences of excitatory and somatostatin-positive inhibitory neurons but not parvalbumin-positive inhibitory neurons of Au1. Using optogenetics, somatostatin-positive neurons were identified as a possible mediator of the observed social-experience-driven plasticity. Our study uncovers the importance of predictive sequences and introduces mouse USVs as a promising model to study context-dependent speech like communications.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Humans need to detect patterns in the sensory world. For instance, speech is meaningful sequences of acoustic tokens easily differentiated from random ordered tokens. The structure derives from the predictability of the tokens. Similarly, mouse vocalization sequences have predictability and undergo context-dependent modulation. Our work investigated whether mice differentiate such informative predictable sequences (NSeqs) of communicative significance from RSeqs at the behavioral, molecular, and neuronal levels. Following a social experience in which NSeqs occur as a crucial component, mouse auditory cortical neurons become more sensitive to differences between NSeqs and RSeqs, although preference for individual tokens is unchanged. Thus, speech-like communication and its dysfunction may be studied in circuit, cellular, and molecular levels in mice.

Akan Traditional Games: An Indispensable Tool in Ghanaian Language Classroom in Respect to Classroom Interaction

This investigation examined the potential of incorporating Akan traditional games as an effective tool for enhancing classroom interaction in Ghanaian language classrooms. The study recognizes the importance of creating an engaging and interactive learning environment to facilitate language acquisition and cultural appreciation. Drawing upon previous research on the benefits of game-based learning, the paper investigates the specific role of Akan traditional games in promoting communication, collaboration, and cultural understanding among students. The investigation employs a single-methods research design, qualitative data collection techniques. A sample of (100) participants from Berekum Municipal, Mampong Municipal and Sekondi – Takoradi Municipal were selected, to represent a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds and language abilities as population sampling. Observation and interviews were conducted to gather qualitative data, allowing deeper understanding of the factors supporting the investigation.
 The investigation revealed that, traditional games facilitate communication skills, preservation of Cultural Heritage, teamwork, enhanced classroom interaction. The study identified the benefits of incorporating traditional games in terms of learner motivation, engagement, language proficiency and ability to promote participation and excellent engagement. The theory that buttressed the investigation was Vygotsky (1930) sociocultural theory. This theory emphasizes the role of social interaction and cultural context in children's cognitive development.