Human-like Characteristics Research Articles

The Effects of Anthropomorphism on How People Evaluate Algorithm-Written News

Based on the Modality-Agency-Interactivity-Navigability model and the anthropomorphism theory, this study examines whether embedding human-like characteristics in algorithms increases the persuasiveness of algorithm-written news. This study further investigates how different types of relationships (servant or friend) that human writers form with algorithms determine the persuasiveness of algorithm-generated news. Experiment 1 demonstrated that participants who read the human- and humanized algorithm-written news showed greater emotional involvement in the stories and liked the articles more than those who read the algorithm-written news. The participants also reported that news written by humans, humanized algorithms, and algorithms, had equal news credibility. Experiment 2 further showed that the participants perceived the news as more credible and experienced greater degrees of emotional involvement when human writers formed a partner-to-friend relationship with humanized algorithms while generating news rather than a servant-to-master relationship.

Who made the decisions: Human or robot umpires? The effects of anthropomorphism on perceptions toward robot umpires

This study examined how the adoption of robot umpires in baseball alters people’s evaluation of ball/strike decisions, the trust in umpires, game enjoyment, and their behavioral consequences. The results indicated that people perceived umpire calls as fairer and more credible, and demonstrated greater trust in human umpires than in robot umpires; however, these negative effects were attenuated when robot umpires were humanized by giving them human-like characteristics. Furthermore, the effects of robot umpires were moderated by age and gender. Younger adults and males generally had more positive perceptions toward robot umpires, while older adults and females had more positive perceptions toward humanized robot umpires.

Theories of Conversation for Conversational IR

Conversational information retrieval is a relatively new and fast-developing research area, but conversation itself has been well studied for decades. Researchers have analysed linguistic phenomena such as structure and semantics but also paralinguistic features such as tone, body language, and even the physiological states of interlocutors. We tend to treat computers as social agents—especially if they have some humanlike features in their design—and so work from human-to-human conversation is highly relevant to how we think about the design of human-to-computer applications. In this article, we summarise some salient past work, focusing on social norms; structures; and affect, prosody, and style. We examine social communication theories briefly as a review to see what we have learned about how humans interact with each other and how that might pertain to agents and robots. We also discuss some implications for research and design of conversational IR systems.

Social Responses to Virtual Humans: The Effect of Human-Like Characteristics

As a virtual human is provided with more human-like characteristics, will it elicit stronger social responses from people? Two experiments were conducted to address these questions. The first experiment investigated whether virtual humans can evoke a social facilitation response and how strong that response is when people are given different cognitive tasks that vary in difficulty. The second experiment investigated whether people apply politeness norms to virtual humans. Participants were tutored either by a human tutor or a virtual human tutor that varied in features and then evaluated the tutor’s performance. Results indicate that virtual humans can produce social facilitation not only with facial appearance but also with voice. In addition, performance in the presence of voice synced facial appearance seems to elicit stronger social facilitation than in the presence of voice only or face only. Similar findings were observed with the politeness norm experiment. Participants who evaluated their tutor directly reported the tutor’s performance more favorably than participants who evaluated their tutor indirectly. This valence toward the voice synced facial appearance had no statistical difference compared to the valence toward the human tutor condition. The results suggest that designers of virtual humans should be mindful about the social nature of virtual humans.

Aping Language: Historical Perspectives on the Quest for Semantics, Syntax, and Other Rarefied Properties of Human Language in the Communication of Primates and Other Animals.

In 1980, Robert Seyfarth, Dorothy Cheney and Peter Marler published a landmark paper in Science claiming language-like semantic communication in the alarm calls of vervet monkeys. This article and the career research program it spawned for its authors catalyzed countless other studies searching for semantics, and then also syntax and other rarefied properties of language, in the communication systems of non-human primates and other animals. It also helped bolster a parallel tradition of teaching symbolism and syntax in artificial language systems to great apes. Although the search for language rudiments in the communications of primates long predates the vervet alarm call story, it is difficult to overstate the impact of the vervet research, for it fueled field and laboratory research programs for several generations of primatologists and kept busy an equal number of philosophers, linguists, and cognitive scientists debating possible implications for the origins and evolution of language and other vaunted elements of the human condition. Now 40-years on, the original vervet alarm call findings have been revised and claims of semanticity recanted; while other evidence for semantics and syntax in the natural communications of non-humans is sparse and weak. Ultimately, we are forced to conclude that there are simply few substantive precedents in the natural communications of animals for the high-level informational and representational properties of language, nor its complex syntax. This conclusion does not mean primates cannot be taught some version of these elements of language in artificial language systems – in fact, they can. Nor does it mean there is no continuity between the natural communications of animals and humans that could inform the evolution of language – in fact, there is such continuity. It just does not lie in the specialized semantic and syntactic properties of language. In reviewing these matters, I consider why it is that primates do not evince high-level properties of language in their natural communications but why we so readily accepted that they did or should; and what lessons we might draw from that experience. In the process, I also consider why accounts of human-like characteristics in animals can be so irresistibly appealing.

A Minimal Design of a Human Infant Presence: A Case Study Toward Interactive Doll Therapy for Older Adults With Dementia.

We introduce a minimal design approach to manufacture an infant-like robot for interactive doll therapy that provides emotional interactions for older people with dementia. Our approach stimulates their imaginations and then facilitates positive engagement with the robot by just expressing the most basic elements of humanlike features. Based on this approach, we developed HIRO, a baby-sized robot with an abstract body representation and no facial features. The recorded voice of a real human infant emitted by robots enhances the robot’s human-likeness and facilitates positive interaction between older adults and the robot. Although we did not find any significant difference between HIRO and an infant-like robot with a smiling face, a field study showed that HIRO was accepted by older adults with dementia and facilitated positive interaction by stimulating their imagination. We also discuss the importance of a minimal design approach in elderly care during post–COVID-19 world.

Projective Anthropomorphism as a Dialogue with Ourselves

AbstractThis paper introduces an original concept (projective anthropomorphism) towards exploring a psychological dimension that is irreducible to the forms of anthropomorphism investigated in both cognitive science and social robotics. Projective anthropomorphism is an unconscious bias towards anticipating humanlike characteristics in robots. An overview of the variety of ways in which projection has been conceptualised in psychology and psychoanalysis is provided before discussing implications for theorising projective anthropomorphism. The proposed concept alludes to the projection of existential anxieties and desires onto myths, legends, linguistic tropes, and science-fiction motifs of humanoid automata. Such motifs and their associated narratives populate contemporary popular culture, and feed into social representations of robots. The importance of considering projective anthropomorphism lies in the extent to which its phenomena channel people’s expectations and attitudes towards technological artefacts, as well as steering technological possibilities.

Estimating the Impact of “Humanizing” Customer Service Chatbots

In this work, we investigate how applying human-like characteristics to customer service chatbots can influence retail outcomes. This is an important managerial question as creating effective chatbot experiences through messaging platforms has proven difficult for organizations. Often, chatbot developers apply characteristics such as giving a chatbot a human name, adding humor, and so on, without knowing how these features influence end user behavior. Implementing a field experiment in collaboration with a dual channel clothing retailer based in the United States, we automate a used clothing buy-back process, such that individuals engage with the retailer's autonomous chatbot to describe the used clothes they wish to sell, obtain a cash offer, and (if they accept) print a shipping label to finalize the transaction. We provide evidence that, in this retail setting, anthropomorphism is beneficial for transaction outcomes, but that it also leads to significant increases in consumers’ sensitivity to the offer amount. We argue that the latter effect occurs because, as a chatbot becomes more human-like, consumers shift to a fairness evaluation or negotiating mindset.

A review article on artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the emulation of human intelligence in computers that have been trained to think and behave like humans. The word may also refer to any computer that exhibits human-like characteristics like learning and problem-solving. Artificial intelligence is intelligence demonstrated by machines, as opposed to natural intelligence, which involves consciousness and emotionality and is demonstrated by humans and animals [1].

SF 영화와 드라마에 나타난 기술적 타자로서의 인공지능 캐릭터 연구

The practical use of artificial intelligence has been accelerated by the advancement of technology, which also allowed artificial intelligence to emerge in the real world and interact with humans. Media has been producing fictitious characters based on the AI as protagonist or antagonist. Through analyzing the process of forming an identity of AI characters in fictional movies and dramas, it will be possible to infer the answer to the socio-cultural problem of artificial intelligence.<BR> In this study, the process of forming identity of AI characters as ‘Technical Others’ was analyzed based on Frantz Fanon’s colonial theory. First of all, AI characters created by human perceive their physical differences as deficiencies through comparison with human. Second, they desire making mutual relationship with humans and becoming members of human society. In this process, they try to prove their human-like features through mutual-recognition. Finally, as the result of their desire, they experience ego-regression or the state of unconsciousness. This blank is filled with the identity as ‘the others’, and as a result, the AI characters solidify their formed identity as a ‘technical others’ in the hierarchical relationship of humanistic ideology.<BR> AI characters are non-human beings that break the boundaries of the binomial confrontation like subject-other, fiction-reality, furthermore, humanism-posthumanism. So through analyzing former AI characters, it is expected that the identity of AI characters can be defined socioculturally and offer alternative directions of preparing for the era of posthumanism.

A novel rat model of chronic subdural hematoma: Induction of inflammation and angiogenesis in the subdural space mimicking human-like features of progressively expanding hematoma

Pathophysiological mechanisms of chronic subdural hematoma (CSDH) involve localized inflammation, angiogenesis, and dysregulated coagulation and fibrinolysis. The scarcity of reproducible and clinically relevant animal models of CSDH hinders further understanding the underlying pathophysiology and improving new treatment strategies. Here, we developed a novel rat model of CSDH using extracellular matrices (Matrigel) and brain microvascular endothelial cell line (bEnd.3 cells). One hundred-microliter of Matrigel-bEnd.3 cell (106 cells per milliliter) mixtures were injected into the virtual subdural space of elderly male Sprague-Dawley rats. This approach for the first time led to a spontaneous and expanding subdural hematoma, encapsulated by internal and external neomembranes, formed as early as 3 d, reached its peak at 7 d, and lasted for more than 14 d, mimicking the progressive hemorrhage observed in patients with CSDH. The external neomembrane and hematoma fluid involved numerous inflammatory cells, fibroblasts, and highly fragile neovessels. Furthermore, a localized pathophysiological process was validated as evidenced by the increased expressions of inflammatory and angiogenic mediators in external neomembrane and hematoma fluid rather than in peripheral blood. Notably, the specific expression profiles of these mediators were closely associated with the dynamic changes in hematoma volume and neurological outcome. In summary, the CSDH model described here replicated the characteristics of human CSDH, and might serve as an ideal translational platform for preclinical studies. Meanwhile, the crucial roles of angiogenesis and inflammation in CSDH formation were reaffirmed.

The personality of anthropomorphism: How the need for cognition and the need for closure define attitudes and anthropomorphic attributions toward robots

Anthropomorphism describes the tendency to attribute human characteristics to non-human agents such as robots. These attributions could depend on some dispositional factors such as the individuals' will to engage in reflective processes (need for cognition), to predict their environment (need for closure). Indeed, these traits may moderate how we explain artificial agents’ behavior that is our motivation to use cognitively more effortful reasoning about artificial agents against easily accessible anthropomorphic explanations. In the present study, we measured participants (n = 1141) need for cognition and closure in order to predict attitudes toward robots and anthropomorphic attributions on various robots which differed in terms of human-like characteristics. We found that both dimensions of personality influenced attitudes and anthropomorphism. In addition, these effects were emphasized by the human-like characteristics of the robots. In addition, we used a novel approach of clustering and machine-learning validation to delineate personality profiles based on the need for cognition and need for closure as most predictive variables to provide a first predictive categorization of tendency to anthropomorphize and attitudes toward robots. Our results argue for the importance of considering the interaction between the dispositional traits on the one hand and the design of robots on the other for anthropomorphism.

A Human-like Upper-limb Motion Planner: Generating naturalistic movements for humanoid robots

As robots are starting to become part of our daily lives, they must be able to cooperate in a natural and efficient manner with humans to be socially accepted. Human-like morphology and motion are often considered key features for intuitive human–robot interactions because they allow human peers to easily predict the final intention of a robotic movement. Here, we present a novel motion planning algorithm, the Human-like Upper-limb Motion Planner, for the upper limb of anthropomorphic robots, that generates collision-free trajectories with human-like characteristics. Mainly inspired from established theories of human motor control, the planning process takes into account a task-dependent hierarchy of spatial and postural constraints modelled as cost functions. For experimental validation, we generate arm-hand trajectories in a series of tasks including simple point-to-point reaching movements and sequential object-manipulation paradigms. Being a major contribution to the current literature, specific focus is on the kinematics of naturalistic arm movements during the avoidance of obstacles. To evaluate human-likeness, we observe kinematic regularities and adopt smoothness measures that are applied in human motor control studies to distinguish between well-coordinated and impaired movements. The results of this study show that the proposed algorithm is capable of planning arm-hand movements with human-like kinematic features at a computational cost that allows fluent and efficient human–robot interactions.

Using human emotion as a conduit for connection in branding and advertising

Traditionally, advertising and marketing have been seen as ‘manipulative, deceptive, and evil’ — when commercials appear on television, people change the channel. When commercials come on the radio, people change the station to try and find music. In today’s world, the traditional model of advertising is dismissed by most consumers. There are underlying subconscious elements, however, that we cannot consciously see but can utilise within marketing and branding. The subconscious areas of the human mind can be leveraged in a way that evokes human emotion to effectively target and build a brand that consumers are proactively looking to engage with. With the introduction of social media, influencers and what I like to call ‘woke advertising’ brands are effectively using ‘emotion’ as a tool to connect with their target audience and not merely create new customers but create customers who are proactively connecting with that brand. It is this emotional connection that allows the brand to take on ‘human-like’ qualities within the eyes of the consumer and create a bond and connection that allow consumers to proactively engage with the brand and create a long-lasting emotional hook. This paper examines how the introduction of new technology and social media allows consumers to ‘talk back’ with brands and have dialogues that create an opportunity for brands to take on human-like characteristics.

Development of Cable-driven Anthropomorphic Robot Hand

This letter presents a novel design of an anthropomorphic robotic hand. By using a parallel plate knuckle with a universal joint, it is possible to achieve two degree of freedom (DOF) at a joint of a finger with wide working range in the proposed design. Each degree of freedom of the robotic hand is driven by parallel cables with single motor that mimics the muscle antagonism of the human hand. The proposed robotic hand embodies human-like features and achieves an adaptive grasping capability by adopting compliant coupling between the distal and the proximal interphalangeal joints. Experiments are conducted to validate the performance of the robotic hand.

ВИРТУАЛЬНЫЙ АРТИСТ. VOCALOID И ЭКСПЕРИМЕНТ ПО ЕГО ВОСПРИЯТИЮ

Over the past decade the voice synthesiser Vocaloid has gained great popularity in Japan. Critics debate on whether Vocaloid can be called a new musical instrument and if its creation marks a new era in (Japanese) popular music. The unique characteristic of a Vocaloid is its Alter Ego, its “virtual shape”, which is illustrated like common anime or manga characters such as Sailor Moon or Kamikaze Kaito Jeanne, thus owning not just a name but also human-like features. It was due to the use of avatar images that Vocaloid managed to spread across the world via the internet. The most famous anthropomorphic singer is called Hatsune Miku and is known for her long turquoise-coloured hair tied up in two ponytails. Being the uncrowned princess of Nico Nico Douga—the Japanese equivalent of YouTube, Miku opened up the pathway for even more Vocaloids like Luka Megurine or Rin and Len Kagamine. The contiguity of the new creating type to the “screen arts” is maintained by its own existence in the sphere of digital media. This new phenomenon is not very known in Europe, so the question on the principles of its existence is a vital one to discuss. Furthermore, we shall test how its music and appearance are perceived by people who do not belong to the fandom. How does a Non-Japanese listener react to a musical performance done by a computer program? One of the first answers to this question can be found in a study, which was conducted at the Martin-Luther-University in Halle (Saale), Germany. It focused on the reactions of the listeners. Although Europeans do not show as much interest in artificial intelligence as the Japanese, the test subjects showed great sympathy towards the singing program. The essay’s content is divided into four parts. It begins with a contemplation of Vocaloids sociological aspects (1), followed by the introduction of a selfproduced classification of its performances (2) and continues with an explanation on how the experimental research was conducted (3). The last part contains a summarised presentation of the results and a perspective on future research (4). The authors claim this research to be one of the very first tries to shed light on how the popularity of this new musical phenomenon can be explained.

Exploring the Influential Factors of Consumers' Willingness Toward Using COVID-19 Related Chatbots: An Empirical Study.

Background:Consumers’ willingness to use health chatbots can eventually determine if the adoption of health chatbots will succeed in delivering healthcare services for combating COVID-19. However, little research to date has empirically explored influential factors of consumer willingness toward using these novel technologies, and the effect of individual differences in predicting this willingness.Objectives:This study aims to explore (a) the influential factors of consumers’ willingness to use health chatbots related to COVID-19, (b) the effect of individual differences in predicting willingness, and (c) the likelihood of using health chatbots in the near future as well as the challenges/barriers that could hinder peoples’ motivations.Methods:An online survey was conducted which comprised of two sections. Section one measured participants’ willingness by evaluating the following six factors: performance efficacy, intrinsic motivation, anthropomorphism, social influence, facilitating conditions, and emotions. Section two included questions on demographics, the likelihood of using health chatbots in the future, and concerns that could impede such motivation.Results:A total of 166 individuals provided complete responses. Although 40% were aware of health chatbots and only 24% had used them before, about 84% wanted to use health chatbots in the future. The strongest predictors of willingness to use health chatbots came from the intrinsic motivation factor whereas the next strongest predictors came from the performance efficacy factor. Nearly 39.5% of participants perceived health chatbots to have human-like features such as consciousness and free will, but no emotions. About 38.4% were uncertain about the ease of using health chatbots.Conclusion:This study contributes toward theoretically understanding factors influencing peoples’ willingness to use COVID-19-related health chatbots. The findings also show that the perception of chatbots’ benefits outweigh the challenges.

Thinking Technology as Human: Affordances, Technology Features, and Egocentric Biases in Technology Anthropomorphism

Advanced information technologies (ITs) are increasingly assuming tasks that have previously required human capabilities, such as learning and judgment. What drives this technology anthropomorphism (TA), or the attribution of humanlike characteristics to IT? What is it about users, IT, and their interactions that influences the extent to which people think of technology as humanlike? While TA can have positive effects, such as increasing user trust in technology, what are the negative consequences of TA? To provide a framework for addressing these questions, we advance a theory of TA that integrates the general three-factor anthropomorphism theory in social and cognitive psychology with the needs-affordances-features perspective from the information systems (IS) literature. The theory we construct helps to explain and predict which technological features and affordances are likely: (1) to satisfy users’ psychological needs, and (2) to lead to TA. More importantly, we problematize some negative consequences of TA. Technology features and affordances contributing to TA can intensify users’ anchoring with their elicited agent knowledge and psychological needs and also can weaken the adjustment process in TA under cognitive load. The intensified anchoring and weakened adjustment processes increase egocentric biases that lead to negative consequences. Finally, we propose a research agenda for TA and egocentric biases.

A human-based assisted reproduction protocol for the menstruating spiny mouse, Acomys cahirinus.

The Egyptian or Common spiny mouse (A. cahirinus) is the first rodent species to show human-like menstruation and spontaneous decidualisation. We consider from these, and its other, human-like characteristics that this species will be a more useful and appropriate small animal model for human reproductive studies. Based on this, there is a need to develop specific laboratory-based assisted reproduction protocols including superovulation, in-vitro fertilisation, embryo cryopreservation and transfer to expand and make this model more relevant. Because standard rodent superovulation has not been successful in the spiny mouse, we have selected to test a human protocol. Female spiny mice will receive a subcutaneous GnRH agonist implant and be allowed to recover. Menstrual cycle lengths will then be allowed to stabilize prior to ovarian stimulation. After recovery, females will be injected IP once a day for 4 days with a FSH analogue, to induce follicular growth, and on day 5 will be injected IP with a hCG analogue to trigger ovulation. Females will either be culled 36hrs after trigger to collect oocytes or immediately paired with a stud male and two cell embryos collected 48hrs later. Mature oocytes will be inseminated using fresh spiny mouse spermatozoa and all in-vitro grown and in-vivo collected two cell embryos will be cryopreserved using methods developed in a close spiny mouse relative, the Mongolian gerbil. For embryo transfer, vitrified embryos will be rapidly warmed and non-surgically transferred to surrogate mice. Surrogates will be monitored until pregnancy is apparent (roughly 30 days) and then left undisturbed until birth, 38–40 days after transfer. By successfully developing robust assisted reproduction protocols in A. cahirinus we will be able to use this rodent as a more effective model for human reproduction.

Social robots are like real people: First impressions, attributes, and stereotyping of social robots.

There have been over one thousand published scholarly articles about social robots in the academic literature, indicative of considerable interest as evidenced by new research labs, conferences, journals, TED talks, companies, patents, and products. The social robots of interest are autonomous physical embodiments (i.e., they exist in the real world not just on a screen), and they communicate with humans via social behaviors (e.g., speech, gestures, and movement) that mimic human interactions that are linked with particular social roles that a robot might play. The proposed roles for the robots vary, from teaching to childcare to toys to elder companionship, but the underlying rationale for their popularity is similar across contexts. Social robots can be designed with human-like features, textures, and movements, and programmed to behave in variety of social or helpful ways, enough so that the people who use them could interact via familiar and pleasurable and even emotional connections. Robots have the added advantage of lower cost, continuous availability, and constancy of responses compared to human counterparts. The potential for robots to improve human life across a range of capacities is high.