Dominique Knutsen, Université de Lille,
Title: What does recent research in experimental psychology have to tell us about common ground?
Abstract: The notion of common ground is not new: over the past decades, research is psychology (and in other fields such as linguistics or computer science) has investigated how mental representations of mutual knowledge guide how people interact and refer to things during dialogue. In more recent years, research has started to examine the question of how common ground might relate to other major cognitive functions such as episodic memory or theory of mind. In this presentation, I will review some of this research, with a specific focus on the question of how individual memory constraints may affect how people collaborate with each other. I will then provide a brief overview of my current projects on the role of theory of mind in dialogue.
Emilia Barakova, Eindhoven University of Technology,
Title: Gaze, Intonation, and Intonation entrainment in human-robot interactions.
Abstract: Based on the following papers and some new research that is currently analysed ( after we have collected the data): Mwangi, E., Barakova, E., D'\iaz-Boladeras, M., Mallofré, A., & Rauterberg, M. (2018). Directing attention through gaze hints improves task solving in human–humanoid interaction. International Journal of Social Robotics, 10, 343–355.
Straten, C., Smeekens, I., Barakova, E., Glennon, J., Buitelaar, J., & Chen, A. (2018). Effects of robots’ intonation and bodily appearance on robot-mediated communicative treatment outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder. Personal and Ubiquitous Computing, 22, 379–390.
Mwangi, E., Barakova, E., D'\iaz, M., Mallofré, A., & Rauterberg, M. (2018). Dyadic gaze patterns during child-robot collaborative gameplay in a tutoring interaction. In 2018 27th IEEE (RO-MAN) (pp. 856–861).
Wingerden, E., Barakova, E., Lourens, T., & Sterkenburg, P. (2020). Robot-mediated therapy to reduce worrying in persons with visual and intellectual disabilities. Journal of Applied Research in Intellectual Disabilities, Molenaar, B., Soliño Fernández, B., Polimeno, A., Barakova, E., & Chen, A. (2021). Pitch it right: using prosodic entrainment to improve robot-assisted foreign language learning in school-aged children. Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, 5(12), 76.
Chris Howes, Gothenburg University,
Title: Only joking? Exploiting mismatches in topoi.
Abstract: To interpret utterances in interaction, we use common-sense inferences linking background knowledge, beliefs and context to the ongoing dialogue. How a particular utterance should be interpreted relies on certain underpinning assumptions warranting these inferences. Following Aristotle, these principles of reasoning are called topoi. Topoi are cultural affordances accessible to members of a particular community which licence certain inferences. Accessing or accommodating an appropriate topos to interpret an utterance is therefore crucial for successful dialogue. In most (arguably all) cases there is more than one potentially applicable topos and this can lead to a mismatch between interlocutors’ interpretations of an utterance. We argue that this potential for mismatch is exploited in the case of humour, and that the humorous effect of jokes, for example, is created by the juxtaposition of at least two different topoi which are both potentially applicable to the situation. Conversely, the same type of deliberate mismatch can be exploited for deniability (as in the case of dogwhistles, or offensive humour). We will present some (potentially offensive) examples and a pilot experiment.
Location: Attend in person at J330 or via Zoom, (link to come!)
Time: 13:15-16:00