The problem we address here is how an animated face can produce the appropriate facial expression according to the performative of the communicative act being performed, while taking into account information on the specific interlocutor and the specific physical-social situation at hand. In our system, a communicative act is represented by two elements: a meaning which corresponds to a set of g...

This study evaluated the social perception and social functioning of children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder-Combined (ADHD-C), ADHD-predominately inattentive (ADHD-PI), and controls. Two-hundred and seventy children with ADHD-C, ADHD-PI, or controls were evaluated using direct and indirect measures of social functioning. The ADHD-C and ADHD-PI groups showed significant differenc...

Children acquire information, especially about the culture in which they are being raised, by listening to other people. Recent evidence has shown that young children are selective learners who preferentially accept information, especially from informants who are likely to be representative of the surrounding culture. However, the extent to which children understand this process of information ...

Embodied Conversational Agents have been widely used to simulate dyadic interactions with users. We want to explore the context of expression of interpersonal attitudes in simulated group conversations. We are presenting a model that allows agents to exhibit a variety of nonverbal behaviors (e.g gestures, facial expressions, proxemics) depending on the interpersonal attitudes that they want to ...

In three experiments, the authors investigated the effects of sadness on the desire for social connectedness. They hypothesized that sadness serves an adaptive function by motivating people to reach out to others and preferentially attend to information related to one's current level of social connectedness, but only when it is instigated by social loss. Consistent with this hypothesis, the aut...

This study aimed to examine the relationships between the cognitive aspect of college students’ attitudes toward physical education (PE) and their social skills in PE classes. A sample of 573 first-year students (269 male and 304 female, mean age = 17.6 years) in China was investigated in terms of their social behaviors in current PE classes and evaluations of their high school PE. Correlation ...

Nonverbal behavior is considered critical for indicating intimacy and is important when designing a social virtual agent such as a counselor. One key research question is how to properly express intimate self-disclosure. In this paper we present an extensive study of human nonverbal behavior during intimate self-disclosure. This is an important milestone in creating a virtual counselor. A study...

The accurate assessment of risky sexual behaviors and barriers to condom use is essential to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. This study tests a new nonverbal response-card method for obtaining more accurate responses to sensitive questions in the context of face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaires in a survey of 1,269 Ethiopian young people aged 13-24. Comparisons of responses betwee...

Consistent with calls by O’Sullivan (1999) and Rogers (1999), we use mass communication theory to help understand what are often thought to be largely interpersonal communication processes. Specifically, we contend that investigating media frames found within metapragmatic discourse of nonverbal events can help organize and reveal more specific meanings that can be given to the cues. To provide...

OBJECTIVE We examined longitudinal associations among neonatal and socioeconomic risks, maternal scaffolding behaviors, and 24-month visual-spatial processing and working memory in a sample of 73 toddlers born preterm or low birthweight (PT LBW). METHODS Risk data were collected at hospital discharge and dyadic play interactions were observed at 16-months postterm. Abbreviated IQ scores, verb...