Theory of mind (ToM) on robots: a functional neuroimaging study

ABSTRACT

Theory of Mind (ToM) is not only a key capability for cognitive development but also for successful social interaction. In order for a robot to interact successfully with a human both interaction partners need to have an adequate representation of the other's actions. In this paper we address the question of how a robot's actions are perceived and represented in a human subject interacting with the robot and how this perception is influenced by the appearance of the robot. We present the preliminary results of an fMRI-study in which participants had to play a version of the classical Prisoners' Dilemma Game (PDG) against four opponents: a human partner (HP), an anthropomorphic robot (AR), a functional robot (FR), and a computer (CP). The PDG scenario enables to implicitly measure mentalizing or Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities, a technique commonly applied in functional imaging. As the responses of each game partner were randomized unknowingly to the participants, the attribution of intention or will to an opponent (i.e. HP, AR, FR or CP) was based purely on differences in the perception of shape and embodiment.

The present study is the first to apply functional neuroimaging methods to study human-robot interaction on a higher cognitive level such as ToM. We hypothesize that the degree of anthropomorphism and embodiment of the game partner will modulate cortical activity in previously detected ToM networks as the medial prefrontal lobe and anterior cingulate cortex.

REFERENCES

• 1: B. Duffy and G. Joue (2004). 'I, robot being', Intelligent Autonomous Systems Conference (IAS8), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• 2: D. Steffen (1997). 'On a Theory of Product Language, Perspectives on the hermeneutic interpretation of design objects', in: formdiskurs, Journal of Design and Design Theory, Nr. 3, 2/ 1997
• 3: D. Steffen (2000). 'Design als Produktsprache, Der Offenbacher Ansatz in Theorie und Praxis', Frankfurt am Main.
• 4: J. J. Gibson (1977). 'The Theory of Affordances'. In Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing, Eds. Robert Shaw and John Bransford.
• 5: H. v. Foerster (1997). 'Wissen und Gewissen. Versuch einer Brücke'. Frankfurt.
• 6: B. Duffy (2003). 'Anthropomorphism and The Social Robot', Special Issue on Socially Interactive Robots, Robotics and Autonomous Systems 42 (3-4).
• 7: J. Goetz, S. Kiesler, and A. Powers (2003) 'Matching robot appearance and behavior to tasks to improve human-robot cooperation', in Proceedings of the 12th IEEE Workshop on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN '03), pp. 55--60, San Francisco, CA.
• 8: M. Lohse, F. Hegel, A. Swadzba, K. J. Rohlfing, S. Wachsmuth, and B. Wrede (2007). 'What can I do for you? Appearance and Application of Robots'. AISB Workshop on The Reign of Catz and Dogz? The role of virtual creatures in a computerised society, Newcastle, GB.
• 9: T. W. Fong, I. Nourbakhsh, and K. Dautenhahn (2002). 'A Survey of Socially Interactive Robots: Concepts, Design, and Applications', Robotics and Autonomous Systems, 42(3-4), 142--166.
• 10: Carl F. DiSalvo , Francine Gemperle , Jodi Forlizzi , Sara Kiesler, All robots are not created equal: the design and perception of humanoid robot heads, Proceedings of the 4th conference on Designing interactive systems: processes, practices, methods, and techniques, June 25-28, 2002, London, England [doi>10.1145/778712.778756]
• 11: M. Blow, K. Dautenhahn, A. Appleby, C. L. Nehaniv, and D. C. Lee (2006). 'Perception of Robot Smiles and Dimensions for Human-Robot Interaction Design' 15th IEEE International Symposium on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN '06), pages 469--474, Hatfield, UK.
• 12: Judith S. Donath, Mediated Faces, Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Cognitive Technology: Instruments of Mind, p.373-390, August 06-09, 2001
• 13: Rachel Gockley , Jodi Forlizzi , Reid Simmons, Interactions with a moody robot, Proceedings of the 1st ACM SIGCHI/SIGART conference on Human-robot interaction, March 02-03, 2006, Salt Lake City, Utah, USA [doi>10.1145/1121241.1121274]
• 14: A. Bruce, I. Nourbakhsh, and R. Simmons (2001). 'The role of expressiveness and attention in humanrobot interaction', in Proc. AAAI Fall Symp. Emotional and Intel. II: The Tangled Knot of Soc. Cognition.
• 15: F. Hegel, T. Spexard, T. Vogt, G. Horstmann, and B. Wrede (2006). 'Playing a different imitation game: Interaction with an Empathic Android Robot', in Proc. 2006 IEEE-RAS International Conference on Humanoid Robots (Humanoids '06), pp. 56--61. IEEE.
• 16: M. Mori (1997). 'The Buddha in the Robot'. Charles E. Tuttle Co.
• 17: S. Freud (1953). 'The Uncanny'. The Standard Edition of the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud, ed. & trs. James Strachey, vol. XVII (London: Hogarth), pp. 219--252.
• 18: Christoph Bartneck, Interacting with an embodied emotional character, Proceedings of the 2003 international conference on Designing pleasurable products and interfaces, June 23-26, 2003, Pittsburgh, PA, USA [doi>10.1145/782896.782911]
• 19: Y. Jung and K. M. Lee (2004). 'Effects of physical embodiment on social presence of social robots'. Proceedings of Presence 2004, 80--87.
• 20: D. Premack and G. Woodruff (1978). 'Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind?'. Behavioural and Brain Science, 1, 515--526.
• 21: J. Decety, P. L. Jackson, J. A. Sommerville, T. Chaminade, and A. N. Meltzoff (2004). 'The neural bases of cooperation and competition: an fMRI investigation'. Neuroimage, 23(2), 744--751.
• 22: H. Fukui, T. Murai, J. Shinozaki, T. Aso, H. Fukuyama, T. Hayashi, et al. (2006). 'The neural basis of social tactics: An fMRI study'. Neuroimage, 32(2), 913--920.
• 23: T. Kircher, T. Lataster, D. Majoram, I. Blümel, L. Krabbendam, J. Weber, et al. (submitted). Online measurement of Theory of Mind (ToM).
• 24: S. Krach, I. Blümel, D. Majoram, T. Lataster, L. Krabbendam, J. Weber, et al. (submitted). 'Playing the game differently - sex differences in mentalizing detected with functional neuroimaging'.
• 25: J. K. Rilling, D. Gutman, T. Zeh, G. Pagnoni, G. Berns, and C. Kilts (2002). 'A neural basis for social cooperation. Neuron'. 35(2), 395--405.
• 26: J. K. Rilling, A. G. Sanfey, J. A. Aronson, L. E. Nystrom, and J. D. Cohen (2004). 'The neural correlates of theory of mind within interpersonal interactions'. Neuroimage, 22(4), 1694--1703.
• 27: V. Gazzola, G. Rizzolatti, B. Wicker, and C. Keysers (2007). 'The anthropomorphic brain: the mirror neuron system responds to human and robotic actions'. Neuroimage, 35(4), 1674--1684.
• 28: J. Fritsch, B. Wrede, and G. Sagerer (2005). 'Bringing it all together: Integration to study embodied interaction with a robot companion'. Paper presented at the AISB 2005 Symposium - Robot Companions: Hard Problems and Open Challenges in Robot-Human Interaction, Hatfield, England.
• 29: M. Hackel, M. Schwope, J. Fritsch, B. Wrede, and G. Sagerer (2006). 'Designing a sociable humanoid robot for interdisciplinary research'. Advanced Robotics, 20(11), 1219--1235.
• 30: M. Hackel, S. Schwope, J. Fritsch, B. Wrede, & G. Sagerer (2005). 'A humanoid robot platform suitable for studying embodied interaction'. Paper presented at the RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
• 31: T. Spexard, A. Haasch, J. Fritsch, & G. Sagerer (2006). 'Human-like person tracking with an anthropomorphic robot'. Paper presented at the IEEE Int. Conf. on Robotics and Automation (ICRA), Orlando, Florida.
• 32: B. Wrede, M. Kleinehagenbrock, & F. Fritsch (2007). 'Towards an integrated robotic system for interactive learning in a social context'. Paper presented at the IEEE/RSJ Int. Conf. on Intelligent Robots and Systems - IROS 2006, Bejing.
• 33: R. C. Oldfield (1971). 'The assessment and analysis of handedness: the Edinburgh inventory'. Neuropsychologia, 9(1), 97--113.
• 34: R. Brickenkamp (2002). 'Der Aufmerksamkeits-Belastungstest d2'. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
• 35: R. Reitan, & D. Wolfson. (1985). 'The Halstead-Reitan neuropsychological test battery: Theory and clinical interpretation'. Tucson: Neuropsychology Press.
• 36: S. Lehrl. (2007). 'Der Mehrfachwahl-Wortschatz-Intelligenztest'. Göttingen: Hogrefe.
• 37: O. P. John. (1990). 'The "Big Five" factor taxonomy: Dimensions of personality in the natural language and in questionnaires'. In L. Pervin (Ed.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research (pp. 66--100). New York: Guilford Press.
• 38: D. C. Dennett (1987). 'The intentional stance'. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press.
• 39: H. L. Gallagher, A. I. Jack, A. Roepstorff, and C. D. Frith. (2002). 'Imaging the intentional stance in a competitive game'. Neuroimage, 16(3 Pt 1), 814--821.
• 40: J. Talairach, and P. Tournoux. (1988). 'Co-planar stereotaxic atlas of the human brain'. Stuttgart, Germany: Thieme.

INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  J. Computer Applications
  J.4 SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES
      Subjects: Psychology

General Terms:
Design, Experimentation, Human Factors

Keywords:
FMRI, anthropomorphism, social robots, theory of mind