Disturbances in social interaction occur along with pathophysiological deficits following sub-chronic phencyclidine administration in the rat.

A sub-chronic administration of phencyclidine to the rat brings about enduring pathophysiological and cognitive changes that resemble some features of schizophrenia. The present study aimed to determine whether the behavioural consequence of this phencyclidine regime extends to a long-term disruption of social interaction that might provide a parallel with some negative symptoms of the disease. Rats were treated with phencyclidine (2mg/kg bi-daily for 1 week) or vehicle followed by a drug-free period. Social interaction was assessed 24h, 1 week, 3 weeks and 6 weeks post-treatment. A long-lasting disturbance of social behaviour was observed in the phencyclidine group, namely more contact and non-contact interaction with an unfamiliar target rat at all time points. Six weeks post-phencyclidine, analysis of brains showed a reduction in expression of parvalbumin immunoreactive neurons in the hippocampus with significant reductions localised to the CA1 and dentate gyrus regions. These results show that sub-chronic phencyclidine produces long-lasting disruptions in social interaction that, however, do not model the social withdrawal seen in patients with schizophrenia. These disturbances of social behaviour may be associated with concurrent pathophysiological brain changes.

Attention during social interaction in children with autism: Comparison to specific language impairment, typical development, and links to cognition

Eye-tracking studies have shown how people with autism spend significantly less time looking at socially relevant information on-screen compared to those developing typically. This has been suggested to impact on the development of socio-cognitive skills in autism. We present novel evidence of how attention atypicalities in children with autism extend to real-life interaction, in comparison to typically developing (TD) children and children with specific language impairment (SLI). We explored the allocation of attention during social interaction with an interlocutor, and how aspects of attention (awareness checking) related to traditional measures of social cognition (false belief attribution). We found divergent attention allocation patterns across the groups in relation to social cognition ability. Even though children with autism and SLI performed similarly on the socio- cognitive tasks, there were syndrome-specific atypicalities of their attention patterns. Children with SLI were most similar to TD children in terms of prioritising attention to socially pertinent information (eyes, face, awareness checking). Children with autism showed reduced attention to the eyes and face, and slower awareness checking. This study provides unique and timely insight into real-world social gaze (a)typicality in autism, SLI and typical development, its relationship to socio-cognitive ability, and raises important issues for intervention.

The Belfast Storytelling Database: A spontaneous social interaction database with laughter focused annotation

To support the endeavor of creating intelligent interfaces between computers and humans the use of training materials based on realistic human-human interactions has been recognized as a crucial task. One of the effects of the creation of these databases is an increased realization of the importance of often overlooked social signals and behaviours in organizing and orchestrating our interactions. Laughter is one of these key social signals; its importance in maintaining the smooth flow of human interaction has only recently become apparent in the embodied conversational agent domain. In turn, these realizations require training data that focus on these key social signals. This paper presents a database that is well annotated and theoretically constructed with respect to understanding laughter as it is used within human social interaction. Its construction, motivation, annotation and availability are presented in detail in this paper.

Are Shy Adults Really Bolder Online? It Depends on the Context

We examined whether individual differences in shyness and context influenced the amount of computer-mediated self-disclosure and use of affective language during an unfamiliar dyadic social interaction. Unfamiliar young adults were selected for high and low self-reported shyness and paired in mixed dyads (one shy and one nonshy). Each dyad was randomly assigned to either a live webcam or no webcam condition. Participants then engaged in a 20-minute online free chat over the Internet in the laboratory. Free chat conversations were archived, and the transcripts were objectively coded for traditional communication variables, conversational style, and the use of affective language. As predicted, shy adults engaged in significantly fewer spontaneous self-disclosures than did their nonshy counterparts only in the webcam condition. Shy versus nonshy adults did not differ on spontaneous self-disclosures in the no webcam condition. However, context did not influence the use of computer-mediated affective language. Although shy adults used significantly less active and pleasant words than their nonshy counterparts, these differences were not related to webcam condition. The present findings replicate and extend earlier work on shyness, context, and computer-mediated communication to a selected sample of shy adults. Findings suggest that context may influence some, but not all, aspects of social communication in shy adults.

Is shyness context specific? Relation between shyness and online self-disclosure with and without a live webcam in young adults

The Internet provides a new tool to investigate old questions in experimental social psychology regarding Person x Context interaction. We examined the interaction of self-reported shyness and context on computer-mediated communication measures. Sixty female undergraduates unfamiliar were paired in dyads and engaged in a 10 min free chat conversation on the Internet with and without a live webcam. Free chat conversations were archived, transcripts were objectively coded for communication variables, and a linear mixed model used for data analysis of dyadic interaction was performed on each communication measure. As predicted, increases in self-reported shyness were significantly related to decreases in the number of prompted self-disclosures (after controlling for the number of opportunities to self-disclose) only in the webcam condition. Self-reported shyness was not related to the number of prompted self-disclosures in the no webcam condition, suggesting that shyness was context dependent. The present study appears to be the first to objectively code measures of Internet behaviour in relation to the study of personality in general and shyness in particular. Theoretical and clinical implications for understanding the contextual nature of shyness are discussed. (C) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Evaluating the quality of learning in Computer Supported Co-operative Learning

Can learning quality be maintained in the face of increasing class size by the use of Computer Supported Co-operative Learning (CSCL) technologies? In particular, can Computer-Mediated Communication promote critical thinking in addition to surface information transfer? We compared face-to-face seminars with asynchronous computer conferencing in the same Information Management class. From Garrison's theory of critical thinking and Henri's critical reasoning skills, we developed two ways of evaluating critical thinking: a student questionnaire and a content analysis technique. We found evidence for critical thinking in both situations, with some subtle differences in learning style. This paper provides an overview of this work.

An experiment in group learning technology: evaluating critical thinking in face-to-face and computer-supported seminars

Can learning quality be maintained in the face of increasing class size by the use of Computer Supported Co-operative Learning (CSCL) technologies? In particular, can Computer-Mediated Communication promote critical thinking in addition to surface information transfer? We compared face-to-face seminars with asynchronous computer conferencing in the same Information Management class. From Garrison's theory of critical thinking and Henri's critical reasoning skills, we developed two ways of evaluating critical thinking: a student questionnaire and a content analysis technique. We found evidence for critical thinking in both situations, with some subtle differences in learning style. This paper provides an overview of this work.

The causal attributions of nursing students towards adolescent survivors of brain injury

Background: The hidden nature of brain injury means that it is often difficult for people to understand the sometimes challenging behaviors that individuals exhibit. The misattribution of these behaviors may lead to a lack of consideration and public censure if the individual is seen as simply misbehaving.

Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the impact of visual cues indicating the presence or absence of brain injury on prejudice, desire for social interaction, and causal attributions of nursing and computing science students.

Method: An independent-groups design was employed in this research, which recruited 190 first-year nursing students and 194 first-year computing science students from a major university in Belfast, UK. A short passage describing an adolescent’s behavior after a brain injury, together with one of three images portraying a young adolescent with a scar, a head dressing, or neither of these, was given to participants. They were then asked to answer questions relating to prejudice, social interaction, locus of control, and causal attributions. The attributional statements suggested that the character’s behavior could be the result of brain injury or adolescence.

Results: Analysis of variance demonstrated a statistically significant difference between the student groups, where nursing students (M = 45.17, SD = 4.69) desired more social interaction with the fictional adolescent than their computer science peers (M = 38.64, SD = 7.69). Further, analysis of variance showed a main effect of image on the attributional statement that described adolescence as a suitable explanation for the character’s lack of self-confidence.

Discussion: Attributions of brain injury were influenced by the presence of a visible but potentially specious indicator of injury. This suggests that survivors of brain injury who do not display any outward indicator may receive less care and face expectations to behave in a manner consistent with the norms of society. If their injury does not allow them to meet with these expectations, they may face public censure and discrimination.