Persistent Lexical Entrainment in HRI

Jürgen presented our paper on “Persistent Lexical Entrainment in HRI”. The full paper is available at the ACM Digital Library.

Here is the abstract of the paper:

In this study, we set out to ask three questions. First, does lexical entrainment with a robot interlocutor persist after an interaction? Second, how does the influence of social robots on humans compare with the influence of humans on each other? Finally, what role is played by personality traits in lexical entrainment to robots, and how does this compare with the role of personality in entrainment to other humans? Our experiment shows that first, robots can indeed prompt lexical entrainment that persists after an interaction is over. This finding is interesting since it demonstrates that speakers can be linguistically influenced by a robot, in a way that is not merely motivated by a desire to be understood. Second, we find similarities between lexical entrainment to the robot peer and lexical entrainment to a human peer, although the effects are stronger when the peer is human. Third, we find that whether the peer is a robot or a human, similar personality traits contribute to lexical entrainment. In both peer conditions, participants who score higher on “Openness to experience” are more likely to adopt less conventional terminology.

Velvet Pure Scam

I probably receive an average amount of spam in my email inbox but also through my regular mail. This week I received a peculiar brochure in my post box advertising health products from a company called “Velvet Pure“:

Deer Velvet from Velvet Pure

The promises made in it are just as outrageous as lipstick that this gentleman put on. To make things even more interesting, their website makes some very interesting claims for their Athletic Capsules: Continue reading “Velvet Pure Scam”

Media Coverage on Fake Nuclear Physics Paper

The media has reported extensively on my little nuclear physics paper. Here is a short overview:

I have also completed and interview with Geoff Hutchison from ABC Radio Perth:

Radio CBC:

Jesse Mulligan on Radio New Zealand: