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As robots advance from the pages and screens of science fiction into our homes, hospitals, and schools, they are poised to take on increasingly social roles. Consequently, the need to understand the mechanisms supporting human–machine interactions is becoming increasingly pressing. We introduce a framework for studying the cognitive and brain mechanisms that support human–machine interactions, leveraging advances made in cognitive neuroscience to link different levels of description with relevant theory and methods. We highlight unique features that make this endeavour particularly challenging (and rewarding) for brain and behavioural scientists. Overall, the framework offers a way to study the cognitive science of human–machine interactions that respects the diversity of social machines, individuals' expectations and experiences, and the structure and function of multiple cognitive and brain systems. Although machines designed to socially interact with humans are proliferating, our understanding of the mental processes supporting such interactions remains limited. The cognitive and brain sciences can make considerable theoretical and methodological contributions to this endeavour. To date, the modal approach to cognitive science-informed human–robot interaction research has been grounded in social cognition. We widen the lens through which much of this research has been framed to incorporate diverse and interacting forms of cognition, which emphasise the complexity of understanding human–robot interaction on a mechanistic level. Our framework seeks to account for the unusual demands on (neuro)cognition presented by engaging with social machines, focusing on machine variety, diverse neurocognitive systems, and unique contextual factors such as media-skewed expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Social Motivation Theory posits that a reduced sensitivity to the value of social stimuli, specifically faces, can account for social impairments in Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). Research has demonstrated that typically developing (TD) individuals preferentially orient towards another type of salient social stimulus, namely biological motion. Individuals with ASD, however, do not show this preference. While the reward value of faces to both TD and ASD individuals has been well-established, the extent to which individuals from these populations also find human motion to be rewarding remains poorly understood. The present study investigated the value assigned to biological motion by TD participants in an effort task, and further examined whether these values differed among individuals with more autistic traits. The results suggest that TD participants value natural human motion more than rigid, machine-like motion or non-human control motion, but this preference is attenuated among individuals reporting more autistic traits. This study provides the first evidence to suggest that individuals with more autistic traits find a broader conceptualisation of social stimuli less rewarding compared to individuals with fewer autistic traits. By quantifying the social reward value of human motion, the present findings contribute an important piece to our understanding of social motivation in individuals with and without social impairments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this study was to determine the efficacy of feeding the commercially available diet, Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets UR Urinary St/Ox, for the dissolution of struvite cystoliths in cats with naturally occurring disease. Twelve cats with clinical signs of lower urinary tract disease and cystoliths confirmed via radiographs were enrolled. The cats were fed the study diet ad libitum and assessed by abdominal radiographs weekly. Cats with cystoliths that resolved based on radiographs and confirmatory ultrasound examination were considered diet successes. Cats with no change in cystolith size after 2-6 weeks underwent cystotomy for stone removal, aerobic culture and antimicrobial susceptibility testing, and analysis. All cats accepted the study diet, and weight loss was not noted over the course of the study. Total cystolith dissolution was achieved by week 2 for 5 cats, which were presumed to have struvite cystoliths. All other cats underwent cystotomy for stone removal after radiographic evidence of cystoliths were still present at 2 weeks (1 cat with severe signs), 4 weeks (5 cats), or 6 weeks (1 cat). The cystoliths that were surgically removed were calcium oxalate (5 cats) and mixed (2 cats) and would not be expected to dissolve with this diet. Follow-up radiographs from 6 cats fed the diet long term (3 presumed struvite and 3 with other cystoliths removed surgically) were collected from 1 to 6 months after beginning the study and showed no evidence of cystolith recurrence. While larger case numbers are needed, these results suggest that feeding Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets UR Urinary St/Ox can successfully dissolve cystoliths that are likely struvite and may lessen the risk of recurrence of struvite and calcium oxalate cystoliths. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: What does it mean to “know” what an object is? Viewing objects from different categories (e.g., tools vs. animals) engages distinct brain regions, but it is unclear whether these differences reflect object categories themselves or the tendency to interact differently with objects from different categories (grasping tools, not animals). Here we test how the brain constructs representations of objects that one learns to name or physically manipulate. Participants learned to name or tie different knots and brain activity was measured whilst performing a perceptual discrimination task with these knots before and after training. Activation in anterior intraparietal sulcus, a region involved in object manipulation, was specifically engaged when participants viewed knots they learned to tie. This suggests that object knowledge is linked to sensorimotor experience and its associated neural systems for object manipulation. Findings are consistent with a theory of embodiment in which there can be clear overlap in brain systems that support conceptual knowledge and control of object manipulation. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: A 12-year-old female spayed domestic short-haired cat presented for lethargy, poor hair coat, alopecia, difficulty walking, and mild polyuria/polydipsia. The cat''s skin tore easily in the neck area during routine restraint for blood draw. Physical examination, blood analysis, and ultrasound imaging were all consistent with pituitary-dependent hyperadrenocorticism (PDH) with secondary insulin-resistant diabetes mellitus, which was nonketotic. Insulin therapy, fluids, and diet change were initiated for the diabetes mellitus and the owner reported improvement in clinical signs although the blood glucose measurements remained elevated. Surgical repair of the torn skin was successful. Although a guarded prognosis was given to the owner because of an advanced stage of hyperadrenocorticism, and the limited treatment options currently available for feline PDH, trilostane was agreed on as an initial therapeutic option. The day trilostane was to be initiated, the cat presented with dyspnea and the owner chose to euthanize. Because of the rarity of hyperadrenocorticism disease in the cat, permission was obtained by the owner for a necropsy to confirm suspected PDH as the underlying cause for insulin resistance and skin fragility syndrome. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: According to Milner and Goodale''s theory of the two visual streams, the dorsal (action) stream controls actions in real-time, whereas the ventral (perceptual) stream stores longer-term information for object identification. By this account, the dorsal stream subserves actions carried out immediately. However, when a delay is required before the response, the ventral (perceptual) stream is recruited. Indeed, a neuroimaging study from our lab has found reactivation of an area within the ventral stream, the lateral occipital (LO) cortex, at the time of action even when no visual stimulus was present. To tease apart the contribution of specific areas within the dorsal and ventral streams to the online control of grasping under immediate and delayed conditions, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to the anterior intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) and to LO. We show that while TMS to aIPS affected grasp under both immediate and delayed conditions, TMS to LO influenced grasp only under delayed movement conditions. The effects of TMS were restricted to early movement kinematics (i.e. within 300ms) due to the transient nature of TMS, which was always delivered simultaneous with movement onset. We discuss the implications of our findings in relation to interactions between the dorsal and ventral streams. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: [1.] We constructed a cost-effective environmental chamber by modifying a dual heating–cooling microbiological incubator. [2.] In round gobies, Apollonia melanostoma, critical thermal maximum temperature (onset of spasms, OS) was significantly higher than the mean loss of righting response (LRR) temperature. Neither temperature endpoint was correlated to body mass or total body length. [3.] Opercular ventilation rates (OVR) were positively correlated to ambient temperature change. Q 10 values for OVR were 1.26 (Δ 16→26 °C) to 1.23 (Δ 20→30 °C). [4.] With respect to thermal tolerance, the round goby is unlikely a factor in recruitment failure of the mottled sculpin, Cottus bairdi. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The mirror neuron system has dominated understanding of observational learning from a cognitive neuroscience perspective. Our review highlights the value of observational learning frameworks that integrate a more diverse and distributed set of cognitive and brain systems, including those implicated in sensorimotor transformations, as well as in more general processes such as executive control, reward, and social cognition. We argue that understanding how observational learning occurs in the real world will require neuroscientific frameworks that consider how visuomotor processes interface with more general aspects of cognition, as well as how learning context and action complexity shape mechanisms supporting learning from watching others. Understanding how the human brain translates visual information into skilled motor performance has been assisted and constrained by the discovery of mirror neurons. Emerging evidence highlights how observational motor learning involves a far more diffuse network of brain regions and cognitive processes, which are shaped by the context and complexity of the motor task to be learned. A greater emphasis on combining functional decomposition and functional integration approaches should facilitate paradigms and discoveries that move us closer toward understanding how we learn from watching others in complex, real-world scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial intelligence advances have led to robots endowed with increasingly sophisticated social abilities. These machines speak to our innate desire to perceive social cues in the environment, as well as the promise of robots enhancing our daily lives. However, a strong mismatch still exists between our expectations and the reality of social robots. We argue that careful delineation of the neurocognitive mechanisms supporting human–robot interaction will enable us to gather insights critical for optimising social encounters between humans and robots. To achieve this, the field must incorporate human neuroscience tools including mobile neuroimaging to explore long-term, embodied human–robot interaction in situ. New analytical neuroimaging approaches will enable characterisation of social cognition representations on a finer scale using sensitive and appropriate categorical comparisons (human, animal, tool, or object). The future of social robotics is undeniably exciting, and insights from human neuroscience research will bring us closer to interacting and collaborating with socially sophisticated robots. As robots become increasingly present in human society, considerable gaps remain between expectations for the social roles these robots might play and their actual abilities. Research examining social cognition when interacting with robots offers a promising avenue for understanding how best to introduce robots to complex social settings, such as in schools, hospitals, and at home. Thanks to methodological advances in human neuroscience, such as mobile neuroimaging, human–robot interaction research is moving out of the laboratory and into the real world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Less than two decades after its inception, the burgeoning field of neuroaesthetics continues to grow in interest and momentum. Despite the biological and social importance of the human body and the attention people pay to its appearance in daily life, only recently has neuroaesthetic inquiry turned its attention to questions concerning the aesthetic appraisal of the human body. We review evidence illustrating that the complexity of aesthetic experience is reflected by dynamic interplay between brain systems involved in reward, perceptual and motor processing, with a focus on aesthetic perception involving the human body. We then evaluate work demonstrating how these systems are modulated by beholders’ expertise or familiarity. Finally, we discuss seminal studies revealing the plasticity of behavioural and neural responses to beauty after perceptual and motor training. This research highlights the rich potential for neuroaesthetic inquiry to extend beyond its typical realm of the fine arts to address important questions regarding the relationship between embodiment, aesthetics and performing arts. We conclude by considering some of the criticisms and limitations of neuroaesthetics, and highlight several outstanding issues for future inquiry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Electrophysiological recordings from monkeys, as well as functional imaging and neuropsychological work with humans, have suggested that a region in the anterior portion of the intraparietal sulcus (aIPS) is involved in prehensile movements. With recent methodological advances using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), we can now causally attribute anatomy with function to more precisely determine the specific involvement of aIPS in grasping. It has recently been demonstrated that aIPS is specifically involved in executing a grasp under conditions of both constant target requirements, as well as in correcting a movement under conditions in which a target perturbation occurs. In the present study, we extend these findings by determining the differential contribution of the left and right hemisphere to executing a grasping movement with the left and right hands. Transient disruption of left aIPS at movement onset impairs grasping with the right but not the left hand, and disruption of right aIPS impairs grasping with the left but not the right hand. We conclude that grasping is a lateralized process, relying exclusively on the contralateral hemisphere, and discuss the implications of these findings in relationship to models of hemispheric dominance for motor control. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Presents a study which evaluated the emergence of Candida glabrata infections among cancer patients. Background on systemic candidiasis; Materials and methods used; Results and conclusions.