Sensitivity to social contingency or stability of interaction? Modelling the dynamics of perceptual crossing

Toward Minimally Social Behavior: Social Psychology Meets Evolutionary Robotics

“…Di Paolo, et al [3] used ER to generate a simulation model of the perceptual crossing experiment, and successfully replicated the results while at the same time gaining some additional insights into the dynamics of the interaction process. For example, the problems that their agents had with avoiding interactions with their respective static objects led them to predict similar difficulties for human participants.…”

“…In both modeling studies [3,5] it was demonstrated that the simulated agents make use of the duration of contact with objects in order to discriminate interactions with a static object (always same length of stimulation for same velocity) and the other agent (potentially shorter or longer stimulation, depending on whether the other passes by in in-phase or anti-phase movement). This is a reliable basis of distinction because the other agent is always moving.…”

“…Moreover, some of these models have been specifically designed to generate insights with the potential to generate mutually informing collaborations between the field of artificial life and the traditional empirical sciences, especially social psychology (e.g. [3,4]). One promising target for this endeavor is Auvray, et al"s [1] minimalist perceptual crossing experiment.…”

Emergence of Interaction among Adaptive Agents

“…The same type of ability is demonstrated by the ability of young children to spontaneously discriminate between a video showing the behavior of their mother interacting live with the child with respect to a video showing a pre-recorded interaction [7]. This discrimination skill has been reproduced in evolutionary robotics experiments where agents have been selected for the ability to discriminate between real agents and insensitive "shadows" [8] or between interacting agents and their exact behavioral replay [9]. From these experiments it has been concluded that the detection of social contingency does not require complex cognitive skills [8].…”

“…This discrimination skill has been reproduced in evolutionary robotics experiments where agents have been selected for the ability to discriminate between real agents and insensitive "shadows" [8] or between interacting agents and their exact behavioral replay [9]. From these experiments it has been concluded that the detection of social contingency does not require complex cognitive skills [8].…”