TY - GEN
T1 - Robot-Assisted Language Learning Increases Functional Connectivity in Children's Brain
AU - Alimardani, Maryam
AU - Duret, Jesse L. P.
AU - Jouen, Anne-Lise
AU - Hiraki, Kazuo
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - The current study investigated how robot tutors influence brain activity during child-robot interaction (CRI) for learning of second language vocabulary. We gathered EEG signals from two groups of children; 1) Robot group (N=21) who listened to a storytelling social robot and learned French words, and 2) Display group (N=20) who listened to the same story in the French language mediated by only a computer screen. To measure learning-induced changes in the brain, functional connectivity analysis was conducted on EEG signals, which quantifies the communication between brain regions during the learning phase. Results showed a significantly higher functional brain connectivity for the Robot group in the theta frequency band, which has been previously associated with language functions in neuroscientific literature. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence for the benefit of robot tutors in second language learning in children.
AB - The current study investigated how robot tutors influence brain activity during child-robot interaction (CRI) for learning of second language vocabulary. We gathered EEG signals from two groups of children; 1) Robot group (N=21) who listened to a storytelling social robot and learned French words, and 2) Display group (N=20) who listened to the same story in the French language mediated by only a computer screen. To measure learning-induced changes in the brain, functional connectivity analysis was conducted on EEG signals, which quantifies the communication between brain regions during the learning phase. Results showed a significantly higher functional brain connectivity for the Robot group in the theta frequency band, which has been previously associated with language functions in neuroscientific literature. Our results provide neurophysiological evidence for the benefit of robot tutors in second language learning in children.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85140762890&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/HRI53351.2022.9889406
DO - 10.1109/HRI53351.2022.9889406
M3 - Conference contribution
T3 - ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
SP - 674
EP - 677
BT - HRI 2022 - Proceedings of the 2022 ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
PB - IEEE Computer Society
T2 - 17th Annual ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction, HRI 2022
Y2 - 7 March 2022 through 10 March 2022
ER -