Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that significantly heightens the challenges and risks associated with driving. Individuals with ASD often experience increased sensory sensitivities, difficulty adapting to dynamic environments, and heightened vulnerability to unexpected events, which can lead to elevated stress levels, sensory overload, and impaired decision-making on the road. Existing research in stress detection primarily proposes reactive approaches, triggering responses only after stress has escalated. Such strategies limit the possibility for timely and effective intervention. Moreover, most existing studies fail to quantify stress intensity, providing only binary assessments. This lack of granularity hinders the development of proactive and personalized support mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a novel real-time approach for continuous stress prediction and quantification tailored to drivers with ASD. Our method leverages physiological signals and contextual data to anticipate stress escalation and enable proactive stress quantification and provide a proactive, fine-grained assessment of stress levels, paving the way for personalized and context-aware in-vehicle support systems that enhance driving safety and comfort for individuals with ASD.

Making a motor error, hitting the wrong key for example in responding to a stimulus, impacts perceptual, motor, and cognitive processes by implying a variation in performance and response time on the next trial (Post Error Slowing, Dutilh et al., 2012; Wessel, 2018). Wessel et al. (2022) showed that an error produced on a flanker-type task had a negative impact on a working memory span recognition. This effect is called ERIAM (Error Related Impairment of Active Working Memory) and consists of degradation of memory span following the production of an error on a conflict task concurrent to a memory task. In their study, the ERIAM effect is more pronounced in Low Span individuals. This suggests that these individuals have less stable Working Memory representations and are more likely to be impacted by an error. The presented study replicates the ERIAM protocol of Wessel et al. (2022) by adding variation of cognitive load. In addition, span recognition task is modified with a recall task. Results show a replication of ERIAM effect in our sample. Moreover, ERIAM effect is only significant in lowspan group in the moderate cognitive load condition and in highspan group in the increased load condition. In line with Lavie's load theory (Lavie et al., 2004), we explain these results by the fact that High and Low Span groups do not process cognitive load increase in the same way.

The study examined age-related differences in behavioural and ocular strategies to search for information during web navigation within a website as a function of prior domain knowledge (high level vs low level) of users and search problem complexity (simple vs difficult problems). 23 older adults and 20 young adults had to answer ten search problems in two domain knowledge within two experimental websites (one for each domain): health and fantasy movies. In each domain, participants had to complete three simple problems (the main words of the instructions corresponded to links on the menu bar) and seven complex problems (the main words in the instructions were not present in the menu bar, so participants had to infer the relevant categories from the menu bar to find the information). Results showed that older and young adults adopt different strategies for searching for information through a specific website. Prior domain knowledge helped older adults improve navigation using more relevant navigational paths, improving time spent on relevant pages and reducing the number of areas visually explored on the website. By contrast, young adults adopted the same search strategies regardless of the task complexity and the level of prior knowledge domain required by the task.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disability that significantly increases the difficulties and risks associated with driving. Individuals with ASD often face a variety of challenges, such as increased sensory sensitivities, difficulty adapting to changing environments, and struggles with unexpected situations on the road. These difficulties can lead to sensory overload, panic attacks, and impaired decision-making, all of which increase the risk of accidents and make driving an especially overwhelming task. In this paper, we propose a novel IoT-based smart mobility framework for predictive stress detection in drivers with ASD, enabling the early identification of potential stressors before they encounter them on the road. This approach leverages AI-based models, including LSTM and CNN-based architectures. Unlike existing methods that focus on reactive stress detection, which may be too late, our approach predicts stress triggers in advance, enabling timely and preventive support.

While a clear distinction is established between simple lookup tasks and complex exploratory tasks, few studies have documented the differences between complex lookup tasks and simple exploratory tasks. To address this empirical gap, which has implications for system adaptability, the present study focused on these differences and the impact of users' prior domain knowledge (low vs. high) on exploration-exploitation search strategies (thematic and navigational). The effects of prior domain knowledge on information search performance were also investigated, as well as the extent to which the navigational and thematic search strategies predicted users' search scores and learning outcomes. Sixty students (35 in psychology, 25 in computer science) were asked to perform two complex lookup tasks and two simple exploratory tasks within and outside their knowledge domain. Results showed that when users performed tasks in their knowledge domain, they formulated more specific queries, achieved higher search scores, and produced higher quality factual knowledge. Complex lookup tasks led to more thematic exploitation and more navigational exploration than simple exploratory tasks. The search strategies predicted output performances differently, depending on the search domain (in vs. out). In light of these results, solutions helping users to improve their search strategies are given.

This study explores the acceptability of a humanoid robot in the homes of deaf children with cochlear implants. Traditional audiologic rehabilitation, usually conducted at hospitals or clinics, significantly improves communication but geographical distance and parental availability pose challenges for families. Introducing home training with a humanoid robot could provide greater equity in care distribution, aid in the child's progress, and offer an ecological approach. Here, ten families (11 cochlear-implanted (CI) children aged 7-12 years and their parents) participated in a study evaluating the acceptability of the humanoid robot (called Pepper) in their homes for one month. We identified two distinct clusters among the 11 CI children. The first cluster ("younger CI Children") demonstrated better and higher scores for acceptability, usability, usefulness, emotion, and fun, and used the robot more than children in the second cluster ("older CI children"). We found a decrease in both duration of use and number of applications launched by CI children each week when interacting with the robot. Parents showed similar results to their children, with parents of younger CI children demonstrating greater acceptance of the robot. Various technical issues (transcription errors, robot non-responsiveness, and comprehension difficulties) may have affected the robot's acceptability among both CI children and their parents. Both CI children and parents expected humanoid robots to have more advanced capabilities, including high social intelligence, advanced artificial intelligence, voice assistant features, and Natural Language Processing integration.

With the diversification of Internet uses, online content type has become richer. Alongside organic results, search engine results pages now provide tools to improve information searching and learning. The People also ask (PAA) box is intended to reduce users' cognitive costs by offering easily accessible information. Nevertheless, there has been scant research on how users actually process it, compared with more traditional content type (i.e., organic results and online documents). The present eye-tracking study explored this question by considering the search context (complex lookup task vs. exploratory task) and users' prior domain knowledge (high vs. low). Main results show that users fixated the PAA box and online documents more to achieve exploratory goals, and fixated organic results more to achieve lookup goals. Users with low knowledge process PAA content at an early stage in their search contrary to their counterparts with high knowledge. Given these results, information system developers should diversify PAA content according to search context and users’ prior domain knowledge.

Judging someone who harmed another has been proposed to rely on distinct cognitive processes that evaluate the victim’s outcome and the intention to harm. When harm is accidental, cognitive tension may arise in judges because considerations about the victim’s harm may conflict with the examination of the perpetrator’s innocent intention. The goal of the present study was to characterize at the neural level the cognitive conflict that may be triggered by moral judgment of accidental harm. To this aim, we used electro-encephalography (EEG) while participants completed a lexical judgment task embedded in a moral judgment task. This manipulation was designed to trigger event-related potentials typically associated with conflict detection, namely the N400 component thought to originate from the anterior cingulate cortex. Participants (N = 31) listened to short scenarios featuring either an accidental or an intentional moral transgression. Each scenario was followed by a conclusion (for example, “Jake harmed Dan intentionally”) whose last word was either congruent or incongruent with the moral scenario. Participants had to judge the semantic congruency of the conclusion and sometimes had to judge how much the perpetrator should be punished. While participants were longer to judge incongruent targets, we did not characterize the expected N400. However, we observed a posterior P300 which was moderated by congruency and intention. The congruency effect on the P300 was larger for accidental relative to intentional harm scenarios, in line with the idea that processing accidental harm may require more cognitive resources to overcome a cognitive conflict between the intent-based and outcome-based processes.

As pedagogues and childhood professionals, teachers must be aware of both implicit and explicit learning processes. They must also bear in mind that learners' performances may be influenced by the many emotions triggered by different situations at school (e.g., fear of failing, happiness upon succeeding, anger at leaving work unfinished). The objective of the present study was thus to analyze the efficiency of implicit learning among 8- to 11-year-old children and the impact of emotions on this type of learning. In order to analyze implicit learning, 65 elementary-school children performed a serial reaction time task in a laboratory context. Emotions were induced by asking the children to read six short emotional sentences and listen to classical music. Results showed a significant impact of the task condition (semi-random or fixed sequence) on reaction times. Moreover, the induction of happiness resulted in slightly longer reaction times compared with neutral induction. These results need to be deepened to better understand the interactions between emotions and implicit learning in children.

We designed a coordination–cooperation game dedicated to teaching the theory of mind (ToM) to children with autism spectrum disorder. Children interacted with either a robot or a human. They had to coordinate their gestures with the beats of a ditty sung by their partner (coordination), who then implicitly asked them for help (cooperation). Before and after this cooperation–coordination task, the children performed a helping task that assessed their ToM skills: the ability to infer social partners’ intentions. Despite the regularity and predictability of the robot, children made the most progress in the helping task after interacting with a human. Motor coupling was more stable in child–human than in child–robot dyads. The ability of the social partner to actively maintain a stable social coupling seems to be a primary factor inciting the child to learn and transfer the just-practiced social skills.

Facial mimicry is a reaction to facial expressions. It plays a role in social interaction. Indeed, scholars associated facial mimicry with emotional contagion and understanding others' mental states such as intentions. This is the case for facial mimicry toward human facial expressions, but we know that facial expressions are widely depicted in art through face representations (visual creations that depict facial expressions). However, despite face representation involvement in social interactions, facial reactions toward face representations in art are still unknown. The reason could be that interaction with art objects is usually analyzed within anthropology and art theories, such as conveying social agencies (a desire of action, intentions). Here, we show that facial mimicry is also observed toward face representations. This could be a means that might facilitate social interaction including emotions. Using the electromyography technique, we could show that participants mimic involuntarily face representations when these depict mouth expressions. Participant's zygomaticus and depressor were significantly activated when the pictures depict an expression including zygomaticus or depressor representation respectively. This result led us to infer that when it comes to mouth expressions, face representations in art might trigger spontaneously emotional contagion (of the expressed emotion). It might also convey information about the expressed mental states, which might help to indicate social agencies. Mimicry could participate to explain partly the social agencies of art, that might be no more just abstract concepts, but could find a real correlate in cognitive processes.

The own-group recognition bias (OGRB) has been consistently linked to social contact in theoretical accounts. Indeed, social contact is assumed by most authors to underlie the perceptual expertise of out-groups' faces. However, little is known empirically about how it might impact face-processing strategies. We tested the proposition that social interaction would improve the face recognition performance of another group by modulating visual strategies for different face areas. In Experiment 1, we studied visual processes using an eye tracker during a person's first live encounter with a particular member of their own group (European) or an outgroup (African) to explore how increasing familiarity during a first interaction influences face-processing strategies. In Experiments 2 and 3, we explored the effect of simulated intergroup contact on face recognition accuracy, while simultaneously studying the impact of contact on visual attention strategies that occur during recognition (Experiment 2) and encoding (Experiment 3). The results showed a strong OGRB and a difference in visual processes based on the ethnic group of the targets. Although a single interaction is not sufficient to reduce the OGRB, familiarization during a live interaction (Experiment 1) and virtual social contact (Experiment 2) had an impact on the visual strategies employed.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a research methodology for the assessment of the acceptability of a humanoid robot at home for children with cochlear implants (CI). The quality of audiology rehabilitation for cochlear implanted child administrated at the hospital with pluri-weekly sessions is a major prognostic factor in the outcome on communications abilities, but represents also a constraint for families related to the access to care that are more difficult. Further, home training with tools would balance the equitable distribution of care in the territory and promote the child's progress. The humanoid robot should allow an ecological approach to this complementary training. Before developing this approach, it is necessary to study the acceptability of the humanoid robot at home, both by cochlear implanted child and their families. Ten families were chosen to have a humanoid robot at home, to explore their acceptability of the humanoid robot Pepper. The study lasts for 1 month per participants (i.e. cochlear implemented children and parent). Participants were invited to use the robot at home as much as they want. The humanoid robot Pepper was able to communicate and proposed activities not related to rehabilitation. Once a week during the study, data were collected from participants (questionnaires and robot's logs) and the smooth running of the study was checked. Questionnaires are used to evaluate the acceptability of the robot by children and parents. User data from the robot's logs are used to quantify the time and the actual use of the robot over the period of the study. Results of the experimentation will be reported, once all 10 participants have completed their passation. The robot is anticipated to be used and accepted by children with cochlear implants and their families. Clinical trial registration: Clinical Trials ID: NCT04832373; https://clinicaltrials.gov/.

OBJECTIVE:For selection practitioners, it seems important to assess the level of mental resources invested in order to perform a demanding task. In this study, we investigated the potential of pupil size measurement to discriminate the most proficient pilot students from the less proficient.BACKGROUND:Cognitive workload is known to influence learning outcome. More specifically, cognitive difficulties observed during pilot training are often related to a lack of efficient mental workload management.METHOD:Twenty pilot students performed a laboratory multitasking scenario, composed of several stages with increasing workload, while their pupil size was recorded. Two levels of pilot students were compared according to the outcome after 2 years of training: high success and medium success.RESULTS:Our findings suggested that task-evoked pupil size measurements could be a promising predictor of flight training difficulties during the 2-year training. Indeed, high-level pilot students showed greater pupil size changes from low-load to high-load stages of the multitasking scenario than medium-level pilot students. Moreover, average pupil diameters at the low-load stage were smallest for the high-level pilot students.CONCLUSION:Following the neural efficiency hypothesis framework, the most proficient pilot students supposedly used their mental resources more efficiently than the least proficient while performing the multitasking scenario.APPLICATION:These findings might introduce a new way of managing selection processes complemented with ocular measurements. More specifically, pupil size measurement could enable identification of applicants with greater chances of success during pilot training.

This study focus on queries formulation strategies when expert users in a medical or computer science domain solved complex tasks. Ten medical students and ten computer science students had to perform four fact-finding search tasks (two simple tasks and two inferential tasks) and six learning tasks (two exploratory, two decision-making and two problem solving tasks) in these two domains. Results showed that non-experts used more terms from task statement to build their queries than experts did. Experts often produced new keywords than non-experts did. Specifically, computer science experts used more keywords not specific to the domain knowledge whereas medical experts used specific domain keywords to formulate queries. These results are a beginning to better understand how users are searching to learn when they are using Internet but further ergonomics studies have to more explore this subject to create search systems adapted to Search as Learning activity.

In recent years, eye-tracking is widely used in neuroergonomics and human factors research to explore visual screening and cognitive strategies during complex visuospatial tasks. More especially, aircraft, aerial vehicles, and space navigation require reliable spatial abilities that rely on a frame of reference, i.e. a perspective an operator chooses to describe a location in space or to perform an action. This can be done by using an allocentric or object-centered reference frame, when the object itself or its features orients an operator in space, according to an egocentric frame of reference that exploits the operator’s’ own perspective, and generally involves a body-axis rotation, or according to a third person that requires an operator to adopt another persons’ perspective. Reference frames and thus orientations in space, either real or mental, result from multisensory integration of visual, proprioceptive and vestibular information.

Los vehiculos del futuro seran capaces de conducir en modo autonomo la mayor parte del tiempo, lo que permitira al conductor-pasajero (CP) de un vehiculo autonomo de nivel 3 hacer lo que quiera hasta que el sistema deje de funcionar. Esto implica que los CP se desprenden de la tarea adicional realizada durante el modo autonomo para dedicarse a la tarea de conduccion, en un intervalo de tiempo limitado. Los estudios han revelado hasta ahora la limitada capacidad de los CP para retomar la conduccion tras un modo autonomo. Ademas, se espera que la conduccion autonoma vaya acompanada de una disminucion de la experiencia vial de los usuarios y de las competencias asociadas. El objetivo de este estudio es investigar como se preparan los CP para retomar la conduccion en funcion de su nivel de experiencia al volante. A los CP de nivel 3 de conduccion autonoma (n = 25) se les pidio que vieran una pelicula durante una fase de conduccion autonoma de 30 minutos. A continuacion, tuvieron que prepararse para retomar la conduccion durante la alerta de toma de control de 18 segundos. Los conductores (n = 29) realizaron el mismo viaje en modo de conduccion manual, sin tareas adicionales. Se investigo la atencion asignada por los CP a la retoma de la conduccion frente a la continuacion de la tarea adicional, registrando su comportamiento visual entre el inicio de la alerta de la toma de control y la desactivacion real del sistema autonomo. Se registro el diametro pupilar como indicador de su carga mental. Los datos de seguimiento ocular se compararon con los recogidos de los conductores en la condicion no autonoma. Los resultados mostraron un comportamiento visual deteriorado en los CP en comparacion con los conductores. Los CP novatos tuvieron el comportamiento visual mas degradado durante este periodo de preparacion para la toma de control. Por ultimo, la carga mental de los CP tendia a ser mayor que la de los conductores. Los resultados sugieren que los CP no tienen suficiente capacidad de atencion para hacer frente a las altas exigencias impuestas por la vuelta a la conduccion, especialmente cuando su nivel de experiencia al volante es bajo.

Les véhicules de demain seront capables de conduire en mode autonome la plupart du temps, permettant aux Conducteurs-Passagers (CP) d’un véhicule autonome de niveau 3 de faire ce qu’ils souhaitent jusqu’à l’occurrence d’une inopérabilité du système. Ceci implique pour les CP de se désengager de la tâche annexe menée durant le mode autonome afin de s’engager dans la tâche de conduite, au sein d’un intervalle de temps limité. Les études ont jusqu’ici permis de révéler les capacités restreintes des CP à reprendre la conduite après un mode autonome. Par ailleurs, il est attendu que l’autonomisation de la conduite s’accompagnera d’une diminution de l’expertise routière des usagers et des compétences associées. L’objectif de cette étude est d’investiguer comment les CP se préparent à la reprise de la conduite en fonction de leur niveau d’expertise routière. Les CP en conduite autonome de niveau 3 (n = 25) ont été invités à regarder un film durant une phase de conduite autonome de 30 minutes. Ils devaient ensuite se préparer à reprendre la conduite durant les 18 secondes d’alerte à la reprise. Les conducteurs (n = 29) ont effectué le même trajet en conduite manuelle, sans tâche annexe. L’attention allouée par les CP à la reprise de la conduite versus à la poursuite de la tâche annexe était investiguée par l’enregistrement de leur comportement visuel entre le début de l’alerte à la reprise et la désactivation effective du système autonome. Le diamètre pupillaire était enregistré en tant qu’indicateur de leur charge mentale. Les données oculométriques étaient comparées avec celles recueillies chez les conducteurs en condition non-autonome. Les résultats ont montré un comportement visuel détérioré chez les CP par rapport aux conducteurs. Les CP novices avaient le comportement visuel le plus dégradé durant cette période de préparation à la reprise. Finalement, la charge mentale des CP était tendanciellement plus élevée que celle des conducteurs. Les résultats suggèrent que les CP ne disposent pas de capacités attentionnelles suffisantes leur permettant de faire face aux exigences élevées imposées par la reprise de la conduite, particulièrement lorsque leur niveau d’expertise routière est faible.