1,721,019 research outputs found
The effectiveness of using LEGO® robotics kits as cognitive and social rehabilitative toys
No full textThe present article offers a theoretical contribution to the understanding of the effectiveness of using robotics as cognitive and social rehabilitative toys. Starting from the theoretical foundations of educational robotics in the framework of constructionism, it provides methodological indications related to game activities with robotics behaviour construction kits, such as LEGO® Ev3. Moreover, it discusses empirical studies that evaluated the effectiveness of the use of robotics behaviour construction kits in the field of intellectual disabilities. Practical implications of the present study might be useful for educators, school psychologists, or rehabilitative therapists in the field of special educational needs
Direct Losses and Media Exposure to Death: The Long-Term Effect of Mourning during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Full text linkBackground: The social distancing policies adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic forced many individuals to confront their mortality and worry about losing loved ones, making it
impossible to say goodbye to them properly. Those not directly experiencing loss were inundated with information about COVID-19-related deaths throughout social media, leading to vicarious
grief. This study delved into the long-term effects of direct and vicarious mourning on people’s mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Method: A sample of 171 adults (65% female) aged 19–66 years (Mage = 25.8, SD = 8.57) voluntarily participated in an online survey assessing self-reported
psychological measures of complicated grief, stress, depression, dispositional neuroticism, trait anxiety, and situational anxiety. Results: MANOVAs revealed that direct mourning experiences
had an extremely severe impact on anxiety, stress, and fear of COVID-19, and a moderate
effect on those without personal losses. Indeed, participants reporting high media exposure showed higher scores of depression and stress. Conclusions: Findings from the current study displayed that
during the COVID-19 pandemic, people engaged more in proximal defenses than distal ones, taking health-protective measures, experiencing increased anxiety levels toward virus infection, and feeling
distressed. Additionally, vicarious mourning was more strongly associated with depression due to emotional empathy with others
Neuroticism and Fear of COVID-19. The Interplay Between Boredom, Fantasy Engagement, and Perceived Control Over Time
Full text linkThe Italian government adopted measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) infection from March 9, 2020, to May 4, 2020, and imposed a phase of social distancing and self-isolation to all adult citizens. Although justified and necessary, psychologists question the impact of this process of COVID-19 isolation on the mental health of the population. Hence, this paper investigated the relationship between neuroticism, boredom, fantasy engagement, perceived control over time, and the fear of COVID-19. Specifically, we performed a cross-sectional study aimed at testing an integrative moderated mediation model. Our model assigned the boredom to the mediation role and both the fantasy engagement and perceived control of time to the role of moderators in the relationship between neuroticism and the fear of COVID-19. A sample of 301 subjects, mainly women (68.8%), aged between 18 and 57 years (Mage = 22.12 years; SD = 6.29), participated in a survey conducted in the 1st-week lockdown phase 2 in Italy from May 7 to 18, 2020. Results suggested that neuroticism is crucial in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic, in line with literature showing high neurotic people having greater emotional reactivity and scarce resources to manage stress. We also found that people with high neuroticism tend to feel bored, and the relationship between neuroticism and boredom seems enhanced if one is involved in negative fantasies. Therefore, this result could also explain the positive effect between boredom and fear of COVID-19 we found in the current study. However, our data show that perceived control over time moderates the association between boredom and fear toward COVID-19. Having a high perceived control over time allows people to reduce boredom’s effect on fear of COVID-19. In conclusion, we retain that psychological treatment programs could improve the individuals’ perceived control over time to modulate anxiety toward the fear of COVID-19 and promote psychological well-being
Time perspective and Facebook addiction: The moderating role of neuroticism
Full text linkThe present paper verified the hypothesis that neuroticism moderates the relationship between past-negative or present-fatalistic time perspectives and Facebook addiction. A sample of 248 Facebook users (Female: 66%, mean age: 21.5 years) filled the Zimbardo Time Perspective Inventor and the Facebook Addiction Italian Questionnaire. Two hierarchical regression analyses tested a moderator model in which time perspectives have been defined as independent variables, Facebook addiction as dependent variables, and neuroticism as moderator. Gender and age were introduced in the model as covariates. Results show that past-negative significantly predicts Facebook addiction through the moderation effect of neuroticism. Individuals with a low negative temporal orientation to the past have low levels of Facebook addiction; however, even in the presence of low negative temporal orientation, high neuroticism fosters Facebook addiction. Individuals with a present-fatalistic time perspective evidenced high levels of Facebook addiction, but neuroticism had no moderating role. Peculiar associations between past-negative time perspective with neuroticism as a trait-insecure personality trait in determining social media addiction such as Facebook addiction were theoretically discussed. Practical implications of the study related to the development of clinical and prevention programs for social media addiction based, for instance, on the Time Therapy aimed at balancing past, present, and future, and at switching the focus from negative to positive, are finally highlighted
The Gaming World of Educational Robotics. A Review Study
No full textEducational robotics is considered a powerful tool, not only to learn how to program artificial agents but also to support students in developing high-order thinking skills. This paper reports a narrative review of empirical studies performed in the last twenty years, that investigate the effectiveness of using playful robotics as tools for enhancing cognitive abilities such as metacognition, awareness, and problem-solving, also improving planning and executive functions.
The evidence from the scanned literature supports the effective impact of using robotics as an educational metacognitive gaming environment that allows students to monitor themselves and control their learning actions autonomously. Moreover, the data provide scientific support to the hypothesis that educational robotics can improve the ability to plan and control complex tasks, favoring the development of executive functions and math or STEM achievement
The Interplay Between Artificial Intelligence and Users’ Personalities: A New Scenario for Human-Computer Interaction in Gaming
No full textThe latest business reports showed that Augmented Reality (AR) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are ranked among the top 10
strategic trends for 2018. For these reasons, in this paper, we provide an interdisciplinary focus on design and personality issues, trying to discuss the interplay between games with personality and Artificial Intelligence. First, we describe taxonomy models on personality in games and empirical studies aimed at exploring personality traits of Pokemon GO users. Second, we explore virtual humans employed in investigating chess personalities via simulating human chess players. In this research article, the term virtual human is used to describe a computer program that simulates a human in some aspects such as playing chess. The results of personality and gaming are sparse and mixed. It remains unclear whether personality traits would similarly predict adoption and usage in the context of AR mobile game. On the contrary, results about AI showed that virtual humans have characteristics similar to those of humans and helped researchers explore existing patterns in societies. In our discussion, we try to evidence the importance of personality in gaming also considering that an increasing sale for these technologies is forecasted in 2020 to be 21 times higher than in 2016 (from US 61.3 billion; Superdata Research, 2017)
Premorbid Personality Traits as Risk Factors for Behavioral Addictions: A Systematic Review of a Vulnerability Hypothesis
Full text linkThe debate on personality structure and behavioral addictions is an outstanding issue. According to some authors, behavioral addictions could arise from a premorbid personality, while for others, it could result from a pathological use of technological tools. The current study aims to investigate whether, in the latest literature, personality traits have been identified as predictors of behavioral addictions. A literature search was conducted under the PRISMA methodology, considering the most relevant studies of the five-factor model from the past 10 years. Overall, most studies on addiction, personality traits, and personality genetics proved that behavioral addiction may be an epiphenomenon of a pre-existing personality structure, and that it more easily occurs in vulnerable subjects with emotional instability, negative affects, and unsatisfactory relationships with themselves, others, and events. Such neurotic personality structure was common to any addictive behavior, and was the main risk factor for both substance and behavioral addictions. Therefore, in clinical and educational contexts, it becomes crucial to primarily focus on the vulnerability factors, at-risk personality traits, and protective and moderating traits such as extroversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience; meanwhile, treatment of behavioral addictions is frequently focused on overt pathological behaviors
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
- …
