Recent neuroimaging studies have observed that the neural processing of social cues from a virtual reality character appears to be affected by "intentional stance" (i.e., attributing mental states, agency, and "humanness"). However, this effect could also be explained by individual differences or perceptual effects resulting from the design of these studies. The current study used a new design that measured centro-parietal P250, P350, and N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) in 20 healthy adults while they initiated gaze-related joint attention with a virtual character ("Alan") in two conditions. In one condition, they were told that Alan was controlled by a human; in the other, they were told that he was controlled by a computer. When participants believed Alan was human, his congruent gaze shifts, which resulted in joint attention, generated significantly larger P250 ERPs than his incongruent gaze shifts. In contrast, his incongruent gaze shifts triggered significantly larger increases in P350 ERPs than his congruent gaze shifts. These findings support previous studies suggesting that intentional stance affects the neural processing of social cues from a virtual character. The outcomes also suggest the use of the P250 and P350 ERPs as objective indices of social engagement during the design of socially approachable robots and virtual agents.

中文翻译：

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介意介意：意图姿势对联合注意的神经编码的影响。

最近的神经影像学研究已经观察到，来自虚拟现实角色的社交线索的神经处理似乎受到“故意姿态”（即，归因于精神状态，代理和“人性”）的影响。但是，这种影响也可以通过这些研究的设计产生的个体差异或感性影响来解释。当前的研究使用了一种新设计，该设计测量了20位健康成年人的中心顶壁P250，P350和N170事件相关电位（ERP），同时他们在两种情况下以虚拟角色（“ Alan”）启动了与凝视相关的联合注意力。在一种情况下，他们被告知艾伦是由人类控制的。在另一个，他们被告知他是由计算机控制的。当参与者认为艾伦是人类时，他全神贯注的目光转移了，这引起了共同的关注，产生了比他不一致的目光转向大得多的P250 ERP。相比之下，他的不一致的凝视转移引起的P350 ERP的增长明显大于他一致的凝视转移。这些发现支持了以前的研究，表明故意的立场会从虚拟角色影响社交线索的神经处理。研究结果还表明，在设计易于上手的机器人和虚拟代理程序时，将P250和P350 ERP作为社交参与的客观指标。这些发现支持了以前的研究，表明故意的立场会从虚拟角色影响社交线索的神经处理。研究结果还表明，在设计易于上手的机器人和虚拟代理程序时，将P250和P350 ERP作为社交参与的客观指标。这些发现支持了以前的研究，表明故意的立场会从虚拟角色影响社交线索的神经处理。研究结果还表明，在设计易于上手的机器人和虚拟代理程序时，将P250和P350 ERP作为社交参与的客观指标。