{"title":"Children's cortical speech tracking in child-adult and child-robot interactions.","authors":"Fatih Sivridag, Nivedita Mani","doi":"10.1037/dev0002086","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Synthesized speech technology holds potential for enabling natural conversations between humans and machines, particularly in social robotics. However, the combination of synthesized speech with social robots still lacks some qualities of natural speech, which is crucial for human-robot interactions, especially for children. In this study, we recorded the neural activity of 5-year-old, typically developing children from middle to high socioeconomic households using an electroencephalogram while they listened to stories narrated by either an adult or a social robot, specifically Furhat. We measured cortical speech tracking to compare how well children's brains tracked synthesized speech from a robot compared with natural speech from an adult. Our results suggest that children do indeed show cortical speech tracking in both scenarios. The results also suggest that cortical speech tracking requires larger time delays between the speech and the response to reach its peak in child-robot interaction compared with child-adult interaction. Possible sources of these differences along with their implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).</p>","PeriodicalId":48464,"journal":{"name":"Developmental Psychology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":3.1000,"publicationDate":"2025-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Developmental Psychology","FirstCategoryId":"102","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1037/dev0002086","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"心理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"PSYCHOLOGY, DEVELOPMENTAL","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Synthesized speech technology holds potential for enabling natural conversations between humans and machines, particularly in social robotics. However, the combination of synthesized speech with social robots still lacks some qualities of natural speech, which is crucial for human-robot interactions, especially for children. In this study, we recorded the neural activity of 5-year-old, typically developing children from middle to high socioeconomic households using an electroencephalogram while they listened to stories narrated by either an adult or a social robot, specifically Furhat. We measured cortical speech tracking to compare how well children's brains tracked synthesized speech from a robot compared with natural speech from an adult. Our results suggest that children do indeed show cortical speech tracking in both scenarios. The results also suggest that cortical speech tracking requires larger time delays between the speech and the response to reach its peak in child-robot interaction compared with child-adult interaction. Possible sources of these differences along with their implications are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).
期刊介绍:
Developmental Psychology ® publishes articles that significantly advance knowledge and theory about development across the life span. The journal focuses on seminal empirical contributions. The journal occasionally publishes exceptionally strong scholarly reviews and theoretical or methodological articles. Studies of any aspect of psychological development are appropriate, as are studies of the biological, social, and cultural factors that affect development. The journal welcomes not only laboratory-based experimental studies but studies employing other rigorous methodologies, such as ethnographies, field research, and secondary analyses of large data sets. We especially seek submissions in new areas of inquiry and submissions that will address contradictory findings or controversies in the field as well as the generalizability of extant findings in new populations. Although most articles in this journal address human development, studies of other species are appropriate if they have important implications for human development. Submissions can consist of single manuscripts, proposed sections, or short reports.