Similarity of the Impact of Humanoid and In-Person Communications on Frontal Brain Activity of Older People

We report results of the analyses of the effect of communication through a humanoid robot in comparison with in-person, video-chat, and speaker on frontal brain activity of older people during an storytelling experiment. Our results suggest that whereas communicating through a physically embodied medium potentially induces a significantly higher pattern of brain activation with respect to video-chat and speaker, its difference is non-significant in comparison with in-person communication. These results imply that communicating through a humanoid robot induces a pattern of brain activity in older people that is potentially similar to in-person communication. Our findings benefit researchers and practitioners in rehabilitation and elderly care facilities in search of effective means of communication with their patients to increase their involvement in the incremental steps of their treatments. Moreover, they imply the utility of brain information as a promising sensory gateway in characterization of the behavioural responses in human-robot interaction.