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1. Music and Cognition

Version 6.1 by Hugo van Dijk on 2023/03/28 15:17

Paper 2:

  • . Additionally, Chang et al. [11] tested the Paro robot in a nursing home in an 8-weeks trial and observed an increased willingness amongst participants to interact with the robot.
  • Paro was evaluated more positively, whereas the Guide robot could be improved in terms of making it more simple and improving its ergonomics
  • Hebesberger et al. [16] investigated the use of a robot as a walking group as-
    sistant at a care site accompanying adults with advanced dementia. The robot
    offered visual and acoustic stimulation. The findings suggested that a robot has
    the potential to enhance motivation, group coherence, and also mood within the
    walking group
  • For exercise and reminiscence
  • Music bingo
  • Robot becomes point of discussion & conversation
  • Used NAO robot
  • One participant being negative towards the robot can influence the rest.
  • Caretaker stresses that caretaker interference is needed for PwD to keep interacting with robot.
  • Ppl had trouble following movemenents sometimes.
  • Remenicense exercise made PwD active.
  • One participant scared of robot when it talked after being quiet for some time. 
  • Caretaker states robot's main purpose should be conversational interaction, not exercise. 
  • Robot should have less monotonic voice.
  • Ppl remembered robot but not the music/singing/dancing.
  • Ppl respond more to music than engage in talking
  • Not clear if positive effect on people's state.
  • Potentially, inviting to dance better effect than structured exercise.
  • Positive effect on cognitive activity.
  • Robot itself not perse positive effect on social interaction, but music does.
  • Over course of sessions, ppl interacted less with robot and more with each other. If not like robot from start --> stopped with study. Other ppl displayed continuously high interest levels.

Paper 1:

People find it hard to interact with the tablet. Made design easier later on by having pictures. Process was about simplifying the interaction for the PwD. Reaction to music was very different between the PwD. Too loud is intimidating.Difficult interface makes it hard to connect with other PwD. Different types of music interesting for mother/daughter.

So: 

We thought about including music in our system but because of our environment (outside), it might be distracting/annoying for other people in the area if music is played.  It could also be distracting for Maria/Bob if the task of walking/finding the route is difficult enough. In this context it is not too relevant to use music for reminiscence.

Final text:

Using the Paro robot (http://www.parorobots.com/),[1] performed an 8-week trial in a nursing home. Here they observed that participants motivation to interact with the robot increased over time. Participants were more positive about the Paro bot compared to the Guide robot. The Guide robot lacks simplicity and ergonomic usability. [2] evaluated a robot as an assistant to a walking group of people with advanced dementia. It stimulated the group both acoustically and visually. Results showed that the robot system was promising for improving motivation, group dynamics, and general mood. 

[3] used the Nao robot for exercise and reminiscence activities, like music bingo. They noted that the robot becomes a point of discussion and observation. During the interaction, they observed that if one participant is negative towards the robot, this can influence the rest of the group. The assisting caretaker also stressed that their interference is required to keep the participants interacting with the robot. For the physical exercise activities, the participants sometimes had difficulty following all movements. There was also an occasion where a participant got scared of the robot when it talked suddenly after being quiet for a while.

According to the caretaker, the robot's main purpose should be stimulating conversational interaction, and not exercise. And that it should have a less monotonic voice, to make it easier for PwD to understand it. 

In terms of reminiscence, the participants remembered the robot, but not the music, singing, or dancing. They also responded more to the music than they engaged in talking. It was not clear whether the robot had a positive effect on the PwD's state. However, it did show a positive effect on cognitive activity. They concluded that the robot by itself did not have a positive affecct on social interaction, but the music did. Also, over the course of the study, the PwD's interaction with the robot decreased. If a PwD did not like the robot from the start, they often opted out of the study. However, others did display continuously high interest in the robot. 

In [4], Peeters et al. designed a personal music assistant for people with dementia. They designed three functionalities: An annotated playlist, a music and picture album, and a picture slide show. They implemented these on a robot system with an integrated tablet. The process of the study was concerned with simplifying the interaction for the PwD. They observed that the PwD found it hard to interact with the tablet. In a later iteration, they simplified the design by using pictures. The reaction to music was also very different between the PwD. When the music was too loud this was deemed to be intimidating. Furthermore, a difficult interface makes it hard for PwD to connect with others. Finally, different types of music were found interesting for different age groups. 

References

[1] Wan-Ling Chang, Selma Šabanovic, and Lesa Huber. “Use of seal-like robot PARO in sen-
sory group therapy for older adults with dementia”. In: 2013 8th ACM/IEEE International
Conference on Human-Robot Interaction (HRI). IEEE. 2013, pp. 101–102.

[2] Denise Hebesberger et al. “Lessons learned from the deployment of a long-term autonomous
robot as companion in physical therapy for older adults with dementia a mixed methods
study”. In: 2016 11th ACM/IEEE International Conference on Human-Robot Interaction
(HRI) (2016). doi: 10.1109/hri.2016.7451730.

[3] Mark A. Neerincx et al. “Designing a personal music assistant that enhances the social,
cognitive, and affective experiences of people with dementia”. In: (), pp. 727–737.

[4] Marieke M.M. Peeters, Maaike Harbers, and Mark A. Neerincx. “Designing a personal mu-
sic assistant that enhances the social, cognitive, and affective experiences of people with
dementia”. In: Computers in Human Behavior 63 (2016), pp. 727–737. doi: 10.1016/j.
chb.2016.06.003.