Psychology

Artificial Intelligence

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

“AI doesn’t get tired ... It can offer consistent, high-quality empathetic responses without the emotional strain that humans experience”

By definition, robots can’t feel empathy since it requires the ability to relate to another person’s human experience – to put yourself in their shoes.

Yet, according to a new University of Toronto study, artificial intelligence (AI) can create empathetic responses more reliably and consistently than humans.

That includes professional crisis responders who are trained to empathize with those in need.

“AI doesn’t get tired,” says Dariya Ovsyannikova, lab manager in Professor Michael Inzlicht’s lab at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough and lead author of the study.

“It can offer consistent, high-quality empathetic responses without the emotional strain that humans experience.”

The research, published in the journal Communications Psychology, looked at how people evaluated empathetic responses generated by ChatGPT compared to human responses.

Across four separate experiments, participants were asked to judge the level of compassion (an important facet of empathy) in written responses to a series of positive and negative scenarios that were created by AI, regular people and expert crisis responders. In each scenario, the AI responses were preferred and rated as more compassionate and responsive, conveying greater care, validation and understanding compared to the human responses.

How does a chatbot like ChatGPT outperform trained professionals? Ovsyannikova points to AI’s ability to pick up on fine details and stay objective, making it particularly adept at crafting attentive communication that appears empathetic.

Empathy is an important trait not only in fostering social unity, but in helping people feel validated, understood and connected to others who empathize with them, the researchers say. In clinical settings, it plays a critical role in helping people regulate emotions and feel less isolated.

But constantly expressing empathy has its costs.

“Caregivers can experience compassion fatigue,” says Ovsyannikova, a �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough alumna who has professional experience volunteering as a crisis line responder.

She adds that professional caregivers, particularly in mental health settings, may need to sacrifice some of their ability to empathize to avoid burnout and balance their emotional engagement effectively for each of their clients.

Humans also come with their own biases and can be emotionally affected by a particularly distressing or complex case, which impacts their ability to be empathetic. In addition, the researchers say empathy in health-care settings is increasingly in short supply given shortages in accessible health-care services, qualified workers and a widespread increase in mental health disorders.

Of course, that doesn’t mean we should cede empathy-derived care to AI overnight, says Inzlicht, a faculty member in �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough’s department of psychology who was a co-author of the study along with PhD student Victoria Oldemburgo de Mello.

“AI can be a valuable tool to supplement human empathy, but it does come with its own dangers,” Inzlicht says.

He adds that while AI might be effective in delivering surface-level compassion that people might find immediately useful, chatbots such as ChatGPT will not be able to effectively give them deeper, more meaningful care that gets to the root of a mental health disorder.

He notes that over-reliance on AI also poses ethical concerns – namely the power it could give tech companies to manipulate those in need of care. For example, someone who is feeling lonely or isolated may become reliant on talking to an AI chatbot that is constantly doling out empathy instead of fostering meaningful connections with another human being.

“If AI becomes the preferred source of empathy, people might retreat from human interactions, exacerbating the very problems we’re trying to solve, like loneliness and social isolation,” says Inzlicht, whose research looks at the nature of empathy and compassion.

Another issue is a phenomenon known as “AI aversion,” which is a prevailing skepticism about AI’s ability to truly understand human emotion. While participants in the study initially ranked AI-generated responses highly when they didn’t know who – or what – had written them, that preference shifted when they were told the response came from AI. However, Inzlicht says this bias may fade over time and experience, noting that younger people who grew up interacting with AI are likely to trust it more.

Despite the critical need for empathy, Inzlicht urges for a transparent and balanced approach to deploying AI so that it is supplementing human empathy rather than replacing it.

“AI can fill gaps, but it should never replace the human touch entirely.”

Single women are happier than single men, researchers find

Christopher.Sorensen — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 19:36:08 +0000

Single women are happier than single men, researchers find

Christopher.Sorensen Tue, 01/21/2025 - 14:36

Cutline

(photo by Hurdogan Guvendiren/Getty Images)

Josslyn Johnstone

Topic

Subheadline

“Ours is the first comprehensive study of how gender differences are tied to well-being in singlehood”

Single women are happier, on average, than single men.

That’s among the findings of a recent study by University of Toronto psychology researchers.

They say the results suggest that men may have more to gain than women in heteronormative romantic partnerships.

“Ours is the first comprehensive study of how gender differences are tied to well-being in singlehood,” says lead author Elaine Hoan, a PhD candidate in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science.

“From here, we can begin to understand why exactly single women are doing better than single men, and how everyone can balance these elements to build their best lives.”

For the study, Hoan and Professor Geoff MacDonald examined four well-being outcomes of nearly 6,000 adults: how satisfied people are with their current relationship status; how satisfied they are with their life; how sexually fulfilled they are; and how much they want to be in a relationship.

Due to sample size limitations with non-binary individuals, the study focused on individuals who identified as men or women.

Overall, the researchers found that women fared better on their own than men. They are happier with their single status, the quality of their lives, the quality of their sex lives and they desire a partner less.

Hoan says the results build on existing research that shows men fear singlehood more than women do, and that they struggle to navigate the expectations of traditional masculinity.

“There’s the notion that to really ‘be a man,’ you must be the type that ‘gets girls’ – it’s a sign of status. But in the early stages of dating, men typically have a more difficult time obtaining a partner and therefore accessing sex.”

This connects to the finding that single women are more sexually fulfilled than single men. In addition, they may have more sexual freedom and can focus on their own pleasure instead of prioritizing a male partner’s.

The authors also looked at age and ethnicity in the context of gender. They found that older single men are happier than younger single men, which aligns with existing research showing that people tend to be happier with their long-term singlehood after the age of 40. They also noted that single Black women have a higher desire for a partner than single white women.

Hoan says the study serves as a jumping off point for contextualizing incels – a term used to describe extremist men who regard themselves as involuntarily celibate and blame women for their singlehood – within the broader population of single men. While incels are often studied as an isolated misogynistic subculture with unique issues, overall unhappiness in single men may lead some men to splinter off and join this group, the researchers say.

While the paper doesn’t provide direct evidence for why singlehood is a better experience for women relative to romantic relationships, the researchers say there are plenty of avenues for further investigation.

“For example, we know from existing research that in heteronormative relationship structures, women typically take on more than their fair share of domestic and emotional labour,” says Hoan. “As well, their sexual pleasure tends to be deprioritized and potentially reduced as a result of the unfair divisions of labour.”

She also notes that women may be more satisfied with their single lives overall because they usually have bigger social networks to rely on for support. They now also have more financial independence than was the case historically, meaning income as a traditional advantage of partnership is not as important as it used to be.

Next up, Hoan and MacDonald are examining the link between marriage and well-being around the world in an effort to shed light on the extent to which romantic relationships contribute to life fulfillment.

Hoan says the study offers validation for women who feel social pressure to jump into a relationship if it’s not what they want to do.

“If you want to stay single, you may be happier for it.”

Children learn even when they're not paying attention, �鶹��Ƶ psychologists find

Christopher.Sorensen — Thu, 16 Jan 2025 15:30:10 +0000

Children learn even when they're not paying attention, �鶹��Ƶ psychologists find

Christopher.Sorensen Thu, 01/16/2025 - 10:30

Cutline

Children learn just as much whether they're trying to or not, while adults tend to ignore information they aren't paying attention to, according to a new study led by University of Toronto psychologists (photo by Adobe Stock)

Michael Pereira

Topic

Subheadline

“Don’t get mad at the little boy who’s doing jumping jacks while you’re reading a book"

Are you a parent or teacher frustrated that the children in your life can’t seem to pay attention when you’re trying to teach them something? You don’t need to be, say psychologists at the University of Toronto.

New research from the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science finds children learn just as much whether they’re trying to or not – adults, on the other hand, tend to ignore information that they aren’t paying attention to.

The findings are outlined in a new study published in the journal Psychological Science.

“Don’t get mad at the little boy who’s doing jumping jacks while you’re reading a book,” says the study’s senior author Amy Finn, associate professor in the department of psychology who leads the Learning and Neural Development lab. “He’s probably still listening and learning even though it doesn’t necessarily look like it.”

For the study, the research team – which included �鶹��Ƶ alumni Marlie Tandoc, Bharat Nadendla and Theresa Pham – tested how much children and adults learned about drawings of common objects after two different experiments.

In the first, they told participants to pay attention to the drawings. In the second, participants were told to ignore the drawings and complete an entirely different task. After each scenario, participants had to identify fragments of the drawings they saw as quickly as possible.

They found that children learned about the drawings just as well across both scenarios, while adults learned more when told to pay attention to the drawings – in other words, the children’s learning wasn’t negatively impacted when they weren’t paying attention to the information they were tested on.

Children’s selective attention, or their ability to focus on a specific task and tune out distractions, develops slowly and doesn’t fully mature until early adulthood.

Previous research has found that unlike adults, a child’s brain treats information that they are told to pay attention to similarly to information they are not told to attend to. That is likely one of the reasons why children are so good at picking up languages spoken around them.

“As adults, we really filter what we’re learning through our goals and task demands, whereas kids are absorbing everything regardless of that – seemingly without even trying,” says Tandoc, former lab manager of the Learning and Neural Development lab and a PhD candidate at the University of Pennsylvania.

Although returning to a child-like state of learning might sound appealing, selective attention does hold several benefits. Across experiments, attentional instruction was found to boost learning in adults. In other words, adults learn better when told what information is most important.

The research has the potential to influence how parents, teachers and curriculum designers think about how children and adults learn. For instance, for children, the findings underline the benefits of play and immersive learning. For adults, defining a clear task or goal at the beginning of a class or workshop is important for learning outcomes.

“For me, when I’m hanging out with my five-year-old, I’m less worried now than I was otherwise about whether or not he is learning something if it doesn’t seem like he is paying attention,” says Finn.

Why do we prefer curves over straight edges? Researchers probe the brain for clues

Christopher.Sorensen — Fri, 10 Jan 2025 17:06:08 +0000

Why do we prefer curves over straight edges? Researchers probe the brain for clues

Christopher.Sorensen Fri, 01/10/2025 - 12:06

Cutline

Researchers found regions in the brain that are sensitive to scenes people perceive to be curvy, but only when they are judging its beauty (supplied image)

Michael Pereira

Topic

Institute of Biomedical Engineering

Subheadline

“Artists and designers are way ahead of scientists. They already use organic, curvy lines to evoke a sense of comfort, aesthetic pleasure and hominess”

For over 100 years, psychologists have known that most people prefer curviness over angularity in practically everything – from lines and shapes to faces, paintings and interior spaces.

Moreover, the phenomenon has been observed across cultures, in infants and even in great apes.

Yet, it remains unclear what it is about our perception of curvature that translates into this widespread preference.

“Now we have this advantage that we can probe the brain to see the mechanisms that are really driving this process,” says Oshin Vartanian, an associate professor in the department of psychology at the University of Toronto who is appointed to Defence Research and Development Canada.

Using brain imaging data and computational measures of curvature, Vartanian worked with �鶹��Ƶ PhD student Delaram Farzanfar, Dirk Bernhardt-Walther, a �鶹��Ƶ associate professor of psychology, and an international group of collaborators to solve the mystery.

For the study, published recently in Scientific Reports, participants completed two tasks when presented with images of curvy and angular interior spaces. They judged each as either “beautiful” or “not beautiful” and decided whether they would choose to “enter” or “exit” the space.

Researchers found that there are regions in the brain that are sensitive to scenes participants perceive to be curvy, but only when they are judging its beauty. When a participant is asked to decide whether they would enter or exit the space, those regions are not sensitive to perceived curvature.

This observation suggests that the context within which we perceive curvature makes a difference in how our brain responds to it.

The regions of the brain that lit up to scenes participants perceive to be curvy, in the fusiform gyrus, are involved in higher-order visual processing like object recognition. They are also sensitive to the perception of faces.

In other words, these findings suggest that the region of our brain that specializes in distinguishing one face from another might also be sensitive to processing curvature in other contexts – such as looking at architectural spaces.

Examples of the experimental stimuli (n = 200). The stimuli in the top and bottom rows were categorized as “curvilinear” and “rectilinear” respectively by the two experts in Vartanian et al. The number underneath each stimulus represents its associated computational curvature value (supplied image)

Researchers also found that images of spaces that participants perceived as curvy did not always match with computational measures of those same spaces. However, a region in the primary visual cortex shows sensitivity to computational curvature, regardless of the task.

“It’s entirely possible that when a person looks at an image, they form a mental representation that’s three-dimensional,” Vartanian says. Such a representation eludes mathematical measurements of two-dimensional images.

Bernhardt-Walther adds that, going forward, researchers need to have a broader view of what parts of an image translate into a sense of curviness that people perceive as aesthetically pleasant.

“Artists and designers are way ahead of scientists. They already use organic, curvy lines to evoke a sense of comfort, aesthetic pleasure and hominess,” says Bernhardt-Walther. “Our work provides a scientific underpinning for their intuitions and may guide them on using curvature more deliberately as a design element to generate aesthetically pleasing forms or, alternatively, to use angularity to challenge and engage the viewers.”

Farzanfar, meanwhile, says the research is not only relevant to the work of neuroscientists and psychologists, but to artists, designers, architects and city planners.

“I think as we understand how spaces impact our mood and cognition, we can create better environments for our health and enrich the experience of modern life for many people,” she says.

Researchers at �鶹��Ƶ, partner hospitals receive $35 million in provincial support

lanthierj — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 18:57:47 +0000

Researchers at �鶹��Ƶ, partner hospitals receive $35 million in provincial support

lanthierj Wed, 12/11/2024 - 13:57

Cutline

The performance of lithium ion batteries that power electric vehicles, like the ones plugged into these chargers, can be degraded by temperature fluctuations – a limitation researchers at �鶹��Ƶ Engineering are working to change (photo by koiguo/Getty Images)

Tyler Irving

Topic

Our Community

Leah Cowen

Sinai Health

Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Unity Health

Cell and Systems Biology

Anthropology

Astronomy & Astrophysics

Biochemistry

Centre for Addiction and Mental Health

Chemistry

Computer Science

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Hospital for Sick Children

Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology

Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Mathematics

Physics

University Health Network

UTIAS

Subheadline

From better batteries to preventing memory loss, nearly four dozen projects at �鶹��Ƶ and its partner hospitals are being supported by the Ontario Research Fund

Researchers in the University of Toronto’s Thermal Management Systems (TMS) Laboratory are working to improve the way battery systems handle heat and develop structural battery pack components. 

“Whether they are being used for electric vehicles or for stationary energy storage systems that reduce strain on the grid, lithium-ion batteries are transforming the way we use electricity,” said Carlos Da Silva, senior research associate at the TMS Lab in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering and executive director of �鶹��Ƶ’s Electrification Hub.

“Unfortunately, today’s batteries are still sensitive to temperature: if they get too cold or too hot, it can degrade their performance and even present safety risks. We are working on new technologies that make batteries more resilient to thermal fluctuations.”

The battery-related research is among nearly four dozen projects at �鶹��Ƶ and its partner hospitals that are receiving almost $35 million in support through the Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence (ORF-RE) and the Ontario Research Fund – Small Infrastructure (ORF-SIF). (See the full list of projects and their principal researchers below).

"Research at the University of Toronto and at all universities and colleges across Ontario is the foundation of the province’s competitiveness now and in the future,” said Leah Cowen, �鶹��Ƶ’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“This investment protects and advances cutting-edge, made-in-Ontario research in important economic sectors and helps ensure universities can continue to train, attract and retain the world’s top talent."

At �鶹��Ƶ Engineering’s TMS Lab, researchers led by Cristina Amon, a University Professor in the department of mechanical and industrial engineering, are working on two funded projects. They are developing advanced computational modelling and digital twin methodologies that predict and optimize how heat flows through battery packs. The methodologies are carefully calibrated and validated through industry-relevant experiments in the lab.

Senior Research Associate Carlos Da Silva, left, and University Professor Cristina Amon, right, chat in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering's Thermal Management Systems Laboratory (photo by Aaron Demeter)

These methodologies will help battery designers anticipate and prevent thermal management challenges before they arise. It can also enable them to optimize the design and deployment of fire mitigation measures, such as ultra-thin heat barriers, within their battery systems.

The team is also collaborating with Ford Canada and several other companies in the energy storage space. For example, they have worked with Jule (powered by eCAMION) on the development of direct current electric vehicle fast chargers with integrated battery energy storage systems, one of which was recently unveiled on the �鶹��Ƶ campus.

“We are grateful for this ORF-RE funding, which will accelerate our research and help us further expand our partnerships, ensuring that battery thermal innovations have a seamless transition from the lab to the marketplace,” Amon said.

“As a result of this work, the next generation of batteries will be safer and more resilient than ever before, which is especially important in colder climates like ours here in Ontario.” 

Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence:

Cristina Amon in the department of mechanical & industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Powering Ontario’s grid transformation and electric vehicle fast charging with thermally resilient battery energy storage & Next-gen electric vehicle battery systems: Lightweight, thermally performant and fire safe for all climates
Morgan Barense in the department of psychology in the Faculty of Arts & Science – HippoCamera: Digital memory rehabilitation to combat memory loss
Aimy Bazylak in the department of mechanical & industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering – RECYCLEAN: Critical minerals recycling & re-manufacturing for the energy transition
Ian Connell at University Health Network and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – MRI-compatible innovations for neuromodulation
Simon Graham at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Technological innovations for clinical MRI of the brain at 7 tesla
Clinton Groth in the Institute for Aerospace Studies in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Hydrogen as a sustainable aviation fuel – combustion research to remove impediments to adoption in gas turbine engines
James Kennedy at Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the department of psychiatry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Clinical utility and enhancements of a pharmacogenomic decision support tool for mental health patients
Shaf Keshavjee at University Health Network and the department of surgery in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Advanced solutions to human lung preservation and assessment using artificial intelligence
Aviad Levis in the department of computer science in the Faculty of Arts & Science – AI and quantum enhanced astronomy
JoAnne McLaurin at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the department of laboratory medicine & pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Conversion of astrocytes to neurons to treat neurodegenerative diseases of the brain and the eye
R. J. Dwayne Miller in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science – PicoSecond InfraRed Laser (PIRL) “cancer knife” with complete biodiagnostics via spatial imaging mass spectrometry
Javad Mostaghimi in the department of mechanical & industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – A new generation of compact, transportable mass spectrometers for rapid, in-field sample analysi
Xiao Yu (Shirley) Wu in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy – Molecular dynamics modeling and screening of excipients for designing amorphous solid dispersion formulations of poorly–soluble drugs

Ontario Research Fund – Small Infrastructure Fund:

Celina Baines in the department of ecology & evolutionary biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science – Impacts of environmental change on organismal movement
Sergio de la Barrera in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science – Facility for quantum materials and device assembly from atomically thin van der Waals layers
Michelle Bendeck in the department of laboratory medicine & pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – 4D quantitative cardiovascular physiology centre
Laurent Bozec in the department of laboratory medicine & pathobiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – 21st Century challenge for Dentistry: Breaking the cycle of irreversible dental tissue loss
Mark Chiew at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Next generation computational MRI for rapid neuroimaging and image-guided therapy
Haissi Cui in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science – A molecule to mouse approach to study the intracellular localization of genetic code interpretation in mammalian cells
Andy Kin On DeVeale at the University Health Network and the Dalla Lana School of Public Health – Sarcopenia and musculoskeletal interactions (sami) collaborative hub
Ali Dolatabadi in the department of mechanical & industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Advanced cold spray facility
Spencer Freeman at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Imaging biophysical determinants of the innate immune response
Liisa Galea at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Institute of Medical Science in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Sex and sex-specific factors influencing brain health across the lifespan
Maged Goubran at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – AI platform for mapping, tracking and predicting circuit alterations in Alzheimer’s disease
Eitan Grinspun in the departments of computer science and department of mathematics in the Faculty of Arts & Science – A computer graphics perspective on entanglement of slender structures
Levon Halabelian in the Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Enabling a high-throughput drug discovery pipeline for targeting disease-related human proteins
Ziqing Hong in the department of physics in the Faculty of Arts & Science – Ultra-sensitive cryogenic detector development for dark matter and neutrino experiments
Eno Hysi at the Unity Health Toronto and the department of medical biophysics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Structural and functional assessments of diabetic skin microvasculature using photoacoustic imaging
Lewis Kay in the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Helium recovery system for the biomolecular NMR facility
Xiang Li in the department of chemistry and the department of physic in the Faculty of Arts & Science – Real-time multi-faceted probes of quantum materials
Qian Lin in the department of cell & systems biology in the Faculty of Arts & Science – 2p-RAM for whole-brain single-neuron imaging of behaving zebrafish to study neural mechanisms of cognitive behaviours
Xilin Liu in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. department of electrical and computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Integrated circuits for wireless brain implants with multi-modal neural interfaces
Stephen Lye at the Sinai Health System and the department of physiology in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Healthy Life Trajectories Initiative (HeLTI) analytics platform
Caitlin Maikawa in the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Biointerfacing materials for drug delivery lab
Emma Master in the department of chemical engineering & applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Accelerating biomanufacturing innovation through enhanced capacity for scale-up and downstream bioprocess engineering
Roman Melnyk at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – The H-SCREEN: A platform for high throughput and high content imaging-based small molecule screens for disease modulation
Juan Mena-Parra in the department of astronomy & astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science – An advanced laboratory to enable novel radio telescopes for cosmology and time-domain astrophysics
Seyed Mohamad Moosavi in the department of chemical engineering and applied chemistry in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Machine learning for nanoporous materials design
Enid Montague in the department of mechanical & industrial engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Automation and equity in healthcare laboratory
Michael Norris in the department of biochemistry in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Infrastructure for structural and functional virology research hub
Amaya Perez-Brumer in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health – 3P lab: Centering power, privilege and positionality for health equity research
Monica Ramsey in the department of anthropology at the University of Toronto Mississauga – Ramsey Laboratory for Environmental Archaeology (RLEA): How human-environment interactions shaped plant-food
Arneet Saltzman in the department of cell & systems biology in the in the Faculty of Arts & Science – Heterochromatin regulation in development and inheritance
Mina Tadrous in the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy – Developing a centre for real-world evidence to improve the use of medications for Canadians
Shurui Zhou in the department of electrical & computer engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Improving collaboration efficiency for fork-based software development
Olena Zhulyn at the Hospital for Sick Children and the department of molecular genetics in the Temerty Faculty of Medicine – Targeting translation for tissue regeneration and repair
Christoph Zrenner at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the Institute of Biomedical Engineering in the Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Next-generation real-time closed-loop personalized neurostimulation

R u there? Using abbreviations in your texts reduces the chance of getting a reply: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Mon, 25 Nov 2024 14:07:13 +0000

R u there? Using abbreviations in your texts reduces the chance of getting a reply: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Mon, 11/25/2024 - 09:07

Cutline

(photo by Envato)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

Researchers find that people who use common messaging shorthands such as "lol" and "ttyl" are perceived as putting less effort into the conversation

Tapping out smartphone messages using shorthand such as “btw” (by the way) or “tbh” (to be honest) may feel breezy and efficient – but a new study warns these and other common abbreviations may make it less likely to get a response.

Whether you’re on a dating app or messaging with fellow gamers, it turns out that using abbreviations makes people believe you’re putting less effort into the conversation. They’ll find your message less sincere and not as worthy of a reply as the exact same text written in full.

“Abbreviations imply informality and casualness – so we thought if somebody uses one, you might read that as a signal of closeness and be more likely to respond,” says study co-author Sam Maglio, a marketing professor in the department of management at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management.

“We figured that was perfectly plausible and we found out that was perfectly wrong. An abbreviation makes the other party tune out.”

The study, published in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, was based on the results of experiments in the lab and the field, survey data and archival field data.

One experiment examined Tinder conversation histories submitted by 700 users across five continents. Researchers calculated the percentage of abbreviations participants used in their messages on the popular dating app. They found that for every one-per-cent increase in abbreviations, average conversation length decreased by about seven per cent.

When other Tinder users were surveyed, 80 per cent believed their matches wouldn’t care if they used abbreviations. But that wasn't reflected in the data – regardless of profile characteristics, topics discussed, message length or the sophistication of word choices.

Another experiment focused on Discord, a messaging platform popular among young people. They sent almost 2,000 messages to members of a Discord channel dedicated to anime TV shows, asking for a show recommendation.

“We set ourselves up to fail. We tried to find the most challenging arena for this effect to work: young people who live online – and it still worked,” says Maglio.

The Discord messages were probing whether reactions changed based on the type of abbreviations used. That includes: phonological abbreviations that condense words based on how they sound, such as “plz” or “thnx”; acronyms and initialisms like “hru” (how are you?) and “ttyl” (talk to you later); subbing letters or numbers for words, as in “u 2”; and contractions, which shorten words by removing letters, such as “rlly” or “wud.” All forms of abbreviations were less likely to get a reply than their spelled-out counterparts on the platform. The only exception was for the messages that used phonological abbreviations (although this exception was not noted in a subsequent experiment).

In a virtual speed dating experiment, roughly 200 young Americans were paired up for five-minute dates. Half were encouraged to integrate words from one of two lists – an abbreviated version and a spelled-out one – into their conversations. Dates had a much greater desire to continue talking to non-abbreviated texters and viewed them as more sincere. More of their dates also offered to share their contact information to continue chatting after the experiment.

The researchers’ lab-based tests yielded similar results – and the thousands of participants who participated in these studies all rated how much effort they felt were put into the texts, how sincere they felt the sender was being and how likely they were to reply.

The results were the same across the board: abbreviations meant less effort, less sincerity and a lower desire to reply.

“It’s possible that some participants treated the sincerity question as a kind of general ‘good or bad’ evaluation,” says study co-author David Fang, a �鶹��Ƶ alumnus.

“We mainly chose sincerity because it's important for relational building. Participants are taking a stab at defining what they perceive sincerity to be – for instance expressing genuineness in the interaction.”

�鶹��Ƶ Mississauga grad aims to 'understand people on a deeper level'

lanthierj — Fri, 01 Nov 2024 19:59:56 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ Mississauga grad aims to 'understand people on a deeper level'

lanthierj Fri, 11/01/2024 - 15:59

Cutline

Nirmol Midha, an international student from India, says studying psychology at �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga gave her insights into human emotions and behaviours (photo by Anmoal Midha)

Topic

Subheadline

Nirmol Midha studied psychology and volunteered with campus groups that offer mental health and wellness supports

As she prepares to graduate from the University of Toronto Mississauga, Nirmol Midha is taking time to reflect on the meaningful lessons, rich experiences and diverse connections that punctuated her journey – including a passion for supporting mental health.

“It’s a really emotional time, because at UTM I developed so much, not only academically but as a person,” says Midha, an international student from India who completed an undergraduate degree in psychology.

“It was a time of self-exploration, growth and discovering my resilience.”

Midha specifically chose to study at the �鶹��Ƶ Mississauga campus because of its serene natural surroundings and the option to have two minors – in biology and political science.

She says majoring in psychology was a way for her to better understand human motivations and behaviours – and to learn how to support mental health.

“I felt a deep calling to understand people on a deeper level and support their emotional and mental well-being,” she says.

“I think that’s really important in today’s world.”

Midha says she was fascinated to learn about the how the mind develops, the structure and function of the brain, the evolution of cognition in children and how to conduct quantitative research.

She says her professors skillfully brought the topics to life.

“All of the professors at UTM taught really well. They made the concepts so engaging,” she says. “They were helpful, accommodating and always trying to offer a helping hand.”

Midha complemented her classroom learning with mental health-related extracurricular activities.

She served a term as the vice-president of the student club Mending Minds, for which she organized mental health awareness events. She also worked as the education and communication lead at The Wellness Den, a space connected with the Health & Counselling Centre that provides wellness services to support students. There, she created an escape room game to bring awareness to the Den’s offerings.

“The goal at the Den was to let students know that we all deal with academic and life pressures – and sometimes it’s a lot, but everything’s going to be fine,” she says.

Like other Class of 2024 grads, Midha’s education was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic that forced �鶹��Ƶ to hold many classes virtually for an extended period. Missing out on so much campus life was difficult, she says, but notes she was able to find her stride with online learning and maintain her circle of friends.

She says remote learning also allowed her to attend her nephew, who was unwell.

“Everything’s going to have its positives and negatives,” she says. “You just have to look at the positive side and move on with it.”

While Midha is considering future studies in social work and speech-language pathology, she is currently focused on research, administration and mental health roles.

What she knows for sure is that she wants to apply what she has learned about human psychology and wellness so she can help others. That includes through her volunteer role as vice-president of marketing for UTM Campus Connections, a club that supports community members with intellectual disabilities.

“I want to use what I’ve learned at UTM to make a meaningful impact in people’s lives,” she says. “I hope to contribute to something bigger than myself in the future.”

�鶹��Ƶ study challenges stereotypes about lazy, unmotivated cannabis users

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 17:51:28 +0000

�鶹��Ƶ study challenges stereotypes about lazy, unmotivated cannabis users

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 04/29/2024 - 13:51

Cutline

(Bloomberg Creative Photos via Getty Images)

Topic

Rotman School of Management

�鶹��Ƶ Scarborough

Subheadline

"Our data suggests that you can be hard-working, motivated and a chronic cannabis user at the same time."

Cannabis users might not be as lazy and unmotivated as popular stereotypes suggest, according to new research from the University of Toronto.

In a study published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science, researchers found that regular cannabis use had minimal effects on motivation and willpower, and that getting high was associated with more positive emotions and fewer negative ones.

The research aimed to take an objective look at the effects of recreational cannabis on the daily lives of chronic users, says Michael Inzlicht, a professor in the department of psychology at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough who led the study.

“There is a stereotype that chronic cannabis users are somehow lazy or unproductive,” says Inzlicht, who is cross-appointed to the Rotman School of Management. “We found that’s not the case – their behaviours might change a bit in the moment while they’re high, but our evidence shows they are not lazy or lacking motivation at all.”

Professor Michael Inzlicht runs the Work and Play Lab at �鶹��Ƶ Scarborough (photo by Lorne Bridgeman)

For the study, scientists surveyed 260 chronic cannabis users – defined as those who used cannabis at least three times a week – five times per day over the course of a week. Participants received notifications through an app asking if they were high, and were then prompted to answer questionnaires that assessed their emotional state, motivation levels, willpower and self-regulation.

Inzlicht says the most interesting finding relates to motivation, with participants found to be just as willing and motivated to exert effort in completing a task when high compared to when sober.

Past research has shown mixed results when it comes to chronic cannabis use and motivation, with Inzlicht noting much of it relied on limited experimental designs that didn't account for differences between cannabis users and non-users, including variations in personality, mental health or use of other psychoactive substances.

He says this study accounted for those pre-existing differences and also looked at chronic cannabis use while participants were actively high.

The researchers did find that being high was associated with lower levels of self-regulation, an important trait for being able to accomplish tasks. Specifically, chronic users reported being more impulsive, less thoughtful and less orderly.

“These things can detract someone from getting stuff done, but we didn’t find it made them less hard-working, responsible or able to focus,” says Inzlicht, who runs the Work and Play Lab, which does research on self-control, motivation and empathy as well as social media, digital devices and recreational cannabis use.

Chronic cannabis users were also found to experience a boost in positive emotions such as awe and gratitude when they were high, and a reduction in some negative emotions such as fear and anxiety. However, more chronic users were found to experience more negative emotions while high as well as while sober.

The study also found no evidence of a “weed hangover” the day after cannabis use.

Inzlicht notes that studying the effects of daily cannabis use was difficult in the past due to its legal status, and that most scholarship on the topic focused on negative impacts in an effort to curb use.

Now that cannabis is legal in Canada, however, Inzlicht says he expects there will be more research focusing on both positive effects and risks.

“The cannabis literature, historically, tended to focus a lot on the negative medical consequences of chronic use,” says Inzlicht. “Part of the motivation for this study is to take a neutral, clear-eyed approach to see how cannabis affects chronic users in their everyday lives.”

He adds the study isn’t an endorsement of heavy cannabis use, pointing out there is plenty of research highlighting its risks – especially among adolescents.

Rather, he points to Statistics Canada data showing that nearly one in 10 adult Canadians are regular cannabis users, and they come from all walks of life. Cannabis is also the fourth most used recreational drug after caffeine, alcohol and tobacco. But despite its increased legal and social acceptance, relatively little is known about the everyday experiences of regular users.

“Our data suggests that you can be hard-working, motivated and a chronic cannabis user at the same time.”

The study received funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Defy Dementia podcast inspires people of all ages to improve brain health … including its expert co-host

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 17 Apr 2024 17:04:48 +0000

Defy Dementia podcast inspires people of all ages to improve brain health … including its expert co-host

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 04/17/2024 - 13:04

Cutline

Allison Sekuler, a cognitive neuroscientist, is among the researchers at the Baycrest Centre who are working to advance the field of “precision aging” by applying the principles of precision medicine to aging and brain health (photo by Donna Waxman)

Adina Bresge

Topic

Our Community

Baycrest

Subheadline

Nominated for a Webby award, Defy Dementia was created by Allison Sekuler, a researcher at the Baycrest Centre and �鶹��Ƶ psychology professor, and science communicator Jay Ingram

Cognitive neuroscientist Allison Sekuler says she and science communicator Jay Ingram launched the Defy Dementia podcast to empower people to make simple changes to improve their brain health.

What she didn’t expect was that the project would inspire her to make changes of her own.

As the Baycrest Centre’s Sandra A. Rotman Chair in cognitive neuroscience at the Rotman Research Institute and president and chief scientist of Baycrest Academy for Research and Education and Centre for Aging + Brain Health Innovation, Sekuler is well-versed in the growing body of science linking dementia risk to lifestyle factors such as social isolation, sleep and exercise.

But when Defy Dementia launched a year ago, Sekuler admits that she had fallen into a rut on the fitness front. Despite continuing to pay monthly membership fees, she hadn’t set foot in a gym since the COVID-19 lockdowns in early 2020.

That soon changed as she and Ingram heard from listeners who were putting the podcast’s advice into practice.

“It’s been gratifying, intellectually, that we're able to make a difference in people's lives,” says Sekuler, who is a professor of psychology in the University of Toronto’s Faculty of Arts & Science. “But it's also had a deep personal impact on me, inspiring me to get myself up off the couch and start becoming more active.”

In particular, she credits two podcast conversations with getting her back into the gym: a pep talk from octogenarian bodybuilder Ernestine Shepherd, and the story of listener-turned-guest Ravi Venkatesh, an IT specialist in Mississauga, Ont., who told the hosts how the podcast had motivated him to recommit to his yoga regimen.

As Sekuler sees it, she’s just one beneficiary of the community of learning that has sprung up around Defy Dementia, which is currently vying for a voter-chosen Webby Award for podcasts in the health, wellness and lifestyle category (voting is open until April 18).

A general term encompassing several diseases that impair memory, thinking and reasoning, dementia is projected to afflict 150 million people by 2050, including more than one million in Canada, according to research published in The Lancet.

“Obviously, nobody wants to get dementia, and there are things you can do to decrease your risk. But even people who are living with the disease, it's not necessarily, you know, a death sentence,” says Sekuler, whose research specializes in the links between perception, memory and aging.

“Our goal was … to portray a realistic view of the disease and of aging, but [also] to show the possibilities that are there.”

Sekuler is among the scientists at the Baycrest Centre working to advance the field of “precision aging,” applying the principles of precision medicine to aging and brain health to detect, treat and care for people with dementia in a personalized way.

Research suggests we have more control over dementia than one might think – a 2020 report by the Lancet Commission found a dozen modifiable risk factors account for 40 per cent of dementias, including hearing impairment, smoking and obesity – but Sekuler stresses that many of the interventions under development are only effective if the disease is caught early.

Hence, a key challenge facing the field is the popular belief that dementia is a disease determined solely by your genes.

On Defy Dementia, Sekuler and Ingram, who have been collaborating since the 1990s, push back against this misconception by offering tips on reducing risk through lifestyle changes. That includes episodes focused on subjects such as cognitive engagement, nutrition, sleep and stress.

Sekuler attributes much of the podcast’s resonance to its format. Each episode features one guest sharing their personal experience with dementia, followed by a scientist who responds to the story with expert context and insights.

“It made the science that much more accessible and relatable,” she says.

Sekuler says she was surprised to find that people of all ages are tuning in – not just the older crowd that she and Ingram initially expected to attract.

“You’re never too young or too old to take care of your brain,” Sekuler says. “The sooner you start taking actions to improve your lifestyle, the more it becomes a habit for you throughout your life.”

Personality type can help predict who's single or in a relationship - and how happy they are: Study

Christopher.Sorensen — Wed, 10 Apr 2024 17:20:47 +0000

Personality type can help predict who's single or in a relationship - and how happy they are: Study

Christopher.Sorensen Wed, 04/10/2024 - 13:20

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(photo by Prostock Studio/Getty Images)

Josslyn Johnstone

Topic