Wan-Ting Yeh
Doctoral Candidate
I am a PhD candidate at Early Learning Lab at the University of Auckland working with Associate Professor Annette Henderson. Also, I'm a collaborative researcher at Soul Machines Inc , a pioneering AI company in New Zealand.
My research interests focus on understanding the social communication patterns in early childhood with their primary caregivers involved with screen media. This research will be able to help develop the augmented intelligence virtual baby and to make its contribution to theoretical model-building as well as on clinical applications.
Since 2014, I published over 60 articles on cognitive neurosciences and psychology as a freelance science communicator on Taiwan's famous websites, including Business Weekly and PanSci . In 2018, I was pregnant and I realised that many parents face difficulties in parenting due to their limited knowledge of infant development. I, therefore, felt that I have a mission to help these helpless parents . You can find the scientific parenting articles in my blog, BrainyMama , as well as two local well-known parenting websites in Taiwan: Baby&Mum and MamiBuy .
PhD Candidate, University of Auckland
wyeh841@aucklanduni.ac.nz
How digital media influence
Early social communication ?
The importance of the face-to-face interaction in early childhood for it provides emotionally and socially relevant info that shapes the early social communication. Further, it highlights that human interaction is initiated from a desire to cooperate.
Given the whole part of the cooperative nature of communication is disruptive in the digital environment due to various distractions brought by screens, whether parent-infant social interaction changes in the cyber world becomes a pivotal query.
BabyX
BabyX is a computer-generated psychobiological infant that combines models of neural and sensing systems which respond to and learn from interactive behaviours in real-time.
Our ultimate goal is to use BabyX to re-calibrate the digital interaction with human parents.