Superficial contacts on Facebook, apparently unnecessary comments, and banal status updates may be more worthwhile than we think. This is shown in a new report from the National IT User Center. The report also predicts the new social media will ultimately lead to more individual entrepreneurs.
Many people are critical of those who collect hundreds of so-called friends on Facebook. Often the majority of these “friends” are old classmates, acquaintances of acquaintances, and the like, relationships that are fundamentally weak. The comments and updates of relatively banal nature that appear on Facebook have also generated a great number of snide remarks, not least in the media, in recent times. But a report compiled by Håkan Selg, a doctoral candidate at the Department of Information Technology, Uppsala University, reveals that these contacts in fact constitute highly useful networks, networks that make use of the ostensibly meaningless comments and updates. [continue reading…]
Imagine a simulated training where the characters you interact with are almost human — they converse, they understand, can reason and exhibit emotions.
One such training program being developed at University of Southern California is Virtual Patients.
Virtual Patients are advanced conversational virtual human agents that have been applied to the psychiatric medical field. These interactive agents portray a patient with a clinical or physical condition and can interact verbally and non-verbally with a clinician in an effort to teach interpersonal skills. [continue reading…]
Couples who bring thoughtful words to a fight release lower amounts of stress-related proteins, suggesting that rational communication between partners can ease the impact of marital conflict on the immune system. [continue reading…]
Talking is something most people do with such ease. We barely notice we are doing it, let alone stop to think how the brain processes the 370 million words an average person says in their lifetime.
Yet a complex sequence of thoughts, movements and actions lie behind each and every word we utter. And as adults, we speak 15,000 words every day.
So where does language come from, how did this ability evolve and is it something we are born with or something we learn? The BBC News Magazine looks at how language develops and evolves.….continue reading
Horizon: Why Do We Talk?is broadcast on BBC Two at 2100 GMT on Tuesday, 10 November
UK Residents can watch it on iPlayer
