Experiments in the PsyIntEC project are undergoing for single human performing the reference task, human-human collaboration and human-robot collaboration.vThe Tower of Hanoi (ToH) puzzle was selected as the reference task for the study. ToH is a mathematical puzzle game consisting of three rods, and a number of disks of different sizes that can slide onto any rod. The goal of the puzzle is to start from a given configuration of the disks on the leftmost peg and to arrive in a minimal number of moves at the same configuration on the rightmost peg. Tower of Hanoi is originally a single player game. In the collaborative experiments the human-human or human-robot take turns to complete the game.

Upon arrival, participants are given general information about the experiment and a description explaining the Tower of Hanoi puzzle. Before starting the experiment, three practice moves of ToH is presented by the experimenter in order to acquaint subjects with the game. Their written consent explaining psychophysiological measurements and providing anonymity is obtained.

When entering the lab room each participant is seated in a fixed chair at the table where the game task is set up. The psychophysiological sensors measuring heart rate (ECG), electromyography (EMG), galvanic skin response (GSR) and electroencephalography (EEG) are attached, and the eye-tracker is equipped. The subjects are seated in a closed laboratory with controlled lighting and with little distraction from the outside. They are seated in a chair with fixed height and predefined position, this height and position is to be constant during all experiments in order to be able to compare the data between different experiments. One experimenter is always present in the laboratory room to monitor the experiments, but is completely hidden behind a screen and is instructed to be as quiet as possible. The presence of an experimenter is for safety reasons when using the robot arms and for monitoring that all data are recorded correctly. Surveillance of the robot arms and subject is done using live feed from a video camera. In addition the robot control software has an emergency stopping sequence implemented if it detects any defects in the program execution.

The GSR, EMG and ECG signals are recorded using active electrodes attached using conductive gel. The EEG signals are recording using a Headcap with active electrodes. We will use EEG signals from left and right frontal, central, anterior temporal and parietal regions (F3, F4, C3, C4, T3, T4, P3, P4 positions according to the 10-20 system and referenced to Cz), in total eight channels.

A Microsoft Kinect camera is used to monitor the moves made by humans and, in experiments 3 and 4, the robot arms. From the camera software a logfile is stored with move made, timestamp of the move, and if the move was optimal or not. The Kinect camera also measures the distance to the subject’s face in regular timestamps and stores the data in a logfile.

The participants are also equipped with a Jazz Novo head-mounted eye-tracker. It records the position (x and y coordinates) of both eyes and the rotation and tilt of the head (by using an accelerometer). All data from the eye-tracker are recorded and stored on the main computer.

All experiments are recorded using the digital camcorder placed in front and to the right of the participant and elevated to get a better overview of the experiment. The camcorder is equipped with a microphone that provide the opportunity to record utterances from the subject during the experiment(s) in the attempt to model the oral communication between subjects or vocalizations when the subject was alone.

Each participant will perform the four experiments. In each experiment the participant will play the tower of Hanoi game three times in total. He/she is asked to make one move at a time with only one hand operating at a given time, and that a move cannot be undone. When all four experiments are finished and questionnaires are filled in the experimenter removes the sensors and thanks the subject.

During the experiment session the operator instructs the participant about what task to perform next. Next to the participant is a laptop controlled by the operator using remote desktop. The operator shows signs on the laptop telling the participant what to do next, or which questionnaire to fill in. Each participant is awarded a cinema ticket for participating in the experiment.