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A Computational Model for Agents in a Social Context: An Approach Based on Theory of Mind

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Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing & Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI 2023) (UCAmI 2023)

Abstract

Socialization should be considered in any Ambient Intelligent system (AmI) where several persons interact, and specially in mental health-oriented ones. A crucial aspect of human social interaction and understanding is the Theory of Mind (ToM), which involves the ability to comprehend and predict the mental state of others, being critical for successful social functioning. The hypothesis of this paper is that the use of ToM to develop Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) to support AmI will enable modeling and reasoning about the mind of the people interacting in the system, making the agent that embodies a person more effective, efficient and social-capable than agents lacking such capacity. This paper presents a computational model based on ToM to support the reasoning and decision-making of socio-cognitive agents. The model applies the fundamental principles of ToM and Belief-Desire-Intention (BDI) agent model to develop a multi-agent system adaptable to real-world scenarios. The case study focuses on School Bullying, for which social theories validate the behavior of the proposed socio-cognitive agents. The results provide a suitable framework integrating advanced technologies with the necessary AI capabilities for the development of social-aware Ambient Intelligent systems.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is part of the R+D+i projects PID2019-108915RB-I00 and PID2022-140907OB-I00 and the grant PRE2020-094056 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Moreover, it has been funded by the University of Castilla-La Mancha as part of the project 2022-GRIN-34436 and by ‘ERDF A way to make Europe’.

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Correspondence to Elena Navarro .

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Zhinin-Vera, L., López-Jaquero, V., Navarro, E., González, P. (2023). A Computational Model for Agents in a Social Context: An Approach Based on Theory of Mind. In: Bravo, J., Urzáiz, G. (eds) Proceedings of the 15th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing & Ambient Intelligence (UCAmI 2023). UCAmI 2023. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 835. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-48306-6_1

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