Cross*, Darda*, Moffat, Munoz, Humphries & Kirsch. (2023).
Mutual gaze and movement synchrony boost observers' enjoyment and perception of togetherness when watching dance.
Under review. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/25rwt (*equal contribution)
Casale*, Moffat* & Cross. (2023).
Aesthetic evaluation of body movements shaped by embodiment and arts experience: Insights from behaviour and fNIRS.
Under review. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/n24kc (*equal contribution)
PEER REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS
Moffat & Cross. (2024).
Awareness of embodiment enhances enjoyment and engages sensorimotor cortices.
Human Brain Mapping. doi: 10.31234/osf.io/y5s89
Moffat, Roos, Casale & Cross. (2024).
Dyadic body competence predicts movement synchrony during the mirror game.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/fnhum.2024.1401494
Moffat & Cross. (2024).
Evaluations of dyadic synchrony: Observers’ traits influence estimation and enjoyment of synchrony in mirror-game movements.
Scientific Reports. doi: 10.1038/s41598-024-53191-0
Moffat, Caruana & Cross. (2024).
Inhibiting responses under the watch of a recently synchronized peer increases self-monitoring: evidence from functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Open Biology.
doi: 10.31234/osf.io/2n8sv
Moffat, Casale & Cross. (2024).
Mobile fNIRS for exploring inter-brain synchrony across generations and time.
Front. Neuroergonomics.doi: 10.3389/fnrgo.2023.1260738
Moffat, Başkent, Luke, McAlpine & van Yper. (2023).
Cortical haemodynamic responses predict individual ability to recognise vocal emotions with uninformative pitch cues but do
not distinguish different emotions. Human Brain Mapping. doi: 10.1002/hbm.26305
Caruana, Moffat, Blanco & Cross. (2022).
Talk, listen and keep me company: A mixed methods analysis of children’s perspectives towards robot reading companions.
Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on Human-Agent Interaction. doi: 10.1145/3527188.3563917
Moffat. (2022). Recognition and cortical haemodynamics of vocal emotions –
an fNIRS perspective. PhD Thesis.
doi: 10.33612/diss.215902776
About Me
In my spare time, I am an avid reader and baker, a beginner surfer and, in climates with sub-zero temperatures,
also a figure skater.
While mapping brain activity cannot directly explain behaviour, it has the potential to provide neurophysiological
context to cognition and behaviour. In my research, I mainly use functional near-infrared spectrocopy (fNIRS) to probe changes
in blood flow on the cortex. fNIRS is exciting because it is a portable neuroimaging technique which can be implemented in
everyday social settings, such collaborative activities between generations
(Moffat et al., 2023).
My PhD research explored how emotions conveyed in speech (normal and degraded, as if passed through
a cochlear implant) are represented in the cortex and how they map onto listeners' emotion recognition abilities
(Moffat et al., 2023).
More recently, I have investigated the influence of social obervation and motor synchrony (a form of interpersonal
coordination) on activity in frontal brain regions, with specific attention paid to the observed individual's ability
to supress motor responses (Moffat et al., under review). Another
of my projects has looked at how embodying movements by mirroring someone else influence our appraisal when we see other
dyads repeating the same sequence of movements (Moffat et al., in progress).
As a research assistant, I helped collect and analyse electroencephalography (EEG) and fNIRS data from 1-year-old
babies to understand how babies learn boundaries in language (between words, phrases, sounds). I have also helped use trans-cranial magnetic
stimulation (TMS) to study language production.
interpersonal coordination
Synching up with other people, whether in our movements, emotions, belief and preference, or
even neural activity is a form of 'interpersonal coordination'. This coordination with others is central to how much we like
each other, how well we collaborate – in short, it's key for relationship building and maintenance.
In my current research, I investigate how playing a mirror-game with a peer can enhance performance
on cognitive tasks. This research also examines how being observed by one's partner from the mirror-game during the cognitive assessment
impacts brain activity (Moffat et al., under review).
Another synchrony-related project investigates our aesthetic appreciation, or enjoyment, when we watch other people
engage in motor synchrony, and how this may influence our brain's responses. My work also explores our abilities and/or willingness to engage
interpersonal synchrony through the mirror game reveals about our personalities and skills, and how well other people can extract this information
from watching our mirror-game movements.
human–robot interaction
Social robots are appearing increasingly often in homes, classrooms, and public venues. These robots are used as companions and
teachers, who can potentially allieviate loneliness and support children with anxiety related to learning new skills, such as reading.
Recently, I was involved a project researching which features children desire in a robot reading-buddy. Children met three different robots
and read to the robot of their choice. This project took children's qualitative assessments of the reading experience into account, and also probed their preferences
using quantitative ratings of various robot-features (Caruana et al., 2023), see also
(Caruana et al., 2023).
Future projects will delve into how rapport develops between humans and robot-companions, with a focus on brain activity and coordination between
humans and robots.
