The question I will pursue over the course of my research is 'can a robot perform psychoanalysis?'. The anticipated answer from a psychoanalyst is 'never!', while the answer from computer engineer would be 'inevitably'. To answer this question I am researching contemporary artificial intelligence, its history and applications, and the possibility of electronic 'self-awareness'. I am exploring the psychoanalytic question of what it is to be a subject, and whether this status is exclusive to humans. Additionally I am researching the split between clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis, and the effects that each domain has on the other as a consequence of this split. The commencement of this research will follow from my current studies concerning Freudian and Lacanian theory, specifically the linguistic and temporal subject of the unconscious; my analysis of distinction between clinical and theoretical psychoanalysis; critical theory of technology and historical materialism. My research will involve analysis of contemporary artificial intelligence development and the historical conditions which have proceeded from mass automation of industrial processes. I will conduct research into and develop a model of psychoanalysis as it is performed clinically and compare this procedure with its increasingly academicised theoretical counterpart. After establishing the distinction between these two domains, I will then explore the consequences of this distinction and its relation to the possibility of automated, computer preformed clinical psychoanalysis This research will be undertaken with reference to the historical conditions in which we find ourselves, and with the acknowledgment that any theory which attempts to model those conditions is also invariably a symptom and a product of those conditions.

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Ronald Firbank and the Legacy of Camp Modernism

The proposed project will investigate the effect of interpersonal synchrony (i.e., movement matched in time between individuals, such in a dance or athletic setting) on the development of prosocial behaviour, with an eventual aim of developing of an educational intervention to help children with poor social integration skills. Robust research has shown that correlated rhythmic movements increase a sense of affiliation between young children, and my recent MSc work shows that visually-induced synchrony can promote not just prosocial feelings but also an enhanced sense of similarity for a 'virtual' child. This work has clear implications for educational settings, which relies on group-work within learning environments. Specifically, this project will study how different interpersonal synchrony experimental conditions (e.g.,auditory, visual, virtual reality and real person experience) can induce and enhance children's social perception of others within a peer group. I will focus on two age groups of children, across the typical spectrum of social intelligence: 1) 3- to 5- years of age (the beginning of formal education), and 2) 9- to11-years of age (the end of primary school, beginning of adolescence). I will study children within a school setting, in peer-dyads, and in the lab (in our own purpose built virtual reality system). Outcome variables of levels of trust, self-reported similarity and pro-social behaviours will be measured. The project will be a combination of cross-sectional and longitudinal work, with a cohort tested in year 1 of my PhD followed up through the next 2 years, in order to assess the usefulness of consistent synchrony work. The eventual aim is to translate this research into something that can be used by teachers to support social understanding across a spectrum of social deficits. This project is relevant to the ESRC remit of developmental and educational neuroscience, specifically is aimed at educational impact.