Mutual gaze with a robot affects human neural activity and delays decision-making processes

Area of Science:

• Human-robot interaction
• Cognitive neuroscience
• Social decision-making

Background:

• Gaze is crucial for understanding others' intentions in social contexts.
• Humanoid robots are increasingly integrated into daily life, necessitating understanding of their social signaling capabilities.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate how a humanoid robot's gaze (mutual vs. averted) affects human strategic reasoning.
• To explore the behavioral and neural correlates of human responses to robot gaze cues.

Main Methods:

• Participants played a strategic game with the humanoid robot iCub.
• Behavioral data (response times, decisions) and neural activity (EEG) were recorded.
• Drift diffusion modeling was used to analyze decision-making processes.

Main Results:

• Mutual gaze from the robot iCub slowed participant response times compared to averted gaze.
• Mutual gaze was linked to a higher decision threshold and increased EEG alpha synchronization.
• Averted gaze promoted self-oriented strategies and greater neural sensitivity to outcomes.

Conclusions:

• Robot gaze serves as a potent social signal, significantly modulating human decision-making speed, strategy, and neural processing.
• Findings highlight the importance of gaze in human-robot interaction, with implications for robotics and clinical applications.