Julia Self

It was very strong, the effect, which means that we think that the effect of eyes is very strong on robots, but that doesn't still mean that we think that those robots had as much mind characteristics as people.

Yeah, that is to some extent what is happening there.

First, we think to some extent it is good thing to sort of trick our brain to think that the robots are somewhat human-like because this would help the interaction with those robots.

So the interaction would feel more natural and easy.

And for now...

That doesn't mean that we think that the robots are people.

We just think of them as more social.

There's still a distinction between these robots with eyes and other people.

Yes, I might have these mixed sort of mind attributions at the same time.

And it is often the case that when we are asked about these capabilities of robots, we tend to answer that they don't have it.

If we have enough time to think, we might answer that, no, they are just machines and they don't have any mind whatsoever.

And that's why we had another study in this one, in which we also measured the more instinctive mind attributions to robots.

And those results were very much in line with the previous ones.

That this mind attribution happens on both the more conscious level and the instinctive level as well.

Yes, and it is very important to note that indeed that is something that we can expect from the future.

We might have to interact with robots and also that kind of interaction with robots is already happening in, for example, the elderly homes.

And again, if we see them as human-like to some extent, it might be easier and more fun to interact with them.

But we have to be also very considerate of the possibility that there's a limit after which they might start feeling too human-like and actually deceive us into thinking that they are people themselves.