Do we really interact with artificial agents as if they are human?

Artificial agents (e.g., virtual avatars, chatbots and voice assistants, physically embodied robots) are becoming increasingly present in our worlds. In addition to their growing commercial application, artificial agents are becoming a critical tool in experimental social neuroscience research. By replacing human confederates, artificial agents have allowed researchers to objectively measure social behaviour and corresponding neural processes, under highly controlled experimental conditions, in realistic interactive contexts. It has largely been assumed that the neural, cognitive and psychological mechanisms supporting social interactions between humans flexibly generalize to interactions with artificial agents and that they therefore can provide an ecologically-valid analogue for investigating these mechanisms. However, recent research studies suggest that the neurocognitive mechansims engaged during social interactions with other humans and artificial agents may not be entirely the same. Furthermore, there are likely many factors – contextual, psychological, and agent factors – which influence the extent to which we treat an agent in a more or less human-like way.

A renewed examination of these assumptions, and the conditions under which they are likely to hold true, is key to advancing our understanding of human social cognition and will inform how we design and position artificial agents in various contexts to promote intuitive social interactions with humans.

For this Research Topic we invite authors to present work relevant to this topic. Submissions are not limited to empirical work; review articles and position papers are also welcome. Submissions must involve a focus on human social cognition in which an otherwise human confederate is replaced by a digital agent.