Perceiving Animacy in Robots: A Neuroimaging Study

Perceiving Animacy in Robots: A Neuroimaging Study | Research Square Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Perceiving Animacy in Robots: A Neuroimaging Study Or Yizhar, Amber Maimon, Zohar Tal, Iddo Yehoshua Wald, Hadas Erel, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-4464597/v3 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Abstract Animacy is central to HRI, as it is critical for perceptions of intentionality and influences acceptance, interaction quality, and trust. In order to better understand the underlying mechanisms of the sense of animacy and its role in HRI, we conducted an experiment (n=13) using a social robotic object that is ambiguous with respect to its perceived animacy. We examined how brain activity related to a subjective animacy rating of the robot by participants after watching it perform simple gestures. Using functional imaging, we found that the ventral occipitotemporal (VOT) cortex, a region known to distinguish animate from inanimate entities, also responds to robots along this same organizational gradient. In an exploratory analysis, activity in the left VOT was associated with the individual differences in participants’ subjective animacy rating of the robot. This extends established principles of animacy perception to non-humanoid robots and suggests that individual differences in brain responses may shape how robots are experienced. Wediscuss implications for HRI, including guiding social cue design, informing gesture alignment with robot roles, and raising ethical considerations around attachment and trust. Cognitive Neuroscience Psychology Robotics Animacy Social robots Brain activation MRI Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files HRI2026NeuralCorrelatesofPerceivingAnimacyinRoboticObjects13.pdf Appendix Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 3 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Show more versions Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information

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