Researchers have conducted an experiment demonstrating that people experience a Sense of Joint Agency (SoJA) with a robot partner when the robot is presented as an intentional agent rather than as a mechanical artifact.
The study showed that the development of SoJA may be due to their ability to form comparable predictions about the sensory implications of their own and others’ actions.
“In theory, human-like technologies were supposed to make interactions more natural and enjoyable, but in reality, they leave human interactants with the cognitive burden of having to develop a viable mental model of what exactly it is that they are interacting with,” said Tom Ziemke from Linkopings universitet, in a statement.
The details of the team’s research were published in the journal Science Robotics .
In recent years, humanoid robots have gained attention for their potential roles as assistants, educators, and companions in elderly and healthcare settings. Research on human-robot interaction (HRI) and artificial intelligence has focused on developing solutions for these applications.
However, researchers highlight that humanoid robots can also potentially study human cognition. As embodied agents, they enable interactive experimental setups for cognitive neuroscience with higher ecological validity than screen-based stimuli.
Additionally, their programmable behaviors offer higher experimental control. Humanoid robots can manipulate factors such as perceived socialness or intentionality, which isn’t possible with humans.
These features make humanoid robots and HRI paradigms powerful tools for examining cognitive processes and improving robot design for better human-robot collaboration.
Importantly, the perception of a robot as an intentional agent can influence the sense of joint agency (SoJA) during interactions, which is crucial for effective collaboration and intuitive interaction.
Previous literature hints that attributing intentionality to an interaction partner might be crucial for the emergence of the Sense of Joint Agency (SoJA), particularly with artificial agents. However, no systematic investigation has been conducted on this issue.
The study aimed to evaluate whether Sense of Joint Agency (SoJA) is influenced by participants’ perception of their partner as an intentional agent. Using the humanoid robot iCub, which has a sensorimotor repertoire similar to that of a human, the team experimentally manipulated the belief in iCub’s intentionality to address this aim.
Robot intentionality impact
The experiment’s task was to move and verify the location of an on-screen cursor. The iCub robot confirmed a move made by a participant in the collaborative work or vice versa.
In a few variations of the experiment, the robot was trained to perceive and react emotionally to brief videos featuring the people in order to give it a sense of intentionality.
The behavioral findings demonstrated that when the robot was portrayed as a purposeful agent, individuals felt SoJA with it, but not when it was presented as a mechanical item.
“ EEG results show that the mechanism that influences the emergence of
SoJA in the condition, when the robot is presented as an intentional agent, is the ability to form similarly accurate predictions about the sensory consequences of our own and others’ actions, leading to similar modulatory activity over sensory processing,” said researchers in the study.
According to the researchers, the SoJA study can advance our knowledge of human cognition and shed light on human-robot interaction.
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