People are more likely to attribute consciousness to robots with eyes

A research team from the University of Bremen has conducted a study to determine when people tend to attribute consciousness to a robot. The scientists found that robots have to look human-like to do this. Eye-like structures in particular ensure that people attribute mental states to robots.

As robots are also to be used as helpers in care and private households in the future, it is important to find out in advance how robots are perceived by humans. This is the only way to build robots that are accepted by people in their environment. The more human-like abilities, such as consciousness or emotions, are attributed to a robot, the more it will be seen and possibly accepted as a social being.

In the study "The Effect of Eyes on the Perception of Humanoid Robots' Mind" (PDF), which was published as a preprint in SSRN, scientists from the University of Bremen wanted to find out whether robots with eyes are more likely to be perceived as beings with a consciousness than robots without eyes.

Eyes reflect consciousness

The scientists chose eyes because people attribute great importance to them with regard to feelings or inner states. They therefore wanted to find out whether this also applies to robots and influences human perception of the robot. Specifically, the researchers wanted to determine whether people are more likely to attribute consciousness, human-like thoughts or emotions to robots with eyes.

To do this, the scientists conducted two different tests with 200 and 100 test subjects respectively. The surveys were based on images of various humanoid robots with or without eyes, which the researchers had created using the generative artificial intelligence (AI) Imagine Art. In the first experiment, the test subjects were shown the images and then had to answer four questions about how they rated the robots depicted on them. The questions focused on whether the robot could control itself, act with deliberation, distinguish right from wrong, feel emotions or have a personality and consciousness.

In the second experiment, the researchers used the same images. This time, the test subjects' perceptions were determined using the Implicit Association Test (IAT). In this test, the study participants had to quickly make an association with an image they saw. The researchers were thus able to determine people's unconscious attitude towards the robots depicted.

The results show that robots with eyes on their faces are attributed human-like mental abilities. People tend to think that it is a conscious being and can also feel emotions.

The researchers see potential for more far-reaching research in their study. For example, they could investigate the possible psychological and ethical implications of people assuming that a robot has a mind.

(olb)