If Adults Like the Robot, Baby Does, Too

DolceTracker| Babies relate to robots as sentient beings if adult humans do (Note: animals weren’t studied). By 18 months old, four times as many babies will respond to robots as ‘social creatures’ if they’ve watched adults interacting with the robots.

This research exercise of introducing the playful robot into a baby’s environment is worth the read, if like us, you are curious about processes of socialization.

“We are using modern technology to explore an age-old question about the essence of being human,” said Andrew Meltzoff, who holds the Job and Gertrud Tamaki Endowed Chair in psychology at the University of Washington. “The babies are telling us that communication with other people is a fundamental feature of being human.” via Science Daily.