Unraveling Human Identity: What Robots Teach Us About ‘You’

A new paper in Science Robotics explores the human “sense of self” and how robots can help us understand it better. Three scientists, Agnieszka Wykowska, Tony Prescott, and Kai Vogeley, discuss this topic. They suggest that the sense of self includes feeling connected to our bodies, having control over our actions, and seeing others as individuals.

The authors assert that robots can both represent the human sense of self and serve as tools in psychological studies. They propose two main uses for robots in this context.

1. Robots as Models of Self-Related Processes

Researchers can program robots to mimic human cognitive processes related to self-awareness. Current studies indicate that humans develop their sense of self by interpreting sensory experiences and understanding their role in these experiences. Robots can act as physical models to test these theories.

2. Robots as Tools in Social Psychology Experiments

Robots can participate in psychological experiments where humans interact with them. These robots can display social behaviors, such as communication and joint attention. These interactions can reveal whether people perceive robots as social beings and how their mental responses to robots compare to those for other humans. Initial studies suggest that humans can perceive a joint sense of agency with robots when they work together.

The authors also mention that as children grow, their sense of self evolves. By age 4, children understand that they exist over time and recognize that others also have a sense of self. Researchers aim to instill similar features in robots by developing memory systems that resemble human autobiographical memory. However, this research is still in its early stages. Current robots lack awareness of their existence over time and do not recognize other beings as having selves.

Reference: “Understanding the sense of self through robotics” by Tony J. Prescott, Kai Vogeley, and Agnieszka Wykowska, published on October 30, 2024, in Science Robotics. DOI: 10.1126/scirobotics.adn2733