How the Degree of Anthropomorphism of Human-like Robots Affects Users’ Perceptual and Emotional Processing: Evidence from an EEG Study

Anthropomorphized robots are increasingly integrated into human social life, playing vital roles across various fields. This study aimed to elucidate the neural dynamics underlying users’ perceptual and emotional responses to robots with varying levels of anthropomorphism. We investigated event-related potentials (ERPs) and event-related spectral perturbations (ERSPs) elicited while participants viewed, perceived, and rated the affection of robots with low (L-AR), medium (M-AR), and high (H-AR) levels of anthropomorphism. EEG data were recorded from 42 participants. Results revealed that H-AR induced a more negative N1 and increased frontal theta power, but decreased P2 in early time windows. Conversely, M-AR and L-AR elicited larger P2 compared to H-AR. In later time windows, M-AR generated greater late positive potential (LPP) and enhanced parietal-occipital theta oscillations than H-AR and L-AR. These findings suggest distinct neural processing phases: early feature detection and selective attention allocation, followed by later affective appraisal. Early detection of facial form and animacy, with P2 reflecting higher-order visual processing, appeared to correlate with anthropomorphism levels. This research advances the understanding of emotional processing in anthropomorphic robot design and provides valuable insights for robot designers and manufacturers regarding emotional and feature design, evaluation, and promotion of anthropomorphic robots.