{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T14:53:50Z","timestamp":1781535230099,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":87,"publisher":"Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1781481600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/legalcode"}],"funder":[{"name":"Brain Science and Brain-like Intelligence Technology\u2014National Science and Technology Major Project","award":["2022ZD0205100"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2022ZD0205100"]}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100001809","name":"National Natural Science Foundation of China","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["32300897"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["32300897"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100001809","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["dl.acm.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["J. Hum.-Robot Interact."],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>The increasing integration of humanoid robots into educational and social contexts underscores the importance of understanding how young children perceive robots. This study examines how children aged 3\u20136 years (N = 90, 54 females) and adults (N = 24, 11 females) attribute physical, biological, and mental properties to humanoid robots, assessing the impact of humanoid appearance on anthropomorphic perceptions. Participants engaged in a structured card-choice task featuring stimuli varying in humanoid characteristics, including an intelligent phone and robots with differing degrees of humanoid features. Results revealed that while children predominantly recognized robots as \u201cnon-living,\u201d their attributions were significantly influenced by anthropomorphic features, particularly eyes and limbs. Younger children (3\u20135 years) demonstrated higher levels of anthropomorphism compared to older children and adults, frequently attributing biological and mental properties to robots with pronounced human-like features. These findings advance previous research by documenting the developmental trajectory of anthropomorphic perceptions from early preschool (ages 3\u20136) to adulthood. In contrast to prior literature, our study manipulates humanoid appearances along a spectrum (from non-humanoid devices to fully humanoid robots), identifying expressive eyes and articulated limbs as distinct visual features that disproportionately drive young children\u2019s anthropomorphic attributions. This developmental perspective and systematic stimulus comparison provide novel insights with direct implications for designing educational robots tailored for young children. Future research should explore interactive stimuli to further understand the detailed effects of humanoid robotics on child development.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1145\/3813111","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,4]],"date-time":"2026-05-04T13:33:02Z","timestamp":1777901582000},"page":"1-26","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["\u201cEyes\u201d On Me! 3- to 6-Year-Old Children Anthropomorphize Humanoid Robot with Biological and Mental Attributions"],"prefix":"10.1145","volume":"15","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1452-9672","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Keyu","family":"Mao","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China and Department of Education, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0001-1880-4635","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Zisong","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0008-6923-9681","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Fang","family":"Xu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8355-5946","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yijin","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1578-3410","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tingyu","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"College of Child Development and Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Hangzhou, China, Zhejiang Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China, and National Special Education Resource Center for Children with Autism, Hangzhou, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1449-776X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Jing","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"CAS Key Laboratory of Behavioral Science, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-6004-9672","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Liqi","family":"Zhu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Psychology, Shandong Normal University, Jinan, China and Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"320","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]]},"reference":[{"key":"e_1_3_3_2_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/tops.12192"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_3_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/9781119011071.iemp0318"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_4_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1023\/A:1013298507114"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_5_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1037\/dev0000884"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_6_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/HRI.2019.8673024"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_7_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1027\/2151-2604\/a000326"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_8_2","first-page":"290","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Annual Conference Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems","author":"Cameron David","unstructured":"David Cameron, Samuel Fernando, Emily Cowles-Naja, Abigail Perkins, Emily Collins, Abigail Millings, Michael Szollosy, Roger Moore, Amanda Sharkey, and Tony Prescott. Children\u2019s age influences their use of biological and mechanical questions towards a humanoid. In Proceedings of the Annual Conference Towards Autonomous Robotic Systems. Springer, 290\u2013299."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_9_2","volume-title":"Autonomous Robots: From Biological Inspiration to Implementation and Control","author":"Bekey George A.","year":"2005","unstructured":"George A. Bekey. 2005. Autonomous Robots: From Biological Inspiration to Implementation and Control. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_10_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0921-8890(02)00373-1"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_11_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1146\/annurev.ps.43.020192.002005"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_12_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5539\/ach.v2n2p111"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_13_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ijhcs.2011.04.003"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_14_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/2158244018809874"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_15_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/acprof:oso\/9780195154061.001.0001"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_16_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/wcs.124"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_17_2","first-page":"263","volume-title":"Folk Psychology and the Philosophy of Mind.","author":"Haldane John","year":"2013","unstructured":"John Haldane. 2013. Understanding folk. In Folk Psychology and the Philosophy of Mind. Scott M. Christensen and Dale R. Turner (Eds.), Psychology Press, New York, NY, 263\u2013287."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_18_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/15248370802678463"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_19_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/0010-0277(94)90027-2"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_20_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2009.01402.x"},{"issue":"2","key":"e_1_3_3_21_2","first-page":"177","article-title":"An experimental study on preschoolers\u2019 development on naive theory of biology: At the dimension of growth cognition","volume":"32","author":"Zhu Liqi","year":"2000","unstructured":"Liqi Zhu and Fuxi Fang. 2000. An experimental study on preschoolers\u2019 development on naive theory of biology: At the dimension of growth cognition. Acta Psychologica Sinica 32, 2 (2000) 177\u2013182.","journal-title":"Acta Psychologica Sinica"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_22_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12124-021-09668-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_23_2","volume-title":"The Child\u2019s Conception of the World","author":"Piaget Jean","year":"1929","unstructured":"Jean Piaget. 1929. The Child\u2019s Conception of the World. Joan and Andrew Tomlinson (Trans.). Harcourt, Brace and Company, New York, NY and Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd., London, UK."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_24_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3349537.3351891"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_25_2","article-title":"A robot is not worth another: Exploring children\u2019s mental state attribution to different humanoid robots","volume":"11","author":"Manzi Federico","year":"2020","unstructured":"Federico Manzi, Giulia Peretti, Cinzia Di Dio, Angelo Cangelosi, Shoji Itakura, Takayuki Kanda, Hiroshi Ishiguro, Davide Massaro, and Antonella Marchetti. 2020. A robot is not worth another: Exploring children\u2019s mental state attribution to different humanoid robots. Frontiers in Psychology 11 (2020).","journal-title":"Frontiers in Psychology"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_26_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2017.01393"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_27_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0146310"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_28_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/cdev.12999"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_29_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8624.2007.01095.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_30_2","volume-title":"Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society","volume":"22","author":"Nigam Mahendra K.","year":"2000","unstructured":"Mahendra K. Nigam and David Klahr. 2000. If robots make choices, are they alive?: Children\u2019s judgments of the animacy of intelligent artifacts. In Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, Vol. 22."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_31_2","first-page":"363","volume-title":"Category Specificity in Brain and Mind.","author":"Subrahmanyam Kaveri","year":"2005","unstructured":"Kaveri Subrahmanyam, Rochel Gelman, and Andre Lafosse. 2005. Animates and other separately moveable objects. In Category Specificity in Brain and Mind. Emer Forde and Glyn Humphreys (Eds.), Psychology Press, 363\u2013392."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_32_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1467-8721.2006.00431.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_33_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.anbehav.2015.08.011"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_34_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/1745691610369336"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_35_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-008-0001-3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_36_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0921-8890(02)00374-3"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_37_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/jcr\/ucw016"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_38_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0018720811417254"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_39_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.cogpsych.2004.01.002"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_40_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/978-3-030-10898-4_2"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_41_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1416950"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_42_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5898\/JHRI.3.1.Hoffman"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_43_2","volume-title":"Proceedings of the HRI 2018 Workshop on Explainable Robotic Systems","author":"Erel Hadas","year":"2018","unstructured":"Hadas Erel, Guy Hoffman, and Oren Zuckerman. 2018. Interpreting non-anthropomorphic robots\u2019 social gestures. In Proceedings of the HRI 2018 Workshop on Explainable Robotic Systems."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_44_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3491101.3519924"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_45_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3392063.3394426"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_46_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-008-0009-8"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_47_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/frobt.2021.644529"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_48_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.5555\/2447556.2447672"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_49_2","volume-title":"Social Cognition","author":"Fiske and Shelley E. Taylor Susan T.","year":"1991","unstructured":"Susan T. Fiske and Shelley E. Taylor. 1991. Social Cognition (2nd ed.). McGraw-Hill, New York, NY."},{"key":"e_1_3_3_50_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-12-385522-0.00006-8"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_51_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3526112"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_52_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-024-01113-5"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_53_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1348\/026151009X481049"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_54_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pone.0072589"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_55_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jecp.2009.11.002"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_56_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0010-0277(96)00786-X"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_57_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1131754"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_58_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1121241.1121280"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_59_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-013-0196-9"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_60_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3171221.3171268"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_61_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s10846-022-01604-5"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_62_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2020.01275"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_63_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ACIIW59127.2023.10388187"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_64_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1093\/ct\/qtac020"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_65_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3371382.3378348"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_66_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1126\/science.1134475"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_67_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neunet.2010.08.014"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_68_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3613904.3642492"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_69_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.2041-210x.2012.00261.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_70_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2022.1102370"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_71_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1002\/hbe2.321"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_72_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/MIE.2020.3008136"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_73_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/IR-10-2022-0251"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_74_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.6919\/ICJE.202104_7(4).0050"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_75_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-014-0269-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_76_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/778712.778756"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_77_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1439-0310.1943.tb00655.x"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_78_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.apergo.2021.103420"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_79_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/1514095.1514109"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_80_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3390\/s20185087"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_81_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/ROMAN.2018.8525767"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_82_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12559-014-9303-y"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_83_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.3389\/fnhum.2017.00073"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_84_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1075\/is.7.3.13kah"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_85_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/3767724"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_86_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2023.107878"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_87_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1007\/s12369-012-0177-4"},{"key":"e_1_3_3_88_2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.chb.2022.107512"}],"container-title":["ACM Transactions on Human-Robot Interaction"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/pdf\/10.1145\/3813111","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T14:15:18Z","timestamp":1781532918000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/dl.acm.org\/doi\/10.1145\/3813111"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]]},"references-count":87,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,31]]}},"alternative-id":["10.1145\/3813111"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1145\/3813111","relation":{},"ISSN":["2573-9522"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2573-9522","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]]},"assertion":[{"value":"2025-05-10","order":0,"name":"received","label":"Received","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-04-15","order":2,"name":"accepted","label":"Accepted","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}},{"value":"2026-06-15","order":3,"name":"published","label":"Published","group":{"name":"publication_history","label":"Publication History"}}]}}