Shinji Kuriki

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Shinji Kuriki is a cognitive neuroscientist whose research bridges the perceptual boundaries between human and artificial voices, with a particular focus on autism spectrum disorders (ASD). His most-cited work, "Similar impressions of humanness for human and artificial singing voices in autism spectrum disorders" (2016, 20 citations), reveals that individuals with ASD perceive synthetic singing voices as equally human-like as real voices—a finding that challenges conventional assumptions about social cognition and auditory processing. This contribution has implications for understanding how neurodiverse populations engage with technology and media. Kuriki’s broader research explores the neural and psychological mechanisms underlying voice perception, emotion recognition, and social interaction, often employing behavioral experiments and neuroimaging. His work has been recognized for its interdisciplinary impact, bridging clinical psychology, human-computer interaction, and music cognition. By demonstrating that artificial voices can evoke authentic social responses in ASD, Kuriki has opened new avenues for designing inclusive technologies and therapeutic tools. His findings continue to inform debates on what it means to be "human" in an age of increasingly realistic synthetic voices.