Anna Stenzel

Papers

Total Citations

179

H-Index

About

Anna Stenzel is a leading researcher in the cognitive science of human-robot interaction, exploring the psychological boundaries between humans and machines. Her work investigates how deeply people integrate robotic agents into their sense of self and social cognition—a critical question as robots become more human-like. Her most influential paper, “When humanoid robots become human-like interaction partners: Corepresentation of robotic actions” (2012, 168 citations), demonstrates that humans automatically corepresent a robot’s actions, challenging the assumption that this cognitive mechanism is exclusive to human-human interaction. This finding reshaped debates on social cognition and robotic design. In her follow-up work, “How deeply do we include robotic agents in the self?” (2013, 11 citations), Stenzel reveals that the conscious self-other overlap seen in human interactions does not extend to robots, highlighting a crucial asymmetry. By bridging cognitive psychology and robotics, Stenzel’s research has profound implications for designing intuitive, socially-aware robots and understanding the limits of human empathy toward machines. Her work is essential reading for anyone studying social robotics, joint action, or the philosophy of mind.