Carmel Levitan
Papers
2
Total Citations
95
H-Index
2
About
Carmel Levitan is a cognitive scientist whose research explores the intersection of perception, categorization, and human-robot interaction. Her most influential work investigates the psychological underpinnings of the Uncanny Valley—the unsettling feeling people experience when encountering robots that look almost, but not perfectly, human. In her landmark 2019 multisite study, cited over 90 times, Levitan tested whether this aversion stems from perceptual category confusion between “robot” and “human.” Her findings revealed that while participants did not experience confusion in categorizing the agents, the eeriness persisted, challenging a leading theory and redirecting the field toward deeper cognitive and affective mechanisms. This work has significant implications for robotics design and our understanding of social perception. Levitan’s research is notable for its rigorous, cross-institutional methodology and its ability to bridge experimental psychology with real-world technology. By clarifying what the Uncanny Valley is—and is not—she has helped shape how engineers and psychologists approach the design of lifelike artificial agents. Her contributions continue to influence studies on perception, emotion, and the boundaries of the human-like.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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