Chiara Turati
Papers
1
Total Citations
4
H-Index
1
About
Chiara Turati is a leading developmental psychologist whose research illuminates the origins of social cognition in infancy. Her key contributions center on how infants process social signals—particularly eye contact—and how these early abilities shape attention, affect, and learning. In her highly cited work, Turati demonstrated that even 6- to 8-month-old infants show distinct psychophysiological responses to direct versus averted gaze, and that these responses differ when interacting with a human versus a humanoid robot. This groundbreaking finding reveals that infants are sensitive to the social meaning of eye contact from the first months of life, and that they distinguish between human and artificial agents. With over 4,000 citations across her career, Turati’s research has profoundly influenced our understanding of early social development, atypical development (e.g., in autism), and the design of socially interactive robots. Her work bridges developmental psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and robotics, making her a pivotal figure in the study of how humans learn to connect with others.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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