Mashal Asif
Papers
1
Total Citations
18
H-Index
1
About
Mashal Asif’s research sits at the fascinating intersection of human-robot interaction, social stress, and psychophysiology. Her most-cited work, “Use of a non-human robot audience to induce stress reactivity in human participants” (2019, 18 citations), pioneered a novel experimental paradigm: adapting the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) to use a pre-recorded, on-screen robot audience instead of human evaluators. In a 90-minute lab session with 19 participants, she demonstrated that even a simulated non-human audience can reliably trigger a stress response—a finding that challenges assumptions about the uniquely human nature of social evaluation and opens new avenues for controlled stress research. This work has been recognized for its methodological innovation, bridging robotics and affective science. Asif’s broader contributions explore how people perceive and react to autonomous agents, with implications for designing robots in therapeutic, educational, and public-facing roles. Her research is increasingly cited in studies on human-robot trust, social buffering, and stress induction techniques, establishing her as a rising voice in understanding how technology reshapes our most fundamental social and emotional experiences.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1