Rujing Zha

University of Science and Technology of China

Papers

Total Citations

H-Index

About

Rujing Zha investigates the psychological and neural underpinnings of human-robot interaction, focusing on how people perceive and evaluate social robots. Her work bridges social neuroscience and robotics, revealing that humanoid robots can trigger deep-seated evolutionary responses. In her highly cited 2021 paper, "Humanoid robots are perceived as an evolutionary threat," Zha demonstrated that these robots activate threat-detection mechanisms rooted in our ancestral past, challenging assumptions about seamless human-robot coexistence. Building on this, her 2024 study "Separable amygdala activation patterns in the evaluations of robots" used neuroimaging to show that the amygdala—a brain region central to emotion and threat processing—responds differently to robots versus humans, depending on social context. Though early in her career, her work has already garnered citations from researchers in robotics, psychology, and AI ethics. Zha’s findings are critical for designing robots that are socially acceptable and for understanding the neural boundaries of our willingness to accept machines as social partners. Her research offers essential insights for students and scholars seeking to navigate the complex emotional landscape of human-robot relations.