Samuli Linnunsalo
Papers
2
Total Citations
10
H-Index
2
About
Samuli Linnunsalo investigates the intersection of social robotics and developmental psychophysiology, focusing on how humans—from infancy to adulthood—respond to eye contact with humanoid robots. His research demonstrates that direct gaze from a robot can trigger attention- and affect-related physiological responses similar to those elicited by human eye contact, challenging assumptions about the uniqueness of human social interaction. In his 2023 study (6 citations), Linnunsalo showed that perceived intentionality modulates adults’ psychophysiological reactions to a robot’s gaze. Extending this work, his 2024 study (4 citations) examined 6- to 8-month-old infants, revealing that even preverbal humans exhibit distinct cardiac and electrodermal responses to direct versus averted robot gaze. These findings suggest that the neural machinery for processing social signals may be more flexible than previously thought, with implications for human-robot interaction design and our understanding of social development. By bridging developmental psychology and robotics, Linnunsalo’s work informs how autonomous systems can be designed to engage users naturally, while also illuminating the early origins of social perception.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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