Thierry Chaminade
Wellcome Centre for Human Neuroimaging, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone, Laboratoire de Neurosciences Cognitives, Oxford Centre for Computational Neuroscience, Keihin (Japan), Institut des Sciences Cognitives, University College London, Institut de Neurobiologie de la Méditerranée, UCL Australia
Papers
32
Total Citations
1,732
H-Index
17
About
Thierry Chaminade is a pioneering cognitive neuroscientist whose work sits at the dynamic intersection of social cognition, neuroimaging, and human-robot interaction. Based primarily at the Institut de Neurosciences de la Timone in Marseille, Chaminade has dedicated his career to understanding how the human brain processes social information — and how artificial agents can serve as powerful scientific tools to illuminate these mechanisms. His most influential contribution, garnering over 430 citations, used fMRI to investigate the "uncanny valley" phenomenon through the lens of predictive coding, revealing how the brain's action perception system distinguishes between human and humanoid movement. This work, alongside a series of studies examining motor interference, emotional gesture perception, and mentalizing during alleged AI competition, established Chaminade as a leading voice in what he terms "embodied artificial agents" research — using robots not merely as technological curiosities, but as precisely controllable experimental stimuli. Across more than two decades, Chaminade has consistently shown that social brain regions respond differently to humans versus robots, while also demonstrating how cognitive load can automatically trigger anthropomorphism. His cumulative citation record reflects substantial and lasting influence on researchers working across neuroscience, robotics, and human-computer interaction.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Embodied artificial agents for understanding human social cognition190 citations · 2016
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- 5HUMAN–HUMANOID INTERACTION: IS A HUMANOID ROBOT PERCEIVED AS A HUMAN?125 citations · 2005
- 6Social cognitive neuroscience and humanoid robotics104 citations · 2009
- 7Human-humanoid interaction: is a humanoid robot perceived as a human?103 citations · 2004
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