Zhenlin Tan
Papers
2
Total Citations
109
H-Index
2
About
Zhenlin Tan is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of developmental psychology and human-robot interaction, with a primary focus on how children—particularly those with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD)—engage with social robots. Her work explores the cognitive and social mechanisms underlying human-robot relationships, addressing fundamental questions about theory of mind, trust, and deception in child-robot interactions. Tan’s most cited study (2019, 79 citations) demonstrated that social robots can facilitate children with ASD in learning complex social rules like distrust and deception, offering novel therapeutic pathways. Her follow-up work (2019, 30 citations) on false belief attribution revealed that children with and without ASD attribute mental states to robots, challenging assumptions about social cognition boundaries. These contributions have significant implications for designing assistive technologies that support social skill development in neurodiverse populations. Tan’s research is notable for bridging experimental psychology with robotics, providing empirical evidence that robots can serve as effective social partners in clinical and educational settings. Her work has been widely cited in developmental psychology, human-robot interaction, and autism intervention research, establishing her as a key voice in understanding how children perceive and learn from artificial social agents.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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