Theory of Mind Abilities Predict Robot's Gaze Effects on Object Preference

This study investigated the differences between human and robot gaze in influencing preference formation, and examined the role of Theory of Mind (ToM) abilities in this process. Human eye gaze is one of the most important sources of information for social interaction and research has demonstrated its effectiveness in influencing people's preference. With increasing technological development, we will interact with robots that can exhibit gaze behavior and influence people's preference. It is unclear whether there are any differences between humans and robots in this process. The present study aimed to analyze the role of the gaze of a robot and a human in influencing the ascription of a preference to the gazer and the participants’ preference. Furthermore, we examined the role of ToM abilities in preference formation. The results showed that the gaze has a greater effect on the gazer preference compared to participants’ preference regardless of the agent (human or robot). In addition, ToM abilities predict both gazer and individual preferences in the robot's condition only even though different socio-cognitive mechanisms are involved. The study suggests that adults are cognitively able to process the gaze of a robot similar to a human, recognizing the underlying mental state. However, only for the robot, different cognitive mechanisms are involved in the gazer (i.e., perspective taking) and participants’ preference formation (i.e., advanced ToM).