The influence of individual characteristics on children's learning with a social robot versus a human.

ABSTRACT: The field of child-robot interaction (CRI) is growing rapidly, in part due to demand to provide sustained, personalized support for children in educational contexts. The present study uses a within-subject design to compare how children between 5 and 8 years of age (n=32) interact with a robot and human instructor during a tangram learning task. To assess how the children's characteristics may influence their behaviors with the instructors, we correlated interaction metrics, such as eye gaze, social referencing, and vocalizations, with parent-reported scales of children's temperament, social skills, and prior technology exposure. We found that children gazed more at the robot instructor and had more instances of social referencing toward a research assistant in the room while interacting w

SUBMITTER: Langer A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12848055 | biostudies-literature | 2026 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature