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About

Allie R. Geiger is a cognitive neuroscientist exploring the intersection of human perception and artificial agents, with a primary focus on how we process robot faces. Her research sits at the boundary of social neuroscience and human-robot interaction, investigating the neural mechanisms underlying our responses to faces that are “not quite human, not quite machine.” In her most cited work, Geiger demonstrated that robot faces elicit neural responses—measured via event-related potentials (ERPs) like the P100 and N170—that fall between those for human faces and objects, revealing a unique perceptual category. Her 2021 paper on this topic has garnered 12 citations, establishing a foundation for understanding the uncanny valley through electrophysiological markers. Geiger has also shown that the uncanny appearance of robot faces directly impacts their memorability, linking visual discomfort to cognitive processing. By systematically examining the boundaries of face-sensitive neural components, her work provides critical insights into how the brain categorizes and remembers artificial faces—a key consideration as robots become more integrated into daily life.