Chisato Nishihata

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About

Chisato Nishihata is a researcher whose work lies at the intersection of human-agent interaction (HAI) and cognitive science, with a particular focus on how humans perceive and attribute human-like reasoning to artificial agents. Her key research areas include pragmatics, implicature, and the psychological underpinnings of human-robot communication. Nishihata’s major contribution is her exploration of whether humans believe robots can make human-like inferences, specifically through the lens of quantitative implicature—the ability to infer unstated quantities from context, such as interpreting “little” or “much.” In her most-cited paper, "Human-like 'agents' or 'tools'?: Exploring the implicature-of-quantity in HAI" (2023), she designed a task to test this, revealing nuanced insights into how people categorize robots as either social agents or mere tools. While her citation count is currently modest (2 citations), her work addresses a foundational question in HAI: the boundary between perceived agency and functionality. This research is notable for bridging experimental pragmatics with robotics, offering a novel methodological approach that could shape future studies on trust, communication, and anthropomorphism in AI systems. Nishihata’s work is particularly valuable for students and researchers interested in the cognitive and social dimensions of human-robot interaction.