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About

Elizabeth Carter is a multidisciplinary researcher whose work spans developmental cognitive neuroscience and human-robot interaction (HRI). Early in her career, Carter made significant contributions to understanding how the developing brain processes social information, most notably demonstrating that school-aged children exhibit domain-specific neural responses to biological motion in the superior temporal sulcus — a finding that garnered 104 citations and clarified a long-standing gap in the developmental literature. Her 2010 work further explored the neural underpinnings of goal-directed action and intention understanding, cementing her grounding in social cognition. Carter subsequently pivoted toward HRI, where her influence has been equally substantial. Her research on robot autonomy in group conversations, bystander intervention during robot abuse, and the use of virtual reality for proxemics studies — collectively accumulating over 230 citations — has shaped how researchers and designers think about socially intelligent robots. She has tackled nuanced challenges including robot failure management, multi-robot transitions, and flexible agent behavior in public settings. Her escape-room failure study and "Not Some Random Agent" work highlight her commitment to ecologically valid, scenario-driven experimentation. Across both fields, Carter's research consistently bridges cognitive science and applied robotics, offering insights with meaningful real-world implications.