Lauren H. Howard
Papers
2
Total Citations
17
H-Index
2
About
Lauren H. Howard is a developmental psychologist and cognitive scientist whose research lies at the intersection of social cognition, human-robot interaction, and child development. Her work explores how children and adults perceive agency, choice, and social behavior in both human and artificial agents, with a particular focus on socially assistive robots (SARs) designed to support young learners. In her highly cited 2021 study, *Constrained Choice: Children's and Adults’ Attribution of Choice to a Humanoid Robot* (14 citations), Howard demonstrated that even young children understand that human agents can make flexible choices, yet they are less likely to attribute this capacity to robots—a finding with profound implications for designing educational technologies. More recently, in *Towards an Ontology for Generating Behaviors for Socially Assistive Robots Helping Young Children* (2024, 3 citations), she has advanced a framework for integrating speech, gesture, and emotional cues into robot behavior, aiming to create safe, non-judgmental learning companions. Howard’s work is notable for bridging developmental theory with applied robotics, offering critical insights into how children perceive and learn from non-human agents. Her research is shaping the next generation of socially aware technologies for early childhood education.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
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