Merle T. Fairhurst

Universität der Bundeswehr München, TU Dresden

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About

Merle T. Fairhurst is a leading researcher in the cognitive and social neuroscience of human interaction, with a particular focus on how we coordinate attention, build trust, and communicate through touch. Her work bridges the gap between unmediated human interaction and technology-mediated communication, exploring how non-verbal cues shape our social bonds. A key contribution is her 2020 paper "Coordinating attention requires coordinated senses" (28 citations), which reveals that our ability to effortlessly share focus—whether on a basketball or a menu—is a fundamental, multi-sensory social skill. Fairhurst has also made significant strides in understanding the role of touch in trust-building. Her 2023 systematic review (25 citations) comprehensively maps how social touch fosters trust in both face-to-face and technology-mediated contexts, while her 2024 study (5 citations) breaks new ground by investigating how individual differences in trust propensity shape our perception of comforting touch from human versus robot partners. This work is particularly notable for its emphasis on vulnerability and reciprocity, positioning Fairhurst at the forefront of research into human-robot interaction and the future of social technology.