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About

Yasuhiro Kanakogi is a pioneering developmental psychologist whose research sits at the fascinating intersection of infant cognition and human-robot interaction. His work fundamentally explores how infants perceive and learn from social agents, both human and artificial. Kanakogi’s most influential contributions demonstrate the unique power of human social cues; his highly cited 2013 study (79 citations) revealed that human gaze, but not robot gaze, facilitates infant object learning, establishing a critical benchmark for understanding the “social brain” in early development. This line of inquiry, further supported by related works (58 and 26 citations), shows that while infants may follow a robot’s gaze, they do not treat it as referential or informative for learning—unless it is paired with human-like verbalizations. Beyond developmental psychology, Kanakogi has applied economic game theory (the Ultimatum Game) to probe how robot appearance and speech shape adult social attitudes (25 and 20 citations). More recently, his work has tackled the pressing ethical issue of child-robot interaction, examining how parental disciplining styles can prevent children’s misbehavior toward social robots (7 citations). Through this unique blend of developmental science and robotics, Kanakogi provides essential insights into what makes a social agent truly social, informing both our understanding of human nature and the design of more effective, ethical artificial companions.