Inherent to human nature are good attributes such as kindness and love. But when this trait extended not only for other human beings, but to robots, here's what Science has to say.
In 2013, a study was conducted by researchers from University of Duisburg Essen, Germany to test if the neural patterns transpiring when people watch movies and see characters in pain would be similar to witnessing a robot beaten on screen. Researchers discovered how the part of the participants' brain associated with human emotions operated when a character was shown endearment or cruelty. The study shows that this part of the brain also responses when same actions were done to the robot. The result shows the reason why a person feels empathy over a robot is that a neural activity is prompted the same way it does when associated with humans. Hence, the mind perceives robots as human-like.
Another study was conducted recently by the Department of Information Science and Engineering, Toyohashi University of Technology and the Department of Psychology of Kyoto University to test this hypothesis. Fifteen healthy participants were tested through electroencephalography (EEG), a neurological test that assesses the electrical activity in the brain. Each adult was shown a picture of human's and a robot's hands in painful and non-painful (cutting of a finger) situations. The study reveals that the same part of a person's brain linked to empathy to human moves when the robot is in pain. The study also found that though the participants reacted with robots the same way they did with humans, the level of empathy however is lower for robots than for humans.
The researchers felt that the shape of the robot's fingers, which is human-like, had influenced the result. The more a robot is perceived as human, the higher the chance of feeling empathy over it.
