Date
Publisher
arXiv
Artificial Intelligence (AI) chatbots powered by a large language model (LLM) are entering young children's learning and play, yet little is known about how young children construe these agents or how such construals relate to engagement. We examined anthropomorphism of a social AI chatbot during collaborative storytelling and asked how children's attributions related to their behavior and prefrontal activation. Children at ages 5-6 (N = 23) completed three storytelling sessions: interacting with (1) an AI chatbot only, (2) a parent only, and (3) the AI and a parent together. After the sessions, children completed an interview assessing anthropomorphism toward both the AI chatbot and the parent. Behavioral engagement was indexed by the conversational turn count (CTC) ratio, and concurrent fNIRS measured oxygenated hemoglobin in bilateral vmPFC and dmPFC regions. Children reported higher anthropomorphism for parents than for the AI chatbot overall, although AI ratings were relatively high for perceptive abilities and epistemic states. Anthropomorphism was not associated with CTC. In the right dmPFC, higher perceptive scores were associated with greater activation during the AI-only condition and with lower activation during the AI+Parent condition. Exploratory analyses indicated that higher dmPFC activation during the AI-only condition correlated with higher end-of-session "scared" mood ratings. Findings suggest that stronger perceptive anthropomorphism can be associated with greater brain activation related to interpreting the AI's mental states, whereas parent co-presence may help some children interpret and regulate novel AI interactions. These results may have design implications for encouraging parent-AI co-use in early childhood.
Study at a glance
- Question: How do young children anthropomorphize an AI chatbot, and how does parent co-presence relate to engagement and brain activity?
- Setting and data: University laboratory, 23 English-speaking children aged 5 to 6 years and their parents, with 18 included in brain imaging analyses.
- Method: Within-subject laboratory experiment with neuroimaging (fNIRS), behavioral turn-taking analysis, and post-session child interviews.
Why it matters
AI chatbots are increasingly used in early childhood, yet little is known about how young children construe them or how parent co-presence shapes their behavior, brain responses, and potential risks.
Key findings
- Children attributed humanlike qualities across all domains to both partners, rating parents higher overall but giving the AI relatively high perceptive and epistemic scores.
- Higher perceptive anthropomorphism was associated with greater right dmPFC activation during AI-only storytelling, but with lower activation when interacting alongside a parent.
- Higher right dmPFC activation during the AI-only condition correlated with higher end-of-session child ratings of feeling scared, while anthropomorphism was not associated with conversational turns.
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