Research has shown that, under certain circumstances, people can adopt the Intentional Stance towards robots and thus treat them as intentional agents. Previous evidence showed that there are factors at play in modulating the Intentional Stance, for example individuals’ years of education. In the present study, we aimed at investigating whether, given the same years of education, participants’ type of formal education- in terms of theoretical background- affected their adoption of the Intentional Stance.

To do so, we recruited two samples of participants varying in their type of formal education, namely, a sample of participants comprised individuals with a background in robotics, whereas the other comprised individuals with a background in psychotherapy. To measure their likelihood of adopting the Intentional Stance, we asked them to complete the InStance Test (IST). To do it at the neural level, we recorded their neural activity during a resting state via electroencephalography (EEG).

Results showed that therapists attributed higher IST scores of intentionality to the robot than roboticists, i.e., they were more likely to attribute Intentional Stance to explain robot’s behaviour.

This result was mirrored by participants’ EEG neural activity during resting state, as we found higher power in the gamma frequency range (associated with mentalizing and the adoption of Intentional Stance) for therapists compared to roboticists.

Therefore, we conclude that the type of education that promotes mentalizing skills increases the likelihood of attributing intentionality to robots.

研究表明，在某些情况下，人们可以对机器人采取意向立场，从而将其视为意向主体。先前的证据表明，有一些因素在调节意向立场方面发挥作用，例如个人的受教育年限。在本研究中，我们旨在调查在相同的教育年限下，参与者的正规教育类型（就理论背景而言）是否影响他们对意向立场的采用。

为此，我们招募了两个正规教育类型不同的参与者样本，即一个参与者样本由具有机器人技术背景的个体组成，而另一个样本由具有心理治疗背景的个体组成。为了衡量他们采取有意立场的可能性，我们要求他们完成实例测试（IST）。为了在神经水平上做到这一点，我们通过脑电图（EEG）记录了他们在静息状态下的神经活动。

结果表明，与机器人专家相比，治疗师将更高的 IST 意向性得分归因于机器人，即，他们更有可能将意向性立场归因于解释机器人的行为。

这一结果反映在参与者静息状态下的脑电图神经活动中，因为我们发现与机器人专家相比，治疗师的伽马频率范围（与心智化和采用意向姿态相关）具有更高的功率。

因此，我们得出的结论是，促进心智化技能的教育类型增加了将意向性归因于机器人的可能性。