Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
Nathan Caruana
Summary
I am I am a cognitive neuroscientist within the Department of Cognitive Science at Macquarie University. I use virtual reality, eye tracking, motion capture and neurophysiology measures to study the cognitive and neural mechanisms of social perception, joint attention, and non-verbal social coordination - in typical development, autism and schizophrenia. In this work, I am specifically focused on developing interactive methods which balance ecological validity, experimental control and objectivity in our measurement of social attention, behaviour and corresponding neural processes.
Relating to this work, I also study how humans perceive and interact with social artificial agents (e.g., virtual avatars and physical robots). I am specifically interested in examining how our beliefs and expectations shape our experiences with artificial agents to inform how they can be optimally designed and positioned to fulfil their intended purpose.
Cognitive Disorders Human-Computer Interaction Neuroscience Psychiatry & Psychology