One of the central challenges in the cognitive and brain sciences is understanding how organisms dynamically perceive and behave in response to other individuals. From classical theories in social cognition, cybernetics, and developmental psychology to contemporary debates concerning the mirror system, theory of mind, and game theory, we find a common question: How do organisms coordinate behavior through reciprocal interactions?
Detecting social contingency (the capacity to sense and respond differentially to animate versus inanimate entities) is a crucial skill for survival and reproduction, scaffolding more complex processes such as cooperation, competition, and collective behavior.
In order to investigate and define the minimal neural and behavioral mechanisms underlying this capacity, we study a minimal social interaction paradigm called the “perceptual crossing” task in which both human participants and embodied artificial agents must identify their respective partners within a perceptually ambiguous environment.
Gabriel J. Severino, Indiana University Bloomington (gjseverino@agorabiology.com)
Sasha Winkler, Duke University
Ann-Sophie Barwich, Indiana University Bloomington
Randall Beer, Indiana University Bloomington
Severino, G. J., Winkler, S. L., Beer, R. D., & Barwich, A.-S. (2026). Social contingency in embodied neural networks relies on co-constructed dynamical mechanisms. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 381(1943), 20250098. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2025.0098
Severino, G. J., Winkler, S. L., & Barwich, A.-S. (2025). The Effect of Timescale Dependence on Dyadic Interactions. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Cognitive Science Society, 47. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8h10z1w6
Merritt, H., Severino, G. J., & Izquierdo, E. J. (2024). The dynamics of social interaction among evolved model agents. Artificial Life, 30(2), 216–239. https://doi.org/10.1162/artl_a_00417
Severino, G. J., Merritt, H., & Izquierdo, E. J. (2023). Between you and me: A systematic analysis of mutual social interaction in perceptual crossing agents. Artificial Life Conference Proceedings 35, 2023(1), 24. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00609
Izquierdo, E. J., Severino, G. J., & Merritt, H. (2022). Perpetual crossers without sensory delay: Revisiting the perceptual crossing simulation studies. Artificial Life Conference Proceedings 34, 2022(1), 27. https://doi.org/10.1162/isal_a_00509