The research activity of the Natural and Mechanical Minds Area mainly concerns the study of human perceptual systems and associated cognitive processes, with the aim of identifying the fundamental criteria for the design and development of cognitive architectures for artificial entities.
The research topics associated with this Area fall within the general themes of Cognitive Science, Neuroscience, Computational Neuroscience, Computer Science and Experimental Psychology.
Particular emphasis is given to the collaboration with the other Areas of the Institute, in particular with the IAS and HRI Areas regarding the development of AI systems and artificial perceptual systems and with the Mixed Realities Area for the development of Virtual Humans.