Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42549111›Full record

ArticleFrontiers in cognition2026

Age and generational differences in anthropomorphism and trust in large language models.

Michelle Cohn, Mahima Pushkarna, Mark Díaz, Joscelin Cooper, Gbolahan O Olanubi, Joseph M Moran, Zion Mengesha, Courtney Heldreth

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Frontiers in cognition, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
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1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Michelle CohnDepartment of Linguistics, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States.
Mahima PushkarnaGoogle DeepMind, Cambridge, MA, United States.
Mark DíazGoogle Research, New York, NY, United States.
Joscelin CooperGoogle DeepMind, Cambridge, MA, United States.
Gbolahan O OlanubiGoogle Research, New York, NY, United States.
Joseph M MoranGoogle, Cambridge, MA, United States.
Zion MengeshaGoogle Research, San Francisco, CA, United States.
Courtney HeldrethGoogle Research, Kirkland, WA, United States.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Introduction: As large language models (LLMs) increasingly mediate everyday information seeking, a fundamental question emerges: do people conceptualize these systems as social agents, and does this tendency vary by age? Methods: We investigated how individuals anthropomorphize and trust a pseudo-LLM, examining English-speaking adults from the United States ( Results: Age and generational differences were observed: Gen Z (the youngest age group) showed consistently lower anthropomorphism, reduced trust ratings of the system, and lower ratings of accuracy for responses generated by the LLM. Anthropomorphic voice cues increased perceived human-likeness and accuracy uniformly across age groups. Qualitative analyses further revealed age and generational differences in how participants conceptualized the system. Discussion: Together, these findings suggest that age and generational differences shape how people attribute mind and agency to artificial systems.

Indexed as

age variationanthropomorphismhuman-AI interactionlarge language models (LLMs)trust

Identifiers

PMID42549111
PMCPMC13430600

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.