The developments in artificial intelligence over the past 20 years have introduced socially interactive robots that interact with people and learn from human interactions. Nowadays, there are social robots that teach mathematics or language to children, aid in the treatment and rehabilitation of individuals with autism, and guide customers in banks and restaurants. How these new ‘entities’ are perceived and accepted by humans is a subject that is currently being explored. There are two important reasons for understanding this issue: Firstly, to provide feedback from a social sciences perspective to engineers who will produce robots that will play significant roles in our lives. Secondly, to understand the characteristics that make humans uniquely human and differentiate them from other similar beings. With these aims in mind, one of the main research questions at the intersection of human-robot interaction and cognitive sciences is whether humans attribute mental capacities to robots. This review article addresses the concept of mind attribution in cognitive sciences and provides a comprehensive evaluation of articles that examine mind attribution to robots. Additionally, the methods used in attributing minds to robots and the factors influencing mind attribution will be emphasized, shedding light on future interdisciplinary studies in cognitive sciences and human-robot interaction. Keywords:
Human-robot interaction, social robotics, mind perception, cognitive science