This project seeks to determine whether contemporary interactions with artificial intelligence (AI) technologies represent a genuine rupture in human cognitive history or instead extend a long-standing continuum of adaptation to technology. In other words, do these technologies engage novel forms of social cognition—such as the capacity to attribute mental states to nonhuman entities—or do they merely amplify tendencies already present in our relations with machines, particularly pre-AI technologies? The core hypothesis is that the perception of mind in technology may arise through two pathways: a “bottom-up” process linked to perceptual resemblance to intentional agents (e.g., autonomous motion) and a “top- down” process driven by causal opacity, which leads the human mind to infer intentional causes when underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. These two dynamics could explain why some technologies appear “animated” or “social.” To address this question, this interdisciplinary project is structured around four work packages. WP1 (Cognitive neuroscience) will analyze brain responses to different technological categories—from simple tools to socially intelligent machines—in order to identify a potential cognitive gradient. WP2 (Experimental and cultural psychology) will examine the cognitive and cultural determinants of mind perception, by comparing societies that vary in their tendency to animism. WP3 (Developmental psychology) will investigate when and under what conditions children attribute agency or experience to technologies. Finally, WP4 (Social psychology) will explore the social consequences of these interactions, particularly how they reshape the perceived boundary between humans and nonhumans and influence processes of dehumanization.