Two complementary experiments were conducted. The first used an fMRI agent-interaction task to compare brain responses during interactions with human partners and chatbots, and examined whether subjective ratings of fluency, sociality, and human-likeness were associated with distinct neural activation patterns. The second investigated video conferencing, testing how camera use, emotional climate, and personality traits jointly predicted memory retention and attentional performance.

Results suggested that chatbots interaction elicited stronger engagement of attention and cognitive control networks, indicating that communicating with AI may require greater cognitive resources than human interaction. In video meetings, camera use itself did not significantly affect memory performance. Instead, personality-related factors were more predictive: higher agreeableness was associated with poorer memory, and extraverts showed reduced recall in emotionally neutral contexts. Overall, the findings suggest that the effects of technology-mediated communication depend more on individual characteristics and socio-emotional context than on technological format alone.