Human Perception of Animacy in Light of the Uncanny Valley Phenomenon

Perception ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 46 (12) ◽  
pp. 1386-1411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shensheng Wang ◽  
Philippe Rochat
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Responses ◽  
Reaction Times ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Sorting Task ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Nonlinear Relation ◽  
Human Faces

The uncanny valley hypothesis by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori posits a nonlinear relation between human replicas’ human likeness and the emotional responses they elicit. In three studies, we corroborated the uncanny valley hypothesis, using the uncanny phenomenon as a vehicle to shed a new light on human animacy perception. In Study 1, 62 participants rated emotional responses and human likeness of 89 artificial and human faces. In Study 2, another 62 participants conducted a visual looming task with the same 89 faces allowing for the measurement of perceived threat. Results support the uncanny valley hypothesis, suggesting that the uncanny feeling may serve a function to wary humans of the potential danger of entities crossing the animate–inanimate boundary. In Study 3, 36 participants sorted faces as either real or unreal as quickly as possible in a reaction time sorting task allowing for the measurement of categorical uncertainty associated with animacy perception. Faces associated with longer sorting reaction times were also those associated with the highest ratings of negative emotions, suggesting that categorical uncertainty in animacy detection is related to the uncanny feeling. Results are discussed in light of human animacy perception and new directions for future research are suggested.

scholarly journals Sending an Avatar to Do a Human's Job: Compliance with Authority Persists Despite the Uncanny Valley

2015 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Himalaya Patel ◽  
Karl F. MacDorman
Keyword(s):  
Ethical Dilemma ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Risk Of Falling ◽  
Computer Interfaces ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Authority Figure ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Motion Quality

Just as physical appearance affects social influence in human communication, it may also affect the processing of advice conveyed through avatars, computer-animated characters, and other human-like interfaces. Although the most persuasive computer interfaces are often the most human-like, they have been predicted to incur the greatest risk of falling into the uncanny valley, the loss of empathy attributed to characters that appear eerily human. Previous studies compared interfaces on the left side of the uncanny valley, namely, those with low human likeness. To examine interfaces with higher human realism, a between-groups factorial experiment was conducted through the internet with 426 midwestern U.S. undergraduates. This experiment presented a hypothetical ethical dilemma followed by the advice of an authority figure. The authority was manipulated in three ways: depiction (digitally recorded or computer animated), motion quality (smooth or jerky), and advice (disclose or refrain from disclosing sensitive information). Of these, only the advice changed opinion about the ethical dilemma, even though the animated depiction was significantly eerier than the human depiction. These results indicate that compliance with an authority persists even when using an uncannily realistic computer-animated double.

scholarly journals Virtual faces evoke only a weak uncanny valley effect: An empirical investigation with controlled virtual face images

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jari Kätsyri ◽  
Beatrice de Gelder ◽  
Tapio Takala
Keyword(s):  
Linear Relationship ◽  
Empirical Investigation ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Objective Measures ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Face Images ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Upward Curvature ◽  
Virtual Face

The uncanny valley (UV) hypothesis suggests that increasingly human-like robots or virtual characters elicit more familiarity in their observers (positive affinity) with the exception of near-human characters that elicit strong feelings of eeriness (negative affinity). We studied this hypothesis in three experiments with carefully matched images of virtual faces varying from artificial to realistic. We investigated both painted and computer-generated (CG) faces to tap a broad range of human-likeness and to test whether CG faces would be particularly sensitive to the UV effect. Overall, we observed a linear relationship with a slight upward curvature between human-likeness and affinity. In other words, less realistic faces triggered greater eeriness in an accelerating manner. We also observed a weak UV effect for CG faces; however, least human-like faces elicited much more negative affinity in comparison. We conclude that although CG faces elicit a weak UV effect, this effect is not fully analogous to the original UV hypothesis. Instead, the subjective evaluation curve for face images resembles an uncanny slope more than a UV. Based on our results, we also argue that subjective affinity should be contrasted against subjective ratherthan objective measures of human-likeness when testing UV.

The Presence of the Uncanny Valley Between Animation and Cinema

2020 ◽  
pp. 97-118 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Assaf ◽  
Sahra Kunz ◽  
Luís Teixeira
Keyword(s):  
Computer Graphics ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Genre Theory ◽  
Technological Evolution ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Uses And Gratification ◽  
Uses And Gratification Theory ◽  
Psychological Theories ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Technological Advances

Despite all the technological advances in the field of computer graphics, the uncanny valley effect is still an observed phenomenon affecting not only how animated digital characters are developed but also the audience's reaction during a film session. With the emergence of computer-generated images being used in films, this chapter aims at presenting a multidisciplinary approach concerning the uncanny valley topic. This phenomenon is mainly explained by several psychological theories based on human perception; however, this chapter contributes to the discussion presenting a communication perspective based on the uses and gratification theory connected to the genre theory proposed by Daniel Chandler. In addition, the authors discuss how the technological evolution in rendering is helping out artists to cross the valley, which ends up being unveiled only by motion. As a result of this technical evolution, it is proposed a new animation art style category defined as quasi-real.

scholarly journals Category Processing and the human likeness dimension of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis: Eye-Tracking Data

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcus Cheetham ◽  
Ivana Pavlovic ◽  
Nicola Jordan ◽  
Pascal Suter ◽  
Lutz Jancke
Keyword(s):  
Eye Tracking ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Tracking Data ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Likeness

Probing the Uncanny Valley with the Eye Size Aftereffect

2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (5) ◽  
pp. 321-339 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun'ichiro Seyama ◽  
Ruth S Nagayama
Keyword(s):  
Adaptation Period ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Natural Stimuli ◽  
Eye Size ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Prolonged Observation ◽  
Natural Test ◽  
Human Faces ◽  
Abnormal Visual ◽  
Do So

Natural human faces with abnormal visual features produce uncomfortable impressions, but artificial faces (e.g., robotic faces) do not necessarily do so. This is an example of the phenomenon called the uncanny valley. We hypothesized that this phenomenon indicates that natural and artificial faces are processed by different perceptual mechanisms, or they are processed differently by common mechanisms. We tested these hypotheses using a facial aftereffect where prolonged observation of adaptation faces with enlarged eyes induced a bias to underestimate the eye size of test faces. The results showed that adaptation to natural stimuli induced the aftereffect for both natural and artificial test stimuli. This suggests that the two types of faces engage common perceptual mechanisms. Adaptation to artificial stimuli also induced the aftereffect for natural test stimuli. However, artificial stimuli required a longer adaptation period (120 s) for the aftereffect to be induced compared to natural stimuli (60 s), suggesting that the processing of artificial faces by the human visual system may be inefficient. The uncanny valley may reflect that artificial faces are processed inefficiently by perceptual mechanisms that are common for processing natural and artificial faces.

Human-likeness assessment for the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Łupkowski ◽  
Marek Rybka ◽  
Dagmara Dziedzic ◽  
Wojciech Włodarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Internal Part ◽  
Human Likeness ◽  
Typical Model ◽  
The Way

AbstractThe Uncanny Valley Hypothesis (UVH, proposed in the 1970s) suggests that looking at or interacting with almost human-like artificial characters would trigger eeriness or discomfort. We studied how well subjects can assess degrees of human likeness for computer-generated characters. We conducted two studies, where subjects were asked to assess human likeness of given computer-generated models (Study 1) and to point the most typical model for a given category (Study 2). The results suggest that evaluation of the way human likeness is assessed should be an internal part of UVH research.

scholarly journals Uncanny but not confusing: Multisite study of perceptual category confusion in the Uncanny Valley

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya B Mathur ◽  
David Reichling ◽  
FRANCESCA LUNARDINI ◽  
Alice Geminiani ◽  
Alberto Antonietti ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Category Boundary ◽  
Causal Role ◽  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
Mediation Analyses ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Perceptual Category ◽  
Real Robot ◽  
Negative Feelings ◽  
Human Faces

Android robots that are close, but imperfect, likenesses of humans can provoke negative feelings of dislike and eeriness in humans (“Uncanny Valley” effect). We investigated whether category confusion between the perceptual categories of “robot” and “human” contributes to Uncanny Valley aversion. Using a novel, validated corpus of 182 images of real robot and human faces, we precisely estimated the shape of the Uncanny Valley and the location of the perceived robot/human boundary. To implicitly measure confusion, we tracked 358 subjects’ mouse trajectories as they categorized the faces. We observed a clear Uncanny Valley and a pattern of categorization supporting a perceived categorical boundary. Yet, in contrast to predictions of the category confusion mechanism hypothesis, the Uncanny Valley and category boundary locations did not coincide, and mediation analyses further failed to support a causal role of category confusion. These results suggest category confusion does not explain the Uncanny Valley effect.

scholarly journals Crossing the "Uncanny Valley": adaptation to cartoon faces can influence perception of human faces

2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 626-626
Author(s):  
H. Chen ◽  
R. Russell ◽  
K. Nakayama ◽  
M. Livingstone
Keyword(s):  
Uncanny Valley ◽  
The Uncanny ◽  
Human Faces
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