The Uncanny Valley: Effect of Realism on the Impression of Artificial Human Faces

Seyama, Jun'ichiro; Nagayama, Ruth S.

doi:10.1162/pres.16.4.337

Cited by 457 publications

(348 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…2B), monkeys exhibited one pattern consistently: They preferred to look at unrealistic synthetic faces and real faces more than to realistic synthetic faces. The visual behavior of monkeys falls into the uncanny valley just the same as human visual behavior (2,3). Thus, these data demonstrate that the uncanny valley effect is not unique to humans, and that evolutionary hypotheses regarding its origins are tenable.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 63%

“…Although monkeys looked longer at dynamic versus static faces, the differences between the uncanny valley effects between the two conditions were marginal at best. Data from human subjects suggest that various static features can reliably elicit or ameliorate the uncanny valley effect (2,3,7). These features include skin texture, the distance between facial features, and the size of various facial features.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). Support for the uncanny valley has been reported anecdotally in the mass media for many years (e.g., reports of strong negative audience responses to computer-animated films such as The Polar Express and The Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), but there is now good empirical support for the uncanny valley based on controlled perceptual experiments (2,3).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley

Steckenfinger

Ghazanfar

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

126

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Very realistic human-looking robots or computer avatars tend to elicit negative feelings in human observers. This phenomenon is known as the ''uncanny valley'' response. It is hypothesized that this uncanny feeling is because the realistic synthetic characters elicit the concept of ''human,'' but fail to live up to it. That is, this failure generates feelings of unease due to character traits falling outside the expected spectrum of everyday social experience. These unsettling emotions are thought to have an evolutionary origin, but tests of this hypothesis have not been forthcoming. To bridge this gap, we presented monkeys with unrealistic and realistic synthetic monkey faces, as well as real monkey faces, and measured whether they preferred looking at one type versus the others (using looking time as a measure of preference). To our surprise, monkey visual behavior fell into the uncanny valley: They looked longer at real faces and unrealistic synthetic faces than at realistic synthetic faces.animacy ͉ audiovisual speech ͉ avatar ͉ face processing ͉ human robot interaction

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 63%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley

Steckenfinger

Ghazanfar

2009

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

131

126

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“…Seyama and Nagayama (2007) investigated perception of static facial images and found that while this uncanny valley appears to exist, it is triggered by abnormal features. Wallraven and colleagues (1997) report that animation using motion capture data may compensate for reduced fidelity in form when participants rate variables such as sincerity and intensity of computer generated avatars.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Something in the way we move: Motion dynamics, not perceived sex, influence head movements in conversation.

Boker¹,

Cohn²,

Theobald³

et al. 2011

Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Perfor

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During conversation, women tend to nod their heads more frequently and more vigorously than men. An individual speaking with a woman tends to nod his or her head more than when speaking with a man. Is this due to social expectation or due to coupled motion dynamics between the speakers? We present a novel methodology that allows us to randomly assign apparent identity during free conversation in a videoconference, thereby dissociating apparent sex from motion dynamics. The method uses motion-tracked synthesized avatars that are accepted by naive participants as being live video. We find that 1) motion dynamics affect head movements but that apparent sex does not; 2) judgments of sex are driven almost entirely by appearance; and 3) ratings of masculinity and femininity rely on a combination of both appearance and dynamics. Together, these findings are consistent with the hypothesis of separate perceptual streams for appearance and biological motion. In addition, our results are consistent with a view that head movements in conversation form a low level perception and action system that can operate independently from top-down social expectations. MOTION, NOT PERCEIVED SEX, INFLUENCES HEAD MOVEMENTS2

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“…This unsettling experience is likely due to a mismatch between appearance and behavior. At higher degrees visual fidelity in human faces, unpleasant experiences emerge, in particular related to atypical (abnormal) features [32]. Furthermore, it appears that visual fidelity does not affect the social influence an artificial entity has [44].…”

Section: Visual Fidelitymentioning

confidence: 96%

Designing Robot Embodiments for Social Interaction: Affordances Topple Realism and Aesthetics

Paauwe¹,

Hoorn²,

Konijn³

et al. 2015

Int J of Soc Robotics

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In the near future, human-like social robots will become indispensable for providing support in various social tasks, in particular for healthcare (e.g., assistance, coaching). The perception of realism, in particular human-like features, can help facilitate mediated social interaction. The current study investigated the effects of form realism on engagement with and use intentions of social robot embodiments. We have defined (perceived) form realism as the result of the appraisal of features that are perceived as realistic contrasted with those appraised as unrealistic. To test the effects of form realism, we applied the model of interactively perceiving and experiencing fictional characters (I-PEFiC). I-PEFiC explains how users respond to interactive, fictional, humanoid characters, on social robots. In a within-subjects design, participants (N = 29; M age = 28.8 years, age range 18-56 years) interacted with three different robots built from LEGO Mindstorms, which differed in their degree of designed form realism. Each robot presented itself as a physiotherapy assistant and requested the participant to do several exercises. Results of a structured questionnaire indicated that form realism only played a modest role in the perception of electro-mechanical robots. Instead, the perception of affordances appeared to be crucial for determining engagement and intentions to use social robots.

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The Uncanny Valley: Effect of Realism on the Impression of Artificial Human Faces

Cited by 457 publications

References 32 publications

Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley

Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley

Something in the way we move: Motion dynamics, not perceived sex, influence head movements in conversation.

Designing Robot Embodiments for Social Interaction: Affordances Topple Realism and Aesthetics

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