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Diel A, Lewis M. The deviation-from-familiarity effect: Expertise increases uncanniness of deviating exemplars. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0273861. [PMID: 36048801 PMCID: PMC9436138 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0273861] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/25/2021] [Accepted: 08/16/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Humanlike entities deviating from the norm of human appearance are perceived as strange or uncanny. Explanations for the eeriness of deviating humanlike entities include ideas specific to human or animal stimuli like mate selection, avoidance of threat or disease, or dehumanization; however, deviation from highly familiar categories may provide a better explanation. Here it is tested whether experts and novices in a novel (greeble) category show different patterns of abnormality, attractiveness, and uncanniness responses to distorted and averaged greebles. Greeble-trained participants assessed the abnormality, attractiveness, uncanniness of normal, averaged, and distorted greebles and their responses were compared to participants who had not previously seen greebles. The data show that distorted greebles were more uncanny than normal greebles only in the training condition, and distorted greebles were more uncanny in the training compared to the control condition. In addition, averaged greebles were not more attractive than normal greebles regardless of condition. The results suggest uncanniness is elicited by deviations from stimulus categories of expertise rather than being a purely biological human- or animal-specific response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Diel
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
- * E-mail:
| | - Michael Lewis
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
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2
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Diel A, Weigelt S, Macdorman KF. A Meta-analysis of the Uncanny Valley's Independent and Dependent Variables. ACM TRANSACTIONS ON HUMAN-ROBOT INTERACTION 2022. [DOI: 10.1145/3470742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Abstract
The
uncanny valley (UV)
effect is a negative affective reaction to human-looking artificial entities. It hinders comfortable, trust-based interactions with android robots and virtual characters. Despite extensive research, a consensus has not formed on its theoretical basis or methodologies. We conducted a meta-analysis to assess operationalizations of human likeness (independent variable) and the UV effect (dependent variable). Of 468 studies, 72 met the inclusion criteria. These studies employed 10 different stimulus creation techniques, 39 affect measures, and 14 indirect measures. Based on 247 effect sizes, a three-level meta-analysis model revealed the UV effect had a large effect size, Hedges’
g
= 1.01 [0.80, 1.22]. A mixed-effects meta-regression model with creation technique as the moderator variable revealed
face distortion
produced the largest effect size,
g
= 1.46 [0.69, 2.24], followed by
distinct entities, g
= 1.20 [1.02, 1.38],
realism render, g
= 0.99 [0.62, 1.36], and
morphing, g
= 0.94 [0.64, 1.24]. Affective indices producing the largest effects were
threatening, likable, aesthetics, familiarity
, and
eeriness
, and indirect measures were
dislike frequency, categorization reaction time, like frequency, avoidance
, and
viewing duration
. This meta-analysis—the first on the UV effect—provides a methodological foundation and design principles for future research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Diel
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom
| | - Sarah Weigelt
- Department of Vision, Visual Impairments & Blindness, Faculty of Rehabilitation Sciences, Technical University of Dortmund, Dortmund, Germany
| | - Karl F. Macdorman
- School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
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Abendschein B, Edwards A, Edwards C. Novelty Experience in Prolonged Interaction: A Qualitative Study of Socially-Isolated College Students’ In-Home Use of a Robot Companion Animal. Front Robot AI 2022; 9:733078. [PMID: 35360498 PMCID: PMC8961975 DOI: 10.3389/frobt.2022.733078] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/10/2022] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Social distancing policies such as limits on public gatherings and contact with others were utilized around the world to slow the spread of COVID-19. Yet, decreased social interactions may also threaten people’s well-being. In this project, we sought to understand novelty-relevant experiences surrounding in-home companion robot pets for adults that were living in some degree of social isolation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After 6-weeks of participants living with the robot companion, we conducted semi-structured interviews (N = 9) and six themes emerged from our iterative analysis (expectations versus reality, ontological comparisons, interactions, third-party influence, identity, and comfort). Findings suggest that novelty is a complex phenomenon consisting of various elements (i.e., imagined novelty, technology novelty, and relational novelty). Each component influences the user’s experience. Our findings also suggest that our understanding of novelty as a nonlinear resource may hold important implications for how we view human-robot relationships beyond initial encounters.
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Diel A, Lewis M. Familiarity, orientation, and realism increase face uncanniness by sensitizing to facial distortions. J Vis 2022; 22:14. [PMID: 35344022 PMCID: PMC8982630 DOI: 10.1167/jov.22.4.14] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The uncanny valley predicts aversive reactions toward near-humanlike entities. Greater uncanniness is elicited by distortions in realistic than unrealistic faces, possibly due to familiarity. Experiment 1 investigated how familiarity and inversion affect uncanniness of facial distortions and the ability to detect differences between the distorted variants of the same face (distortion sensitivity). Familiar or unfamiliar celebrity faces were incrementally distorted and presented either upright or inverted. Uncanniness ratings increased across the distortion levels, and were stronger for familiar and upright faces. Distortion sensitivity increased with increasing distortion difference levels, again stronger for familiar and upright faces. Experiment 2 investigated how face realism, familiarity, and face orientation interacted for the increase of uncanniness across distortions. Realism increased the increase of uncanniness across the distortion levels, further enhanced by upright orientation and familiarity. The findings show that familiarity, upright orientation, and high face realism increase the sensitivity of uncanniness, likely by increasing distortion sensitivity. Finally, a moderated linear function of face realism and deviation level could explain the uncanniness of stimuli better than a quadratic function. A re-interpretation of the uncanny valley as sensitivity toward deviations from familiarized patterns is discussed.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michael Lewis
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.,
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Yonemitsu F, Sasaki K, Gobara A, Yamada Y. The clone devaluation effect: A new uncanny phenomenon concerning facial identity. PLoS One 2021; 16:e0254396. [PMID: 34255794 PMCID: PMC8277018 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254396] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/29/2021] [Accepted: 06/28/2021] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Technological advances in robotics have already produced robots that are indistinguishable from human beings. This technology is overcoming the uncanny valley, which refers to the unpleasant feelings that arise from humanoid robots that are similar in appearance to real humans to some extent. If humanoid robots with the same appearance are mass-produced and become commonplace, we may encounter circumstances in which people or human-like products have faces with the exact same appearance in the future. This leads to the following question: what impressions do clones elicit? To respond to this question, we examined what impressions images of people with the same face (clone images) induce. In the six studies we conducted, we consistently reported that clone images elicited higher eeriness than individuals with different faces; we named this new phenomenon the clone devaluation effect. We found that the clone devaluation effect reflected the perceived improbability of facial duplication. Moreover, this phenomenon was related to distinguishableness of each face, the duplication of identity, the background scene in observing clone faces, and avoidance reactions based on disgust sensitivity. These findings suggest that the clone devaluation effect is a product of multiple processes related to memory, emotion, and face recognition systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fumiya Yonemitsu
- Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Kyoshiro Sasaki
- Faculty of Informatics, Kansai University, Takatsuki, Osaka, Japan
| | - Akihiko Gobara
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
- BKC Research Organization of Social Science, Ritsumeikan University, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan
| | - Yuki Yamada
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Fukuoka, Japan
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Diel A, MacDorman KF. Creepy cats and strange high houses: Support for configural processing in testing predictions of nine uncanny valley theories. J Vis 2021; 21:1. [PMID: 33792617 PMCID: PMC8024776 DOI: 10.1167/jov.21.4.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In 1970, Masahiro Mori proposed the uncanny valley (UV), a region in a human-likeness continuum where an entity risks eliciting a cold, eerie, repellent feeling. Recent studies have shown that this feeling can be elicited by entities modeled not only on humans but also nonhuman animals. The perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying the UV effect are not well understood, although many theories have been proposed to explain them. To test the predictions of nine classes of theories, a within-subjects experiment was conducted with 136 participants. The theories' predictions were compared with ratings of 10 classes of stimuli on eeriness and coldness indices. One type of theory, configural processing, predicted eight out of nine significant effects. Atypicality, in its extended form, in which the uncanny valley effect is amplified by the stimulus appearing more human, also predicted eight. Threat avoidance predicted seven; atypicality, perceptual mismatch, and mismatch+ predicted six; category+, novelty avoidance, mate selection, and psychopathy avoidance predicted five; and category uncertainty predicted three. Empathy's main prediction was not supported. Given that the number of significant effects predicted depends partly on our choice of hypotheses, a detailed consideration of each result is advised. We do, however, note the methodological value of examining many competing theories in the same experiment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexander Diel
- School of Psychology, Cardiff University, Cardiff, United Kingdom.,Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.,
| | - Karl F MacDorman
- Indiana University School of Informatics and Computing, Indianapolis, IN, USA.,
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Abstract
The adaptive immune response is a 500-million-year-old (the "Big Bang" of Immunology) collective set of rearranged and/or selected receptors capable of recognizing soluble and cell surface molecules or shape (B cells, antibody), endogenous and extracellular peptides presented by Major Histocompatibility (MHC) molecules including Class I and Class II (conventional αβ T cells), lipid in the context of MHC-like molecules of the CD1 family (NKT cells), metabolites and B7 family molecules/butyrophilins with stress factors (γδT cells), and stress ligands and absence of MHC molecules (natural killer, NK cells). What makes tumor immunogenic is the recruitment of initially innate immune cells to sites of stress or tissue damage with release of Damage-Associated Molecular Pattern (DAMP) molecules. Subsequent maintenance of a chronic inflammatory state, representing a balance between mature, normalized blood vessels, innate and adaptive immune cells and the tumor provides a complex tumor microenvironment serving as the backdrop for Darwinian selection, tumor elimination, tumor equilibrium, and ultimately tumor escape. Effective immunotherapies are still limited, given the complexities of this highly evolved and selected tumor microenvironment. Cytokine therapies and Immune Checkpoint Blockade (ICB) enable immune effector function and are largely dependent on the shape and size of the B and T cell repertoires (the "adaptome"), now accessible by Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) and dimer-avoidance multiplexed PCR. How immune effectors access the tumor (infiltrated, immune sequestered, and immune desserts), egress and are organized within the tumor are of contemporary interest and substantial investigation.
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Sasaki K, Yamada Y. Crowdsourcing visual perception experiments: a case of contrast threshold. PeerJ 2019; 7:e8339. [PMID: 31875164 PMCID: PMC6927342 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.8339] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/06/2019] [Accepted: 12/03/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Crowdsourcing has commonly been used for psychological research but not for studies on sensory perception. A reason is that in online experiments, one cannot ensure that the rigorous settings required for the experimental environment are replicated. The present study examined the suitability of online experiments on basic visual perception, particularly the contrast threshold. We conducted similar visual experiments in the laboratory and online, employing three experimental conditions. The first was a laboratory experiment, where a small sample of participants (n = 24; laboratory condition) completed a task with 10 iterations. The other two conditions were online experiments: participants were either presented with a task without repetition of trials (n = 285; online non-repetition condition) or one with 10 iterations (n = 166; online repetition condition). The results showed significant equivalence in the contrast thresholds between the laboratory and online repetition conditions, although a substantial amount of data needed to be excluded from the analyses in the latter condition. The contrast threshold was significantly higher in the online non-repetition condition compared with the laboratory and online repetition conditions. To make crowdsourcing more suitable for investigating the contrast threshold, ways to reduce data wastage need to be formulated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kyoshiro Sasaki
- Faculty of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan.,Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan.,Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Yuki Yamada
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan
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Kätsyri J, de Gelder B, Takala T. Virtual Faces Evoke Only a Weak Uncanny Valley Effect: An Empirical Investigation With Controlled Virtual Face Images. Perception 2019; 48:968-991. [PMID: 31474183 DOI: 10.1177/0301006619869134] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Jari Kätsyri
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands; Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland
| | - Beatrice de Gelder
- Department of Cognitive Neuroscience, Maastricht University, the Netherlands
| | - Tapio Takala
- Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland
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Kawabe T, Sasaki K, Ihaya K, Yamada Y. When categorization-based stranger avoidance explains the uncanny valley: A comment on MacDorman and Chattopadhyay (2016). Cognition 2016; 161:129-131. [PMID: 27642031 DOI: 10.1016/j.cognition.2016.09.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2015] [Revised: 08/30/2016] [Accepted: 09/08/2016] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Artificial objects often subjectively look eerie when their appearance to some extent resembles a human, which is known as the uncanny valley phenomenon. From a cognitive psychology perspective, several explanations of the phenomenon have been put forth, two of which are object categorization and realism inconsistency. Recently, MacDorman and Chattopadhyay (2016) reported experimental data as evidence in support of the latter. In our estimation, however, their results are still consistent with categorization-based stranger avoidance. In this Discussions paper, we try to describe why categorization-based stranger avoidance remains a viable explanation, despite the evidence of MacDorman and Chattopadhyay, and how it offers a more inclusive explanation of the impression of eeriness in the uncanny valley phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Takahiro Kawabe
- NTT Communication Science Laboratories, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Japan.
| | - Kyoshiro Sasaki
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Japan; Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Japan
| | | | - Yuki Yamada
- Faculty of Arts and Science, Kyushu University, Japan
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