Welcome to the Uncanny Valley

by | Mar 14, 2017

Have you ever looked at a mannequin, a robot or a computer-generated human and felt a wave of revulsion? If so, welcome to the so-called “uncanny valley.”

The “uncanny valley” is a theory proposed by Japanese robotics professor Masahiro Mori in a 1970 paper. His theory is that subtle flaws in human-like appearance result in discomfort and even disgust.  The term “uncanny” means something that seems familiar yet foreign at the same time. The “valley” is a reference to the below chart that suggests that as robots/humanoids become more lifelike they hit a valley where they cause discomfort and revulsion.  At some point they become so lifelike that they are familiar and no longer distasteful.  The chart:

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The uncanny valley has been confirmed in numerous experiments.  Here are some examples – do these images seem creepy to you?

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There a number of potential explanations for why we experience revulsion at near, but not quite, human forms including:

  • Mate selection – we pick up subconscious cues about the fertility of potential human mates and not-quite human images don’t pass muster.
  • Pathogen avoidance – like with mate selection, we subconsciously pick up cues about health of individuals in order to avoid disease.  When a human form is “not right” we can sense it.
  • Mortality Salience – seeing near human forms elicit fear of mortality and of being replaced.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/16600-cgi-humans-creepy-scientists.html

1 Comment

  1. The explanations for our revulsion were quite interesting. There is apparently a lot going on in our subconsciousness.

    Reply

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