Does the uncanny valley exist? An empirical test of the relationship between eeriness and the human likeness of digitally created faces
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The result from Study II in Burleigh et al. (2013) was not taken as evidence for artificial-human categorization ambiguity (H3c) because the presence of a categorization boundary was not tested explicitly.
“This result was, however, not taken as evidence for the artificial–human categorization ambiguity (H3c) because the presence of categorization boundary was not tested explicitly.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
The positive uncanny valley finding in Study II in Burleigh et al. (2013) could be interpreted as evidence that some human-likeness manipulations can lead to the uncanny valley.
“The reported positive uncanny valley finding is nevertheless important in the present context, because it could be interpreted as evidence that some human-likeness manipulations can lead to the uncanny valley.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
Burleigh et al. (2013) failed to demonstrate higher eeriness or unpleasantness for increasingly realistic faces, contrary to H4b.
“Contrary to H4b, one other study (Burleigh et al., 2013) failed to demonstrate higher eeriness or unpleasantness for increasingly realistic faces.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
Nonlinear uncanny valley effects were found only in two studies: Poliakoff et al. (2013) on images of hands and Study II in Burleigh et al. (2013) on a continuous CG modification between nonhuman and human faces.
“Nonlinear uncanny valley effects were found only in two studies that had studied images of hands (Poliakoff et al., 2013 and a continuous CG modification between nonhuman and human faces (Study II in Burleigh et al., 2013).”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
The finding from Study II in Burleigh et al. (2013) was not included as additional evidence for H1a because several other human-likeness manipulations in that study did not lead to similar findings.
“This finding was not included as additional evidence for the hypothesis H1a, however, because several other human-likeness manipulations in this study (Burleigh et al., 2013) did not lead to similar findings.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
Study II in Burleigh et al. (2013) demonstrated that intermediate CG modifications between a goat-like and a fully humanlike face elicited the most eerie and unpleasant evaluations.
“Another study (Study II in Burleigh et al., 2013) demonstrated that intermediate CG modifications between a goat-like and a fully humanlike face elicited the most eerie and unpleasant evaluations.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
The non-significant finding in Burleigh et al. (2013) could have been specific to the atypical feature (rolled-back eye) used in the study.
“Although this non-significant finding was included in the total count, it is possible that this result could have been specific to the atypical feature (rolled-back eye) used in the study.”
From A review of empirical evidence on different uncanny valley hypotheses: support for perceptual mismatch as one road to the valley of eeriness (2015) · cites this paper as Burleigh et al., 2013
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- Authors
- Burleigh, T. J., Schoenherr, J. R., & Lacroix, G. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Guelph (CA)
- Carleton University (CA)
- Corresponding author
- Burleigh, Tyler J.
- Venue
- Computers in Human Behavior
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2013-05
- Volume
- 29
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 759-771
- ISSN
- 0747-5632 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2008423926
- Cited by
- 231
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 19 · 2025: 22 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 25 · 2021: 24 · 2020: 11 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 12 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 26 · 2014: 11 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 24.47
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Computers in Human Behavior (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Keywords
- uncanny valley, human-likeness, eeriness, negative affect, facial proportions, polygon count, skin coloration, category membership
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