The DOI matches its Crossref record; 41 of the 42 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Empirical evaluation of the uncanny valley hypothesis fails to confirm the predicted effect of motion
Open accessAbstract
The uncanny valley hypothesis states that the acceptability of an artificial character will not increase linearly in relation to its likeness to human form. Instead, after an initial rise in acceptability there will be a pronounced decrease when the character is similar, but not identical to human form (Mori, 1970/2012). Moreover, it has been claimed but never directly tested that movement would accentuate this dip and make moving characters less acceptable. We used a number of full-body animated computer characters along with a parametrically defined motion set to examine the effect of motion quality on the uncanny valley. We found that improving the motion quality systematically improved the acceptability of the characters. In particular, the character classified in the deepest location of the uncanny valley became more acceptable when it was animated. Our results showed that although an uncanny valley was found for static characters, the deepening of the valley with motion, originally predicted by Mori (1970/2012), was not obtained.
Overview
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
In the citing paper
“Two other studies provided results that resembled the uncanny curve (McDonnell et al., 2012; Piwek et al., 2014); however, closer inspection suggested that these results could have been explained by outlier stimuli—that is, in terms of the hypothesis H1c.”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“Two other studies provided results that resembled the uncanny curve (McDonnell et al., 2012; Piwek et al., 2014); however, closer inspection suggested that these results could have been explained by outlier stimuli—that is, in terms of the hypothesis H1c.”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“That is, more humanlike movement was found to elicit higher affinity (H2b) in both studies, whereas a nonlinear uncanny valley curve (H2a) was not observed in either one of them.”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“Two studies demonstrated modulatory movement effects; however, these effects were specific to plausible outlier characters (ill-looking face in McDonnell et al., 2012; and zombie character in Piwek et al., 2014).”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“That is, more humanlike movement was found to elicit higher affinity (H2b) in both studies, whereas a nonlinear uncanny valley curve (H2a) was not observed in either one of them.”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“We were able to identify only two studies (Thompson et al., 2011; Piwek et al., 2014) that could be taken as evidence for the independent movement hypotheses H2a and H2b (Table 4).”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
In the citing paper
“Furthermore, these studies provided conflicting evidence: the former reported a significant increase and the latter a significant decrease in negative affinity for the moving characters.”
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 Piwek et al., 2014
Citations
Cites
Brainard, D. H. (1997) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856897x00357 · Cited by 20,012
The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies
Pelli, D. G. (1997) · Spatial Vision · doi:10.1163/156856897x00366 · Cited by 11,110
The co-ordination and regulation of movements
Bernshteĭn, N. A. (1969) · Brain Research · doi:10.1016/0006-8993(69)90278-9 · Cited by 5,087
The coordination of arm movements: an experimentally confirmed mathematical model
Flash, T., & Hogan, N. (1985) · The Journal of Neuroscience · doi:10.1523/jneurosci.05-07-01688.1985 · Cited by 4,395
The Uncanny Valley [From the Field]
Mori, M., MacDorman, K., & Kageki, N. (2012) · IEEE Robotics & Automation Magazine · doi:10.1109/mra.2012.2192811 · Cited by 3,542
The co-ordination and regulation of movements
Foley, J. (1968) · Journal of the Neurological Sciences · doi:10.1016/0022-510x(68)90166-4 · Cited by 3,431
A survey of socially interactive robots
Fong, T., Nourbakhsh, I., & Dautenhahn, K. (2003) · Robotics and Autonomous Systems · doi:10.1016/s0921-8890(02)00372-x · Cited by 3,162
Immediate perceptual response to intersensory discrepancy.
Welch, R. B., & Warren, D. H. (1980) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.88.3.638 · Cited by 1,176
Feeling robots and human zombies: Mind perception and the uncanny valley
Gray, K., & Wegner, D. M. (2012) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2012.06.007 · Cited by 941
Rosenbaum, D. Α. (1990) · doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-374226-1.x0001-0 · Cited by 684
The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive and social science research
MacDorman, K. F., & Ishiguro, H. (2006) · Interaction Studies Social Behaviour and Communication in Biological and Artificial Systems · doi:10.1075/is.7.3.03mac · Cited by 658
The Uncanny Valley: Effect of Realism on the Impression of Artificial Human Faces
Seyama, J., & Nagayama, R. S. (2007) · PRESENCE Virtual and Augmented Reality · doi:10.1162/pres.16.4.337 · Cited by 583
Bailenson (2005) · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2005.01619.x · Cited by 549
Too real for comfort? Uncanny responses to computer generated faces
MacDorman, K. F., Green, R. D., Ho, C.-C., & Koch, C. T. (2009) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.026 · Cited by 533
Ho, C.-C., & MacDorman, K. F. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.05.015 · Cited by 532
Saygin, A. P., Chaminade, T., Ishiguro, H., Driver, J., & Frith, C. (2012) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsr025 · Cited by 452
“It doesn’t matter what you are!” Explaining social effects of agents and avatars
von der Pütten, A. M., Krämer, N. C., Gratch, J., & Kang, S.-H. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.06.012 · Cited by 389
Crossmodal binding: Evaluating the “unity assumption” using audiovisual speech stimuli
Vatakis, A., & Spence, C. J. (2007) · Perception & Psychophysics · doi:10.3758/bf03193776 · Cited by 320
McDonnell, R., Breidt, M., & Bülthoff, H. H. (2012) · ACM Transactions on Graphics · doi:10.1145/2185520.2185587 · Cited by 286
Facial expression of emotion and perception of the Uncanny Valley in virtual characters
Tinwell, A., Grimshaw, M., Nabi, D. A., & Williams, A. B. (2010) · Computers in Human Behavior · doi:10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.018 · Cited by 269
On the psychology of the uncanny (1906)
Jentsch, E. (1997) · Angelaki · doi:10.1080/09697259708571910 · Cited by 258
Is The Uncanny Valley An Uncanny Cliff?
Bartneck, C., Kanda, T., Ishiguro, H., & Hagita, N. (2007) · IEEE RO-MAN · doi:10.1109/roman.2007.4415111 · Cited by 245
A mismatch in the human realism of face and voice produces an uncanny valley
Mitchell, W. J., Szerszen, K. A., Lu, A. S., Schermerhorn, P. W., Scheutz, M., & MacDorman, K. F. (2011) · i-Perception · doi:10.1068/i0415 · Cited by 239
The Oxford Handbook of Virtuality
(2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.001.0001 · Cited by 214
A Bayesian explanation of the ‘Uncanny Valley’ effect and related psychological phenomena
Moore, R. K. (2012) · Scientific Reports · doi:10.1038/srep00864 · Cited by 210
Ma, Y., Paterson, H., & Pollick, F. E. (2006) · Behavior Research Methods · doi:10.3758/bf03192758 · Cited by 203
Self-citationAnthropomorphism influences perception of computer-animated characters' actions
Chaminade, T., Hodgins, J., & Kawato, M. (2007) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsm017 · Cited by 181
Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley
Steckenfinger, S. A., & Ghazanfar, A. A. (2009) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.0910063106 · Cited by 180
Geller, T. (2008) · IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications · doi:10.1109/mcg.2008.79 · Cited by 179
Perception of human motion with different geometric models
Hodgins, J. K., O’Brien, J. F., & Tumblin, J. (1998) · IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics · doi:10.1109/2945.765325 · Cited by 161
Social responses to virtual humans
Zanbaka, C., Ulinski, A., Goolkasian, P. A., & Hodges, L. F. (2007) · CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/1240624.1240861 · Cited by 109
McGonigal, J. (2012) · ACM Transactions on Graphics · doi:10.1145/2185520.2349378 · Cited by 103
Fabri, M., Moore, D., & Hobbs, D. J. (2004) · Virtual Reality · doi:10.1007/s10055-003-0116-7 · Cited by 97
In search of the uncanny valley
Pollick, F. E. (2010) · Lecture notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering · doi:10.1007/978-3-642-12630-7_8 · Cited by 91
Self-citationScientific Issues Concerning Androids
Ishiguro, H. (2007) · The International Journal of Robotics Research · doi:10.1177/0278364907074474 · Cited by 86
The perception of humanness from the movements of synthetic agents
Thompson, J. C., Trafton, J. G., & McKnight, P. (2011) · Perception · doi:10.1068/p6900 · Cited by 75
Boker, S. M., Cohn, J. F., Theobald, B.-J., Matthews, I. A., Mangini, M. C., Spies, J. R., Ambadar, Z., & Brick, T. R. (2011) · Journal of Experimental Psychology Human Perception & Performance · doi:10.1037/a0021928 · Cited by 42
PERCEPTION OF HUMANOID MOVEMENT
Pollick, F. E., Hale, J. G., & Tzoneva-Hadjigeorgieva, M. (2005) · International Journal of Humanoid Robotics · doi:10.1142/s021984360500048x · Cited by 18
Self-citationLieberman, M. D. (2011) · Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience · doi:10.1093/scan/nsr001 · Cited by 13
Applying Psychological Plausibility to the Uncanny Valley Phenomenon
Tinwell, A. (2013) · Oxford University Press eBooks · doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199826162.013.021 · Cited by 6
Kuratate, T., Ayers, K., Kim, J., Riley, M., & Burnham, D. K. (2009) · Cited by 2
Research works printed but not linked: 2
- Hanson, D. (2006). Exploring the aesthetic range for humanoid robots. In Proceedings of the ICCS/CogSci-2006 long symposium: Toward social mechanisms of android science (pp. 39–42).
- Mori, M. (2012). The uncanny valley. In K. F. MacDorman, & N. Kageki (Trans.), IEEE robotics and automation, 19(2), 98–100 (Original work published in 1970).
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Mende, M., Scott, M. L., van Doorn, J., Grewal, D., & Shanks, I. (2019) · Journal of Marketing Research · doi:10.1177/0022243718822827 · Cited by 1,197
Pan, X., & Hamilton, A. F. D. C. (2018) · British Journal of Psychology · doi:10.1111/bjop.12290 · Cited by 801
Kätsyri, J., Förger, K., Mäkäräinen, M., & Takala, T. (2015) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.00390 · Cited by 500
The Uncanny Valley: Existence and Explanations
Wang, S., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Rochat, P. (2015) · Review of General Psychology · doi:10.1037/gpr0000056 · Cited by 357
MacDorman, K. F., & Chattopadhyay, D. (2015) · Cognition · doi:10.1016/j.cognition.2015.09.019 · Cited by 266
Metadata
- Authors
- Piwek, L., McKay, L. S., & Pollick, F. E.
- Affiliations
- University of Glasgow (GB)
- Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Pollick, Frank E.
- Venue
- Cognition
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2014-03
- Volume
- 130
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 271-277
- ISSN
- 0010-0277 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2080595165
- Cited by
- 106
- References
- 42
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 7 · 2023: 8 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 9 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 15 · 2017: 10 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 12 · 2014: 1
- FWCI
- 10.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- eprints.uwe.ac.uk
- Licence
- Locations
- Cognition (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- KNAW research portal (Royal Academy of Art and Sciences (KNAW)) (publishedVersion)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion)
- UWE Research Repository (UWE Bristol) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- KNAW Research Portal (The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Graphics and Computer-Aided Design › Human Motion and Animation
- Keywords
- uncanny valley, movement quality, human-likeness, computer animation, human-robot interaction, anthropomorphism
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Affect, Female, Humans, Male, Motion Perception, Motion Pictures, Robotics, Social Perception, User-Computer Interface, Young Adult
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
