Perceptual discrimination difficulty and familiarity in the Uncanny Valley: more like a “Happy Valleyâ€
Open accessAbstract
The Uncanny Valley Hypothesis (UVH) predicts that greater difficulty perceptually discriminating between categorically ambiguous human and humanlike characters (e.g., highly realistic robot) evokes negatively valenced (i.e., uncanny) affect. An ABX perceptual discrimination task and signal detection analysis was used to examine the profile of perceptual discrimination (PD) difficulty along the UVH' dimension of human likeness (DHL). This was represented using avatar-to-human morph continua. Rejecting the implicitly assumed profile of PD difficulty underlying the UVH' prediction, Experiment 1 showed that PD difficulty was reduced for categorically ambiguous faces but, notably, enhanced for human faces. Rejecting the UVH' predicted relationship between PD difficulty and negative affect (assessed in terms of the UVH' familiarity dimension), Experiment 2 demonstrated that greater PD difficulty correlates with more positively valenced affect. Critically, this effect was strongest for the ambiguous faces, suggesting a correlative relationship between PD difficulty and feelings of familiarity more consistent with the metaphor happy valley. This relationship is also consistent with a fluency amplification instead of the hitherto proposed hedonic fluency account of affect along the DHL. Experiment 3 found no evidence that the asymmetry in the profile of PD along the DHL is attributable to a differential processing bias (cf. other-race effect), i.e., processing avatars at a category level but human faces at an individual level. In conclusion, the present data for static faces show clear effects that, however, strongly challenge the UVH' implicitly assumed profile of PD difficulty along the DHL and the predicted relationship between this and feelings of familiarity.
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Previous uncanny valley studies have employed at least 11 evenly distributed human-likeness steps along the human-likeness continuum.
“In practice, previous uncanny valley studies have employed at least 11 evenly distributed human-likeness steps along the human-likeness continuum (e.g., Looser and Wheatley, 2010; Cheetham et al., 2011, 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 Cheetham et al., 2014
Assuming that the uncanny valley proper coincides with the category boundary and that this boundary is considered in terms of the categorical perception framework, perceptual discrimination performance should be easier for characters at or in the close vicinity of the category boundary and not more difficult.
“However, assuming that the uncanny valley proper is thought of as coinciding with the category boundary and that this boundary is considered in terms of the categorical perception framework, it follows (as in Cheetham et al., 2014) that perceptual discrimination performance should actually be easier for characters at or in the close vicinity of the category boundary and not more difficult.”
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 Cheetham et al., 2014
Other morphing studies with masked faces and multiple matched face pairs have failed to find a U-shaped curve for participants' evaluations.
“Consistently with this interpretation, other morphing studies (Looser and Wheatley, 2010; Cheetham et al., 2014) with masked faces and multiple matched face pairs have failed to find a similar U-shaped curve for participants' 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 Cheetham et al., 2014
The original uncanny valley hypothesis is based on the implicit assumption that perceptual discrimination is the most difficult for characters in the uncanny valley.
“As suggested recently by Cheetham et al. (2014), the original uncanny valley hypothesis is based on the implicit assumption that perceptual discrimination is the most difficult for characters in 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 Cheetham et al., 2014
One study (Cheetham et al., 2014) demonstrated that increased perceptual discrimination difficulty is associated with positive rather than negative affinity, opposite to hypothesis H3e.
“Opposite to hypothesis H3e, one study (Cheetham et al., 2014) demonstrated that increased perceptual discrimination difficulty is associated with positive rather than negative affinity.”
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 Cheetham et al., 2014
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From Social Encounters to Sociotechnical Creative Collaboration: Perceiving and Engaging with Robots
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- Authors
- Cheetham, M., Suter, P., & Jancke, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Zurich (CH)
- Corresponding author
- Cheetham, Marcus
- ORCID
- Cheetham, Marcus
- Venue
- Frontiers in Psychology
- Publisher
- Frontiers Media SA
- Published
- 2014-11-19
- Volume
- 5
- Pages
- 1219-1219
- ISSN
- 1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC4237038
- OpenAlex
- W2034061440
- Cited by
- 72
- References
- 99
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 9 · 2021: 2 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 12
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- cc-by
- Locations
- Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion, cc-by)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- European Commission (27731)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Face Recognition and Perception
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Social Robot Interaction and HRI
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Cognitive Neuroscience › Aesthetic Perception and Analysis
- Keywords
- uncanny valley, human-likeness, familiarity, emotional valence, Happy Valley, robot faces, other-race effect, signal detection analysis
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