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. 2023 Aug 29:14:1222279.
doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1222279. eCollection 2023.

The inversion effect on the cubic humanness-uncanniness relation in humanlike agents

Alexander Diel  1   2 , Wataru Sato  1 , Chun-Ting Hsu  1 , Takashi Minato  1
Affiliations

The inversion effect on the cubic humanness-uncanniness relation in humanlike agents

Alexander Diel et al. Front Psychol. .

Abstract

The uncanny valley describes the typically nonlinear relation between the esthetic appeal of artificial entities and their human likeness. The effect has been attributed to specialized (configural) processing that increases sensitivity to deviations from human norms. We investigate this effect in computer-generated, humanlike android and human faces using dynamic facial expressions. Angry and happy expressions with varying degrees of synchrony were presented upright and inverted and rated on their eeriness, strangeness, and human likeness. A sigmoidal function of human likeness and uncanniness ("uncanny slope") was found for upright expressions and a linear relation for inverted faces. While the function is not indicative of an uncanny valley, the results support the view that configural processing moderates the effect of human likeness on uncanniness and extend its role to dynamic facial expressions.

Keywords: configural processing; dynamic facial expression; emotion expression; inversion effect; uncanny valley.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
CG (computer-generated; top) and android (bottom) stimuli across emotion conditions. Baseline (neutral) expressions are to the right, followed by angry and happy expressions.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The intensity of face action units AU4 and AU12 across actor types. Values were analyzed automatically using OpenFace. CG = computer-generated.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Scatter plots and cubic regression lines between humanlike and uncanny ratings for upright and inverted presented faces. Standardized scores are shown to indicate consistent patterns across participants. Points represent raw data points.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Average uncanniness ratings for each stimulus along the human likeness axis, divided by orientation. Color and point shape indicate agent and emotion type. Error bars indicate standard errors. CG = computer-generated face created via FACSGen.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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