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Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
Feeling robots and human zombies: mind perception and the uncanny valley
1Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Davie Hall, CB # 3270, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, United States. kurtjgray@gmail.com
Cognition
|July 13, 2012
Summary
The uncanny valley effect in robots is caused by attributing experience, not agency. Perceptions of experience, crucial for humanness, explain why machines and even some humans can seem unnerving.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Science
- Robotics
- Philosophy of Mind
Background:
- The uncanny valley describes the unease caused by humanlike robots.
- The exact cause of the uncanny valley remains debated.
- This study explores the role of perceived mental capacities in generating uncanny feelings.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate whether humanlike robot appearance triggers attributions of mind.
- To determine if perceived experience, rather than agency, underlies the uncanny valley.
- To examine the link between perceived experience and feelings of uncanniness.
Main Methods:
- Experiment 1: Assessed if humanlike appearance prompts experience attributions and unease.
- Experiment 2: Tested if a machine capable of experience is unnerving without humanlike appearance.
- Experiment 3: Investigated if lack of perceived experience explains creepiness in unfeeling humans and philosophical zombies.
Main Results:
- Humanlike robot appearance prompted attributions of experience and feelings of unease.
- A machine perceived to have experience remained unnerving, irrespective of appearance.
- Lack of perceived experience was linked to the creepiness of unfeeling humans and philosophical zombies.
Conclusions:
- Feelings of uncanniness are fundamentally tied to perceptions of experience.
- Experience, not agency, is perceived as essential to humanness and lacking in machines.
- This research reframes the uncanny valley as a phenomenon related to the attribution of consciousness.
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