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Updated: May 3, 2026

Perceptual and Category Processing of the Uncanny Valley Hypothesis' Dimension of Human Likeness: Some Methodological Issues
Published on: June 3, 2013
Varieties of perceptual instability and their neural correlates
1Wellcome Laboratory of Neurobiology and Wellcome Department of Imaging Neuroscience, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
We report experiments designed to learn whether different kinds of perceptually unstable visual images engage different neural mechanisms. 21 subjects viewed two types of bi-stable images while we scanned the activity in their brains with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI); in one (intra-categorical type) the two percepts remained within the same category (e.g. face-face) while in the other (cross-categorical type) they crossed categorical boundaries (e.g. face-body). The results showed that cross- and intra-categorical reversals share a common reversal-related neural circuitry, which includes fronto-parietal cortex and primary visual cortex (area V1). Cross-categorical reversals alone engaged additional areas, notably anterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal gyrus, which have been posited to be involved in conflict resolution.
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