Cognitive Conflict as Possible Origin of the Uncanny Valley. (September 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Weis, Patrick P.; Wiese, Eva
• Is Part Of: Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society ... Annual Meeting. Volume 61:Part 1(2017)
• Page Start: 1599
• Page End: 1603
• Publication Date: 2017-09
• Subjects: Human engineering -- Congresses; 620.8205
• DOI: 10.1177/1541931213601763
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1541-9312

Abstract

In social robotics, the term Uncanny Valley describes the phenomenon that linear increases in human-likeness of an agent do not entail an equally linear increase in favorable reactions towards that agent. Instead, a pronounced dip or 'valley' at around 70% human-likeness emerges. One currently popular view to explain this drop in favorable reactions is delivered by the Categorical Perception Hypothesis. It is suggested that categorization of agents with mixed human and non-human features is associated with additional cognitive costs and that these costs are the cause of the Uncanny Valley. However, the nature of the cognitive costs is still matter of debate. The current study explores whether the cognitive costs associated with stimulus categorization around the Uncanny Valley could be due to cognitive conflict as evoked by simultaneous activation of two categories. Using the mouse tracking technique, we show that cognitive conflict indeed peaks around the Uncanny Valley region of human-likeness. Our findings lay the foundation for investigating the effects of cognitive conflict on positive affect towards agents of around 70% human-likeness, possibly leading to the unraveling of the origins of the Uncanny Valley.