Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect
2009 October 13
Image via Wikipedia
A recent peer reviewed research published in journal PNAS suggests that monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley. The idea of uncanny valley was introduced by Japanese roboticist Masahiro Mori in 1970. In simple words, as virtual humans approach photorealism or human likeness, they risk making real humans uncomfortable or may evoke negative feelings in human observers. Although uncanny valley is a valid and widely accepted psychological phenomenon in human supported by several controlled perceptual experiments, it was never tested for a nonhuman species. A phenomenon which was also subscribed as reason for poor box office performance of highly realistic computer-animated films such as the Polar Express. Study suggest that humans are not the only ones to exploit this fascinating psychological peculiarity, monkey too have photorealism issues and there may be evolutionary origins behind the uncanny valley. Basically computer/synthetic generated/animated facial rendering can be categorized in three classes: unrealistic, realistic and real, and this is the interaction of realistic features which fall in the valley. In this case monkeys looked longer at real faces and unrealistic synthetic faces than at realistic synthetic faces. Although there is no clear explanation for the uncanny valley effect, but according to current understanding it is not the increased realism that evokes the uncanny valley effect, but rather that the increased realism lowers the tolerance for abnormalities. Last year Image Metrics who also developed the game Grand Theft Auto created a animation character Emily which is supposed to be one of the finest animations to have crossed a long-standing roadblock of uncanny valley (see the video below Emily’s introduction about the technology).
Render-types and hypothetical outcomes. (A) The facial expressions and render-types used in the experiment. These images were extracted from the dynamic videos and represent the point of maximal expression. These frames were also used as the static stimuli. (B) Five hypothetical outcomes for the monkeys’ visual behavioral response.
Reference:
Steckenfinger, S., & Ghazanfar, A. (2009). Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910063106
Render-types and hypothetical outcomes. (A) The facial expressions and render-types used in the experiment. These images were extracted from the dynamic videos and represent the point of maximal expression. These frames were also used as the static stimuli. (B) Five hypothetical outcomes for the monkeys’ visual behavioral response.Reference:
Steckenfinger, S., & Ghazanfar, A. (2009). Monkey visual behavior falls into the uncanny valley Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0910063106
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dude…this is scarily awesome!! seriously….drove me into the valley!!!
Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect http://bit.ly/w1HJy
Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect http://tinyurl.com/yhx6qmw
Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect: Image via WikipediaA recent peer reviewed research published in jour.. http://bit.ly/w1HJy
Résumé d'article : Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect http://bit.ly/2pzYgX
Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect: Image via WikipediaA recent peer reviewed research published in jour.. http://bit.ly/2pzYgX
Who knew monkey visual behavior fell into the uncanny valley? Not I! http://tinyurl.com/yf69d6m #psych #nerd
RT @nicolesantina Who knew monkey visual behavior fell into the uncanny valley? Not I! http://tinyurl.com/yf69d6m #psych #nerd
Monkeys exhibit the uncanny valley effect http://bit.ly/w1HJy
Link also has an indepth article.
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Yikes, zombies!
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That was cool though the uncanny valley effect was immediate and strong with her. I suppose someday they may overcome this but you definitely get the "robot" vibe from that. Still very cool and much better than I had seen previously.
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That would be nice…And a really good video demo.
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