Brainscans in the Uncanny Valley

The Uncanny Valley is the notion that when robot or animated people seem but not quite, human, they freak us the fuck out. (Please re-acquaint yourself with the young lady above, from CUBOCC). UC San Diego researchers have now scanned the brains of individuals visiting the uncanny valley to try to understand the cause of the creepiness. Apparently, it's all about expectations.

Published in the Oxford University Press journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, the functional MRI study suggests that what may be going on is due to a perceptual mismatch between appearance and motion...

According to their interpretation of the fMRI results, the researchers say they saw, in essence, evidence of mismatch. The brain “lit up” when the human-like appearance of the android and its robotic motion “didn’t compute.”

“The brain doesn’t seem tuned to care about either biological appearance or biological motion per se,” said Saygin, an assistant professor of cognitive science at UC San Diego and alumna of the same department. “What it seems to be doing is looking for its expectations to be met – for appearance and motion to be congruent.”

In other words, if it looks human and moves likes a human, we are OK with that. If it looks like a robot and acts like a robot, we are OK with that, too; our brains have no difficulty processing the information. The trouble arises when – contrary to a lifetime of expectations – appearance and motion are at odds.

"Your Brain On Androids"

• [Eark_the_Bunny]

  I have met quite a few “real” people who seem not quite human. Now that is really freaky.

• [Anonymous]

  I think this appearance/motion mismatch phenomenon is also why the little girl from The Ring is so freaky.

• [VICTOR JIMENEZ]

  I´m afraid that also applies to popping…

• [Rich Keller]

  Now that we know which parts of the brain fire up whe we something weird, someone can come up with a patent for a pill to “cure” that. Then nothing will ever be strange again…

• [turn_self_off]

  That may be the first time one of those “android” have freaked me out, tho mostly because it appears very similar to the classical “axe crazy”.

• [Digilante]

  One person’s “freak the fuck out” is another’s “yeah baby, bring that android over here, and don’t forget the vaseline”. Isn’t diversity wonderful?

• [catgrin]

  The problems I have with creepy girl mostly stem from one source: her eyes.

  1. They’re designed as smooth orbs with no raised lenses, check the windowpane highlights.
  2. There’s no change in the size of her iris as she looks from dark to light.
  3. They’re bloodshot, like she’s some kind of tweaker.
  4. She’s not targeting stereoscopically (when you place the pointer on her nose, she should appear cross-eyed, but her eyes remain straight ahead).

  It’s a shame that someone worked so hard to bring her to life, only to shortcut it on her eyes. Think about it – people get the same disassociation factor when they for the first time meet a person with a glass or wandering eye. I agree that it’s a case of expectations unmet.

  For example, if you go to Disneyland as a small child and see the pirates in the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, you don’t question if they’re “real” people. You’re told you’re going to see pirates as you enter. They look, move and seem even to sing like pirates. They must be the genuine article, right? You’re kept far enough away and in the right lighting for the illusion of life to hold. So, even though some are actually caricatures of people that would never hold up under normal circumstances, they pass for human without question.

  I think that’s the real challenge: androids fitting in to everyday life, not as a specialty item. In varied lighting and environments, with different people responding, how do you keep the illusion up? Or should you even try? Maybe the best way to integrate androids into society is to start with androids tending bar at night clubs.

• [Anonymous]

  Interestingly, I clicked through and creepy girl did not creep me out. Perhaps this is because I was told what to expect?

  • [IL Denizen]

    Same here. I was not so creeped out. Actually, for the most part, I was really impressed. Except for the mouth, which had that same odd “polar express” feel. Fix that, and we are getting pretty close.

• [Anonymous]

  Obviously we evolved this ability in order to pick out reptoids. Reptoids have been invading our society since the dawn of time but lately reptoid populations are at a an all time low. It could because of this evolutionary advantage we adapted. The uncanny valley is really our reptoid detector.

• [Anonymous]

  Which makes me wonder, as we become more accustomed to androids and cyborgs will we stop perceiving the uncanny valley? Will children raised around emotional robots continue to see them as different?

• [Mitch_M]

  I like my androids a little on the creepy side.

• [RiverVox]

  I have the same response to monkeys, marionettes and clowns; the unsettling feeling that this creature is both human and not and the same time

  • [Anonymous]

    Interesting to see you mention clowns. I’m an avowed coulrophobe (and I’ll second the distaste marionettes and add porcelain-faced dolls to your list) and I’ve long associated my “irrational” reaction of discomfort to outright fear towards clowns with the uncanny valley. My vaguely formed hypothesis is that there’s a clear sort of evolutionary value to be had in reading intent/motivation/subterfuge in the subtle cues of facial expressions, and that those of us freaked out by any of the above listed items are particularly sensitive to having our capacity to read these in those sorts of targets lessened.

    Though I feel it is necessary to point out that monkeys are awesome. Even moreso when featured on Mad Monkey Mondays.

• [Anonymous]

  Maybe that’s why the Big Dog project creeps so many people out… nearly organic movement coming from a robot that sounds like a gigantic fly.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1czBcnX1Ww