The "uncanny valley" phenomenon, in which when the appearance of a robot or doll approaches humans to some extent, a strong eerie feeling is felt.A research group of academic researchers, Kyoshiro Sasaki, of the Institute of Core Education, Kyushu University, has found that this phenomenon is deeply related to the anxiety that people have about the unknown.The research results were published in the electronic version of the Swiss academic journal "Frontiers in Psychology".

 According to Kyushu University, the appearance of robots and dolls becomes more and more favorable as they get closer to humans, but when they exceed a certain level, they begin to perceive discomfort and disgust.This is a phenomenon called "uncanny valley", which was proposed in the field of robotics in 1970.

 Until now, it has been thought that the inability to classify humans or dolls evokes eerieness, but it was not known why inability to classify them leads to eerieness.

 The research group showed the participants a composite photograph of 13 species of humans and dolls, asked how creepy they felt, and also investigated whether they were prone to anxiety about the unknown.As a result, it became clear that people who are more likely to have anxiety about the unknown are more likely to feel eerie for objects that are difficult to classify.

 The research group believes that the results of this experiment have increased the possibility of understanding various phenomena that occur when trying to avoid unknown objects such as dislike of eating and phobia of foreigners.

Paper information:[Frontiers in Psychology] Avoidance of Novelty Contributes to the Uncanny Valley

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Kyushu University is a comprehensive university with 12 faculties and 19 graduate schools.We have been designated as a "designated national university corporation" that can develop outstanding education and research activities of the world's highest level and become an international base.Through “comprehensive knowledge” that combines the “knowledge” of the humanities and social sciences, natural sciences, and design that we have accumulated so far […]

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