Hannah & Hee Je

Hannah Gibbons & Hee Je Cho

Bibliography

NewYork, Swagger. "Photographer Uses Brain Scanner to Reveal What People Wished They Looked Like." Styleite Photographer Uses Brain Scanner to Reveal What People Wished They Looked Like Comments. Styleite, 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

Styleite covers a photography piece in which the artist uses a brain scanner to determine what people wish they looked like. The results showed an increased similarity and symmetry in the participant’s faces. As my partner and I agreed, some of the new faces fell into the uncanny valley, rather than supporting the original intentions of being made more attractive.

Burleigh, Tyler J., and Jordan R. Schoenherr. "A Reappraisal of the Uncanny Valley: Categorical Perception or Frequency-based Sensitization?" Frontiers. Frontiers, 21 Jan. 2015. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

This article in Frontiers outlines what is already known about the uncanny valley, and focuses on the phenomenon in the context of human responses to stimuli. The article attempts to explain each of the major theories on the uncanny valley. It questions if the way we are programed to respond to certain stimuli is the cause of the uncanny valley feeling.

MacDorman, Karl F. "Androids as an Experimental Apparatus: Why Is There an Uncanny Valley and Can We Exploit It?" Cognitive Science Society (n.d.): n. pag. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

This piece is a draft for a scientific paper, which explains the uncanny valley and its properties, and then asks if it can be used in some beneficial way. It is suggested that humanoid robots could be used to determine what behaviors are seen as human and how to tell the difference. It is said however that this would require an android, which looked flawlessly human. The experiments would focus more on behavior and movement than looks.

Meisner, Gary. "Beauty in the Human Face and the Golden Ratio." Phi 1618 The Golden Number. PhiPointSolutions, 12 Jan. 2014. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

This article relates the golden ratio to human beauty. A beauty mask created by Dr. Stephen Marquardt following the golden ratio fits beauty standards across the world as well as between genders. Faces, which are found to unanimously be the most beautiful, will almost always fit the mask.

Mitchell, Wade J., Kevin A. Szerszen, Amy Shirong Lu, Paul W. Schermerhorn, Matthias Scheutz, and Karl F. MacDorman. "A Mismatch in the Human Realism of Face and Voice Produces an Uncanny Valley." I-Perception. Pion, 1 Mar. 2011. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

This scientific article followed an experiment to determine if a face and voice, which were mismatched could produce the same feelings as experienced with the uncanny valley. It was determined that the appearance of an animated character or robot was not the only important factor in the uncanny. This supports the idea that a real human could evoke the feeling of the uncanny valley if their voice did not match well to their appearance.

Richard, Michael G. "What Will Humans Look like in 100,000 Years?" MNN. MNN Holding Company, 1 July 2013. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

The article speculates as to what humans might look like in the distant future. Taking into account possible changes in our environment and needs, it is hypothesized what humans may evolve to look like to suit these needs. For the purpose of this project the faces produced were altered images of real human faces, some of which cause the uncanny feeling.

Jentsch, Ernst. "The Psychology Of The Uncanny." The British Medical Journal 2.3522 (1906): 24-25. Web. 24 Apr. 2015.

The work of Ernst Jentsch exploring the idea of the uncanny and familiarity. For the purpose of this project, evidence that the uncanny feeling has been known long before the work of Mori but that it was never very relevant. The aspect of the unfamiliar resulting in strong discomfort still holds true for the uncanny valley.

Trivers, Robert L. "Parental Investment in Sexual Selection." (1972): 135-79. Harvard University. Aldine Publishing Company. Web. 5 May 2015.

Detailed investigation of Charles Darwin’s theory of sexual selection. This work focuses on the investment and the duties of the parents in this process. This was a useful source for the basics of sexual selection.

Eveleth, Rose. "Robots: Is the Uncanny Valley Real?" BBC Future. BBC, 01 Sept. 2013. Web. 05 May 2015.

This article questions the existence of the uncanny valley. It is suggested that the uncanny valley exists only when something is unfamiliar. Wooden hands and cartoons no longer creep us out because we are used to them. Perhaps once we have grown accustomed to human-like robots we will no longer feel uneasy. Are these robots just the newest form of the uncanny valley?

Macdorman, Karl F. "Subjective Ratings of Robot Video Clips for Human Likeness, Familiarity, and Eeriness: An Exploration of the Uncanny Valley." (2006): n. pag. Indiana University. Web. 5 May 2015.

This paper followed an experiment to determine where the uncanny valley phenomenon occurred in a range of faces from living human, to inhuman robot. It was concluded that the uncanny valley occurred at a point right towards the end of the human side of the spectrum. Out of 11 images it occurred around the 9 and 10 images. This confirms the more subtly the deviation from the human is the more likely we are to experience the uncanny.

Geller, Tom. "Overcoming the Uncanny Valley." IEEE Computer Society, 2008. Web. 5 May 2015.

Smith, Marquard. "Why Are Dolls so Creepy?" BBC Culture. BBC, 01 Dec. 2014. Web. 05 May 2015.

Popper, Ben. "The Science of 'Her': We're Going to Start Falling in Love with Our Computers." The Verge. Vox Media, 16 Dec. 2013. Web. 05 May 2015. <http://www.theverge.com/2013/12/16/5216522/can-humans-love-computers-sex-robots-her-spike-jonze>.




 

Hannah Gibbons & Hee Je Cho

4-21-15

Abstract

           

This project will focus on the relation of the uncanny valley to human beauty. We will focus on the question of what makes the human face beautiful as well as, unattractive, or uncanny. We will create a series of images of altered human faces ranging from subtly altered, to severely altered. We will utilize these images to explore how much or how little the human face can be altered before it falls into the uncanny valley. The class will participate in voting for the most beautiful, and the most unsettling of the images. The uncanny valley is a term that refers to a certain level of human likeness, which evokes negative feelings in the viewer. In media from simple cartoon characters to humanoid robots, the relative likeness of the character to a living human being will result in a different range of responses from the viewer. The uncanny valley occurs when human likeness of a robot or character becomes “too close”, without being human, and can severely disturb humans who come in contact with them. Robotics professor Masahiro Mori first hypothesized this phenomenon more than 40 years ago. In his original paper he predicted that humans would react with revulsion to humanoid robots that looked and acted similarly to themselves, but failed to attain a perfect lifelike appearance. Today we know this as the uncanny valley and are beginning to understand that these feelings of revulsion may be the result of our brains experiencing difficulty separating human from nonhuman. On the opposite end of the spectrum we are looking at human beauty, what makes a human face beautiful? Sexual selection suggests specific evolved traits of beauty in the human face. For humans it is not a unique face, which is more attractive, but rather an average face. Two of the most important factors for an attractive face are found to be symmetry, and averageness.  The more simple and symmetrical a face is the more likely we are to find it attractive. When choosing a mate, these features suggest healthy genes.  Abnormal facial features or proportions are generally found to be less desirable because they suggest poor genes. Charles Darwin first introduced the concept of sexual selection in his 1859 book On the Origin of Species.  Sexual selection suggests that certain traits in a species will be seen as beneficial or desirable and so when it comes time to choose a mate, the female (usually) will choose a male who possesses the most desirable traits. Over time these traits will become more dominant in the species, and undesirable traits may disappear all together. It is important to look at what makes a human face attractive when thinking about the uncanny valley, because it gives us clues as to which aspects of the human face are the most essential, which features will have the biggest impact when changed? If we are ever to determine what causes the uncanny valley experience, we should first look at which features cause the most severe reactions. It has been hypothesized that these faces, because of an innate fear of disease, would repulse us. Suggesting that our brains might interpret their subtle flaws as signs of illness. Another theory however, suggests a different kind of danger. Theory of mind is the ability to attribute mental states, to be able to comprehend and be aware of the fact that other people have thoughts, feelings, ideas, knowledge, and beliefs separate from your own. David Premack and Guy Woodruff first coined the term “Theory of Mind” in an article in the late 70’s after experimenting with chimpanzees to determine if they could anticipate certain events or results. Now the term is used widely in psychology, developmental psychology, and semiotics, to determine if certain animals, children, or people with mental disorders are able to attribute mental states. As it relates to the uncanny valley, it is thought that the revulsion felt from interacting with or viewing faces or humanoid androids may be caused by an ability to sense the absence of theory of mind. For instance, an android might greatly resemble a human, but have enough subtle imperfections to prove that it isn’t. A person interacting with this android might pick up on the fact that this thing cannot understand that they have thoughts or feelings or knowledge, and thus perceive them as dangerous. People with disorders such as autism or schizophrenia are thought to possess a limited sense of theory of mind, and often times people interacting with these individuals will report feeling uneasy around them similarly to with an android. By considering human attractiveness as we explore the uncanny valley we are able to create a wide range of images. We began with very average, symmetrical female faces, which would be considered attractive. My manipulating these faces we aim to find out through survey which are the most attractive, and which are the most unsettling. Because the images are manipulated photos of real people we are able to see which facial features are most important for familiarity. Whether that is eye placement, face detail, or skin texture we are excited to find out which changes evoked the most unsettling feelings. To make things more interesting, we modified some images to even better match certain standards of beauty such as lip fullness, eye shape, or cheek fullness, to see if too many of these changes would land the image in the uncanny instead of enhancing their beauty. Were we able to further this experiment, my partner and I would be interested in testing the images on children to see if they are affected by the uncanny valley as much as adults are. We would also be interested in finding out if humans would become less likely to feel repulsed by androids if they became a society staple.