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Objective: Uncanniness plays a vital role in interactions with humans and artificial agents. Previous studies have shown that uncanniness is caused by a higher sensitivity to deviation or atypicality in specialized categories, such as faces or facial expressions, marked by configural processing. We hypothesized that asynchrony, understood as a temporal deviation in facial expression, could cause uncanniness in the facial expression. We also hypothesized that the effect of asynchrony could be disrupted through inversion. Results: Sixty-four participants rated the uncanniness of synchronous or asynchronous dynamic face emotion expressions of human, android, or computer-generated (CG) actors, presented either upright or inverted. Asynchrony vs. synchrony expressions increased uncanniness for all upright expressions except for CG angry expressions. Inverted compared with upright presentations produced less evident asynchrony effects for human angry and android happy expressions. These results suggest that asynchrony can cause dynamic expressions to appear uncanny, which is related to configural processing but different across agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanlike androids can function as social agents in social situations and in experimental research. While some androids can imitate facial emotion expressions, it is unclear whether their expressions tap the same processing mechanisms utilized in human expression processing, for example configural processing. In this study, the effects of global inversion and asynchrony between facial features as configuration manipulations were compared in android and human dynamic emotion expressions. Seventy-five participants rated (1) angry and happy emotion recognition and (2) arousal and valence ratings of upright or inverted, synchronous or asynchronous, android or human agent dynamic emotion expressions. Asynchrony in dynamic expressions significantly decreased all ratings (except valence in angry expressions) in all human expressions, but did not affect android expressions. Inversion did not affect any measures regardless of agent type. These results suggest that dynamic facial expressions are processed in a synchrony-based configural manner for humans, but not for androids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanlike androids can function as social agents in social situations and in experimental research. While some androids can imitate facial emotion expressions, it is unclear whether their expressions tap the same processing mechanisms utilized in human expression processing, for example configural processing. In this study, the effects of global inversion and asynchrony between facial features as configuration manipulations were compared in android and human dynamic emotion expressions. Seventy-five participants rated (1) angry and happy emotion recognition and (2) arousal and valence ratings of upright or inverted, synchronous or asynchronous, android or human agent dynamic emotion expressions. Asynchrony in dynamic expressions significantly decreased all ratings (except valence in angry expressions) in all human expressions, but did not affect android expressions. Inversion did not affect any measures regardless of agent type. These results suggest that dynamic facial expressions are processed in a synchrony-based configural manner for humans, but not for androids. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2013, an allochthonous green-backed common wall lizard was recorded in Saarland near Beckingen. In 2014, at least two comparable individuals were documented near Mendig in the Rhineland-Palatinate. Then in 2022 in a basalt open pit mine in the eastern Eifel, the lead author found a green-backed individual as well as an autochthonous wall lizard with a striking turquoise ground colouration. The green-backed individuals can be phenotypically referred to as of the subspecies Podarcis muralis maculiventris-East/P. m. nigriventris (central Italian lineage), which is allochthonous in Germany. However, since no genetic analyses were performed in these three areas, the allocation of subspecies status to the records is not certain and therefore can only be referred to as of the phenotypic type. In all three areas, the occurrences are presumably due to accidental importation or deliberate release. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deviating from human norms in human-looking artificial entities can elicit uncanny sensations, described as the uncanny valley. This study investigates in three tasks whether configural deviation in written text also increases uncanniness. It further evaluates whether the uncanniness of text is better explained by perceptual disfluency and especially deviations from specialized categories, or conceptual disfluency caused by ambiguity. In the first task, lower sentence readability predicted uncanniness, but deviating sentences were more uncanny than typical sentences despite being just as readable. Furthermore, familiarity with a language increased the effect of configural deviation on uncanniness but not the effect of non-configural deviation (blur). In the second and third tasks, semantically ambiguous words and sentences were not uncannier than typical sentences, but deviating, non-ambiguous sentences were. Deviations from categories with specialized processing mechanisms thus better fit the observed results as an explanation of the uncanny valley than ambiguity-based explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Humanlike entities deviating from the norm of human appearance are perceived as strange or uncanny. Explanations for the eeriness of deviating humanlike entities include ideas specific to human or animal stimuli like mate selection, avoidance of threat or disease, or dehumanization; however, deviation from highly familiar categories may provide a better explanation. Here it is tested whether experts and novices in a novel (greeble) category show different patterns of abnormality, attractiveness, and uncanniness responses to distorted and averaged greebles. Greeble-trained participants assessed the abnormality, attractiveness, uncanniness of normal, averaged, and distorted greebles and their responses were compared to participants who had not previously seen greebles. The data show that distorted greebles were more uncanny than normal greebles only in the training condition, and distorted greebles were more uncanny in the training compared to the control condition. In addition, averaged greebles were not more attractive than normal greebles regardless of condition. The results suggest uncanniness is elicited by deviations from stimulus categories of expertise rather than being a purely biological human- or animal-specific response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between artificial entities' human likeness and aesthetic preference is thought to be best modelled by an N -shaped cubic "uncanny valley" function, which however suffers from conceptual criticisms and lack of parsimony. Here it is argued that uncanniness effects may instead be modelled by a linear function of deviation moderated by perceptual specialization. The two models are compared in an experiment with five incrementally distorted face types (cartoon, CG, drawing, real, robot). Recognition performance for upright and inverted faces were used as a specialization measure. Specialization significantly moderated the linear effect of distortion on uncanniness, and could explain the data better than a conventional uncanny valley. The uncanny valley may thus be better understood as a moderated linear function of specialization sensitizing the uncanniness of deviating stimuli. This simpler yet more accurate model is compatible with neurocognitive theories and can explain uncanniness effects beyond the conventional uncanny valley. • Face realism affects both specialization and deviation sensitivity. • Specialization moderates the effect of deviation on uncanniness in faces. • This moderated linear function explains uncanniness better than a cubic "uncanny valley" model. • Parsimony, accuracy, generalizability, and plausibility of the moderation model over the uncanny valley are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]