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The scleral-facial Mismatch Hypothesis: The Role of a white Sclera in the Evolution of the Uncanny Valley Effect

Limmer, Leonard (2023) The scleral-facial Mismatch Hypothesis: The Role of a white Sclera in the Evolution of the Uncanny Valley Effect.

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Abstract:After its discovery in the field of robotics, the uncanny valley effect, the eeriness response to almost-but-not-quite human-like faces, has been demonstrated to apply to biological faces with increasing ancestral closeness to humans as well. The present study investigates the scleral-facial mismatch hypothesis, which suggests that the mismatch between human eyes (=with white sclerae) and a non-human face morphology cause the effect. To test it, 59 participants rated the likeability of a set of faces, each face was presented once with dark- and once with white sclerae, while gaze behaviour was recorded with eye tracking. Human faces with a scleral-facial mismatch were perceived as less likeable than congruent human faces. Compared to congruent faces, mismatched faces also received more visual attention towards the eye region. However, the pattern of reduced likeability for mismatched- compared to congruent faces was not found in non-human faces. Therefore, our findings partially support the scleral-facial mismatch hypothesis and are not sufficient to fully explain the evolutionary origin of the uncanny valley effect. We suspect that the eye region is indeed the responsible area, but not the sclera by itself.
Item Type:Essay (Master)
Faculty:BMS: Behavioural, Management and Social Sciences
Subject:77 psychology
Programme:Psychology MSc (66604)
Link to this item:https://purl.utwente.nl/essays/94888
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