The goal of this paper is to create a positive account of Masahiro Mori’s theory of the uncanny valley. A theory wherein Mori speculated on the relationship between one’s perceived affinity for a robot and the human-likeness of that same robot. Mori believed that the closer to a human a robot looked, the higher one’s affinity for it would be, until a certain point where the robot looked close enough to a human without being fully convincing. When this happened one would feel a negative affinity for the robot. Mori called this phenomenon the uncanny valley.  In later years, Mori’s theory has gained more popularity and is now applied outside of robotics. Most notably it is often applied to the medium of 3D animation and CGI, which is what this essay will be discussing when trying to create a positive account of the uncanny valley. To do so it will discuss the phenomenon in relation to some examples of 3D animation and CGI that critics have claimed reside in the uncanny valley. This essay will give an overview of what the uncanny valley actually entails as well as give an explanation of how the uncanny valley can be applied to 3D animation.  In order to create a positive account, this essay will claim that the positive aesthetic value that the uncanny valley can lead to is akin to that of Brecht’s idea of the distancing effect. This essay argues that the uncanny valley distances the viewer from what they are viewing and that makes the viewer gain didactic knowledge of both CGI and their own relationship to technology. This essay will argue that this is a positive aesthetic experience that is unique to the uncanny valley.

Among the psychological interpretations of Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat,” trauma theory has yet to make an appearance. However, the confessional nature of the story shifts—via a trauma reading—from an attempt by the narrator to ease his guilt to his attempt to understand what happened to him. The narrator’s murder of his wife traumatized him, causing erasures in the timeline and several forms of dissociation. These erasures and dissociations cause an uncanny effect within the story, which occurs as the past, present, and future are conflated and as the narrator’s mind is both known and hidden. The narrator’s tale is an attempt at working through his trauma to come to an understanding and acceptance of the events. However, the unclear timeline—both how much time has passed since his wife’s death and the passage of time in the story—suggests that the narrator does not have enough critical distance from the events, so telling his tale becomes a form of reliving that does not relieve the confusion he experiences. Ultimately, the narrator’s confession does not provide the understanding he hopes for, which places the burden of creating an understanding of the story on the individual reader.

Symptoms of a Cosmic Fluke is a book of poems.

The study of human face-processing has granted insight into key adaptions across various social and biological functions. However, there is an overall lack of consistency regarding digital alteration styles of human-face stimuli. In order to investigate this, two independent studies were conducted examining unique effects of image construction and presentation. In the first study, three primary forms of stimuli presentation styles (color, black and white, cutout) were used across iterations of non-thatcherized/thatcherized and non-inverted/inverted presentations. Outcome measures included subjective reactions measured via ratings of perceived “grotesqueness,” and objective outcomes of N170 event-related potentials (ERPs) measured via encephalography. Results of subjective measures indicated that thatcherized images were associated with an increased level of grotesque perception, regardless of overall condition variant and inversion status. A significantly larger N170 component was found in response to cutout-style images of human faces, thatcherized images, and inverted images. Results suggest that cutout image morphology may be considered a well-suited image presentation style when examining ERPs and facial processing of otherwise unaltered human faces. Moreover, less emphasis can be placed on decision making regarding main condition morphology of human face stimuli as it relates to negatively valent reactions. The second study explored commonalities between thatcherized and uncanny images. The purpose of the study was to explore commonalities between these two styles of digital manipulation and establish a link between previously disparate areas of human-face processing research. Subjective reactions to stimuli were measured via participant ratings of “off-putting.” ERP data were gathered in order to explore if any unique effects emerged via N170 and N400 presentations. Two main “morph continuums” of stimuli, provided by Eduard Zell (see Zell et al., 2015), with uncanny features were utilized. A novel approach of thatcherizing images along these continuums was used. thatcherized images across both continuums were regarded as more off-putting than non-thatcherized images, indicating a robust subjective effect of thatcherization that was relatively unimpacted by additional manipulation of key featural components. Conversely, results from brain activity indicated no significant differences of N170 between level of shape stylization and their thatcherized counterparts. Unique effects between continuums and exploratory N400 results are discussed.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The treatment of chronic diseases requires patient adherence to medical advice. Nonadherence worsens health outcomes and increases healthcare costs. Consultations with a virtual physician could increase adherence, given the shortage of healthcare professionals. However, if the virtual physician is a computer animation, acceptance of its advice may be hampered by the uncanny valley effect, a negative affective reaction to human simulations. Two experiments were conducted to investigate the impact of the virtual physician on patients’ adherence. The first study, a 2 ´ 2 ´ 2 between-groups posttestonly experiment, involved 738 participants playing the role of a patient in a hypothetical virtual consultation with a doctor. The consultation varied in the doctor’s Character, Outcome, and Depiction. Character, Outcome, and Depiction were designed to manipulate the doctor’s level of warmth, competence, and realism. The second study, a 2 ´ 5 between-groups experiment, involved 441 participants assuming a patient’s role in a similar hypothetical virtual consultation with a doctor. The experiment varied the doctor’s Character and Depiction. These independent variables were designed to manipulate the doctor’s level of warmth and eeriness. The first study found that warmth and competence increased adherence intention and consultation enjoyment, but realism did not. On the contrary, the computer-animated doctor increased adherence intention and consultation enjoyment significantly more than the doctor portrayed by a human actor. The enjoyment of the animated consultation caused the doctor to appear warmer and more real, compensating for his realism inconsistency. In the second study, Depiction had a nonsignificant effect on adherence intention, even though the computer animated doctor was perceived as eerier than the real human. The low-warmth, high-eeriness doctor prompted heuristic processing of information, while the high-warmth doctor prompted systematic processing. This pattern runs counter to the literature on persuasion. The doctor’s eeriness, measured in a pretest, had no significant effect on adherence intention via the heuristic-systematic model. Although virtual characters can elicit the uncanny valley effect, they were comparable to a real person in increasing adherence intention, adherence and health behavior. This finding should encourage the development and acceptance of virtual consultation to address the shortage of healthcare professionals. / 2023-11-03

The issue of the environment (Umwelt) often fluctuates between two extremes: the cultural environment (architecture) and the natural environment (nature). Although the idea of the "natural environment" can (paradoxically) also be understood as a cultural construct. The project explores the ambiguity of artificial vs. natural through the design of an apartment building. The proposal uses a reinforced concrete skeleton of an abandoned shopping center built at the turn of the 1970s and 1980s, into which it inserts individual "dwellings". The design examines the tools ranging from an "artificial stone" in the form of walls made of shotcrete to dramatic views of the nearby Holedná Forest, which both figuratively and literally (eg. during a walk) becomes another room of the apartments. The landscape and human emotions associated with the natural environment are an important motive for the whole proposal. To expose the tension between two modern tendencies: escape from nature vs. return to nature, it samples the topic of apartment and nature.

Uncanny valley är ett ämne som inte ofta diskuteras i förhållande till helkroppsanimationer. Detta gör det intressant ur en animatörs synvinkel, att se hur kroppens rörelser följer ellergår emot tidigare kunskaperna inom ämnet. Vilket är varför den här undersökningen går in på hur helkroppsrörelser kan upplevas uncanny, där animationerna görs genom användningen av Motion Capture som har historia av att påverka tittare negativt. Undersökningen utfördes genom att spela in och applicera Motion Capture rörelser på en 3D-modell som sedan placerades i en 3D-miljö. Deltagarna fick sedan se rörelserna och under en enkät, semi-strukturerad intervju och tänka högt-metod, betygsätta och berätta om deras upplevelse av vad de precis sett. Syftet med undersökningen är att se hur rörelsers förändring kan påverka upplevelsen av karaktären och hur det sedan kan användas i senare arbeten. / <p>Det finns övrigt digitalt material (t.ex. film-, bild- eller ljudfiler) eller modeller/artefakter tillhörande examensarbetet som ska skickas till arkivet.</p>

This essay analyzes Kurt Vonnegut’s Breakfast of Champions (1973) in relation to eco-psychology. First, Dwayne Hoover is diagnosed with solastalgia; second, the narrator is shown to suffer from ecological PTSD; and, lastly, the novel is considered in light of the ecological uncanny and the ecological homecoming narrative. Art is identified as the primary method by which characters manage their trauma. It is further suggested that the homecoming narrative serves a similar function to others for purposes of mental health.

Emotions of fear have long been the driving factor towards the appeal of the horror genre. Since beingpopularised in mothern years due to the ever growing development of technology, the Uncanny Valley hasfound its way into the horror genre. Today, it’s hard not to stumble across a horror game or movie thatdoes not feature the use of either uncanny sounds or uncanny visuals. With the Uncanny Valley being sofrequently featured in horror media, there has to be a lot of research on the topic one might think. Eventhough there is a substantial amount of research done on the topic, most researchers decide to focus on theuse of visuals and sound combined to research the Uncanny Valley, with research that primarily focus onuncanny sound design are few. This study aims to compare different processing techniques to designsounds to be perceived as uncanny for use within the horror media, and observe if these added processingeffects are perceived as being associated with fear. Evidence of some processing techniques wereobserved as being perceived with emotions of fear, while other techniques showed no significant signs asbeing perceived with fear.

It is well-known that Kafka had a great fascination with the possibilities and transience of the physical body, as evidenced in his various literary works. Using the theory of "the uncanny", The essay interprets and investigates how and what Kafka writes about others' bodies, as well as his own. It turns out that women's appearances are observed and commented on by Kafka to a greater extent than men. Primarily, these descriptions take on grotesque and absurd characteristics, sometimes with an element of fascination. Regarding Kafka's own body, it primarily evokes a sense of disgust in what the author sees. Linked to the essay's theory of "the uncanny”, it becomes evident throughout (clearly, in) his observations that Kafka experiences a feeling of the aforementioned "uncanny". As a conclusion to the essay, the potential of diaries used in an educational context (the classroom) is highlighted, as well as how students can benefit from reading and working with diaries to acquire skills and abilities. / <p>Slutgiltigt godkännandedatum: 2023-05-31</p>