"Evil Valley" … There is a lot of talk about this term, but the reason for the inexplicable fear of humanoid dolls (and anthropomorphic robots) is still the subject of discussion among robotics, computer graphics specialists, neuroscientists
It is known that as an artificial object becomes more and more human-like, people like it more and more. People are okay with dolls, cartoon characters, R2D2. But at some point, when anthropomorphism becomes too believable, the object begins to be perceived as strange and confusing. They say that for this reason many did not like the cartoon "Polar Express". Some Japanese androids (like the Repliee Q2) fall into this category too.
An international group of researchers led by Aishe Pinar Saigin from the University of California, San Diego (USA) looked into the brains of people who watched videos of "sinister" androids, and compared the results with the perception of videos about people and "normal" robots.
Scientists decided to find out what the brain pays more attention to - anthropomorphic appearance or humanoid behavior. The experiment involved 20 people 20–36 years old. They have never dealt with robots, have never been to Japan, where androids are treated with more sympathy than the rest of the world, and cannot boast of friends and / or relatives of Japanese origin.
The volunteers were shown 12 videos in which Repliee Q2 performed simple movements: waving his hands, nodding his head, drinking water and taking a piece of paper from the table. Then the subjects saw on the screen how the same is done by the person from whom the android was modeled, and the same android from which the entire "human" shell was removed (hinges and wires resembled a person very remotely).
The greatest changes were recorded in the parietal cortex during observation of the android - on both sides of the brain, especially in those areas that connect part of the visual cortex to that section of the motor zone where mirror neurons are located. The researchers interpret this as a sign of a mismatch between the perception of appearance and movement. The brain cannot connect the anthropomorphic appearance of the android and its mechanical movements. In other words, the brain does not seem to understand that it is a robot, from which one should not expect human gestures.
“Apparently, the brain doesn't care about biologically correct appearance or biologically correct movements by itself,” Ms. Saigyn explains. "The only thing that worries him is the harmonious combination of both."
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Photo: Ayşe Saygin, UC San Diego / science.compulenta.ru
It turns out that if a person behaves like a person or a robot behaves like a robot, the brain has no difficulty in processing information, and we feel good. If the brain's expectations are not met, we say, "Something strange and unpleasant is happening."
It is logical to assume that the Japanese brain is already accustomed to such oddities.
The research results are published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience.
