Kyle Malanowski

Dr. Childs

Engl 411

25 March 25, 2019

An Ever-Evolving Analysis of Uncanniness: Why the Uncanny Valley Model Should

Adapt with Technological Innovation

The Uncanny Valley Model is a graphic that illustrates the relationship between two

dichotomous boundaries of Familiarity and Human Likeness. Familiarity is the boundary of

perception and connotations that we individuals hold to a certain object/subject, and the higher

the likeness rises the more critical the perceptions and connotations become. Whereas the human

Likeness boundary relates to an object/subjects similarity to the behaviors and perceptions we

apply to ourselves or other individuals. If these boundaries transgress one another than we begin

to experience what we have deemed uncanniness. This experience is heavily considered within

many fields of technology particularly gaming. When uncanniness is experienced the player

reaches a peak point of focus or intrigue allowing full immersion into the reality at hand and a

possible redefinition or preconceived world views. What interests me in particular is how we can

manipulate the tactics of inducing uncanniness in order to force players or individuals interacting

with the material at hand to gain critical insight: on the environment they are interacting with,

details that aid in narrative comprehension, and redefining primitive world views that

uncanniness is only applicable to subjects relating to humans.

 Visuality is one of the key components in the creation and prevention of uncanniness, and

with motion capture animation becoming more prevalent in digital creations and the engineering

of machines, it is critical that the means through which uncanniness is evaluated advances at an

equivalent rate to the technological innovations. There is a desire for developing technology (in

the form of robots) that would allow individuals to have intimate relationships between humans

and robots, yet one of the main issues the technology is struggling with is the belief that

increased realism resulted in an increase of positivity towards interaction with these robots, when

it in fact does not. Cheyenne Laue mentions this point in her work, “Familiar and Strange:

Gender, Sex, and Love in the Uncanny Valley” when she points out “recent research indicates

that uncanniness may rely on subconscious reactions to stimuli that are ‘categorically

ambiguous’ in nature,” as the tech becomes more realistic we begin to fear it even more. I

believe it is because as humans we believe that we are the pinnacle of evolution, and when these

dichotomies between humans and non-humans as our categories become ambiguous, we become

uncomfortable. The state of intellectual uncertainty we are put in by our own creations, is one of

the essential components to the feeling of uncanniness. It is difficult replicating the capabilities

and fluidity of humanity and when the tech is engineered to mimic such either better or

equivalently to our own capabilities, our subconscious worth is threatened. As a species our

entire world views are conceived with the expectation that we are the pinnacle species this

proven further by the fact that we evaluate uncanniness on a scale of “human likeness.” I believe

the uncanny valley model would be more accurate if the evaluations were done on “familiarity”

and subject/object likeness. I believe that not all perceptions tied to an individual object/subject

must be evaluated on a relatability to ourselves. If the object at hand is a stuffed animal, there are

a list or perceptions tied to this specific object; it is a toy, it has no life, it is means for children,
yet if these perceptions are broken and this stuffed animal becomes animate the exact same

feelings of uncanniness occur. Within Freud’s work “The Uncanny” he states, “An uncanny

experience occurs either when repressed infantile complexes have been revived by some

impression, or when the primitive beliefs we have surmounted seem once more to be confirmed,”

supporting the possibility of both notions that: 1) The Uncanny Valley Model was conceived

from the presumptions of more primitive times and must evolve with the tech is evaluates. 2)

Even from its creation we have always evaluated the “familiar” in comparison to ourselves rather

than against its own kind. In other fields within the tech industry we see tech innovations created

to resemble what we are most familiar and intrigued with, ourselves.

Animacy is the other crucial aspect to uncanniness and using gaming as a tech industry

we see video games en masse using motion capture animation to maintain the balance between

graphical realism and behavioral realism. As expectations rise from the graphical realism

presented, the behavior and animacy of the subject/object must meet expectations and be equally

realistic or the viewer/player will experience uncanniness. This is also argued by three writers

from the University of Bolton, Tinwell, Grimshaw, and Williams, when they state, “a high level

of graphical realism in a character's appearance raises high expectations for a character's motion

and behavior. If the quality of motion and behavior does not match up with the character’s

realistic, human-like appearance, it can increase the perception that the character is not real, thus

evoking a sense of the uncanny,” and this is where the Uncanny Valley Model fails, for not all

characters created within gaming are based on humans, and with the current model these

characters would be incapable of inducing uncanny feelings. Many games take place outside of

our realm of reality in fantastical worlds and for those that do, many of the characters are clearly

not resemblant of humans. Even characters that are not meant to mirror humans are still fully
capable of causing feelings of uncanniness, particularly when characters behave in manners

unexpected because they break the connotations we have applied to what is expected of what the

character most resembles. In the published International Journal of Human-Computer Studies an

article written by authors, Henze, Jager, Leicht, Schwind, and Wolf titled “Is there an uncanny

valley of virtual animals? A quantitative and qualitative investigation” proves that hyper realistic

representations of animals can cause the same effects by proving “Through qualitative feedback,

we gained deeper insight into the perception of realistic computer-generated animals. Our results

indicate that depicting virtual animal-like characters at realism levels used in current video

games causes negative reactions just as the uncanny valley predicts for humanlike characters.”

One easy way to demonstrate this is found in an old game called Spore. This is a life simulation

game where the player creates any kind of creature they can think of, animates it, and observes it

evolving through its own lifecycle and future generations. Characters based off animals such as

cows, that suddenly become bipedal or animals that make sounds or display behavior not

common of their own species no matter how are capable of evoking feelings of uncanniness if

the creation breaks the conceptions we have associated to it.

Regardless of the characters inspiration, being human or not, all characters within

games/mediums where the player is forced to assume the identity of or have extended interaction

with overtime become extensions of ourselves that occupy these digital realities; this is the last

key aspect I believe plays a large role in experiencing the uncanny. Regarding interactive

mediums the bond a player forms to the character they are forced to assume play a larger role

than some believe. Digital Narratives and Major game development studios are becoming

immersion masters capable of inducing complete immersion through forced interactivity players

do not even consciously recognize. Games such as World of Warcraft, The Last of Us (series),
and Borderlands (series), force players to become immersed in the environment through Easter

eggs/collectibles, and NPC (non-playable character) interaction where the games cannot be fully

experienced without being forced to learn the narrative. The most intriguing part of this entire

concept is that at NO point does the player actually feel forced to change how they are playing

the game and interact with it in a way they do not find enjoyable. Donna Haraway believes that

virtual realities function as an extension to ourselves and that engagement with these virtual

realities/environments redefines our perceptions of our identities. Without the player the avatar

would not have any facet of autonomy due to it being incapable of self-control, yet when in the

hands of the player the avatar becomes somewhat of an extension or representation of the player

within the game’s world. This supports our behavior of interacting with these worlds and

eventually leads to the act becoming second nature. Once this occurs and this deep bond is

created between player and avatar, any occurrences to the avatar that are not deemed favorable

by the player may cause feelings of uncanniness.

All digital spaces are meticulously designed to manipulate the experience of

uncanniness for empowerment or avoidance. Any representation we as individuals are forced to

interact with can become an extension of our self within this digital space and through repeated

interaction becomes second nature resulting in complete voluntary immersion. At this state

individuals psychology becomes somewhat impressionable allowing the manipulation of world

views and reformation of entire schemas all under the guise of enjoyable interaction. This is why

we see a massive increase in the interest of augmented and virtual reality technology partnered

with an explosive surge of interest in technology industries (especially gaming). If activities that

would typically be considered monotonous can be influenced by the experience of uncanniness

just enough to make the activity entertaining, there is no limit to the influence tech could have.
At the present moment research is conducted in very specific areas of gaming, engineering and

cinema, but if more research was conducted in areas that coincide with tech, such as education,

or health care, the benefits could be unprecedented.

 Works Cited

Cheyenne Laue. “Familiar and Strange: Gender, Sex, and Love in the Uncanny
Valley.” Multimodal Technologies and Interaction, Vol 1, Iss 1, p 2 (2017), no. 1, 2017,
p. 2. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3390/mti1010002.

Freud, Sigmund. “The ‘Uncanny.’” Imago, Bd. V., 1919, web.mit.edu/allanmc/www/freud1.pdf.

Haraway, Donna Jeanne. “Chapter 18.” A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and
Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century, 2009.

Schwind, V., et al. “Is There an Uncanny Valley of Virtual Animals? A Quantitative and
Qualitative Investigation.” International Journal of Human - Computer Studies, vol. 111,
Mar. 2018, pp. 49–61. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1016/j.ijhcs.2017.11.003.

Tinwell, Angela, et al. “Uncanny Behaviour in Survival Horror Games.” Apr. 2009,
www.bolton.ac.uk/StaffBiographies/Angela-Tinwell/Tinwell-Grimshaw-Williams-2010-
Uncanny-Behaviour-in-Survival-Horror-Games.pdf.