2022
Rativa, Alexandra Sierra; Postma, Marie; Zaanen, Menno
The uncanny valley of a virtual animal Tijdschriftartikel
In: COMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS, vol. 33, nr. 2, 2022, ISSN: 1546-4261.
Abstract | Links | BibTeX | Tags: animal-likeness; animateness; attractiveness; commonality; familiarity; interestingness; naturalness; uncanny valley; virtual animals; virtual characters; virtual pandas
@article{WOS:000769913500001,
title = {The uncanny valley of a virtual animal},
author = {Alexandra Sierra Rativa and Marie Postma and Menno Zaanen},
doi = {10.1002/cav.2043},
issn = {1546-4261},
year = {2022},
date = {2022-03-01},
journal = {COMPUTER ANIMATION AND VIRTUAL WORLDS},
volume = {33},
number = {2},
publisher = {WILEY},
address = {111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA},
abstract = {Virtual robots, including virtual animals, are expected to play a major
role within affective and aesthetic interfaces, serious games, video
instruction, and the personalization of educational instruction. Their
actual impact, however, will very much depend on user perception of
virtual characters as the uncanny valley hypothesis has shown that the
design of virtual characters determines user experiences. In this
article, we investigated whether the uncanny valley effect, which has
already been found for the human-like appearance of virtual characters,
can also be found for animal-like appearances. We conducted an online study (N = 163) in which six different animal designs were evaluated in
terms of the following properties: familiarity, commonality,
naturalness, attractiveness, interestingness, and animateness. The study
participants differed in age (under 10-60 years) and origin (Europe,
Asia, North America, and South America). For the evaluation of the
results, we ranked the animal-likeness of the character using both
expert opinion and participant judgments. Next to that, we investigated
the effect of movement and morbidity. The results confirm the existence
of the uncanny valley effect for virtual animals, especially with
respect to familiarity and commonality, for both still and moving
images. The effect was particularly pronounced for morbid images. For
naturalness and attractiveness, the effect was only present in the
expert-based ranking, but not in the participant-based ranking. No
uncanny valley effect was detected for interestingness and animateness.
This investigation revealed that the appearance of virtual animals
directly affects user perception and thus, presumably, impacts user
experience when used in applied settings.},
keywords = {animal-likeness; animateness; attractiveness; commonality; familiarity; interestingness; naturalness; uncanny valley; virtual animals; virtual characters; virtual pandas},
pubstate = {published},
tppubtype = {article}
}
Virtual robots, including virtual animals, are expected to play a major
role within affective and aesthetic interfaces, serious games, video
instruction, and the personalization of educational instruction. Their
actual impact, however, will very much depend on user perception of
virtual characters as the uncanny valley hypothesis has shown that the
design of virtual characters determines user experiences. In this
article, we investigated whether the uncanny valley effect, which has
already been found for the human-like appearance of virtual characters,
can also be found for animal-like appearances. We conducted an online study (N = 163) in which six different animal designs were evaluated in
terms of the following properties: familiarity, commonality,
naturalness, attractiveness, interestingness, and animateness. The study
participants differed in age (under 10-60 years) and origin (Europe,
Asia, North America, and South America). For the evaluation of the
results, we ranked the animal-likeness of the character using both
expert opinion and participant judgments. Next to that, we investigated
the effect of movement and morbidity. The results confirm the existence
of the uncanny valley effect for virtual animals, especially with
respect to familiarity and commonality, for both still and moving
images. The effect was particularly pronounced for morbid images. For
naturalness and attractiveness, the effect was only present in the
expert-based ranking, but not in the participant-based ranking. No
uncanny valley effect was detected for interestingness and animateness.
This investigation revealed that the appearance of virtual animals
directly affects user perception and thus, presumably, impacts user
experience when used in applied settings.
role within affective and aesthetic interfaces, serious games, video
instruction, and the personalization of educational instruction. Their
actual impact, however, will very much depend on user perception of
virtual characters as the uncanny valley hypothesis has shown that the
design of virtual characters determines user experiences. In this
article, we investigated whether the uncanny valley effect, which has
already been found for the human-like appearance of virtual characters,
can also be found for animal-like appearances. We conducted an online study (N = 163) in which six different animal designs were evaluated in
terms of the following properties: familiarity, commonality,
naturalness, attractiveness, interestingness, and animateness. The study
participants differed in age (under 10-60 years) and origin (Europe,
Asia, North America, and South America). For the evaluation of the
results, we ranked the animal-likeness of the character using both
expert opinion and participant judgments. Next to that, we investigated
the effect of movement and morbidity. The results confirm the existence
of the uncanny valley effect for virtual animals, especially with
respect to familiarity and commonality, for both still and moving
images. The effect was particularly pronounced for morbid images. For
naturalness and attractiveness, the effect was only present in the
expert-based ranking, but not in the participant-based ranking. No
uncanny valley effect was detected for interestingness and animateness.
This investigation revealed that the appearance of virtual animals
directly affects user perception and thus, presumably, impacts user
experience when used in applied settings.