The Uncanny Valley and Nonverbal Communication in Virtual Characters

This chapter provides an overview of a current research project investigatingthe Uncanny Valley phenomenon in realistic, human-like virtual characters.!e research methods used in this Work include a retrospective of both empiricalstudies and philosophical writings on the Uncanny.No other research has explored the notion that realistic, human-like,virtual characters are regarded less favorably due to a perceived diminisheddegree of responsiveness in facial expression, specifically, nonverbalcommunication (NVC) in the upper face region. So far, this research project hasprovided the first empirical evidence to test the Uncanny Valley phenomenonin the domain of animated video game characters with speech, as opposed tojust still, unresponsive images, as used in previous studies. Based on the resultsof these experiments, a conceptual framework of the Uncanny Valley invirtual characters has been authored to allow developers to design either for oragainst the uncanny for antipathetic or empathetic-type characters.This research is relevant to embodied conversational agents used in a widercontext such as therapeutic and e-learning applications and has anoutreach to the disciplines of psychology, social psychology, gamestudies, animation and graphics, and human computer interaction