Chin-Chang Ho

Revisiting the uncanny valley theory: Developing and validating an alternative to the Godspeed indices

Mori (1970) proposed a hypothetical graph describing a nonlinear relation between a characters degree of human likeness and the emotional response of the human perceiver. However, the index construction of these variables could result in their strong correlation, thus preventing rated characters from being plotted accurately. Phase 1 of this study tested the indices of the Godspeed questionnaire as measures of humanlike characters. The results indicate significant and strong correlations among the relevant indices (Bartneck, Kulic, Croft, & Zoghbi, 2009). Phase 2 of this study developed alternative indices with nonsignificant correlations (p>.05) between the proposed y-axis eeriness and x-axis perceived humanness (r=.02). The new humanness and eeriness indices facilitate plotting relations among rated characters of varying human likeness.

Does Japan really have robot mania? Comparing attitudes by implicit and explicit measures

Japan has more robots than any other country with robots contributing to many areas of society, including manufacturing, healthcare, and entertainment. However, few studies have examined Japanese attitudes toward robots, and none has used implicit measures. This study compares attitudes among the faculty of a US and a Japanese university. Although the Japanese faculty reported many more experiences with robots, implicit measures indicated both faculties had more pleasant associations with humans. In addition, although the US faculty reported people were more threatening than robots, implicit measures indicated both faculties associated weapons more strongly with robots than with humans. Despite the media’s hype about Japan’s robot ‘craze,’ response similarities suggest factors other than attitude better explain robot adoption. These include differences in history and religion, personal and human identity, economic structure, professional specialization, and government policy. Japanese robotics offers a unique reference from which other nations may learn.

Gender differences in the impact of presentational factors in human character animation on decisions in ethical dilemmas

Simulated humans in computer interfaces are increasingly taking on roles that were once reserved for real humans. The presentation of simulated humans is affected by their appearance, motion quality, and interactivity. These presentational factors can influence the decisions of those who interact with them. This is of concern to interface designers and users alike, because these decisions often have moral and ethical consequences. However, the impact of presentational factors on decisions in ethical dilemmas has not been explored. This study is intended as a first effort toward filling this gap. In a between-groups experiment, a female character presented participants with an ethical dilemma. The characters human photorealism and motion quality were varied to generate four stimulus conditions: real human versus computer-generated character fluid versus jerky movement. The results indicate that the stimulus condition had no significant effect on female participants, while male participants were significantly more likely to rule against the character when her visual appearance was computer generated and her movements were jerky.

Does social desirability bias favor humans? Explicit-implicit evaluations of synthesized speech support a new HCI model of impression management

Do people treat computers as social actors? To answer this question, researchers have measured the extent to which computers elicit social responses in people, such as impression management strategies for influencing the perceptions of others. But on this question findings in the literature conflict. To make sense of these findings, the present study proposes a dual-process model of impression management in human-computer interaction. The model predicts that, although machines may elicit nonconscious impression management strategies, they do not generally elicit conscious impression management strategies. One such strategy is presenting oneself favorably to others, which can be measured as social desirability bias when comparing self-reported preferences with implicit preferences. The current study uses both a questionnaire and an implicit association test (IAT) to compare attitudes toward human and machine speech. Although past studies on social desirability bias have demonstrated peoples tendency to underreport their preference for the preferred group when comparing two human groups, the current study found that, when comparing human speech and machine-synthesized speech, participants instead overreported their preference for the preferred (human) group. This finding supports the proposed dual-process model of impression management, because participants did not consciously treat computers as social actors.

An Improved Usability Measure Based on Novice and Expert Performance

The novice–expert ratio method (NEM) pinpoints user interface design problems by identifying the steps in a task that have a high ratio of novice to expert completion time. This study tested the construct validity of NEMs ratio measure against common alternatives. Data were collected from 337 participants who separately performed 10 word-completion tasks on a cellular phone interface. The logarithm, ratio, Cohens d, and Hedgess ĝ measures had similar construct validity, but Hedgess ĝ provided the most accurate measure of effect size. All these measures correlated more strongly with self-reported interface usability and interface knowledge when applied to the number of actions required to complete a task than when applied to task completion time. A weighted average of both measures had the highest correlation. The relatively high correlation between self-reported interface usability and a weighted Hedgess ĝ measure as compared to the correlations found in the literature indicates the usefulness of the weighted Hedgess ĝ measure in identifying usability problems.

The Aesthetic Dimensions of U.S. and South Korean Responses to Web Home Pages: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

Culturally influenced preferences in website aesthetics is a topic often neglected by scholars in human–computer interaction. Kim, Lee, and Choi (2003) identified aesthetic design factors of web home pages that elicited particular responses in South Korean web users based on 13 secondary emotional dimensions. This study extends Kim et al.s work to U.S. participants, comparing the original South Korean findings with U.S. findings. Results show that U.S. participants reliably applied translations of the emotional adjectives used in the South Korean study to the home pages. However, factor analysis revealed that the aesthetic perceptions of U.S. and South Korean participants formed different aesthetic dimensions composed of different sets of emotional adjectives, suggesting that U.S. and South Korean people perceive the aesthetics of home pages differently. These results indicate that website aesthetics can vary significantly between cultures.

Measuring the Uncanny Valley Effect: Refinements to Indices for Perceived Humanness, Attractiveness, and Eeriness

Using a hypothetical graph, Masahiro Mori proposed in 1970 the relation between the human likeness of robots and other anthropomorphic characters and an observer’s affective or emotional appraisal of them. The relation is positive apart from a U-shaped region known as the uncanny valley. To measure the relation, we previously developed and validated indices for the perceptual-cognitive dimension humanness and three affective dimensions: interpersonal warmth, attractiveness, and eeriness. Nevertheless, the design of these indices was not informed by how the untrained observer perceives anthropomorphic characters categorically. As a result, scatter plots of humanness vs. eeriness show the stimuli cluster tightly into categories widely separated from each other. The present study applies a card sorting task, laddering interview, and adjective evaluation (

Too real for comfort? Uncanny responses to computer generated faces

N=30