Genders of Participants and Robots Modulate Uncanny Valley Effect in Older Adults

Abstract

The Uncanny Valley Effect (UVE) refers to the low affinity towards robots that do not perfectly resemble humans (Mori, 1970). This study examined effects of participants’ gender and age on the UVE, using systematically controlled stimuli by “shape-morphing” method, warping facial images from humans to robots and manipulating facial surface properties. Online experiments were conducted with participants of young, middle-aged and old age-groups using pictures of existent robots’ faces (Experiments 1-A and 1-B) and shape-morphed faces (Experiment 2). Participants rated human-likeness and likeability for each picture. Weak UVE was observed in older adults (Exp. 1-A), and older adults showed higher likeability for human-surface faces compared to younger adults for the existent robot images (Exp. 1-B). In addition, older males showed higher likeability toward female morphed images than younger males (Exp. 2). The gender difference may be a reason for the weaker UVE observed in older adults, especially in older males.