1. "The Polar Express" is Bipolar: Critical Film Reviews InfluenceUncanny Valley Phenomenon in Semi-Realistic Animation Films
- Author
-
Kätsyri, Jari
- Subjects
Uncanny Valley hypothesis ,anthropomorphism ,social influence ,animation films - Abstract
Previous research suggests that semi-realistic animation filmssuch as The Polar Express are representative of the uncannyvalley (UV) hypothesis, which predicts that highly human-like artificial characters can appear eerie. In the present study,we investigated the extent to which critical film reviews caninfluence the perceived eeriness of such films. The reviewswere adopted from authentic ones and expressed eithernegative or positive attitudes towards the animationtechniques. Audiovisual speech asynchrony, which is knownto induce eeriness, was included as an objective manipulation.Our results showed large review tone effects for both implicitand explicit eeriness evaluations. In contrast, speechasynchrony failed to elicit significant effects. These resultsdemonstrate that critical film reviews representing oppositeattitudinal poles can elicit consistent changes in the viewers’evaluations of semi-realistic animations. The present findingscannot, however, be taken as evidence against the UVhypothesis itself in computer-generated characters.
- Published
- 2017