Uncanny valley

The hypothesized drop in comfort and affinity that occurs as an artificial figure becomes more humanlike but retains perceptible imperfections.

Masahiro Mori: A Japanese roboticist who proposed the uncanny valley hypothesis in 1970. His account introduced the predicted dip in affinity as robots approach human likeness.
Bukimi no tani: The Japanese phrase meaning “uncanny valley,” used for Mori’s proposed pattern of affinity toward humanlike forms. It is the phrase Mori used for the hypothesized dip in affinity.
Humanoid robot: A robot whose body structure or behavior resembles that of a human. Humanoid robots are a central case for testing the proposed relation between likeness and affinity.
Cognitive mismatch hypothesis: An explanation that attributes uncanny responses to conflicting perceptual cues in humanlike figures. It explains discomfort through feature inconsistency rather than human resemblance alone.
Uncanny valley hypothesis testing: Experimental research measuring how human likeness relates to comfort, affinity, or eeriness. Studies test whether the predicted dip appears reliably across stimuli and observers.
Human likeness: The degree to which an object resembles human appearance, movement, or behavior. The hypothesis predicts changing affinity as artificial figures become more humanlike.
The uncanny: An experience in which something familiar becomes strange or unsettling. The hypothesis draws its name from a broader idea about unsettling familiarity.
Android (robot): A robot designed to resemble a human in appearance or behavior. Highly humanlike androids are often used to illustrate the proposed valley.
Category ambiguity: Uncertainty about which category an object or entity belongs to. This account links unease to difficulty classifying a figure as human or nonhuman.
Stimulus realism: The degree to which an experimental stimulus resembles its real-world counterpart. Different levels and kinds of realism may produce different apparent valley patterns.

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