Uncanny Valley: Creepiness Gets Some Neuroscience

Saturday, July 14, 2012 - 05:10 in Psychology & Sociology

Why do clowns freak us out?  And why are robots cute until they look too much like people, and then then they creep us out?It's our old friend the Uncanny Valley and it basically postulates that the more realistic something a human likeness gets, the more repulsive it is.  I don't mean like realistic special effects in "Wrath Of The Titans" - a giant, flaming lava of hand of Chronos looks cool - but rather when it comes to humanoids, be they zombies or robots.   read more

Read the whole article on

More from

Learn more about

Latest Science Newsletter

Get the latest and most popular science news articles of the week in your Inbox! It's free!

Check out our next project, Biology.Net