Karl F. MacDorman &
Hiroshi Ishiguro talk with ScienceWatch.com and
answer a few questions about this month's Fast Breaking
Paper in the field of Social Sciences, general. The
authors have also sent along images of their
work.
Article Title: The uncanny advantage of using
androids in cognitive and social science
research
Authors:
MacDorman, KF;Ishiguro, H
Journal: INTERACT STUD
Figure 1: Karl MacDorman
ponders the design of an experiment for
Repliee Q2 at the Ishiguro Laboratory,
Osaka University, May 2005. Photo Credit:
Peter Kahn.
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Figure
2:
Figure 2: Former Master's
student, Yasukazu Nagatomi, shakes hands
with Repliee Q2, August 2005. Photo Credit:
Karl MacDorman.
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Figure
3:
Figure 3: From left to
right, top to bottom: Hiroshi Ishiguro, PhD
(Osaka University), Professor, Osaka
University, Repliee Q2, Karl F. MacDorman,
PhD (Cambridge), Associate Professor,
Indiana University, Takashi Minato, PhD
(Osaka University), Assistant Professor,
Osaka University, and Tetsushi Ikeda (Kyoto
University), Assistant Professor, Osaka
University. This photo was taken in August
2005 in the Ishiguro Laboratory at Osaka
University. Photo Credit: Karl MacDorman.
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Figure
4:
Figure 4: Kokoro Co., Ltd.
assisting with the preparation of Repliee
Q2, Tokyo, December 2004. Photo Credit:
Kokoro Co., Ltd.
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Figure
5:
Figure
5: Android science provides
synthetic and analytical methods to
understand mechanisms underlying
interaction. Android science is a new
interdisciplinary framework for studying
human cognition and interaction based on
the finding that humanlike robots can
elicit the sorts of responses people direct
toward each other. As a result androids can
be used as stand-ins for human participants
in social, psychological, cognitive, and
neuroscientific experiments. This brings
several advantages. First, as an
experimental apparatus, an android can be
more precisely controlled than a human
actor. Second, unlike a video or computer
simulation of a human being, an android has
physical presence. Third, in comparing
human-human and human-android interaction,
an android controls for the effects of
appearance. For many experiments, an
android offers a good balance between
experimental control and eco-logical
validity in supporting humanlike
interaction.
The figure shows the potential for using
human-android interaction in designing and
testing hypotheses in the social and
cognitive sciences. For example, in
cognitive neuroscience, we can study the
effects of appearance on brain activity
during the perception of intentional
action, and in developmental and social
psychology, we can study the effects of
contingency and timing on interactions that
involve human infants or autistic children.
An experimental setting for human-android
interaction also provides a testing ground
for modeling how interactions emerge from
close co-ordination among cognitive, neural
and behavioral events.
Figure
6:
Figure 6: The robotics
professor Masahiro Mori graphed what he
considered to be the relation between human
likeness and perceived familiarity:
familiarity increases with human likeness
until a point is reached at which subtle
imperfections cause a robot to appear
creepy. He called this the uncanny valley.
According to Mori, movement amplifies the
effect.