Friday, March 29, 2013

Uncanny Valley test for Psychopathy


Uncanny Valley test for Psychopathy


Andre Willers
29 Mar 2013
Synopsis :
A psychopath , lacking empathy , will not react to the Uncanny Valley , and cannot hide it from fMRI or even gaze tests .

Discussion :
1.Uncanny Valley :
“When human replicas look and act almost, but not perfectly, like actual human beings, it can cause a response of revulsion among human observers”
2.A mirror-neuron system effect .
3.Empathy is a result of mirror-neuron complexes .
4.Most of these are motor-driven , but empathy is of a higher order – ie the results of motor actions .
5. Psychopaths lack empathy (by definition) . They can and do mimic empathic actions (from motor responses)
6. But they cannot mimic the revulsion of the Uncanny Valley .
7.This revulsion (or lack of it) can be measured by :
  7.1 fMRI
  7.2 Subliminal flashes
  7.3 Plain rapid flashes , with measurement of gaze avoidance . Impossible to fake . (Like deafness tests)
There are doubtlessly other , better tests .
 
8.Sociopathy :
In a psychopath , there will be no valley . Simply flat .
In a sociopath , there will be a slight dip , much smaller than “normal” . More a spectrum type thing .
 
9. But what if someone is attracted to images in the Uncanny Valley ?
In other words  , not a valley but a peak .
Given the perversity of animate matter , this is a certainty .
The closest human words I can find is  “humourist” or “cartoonist” . Resolution of paradoxes .
The Uncanny Valley is seen as a paradox, and humour is used to resolve it .
 
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Larson . The Far Side . Also the near side , sideways side and n-dimensional side .
This test will have to be specially calibrated for people like him .
A good cartoonist is sanely mad .
 
Just when I thought I was getting better
Andre
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