The clone devaluation effect: A new uncanny phenomenon concerning facial identity

PLoS One. 2021 Jul 13;16(7):e0254396. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0254396. eCollection 2021.

Abstract

Technological advances in robotics have already produced robots that are indistinguishable from human beings. This technology is overcoming the uncanny valley, which refers to the unpleasant feelings that arise from humanoid robots that are similar in appearance to real humans to some extent. If humanoid robots with the same appearance are mass-produced and become commonplace, we may encounter circumstances in which people or human-like products have faces with the exact same appearance in the future. This leads to the following question: what impressions do clones elicit? To respond to this question, we examined what impressions images of people with the same face (clone images) induce. In the six studies we conducted, we consistently reported that clone images elicited higher eeriness than individuals with different faces; we named this new phenomenon the clone devaluation effect. We found that the clone devaluation effect reflected the perceived improbability of facial duplication. Moreover, this phenomenon was related to distinguishableness of each face, the duplication of identity, the background scene in observing clone faces, and avoidance reactions based on disgust sensitivity. These findings suggest that the clone devaluation effect is a product of multiple processes related to memory, emotion, and face recognition systems.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Emotions / physiology
  • Facial Expression
  • Facial Recognition / physiology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pattern Recognition, Visual / physiology*
  • Robotics

Grants and funding

The authors disclose receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (https://www.jsps.go.jp/english/) KAKENHI Grant Numbers JP16H03079 (Y.Y.), JP17H00875 (Y.Y.), JP18K12015 (Y.Y.), JP19J11199 (F.Y.), JP19K14482 (K.S.), JP20H04581 (Y.Y.), and JP21H03784 (K.S. and Y.Y.). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.