Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents

Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclear which aspects of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) make them identifiable as human-like agents. In three experiments and a computational study, we investigated which specific facial features in static IVAs cont...

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Autores principales:	Julija Vaitonytė, Pieter A. Blomsma, Maryam Alimardani, Max M. Louwerse
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Intelligent virtual agents Face perception Corneal reflections Skin reflectance Human-likeness Uncanny valley Electronic computers. Computer science QA75.5-76.95 Psychology BF1-990
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/341dc5b8369044e98604654003db1446
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:341dc5b8369044e98604654003db14462021-12-01T05:03:49ZRealism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents2451-958810.1016/j.chbr.2021.100065https://doaj.org/article/341dc5b8369044e98604654003db14462021-01-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451958821000130https://doaj.org/toc/2451-9588Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclear which aspects of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) make them identifiable as human-like agents. In three experiments and a computational study, we investigated which specific facial features in static IVAs contribute to judging them human-like. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with facial images of state-of-the-art IVAs and humans and asked to rate these stimuli on human-likeness. The results showed that IVAs were judged less human-like compared to photographic images of humans, which led to the hypothesis that the discrepancy in human-likeness was driven by skin and eye reflectance. A follow-up computational analysis confirmed this hypothesis, showing that the faces of IVAs had smoother skin and a reduced number of corneal reflections than human faces. In Experiment 2, we validated these findings by systematically manipulating the appearance of skin and eyes in a set of human photographs, including both female and male faces as well as four different races. Participants indicated as quickly as possible whether the image depicted a real human face or not. The results showed that smoothening the skin and removing corneal reflections affected the perception of human-likeness when quick perceptual decisions needed to be made. Finally, in Experiment 3, we combined the images of IVA faces and those of humans, unaltered and altered, and asked participants to rate them on human-likeness. The results confirmed the causal role of both features for attributing human-likeness. Both skin and eye reflectance worked in tandem in driving judgements regarding the extent to which the face was perceived human-like in both IVAs and humans. These findings are of relevance to computer graphics artists and psychology researchers alike in drawing attention to those facial characteristics that increase realism in IVAs.Julija VaitonytėPieter A. BlomsmaMaryam AlimardaniMax M. LouwerseElsevierarticleIntelligent virtual agentsFace perceptionCorneal reflectionsSkin reflectanceHuman-likenessUncanny valleyElectronic computers. Computer scienceQA75.5-76.95PsychologyBF1-990ENComputers in Human Behavior Reports, Vol 3, Iss , Pp 100065- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Intelligent virtual agents Face perception Corneal reflections Skin reflectance Human-likeness Uncanny valley Electronic computers. Computer science QA75.5-76.95 Psychology BF1-990
spellingShingle	Intelligent virtual agents Face perception Corneal reflections Skin reflectance Human-likeness Uncanny valley Electronic computers. Computer science QA75.5-76.95 Psychology BF1-990 Julija Vaitonytė Pieter A. Blomsma Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
description	Despite advancements in computer graphics and artificial intelligence, it remains unclear which aspects of intelligent virtual agents (IVAs) make them identifiable as human-like agents. In three experiments and a computational study, we investigated which specific facial features in static IVAs contribute to judging them human-like. In Experiment 1, participants were presented with facial images of state-of-the-art IVAs and humans and asked to rate these stimuli on human-likeness. The results showed that IVAs were judged less human-like compared to photographic images of humans, which led to the hypothesis that the discrepancy in human-likeness was driven by skin and eye reflectance. A follow-up computational analysis confirmed this hypothesis, showing that the faces of IVAs had smoother skin and a reduced number of corneal reflections than human faces. In Experiment 2, we validated these findings by systematically manipulating the appearance of skin and eyes in a set of human photographs, including both female and male faces as well as four different races. Participants indicated as quickly as possible whether the image depicted a real human face or not. The results showed that smoothening the skin and removing corneal reflections affected the perception of human-likeness when quick perceptual decisions needed to be made. Finally, in Experiment 3, we combined the images of IVA faces and those of humans, unaltered and altered, and asked participants to rate them on human-likeness. The results confirmed the causal role of both features for attributing human-likeness. Both skin and eye reflectance worked in tandem in driving judgements regarding the extent to which the face was perceived human-like in both IVAs and humans. These findings are of relevance to computer graphics artists and psychology researchers alike in drawing attention to those facial characteristics that increase realism in IVAs.
format	article
author	Julija Vaitonytė Pieter A. Blomsma Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse
author_facet	Julija Vaitonytė Pieter A. Blomsma Maryam Alimardani Max M. Louwerse
author_sort	Julija Vaitonytė
title	Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
title_short	Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
title_full	Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
title_fullStr	Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
title_full_unstemmed	Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents
title_sort	realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: evidence from virtual and human agents
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/341dc5b8369044e98604654003db1446
work_keys_str_mv	AT julijavaitonyte realismofthefaceliesinskinandeyesevidencefromvirtualandhumanagents AT pieterablomsma realismofthefaceliesinskinandeyesevidencefromvirtualandhumanagents AT maryamalimardani realismofthefaceliesinskinandeyesevidencefromvirtualandhumanagents AT maxmlouwerse realismofthefaceliesinskinandeyesevidencefromvirtualandhumanagents
_version_	1718405533045620736

Realism of the face lies in skin and eyes: Evidence from virtual and human agents

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