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Article published In: Interaction Studies
Vol. 18:2 (2017) ► pp.191–213

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Exploring preschool children’s preferences for artificial animal appearances according to the uncanny valley phenomenon

 | Tunghai University, Taiwan, R.O.C. |
 | Tunghai University, Taiwan, R.O.C. |
Published online: 8 December 2017
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https://doi.org/10.1075/is.18.2.03lu
This paper proposes extending the appearance of artefacts from human to zoomorphic on the basis of the uncanny valley phenomenon, while simultaneously realising the effects of bionic species, product realism, and gender differences on preschool children’s preferences for artificial animal appearances. In this study, animal toys were created as stimuli and a three-factor experiment was conducted with preschool children. Overall, the children demonstrated significantly stronger preferences for animal toys with extremely high or moderate realism compared with those with extremely low realism. Specifically, the boys preferred the toys with extremely high realism, and the girls preferred those with moderate realism. We conclude with some suggestions regarding the direction of design guidelines for the appearance of artificial animals, to facilitate the design and creation of animal products that promote human–robot interactions and design education.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Method
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Materials
    • 2.3Scales
    • 2.4Experimental procedures
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1The effects of bionic species, realism, and gender on children’s preferences
    • 3.2Comparing the interaction effects of bionic species and gender on the children’s preferences
    • 3.3Comparing the interference of species phobia on the children’s preferences
    • 3.4Comparing the interference of product identifiability on the children’s preferences
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • References
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