There is a special area in the brain that makes many people feel afraid and have a bad aversion to real-life robots.
According to PopularMechanics , a multinational team of scientists went to find out why some people are afraid of robots. They set out to identify areas in the human brain responsible for causing feelings of fear and hatred for robots.
These are the amygdala and prefrontal cortex . These are the brain regions responsible for some people’s aversion to robots. These areas are always on red alert when they see robots that look like humans.
There is an area in the human brain that is responsible for causing feelings of fear and hatred for robots.
These latest findings confirm the Uncanny Valley theory as valid. The Uncanny Valley theory suggests that people like things that are shaped like humans but often reject them if they are too human.
Many people predict that the cause may be due to human’s sense of preserving human life or the comparison between human and robot characteristics. But why do people react in different ways to a potential threat?
To understand why humans have an aversion to robots, especially humanoid robots , we must consider the Uncanny Valley theory. This theory was created by robotics expert Masahiro Mori . It argues that humanoid robots make us uncomfortable because seeing a block of machines shaped like humans makes it feel as if a dead person is communicating with them.
Humanoid robots make people uncomfortable, it feels as if a dead person is communicating with them.
Mori’s theory is represented as a curve. Human familiarity with robots will move in an upward curve as we interact with human-like machines. Basically, humans can be friends with robots until they become perfect like us. This makes the brain aware of an ongoing instability.
So where is the fear or insecurity about robots in the human brain? To answer this question, the team used fMRI machines and non-invasive techniques to measure and map brain activity. From there, the scientists were able to monitor the neural activity of the volunteers as they looked at images between the robot and the human.
Volunteers will then be sorted based on how they selected the photos. The team then asked the volunteers what kind of robot they chose as a gift for a loved one. Each volunteer will only be able to choose one photo of a human or humanoid robot. However, almost no one chooses robots that are too human-like.
Through the measurement results, the scientists found that the volunteers’ amygdala and prefrontal cortex had abnormal activities when looking at robots that looked exactly like humans. It seems that our brains are skeptical about these robots and feel anxious.
Humans are constantly improving robots and making this machine a companion in life.
The prefrontal cortex, usually located in front of the frontal lobe, is the place that opposes our primitive nature and is responsible for our impulses. This part of the brain is more developed in humans than in other animals. It also contributes greatly to the formation of personality traits of each person.
Meanwhile, the amygdalae, usually located in front of the temporal lobe, are responsible for helping people feel things and read the emotions of others. This is a very important area because it creates a feeling of fear in humans, helping us to better handle situations in combat or avoid accidents.
Humans are constantly improving the robot and making this machine a friend and companion in life. Therefore, giving up on making robot models that look exactly like humans is against the development process. However, whether humans can control robots or not is still an unsolved story because no one knows in the future with the support of AI, robots will betray humans or not.
The team hopes that new insights into humans’ fear of robots will help improve relationships and create a better future where humans and robots live in peace.
The study was recently published in the journal Neuroscience.