Psychology of Aesthetics, Creativity, and the Arts, Vol 20(4), Aug 2026, 822-831; doi:10.1037/aca0000726
The esthetic perception of model-generated dance movements was analyzed by varying the human likeness of the observed movements through the implementation of a model based on movement primitives. Likeability ratings and electrodermal activity in response to these model-generated movements varying in the number of underlying primitives were acquired for dancers and dance-novices. The results show that movements with a high degree of human likeness were generally associated with higher esthetic valuations. In dance experts, however, results show an uncanny valley effect in that likeability dropped for the most human-like model-generated kinematics. Additionally, the motion energy of the movement sequences also shows a remarkable association with esthetic responses, although to a lower degree for dancers than novices. Overall, these results not only extend the perceptual phenomenon known as the uncanny valley to the esthetic perception of model-generated movement kinematics, but also emphasize the relevance of sensorimotor experience for the esthetic perception of expressive movements. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved)