ECHO-MIMIC: Empirical Characterization of Human-likeness Observations – Mimetic-Induced Mental and Affective Cognition

This concept paper introduces ECHO-MIMIC, a research initiative exploring the phenomenon of Eerie Canyon: the unease humans feel when non-human stimuli (animals, environmental sounds, or anomalous events) exhibit human-like behaviors or vocalizations. Analogous to the Uncanny Valley, ECHO-MIMIC focuses on affective and cognitive responses to quasi-human mimicry in natural and anomalous contexts.The study combines observational field methods, affective surveys, and psychophysiological measurements to systematically investigate these responses. This paper presents the theoretical foundation, preliminary framework, and research design, establishing authorship and priority for this concept.