The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR
In this paper, we investigate the impact of avatar personalization on perceived emotions. Avatar embodiment is a crucial aspect of collaborative and social virtual reality (VR) systems. Previous research found that avatar appearance impacts the acceptability of the virtual body and changes users’ be...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2023-03-01
|
| Series: | Multimodal Technologies and Interaction |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/7/4/38 |
| _version_ | 1827744094973067264 |
|---|---|
| author | Rivu Radiah Daniel Roth Florian Alt Yomna Abdelrahman |
| author_facet | Rivu Radiah Daniel Roth Florian Alt Yomna Abdelrahman |
| author_sort | Rivu Radiah |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | In this paper, we investigate the impact of avatar personalization on perceived emotions. Avatar embodiment is a crucial aspect of collaborative and social virtual reality (VR) systems. Previous research found that avatar appearance impacts the acceptability of the virtual body and changes users’ behavior. While virtual embodiment has been extensively investigated, we know very little about how embodiment affects users’ experienced emotions. In a user study (N = 40), we applied an autobiographical recall method to evoke happiness and investigated the influence of different types of avatar embodiment (personalized same-gender, personalized opposite-gender, non-personalized same-gender, and non-personalized opposite-gender) on participants’ perceived emotion. We recorded both self-reported assessments and physiological data to observe participants’ emotional responses resulting from the emotions elicited by the use of different avatars. We found significant differences in happiness with the personalized same-gender avatar and the personalized opposite-gender avatar. We provide empirical evidence, demonstrating the influence of avatar personalization on emotions in VR. We conclude with recommendations for users and designers of virtual reality experiences. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:41:19Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-3ad39d6478404d3bb397af46ef8c7c82 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2414-4088 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T04:41:19Z |
| publishDate | 2023-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Multimodal Technologies and Interaction |
| spelling | doaj.art-3ad39d6478404d3bb397af46ef8c7c822023-11-17T20:42:22ZengMDPI AGMultimodal Technologies and Interaction2414-40882023-03-01743810.3390/mti7040038The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VRRivu Radiah0Daniel Roth1Florian Alt2Yomna Abdelrahman3Usable Security and Privacy Group, CODE Research Institute for Cyber Defense, University of the Bundeswehr, Carl-Wery-Strasse 18-22, 81739 Munich, GermanyHuman-Centered Computing and Extended Reality, Department of Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Engineering (AIBE), Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), Henkestr. 91, 91052 Erlangen, GermanyUsable Security and Privacy Group, CODE Research Institute for Cyber Defense, University of the Bundeswehr, Carl-Wery-Strasse 18-22, 81739 Munich, GermanyUsable Security and Privacy Group, CODE Research Institute for Cyber Defense, University of the Bundeswehr, Carl-Wery-Strasse 18-22, 81739 Munich, GermanyIn this paper, we investigate the impact of avatar personalization on perceived emotions. Avatar embodiment is a crucial aspect of collaborative and social virtual reality (VR) systems. Previous research found that avatar appearance impacts the acceptability of the virtual body and changes users’ behavior. While virtual embodiment has been extensively investigated, we know very little about how embodiment affects users’ experienced emotions. In a user study (N = 40), we applied an autobiographical recall method to evoke happiness and investigated the influence of different types of avatar embodiment (personalized same-gender, personalized opposite-gender, non-personalized same-gender, and non-personalized opposite-gender) on participants’ perceived emotion. We recorded both self-reported assessments and physiological data to observe participants’ emotional responses resulting from the emotions elicited by the use of different avatars. We found significant differences in happiness with the personalized same-gender avatar and the personalized opposite-gender avatar. We provide empirical evidence, demonstrating the influence of avatar personalization on emotions in VR. We conclude with recommendations for users and designers of virtual reality experiences.https://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/7/4/38avatarsvirtual realityemotionsembodiment |
| spellingShingle | Rivu Radiah Daniel Roth Florian Alt Yomna Abdelrahman The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR Multimodal Technologies and Interaction avatars virtual reality emotions embodiment |
| title | The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR |
| title_full | The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR |
| title_fullStr | The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR |
| title_short | The Influence of Avatar Personalization on Emotions in VR |
| title_sort | influence of avatar personalization on emotions in vr |
| topic | avatars virtual reality emotions embodiment |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2414-4088/7/4/38 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rivuradiah theinfluenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT danielroth theinfluenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT florianalt theinfluenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT yomnaabdelrahman theinfluenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT rivuradiah influenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT danielroth influenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT florianalt influenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr AT yomnaabdelrahman influenceofavatarpersonalizationonemotionsinvr |