The role of posture in the communication of affect in an immersive virtual environment

Abstract

This paper presents an experiment that investigates the importance of nonverbal behavioral cues when designing affective virtual characters for an immersive virtual environment (IVE).Forty-nine participants were each instructed to explore a virtual environment by asking two virtual characters for instructions in a CAVE™-like system. The underlying emotional state of the virtual characters was depicted through the use of nonverbal behavioral cues. We focus on two types of behavioral cues (facial expressions and posture) and two emotional states (Angry and Sad).The results indicate that posture plays an important role in the communication of affect by virtual characters in the case when the state portrayed is 'anger', but not when it is 'sad'. We conclude by discussing the importance of designing holistically congruent virtual characters especially under immersive settings.