Types Of Avatars Research Articles

Avatar Detection in Metaverse Recordings

The metaverse is gradually expanding. There is a growing number of photo and video recordings of metaverse virtual worlds being used in multiple domains, and the collection of these recordings is a rapidly growing field. An essential element of the metaverse and its recordings is the concept of avatars. In this paper, we present the novel task of avatar detection in metaverse recordings, supporting semantic retrieval in collections of metaverse recordings and other use cases. Our work addresses the characterizations and definitions of avatars and presents a new model that supports avatar detection. The latest object detection algorithms are trained and tested on a variety of avatar types in metaverse recordings. Our work achieves a significantly higher level of accuracy than existing models, which encourages further research in this field.

Exploring the Influence of Virtual Avatar Heads in Mixed Reality on Social Presence, Performance and User Experience in Collaborative Tasks.

In Mixed Reality (MR), users' heads are largely (if not completely) occluded by the MR Head-Mounted Display (HMD) they are wearing. As a consequence, one cannot see their facial expressions and other communication cues when interacting locally. In this paper, we investigate how displaying virtual avatars' heads on-top of the (HMD-occluded) heads of participants in a Video See-Through (VST) Mixed Reality local collaborative task could improve their collaboration as well as social presence. We hypothesized that virtual heads would convey more communicative cues (such as eye direction or facial expressions) hidden by the MR HMDs and lead to better collaboration and social presence. To do so, we conducted a between-subject study ($\mathrm{n}=88$) with two independent variables: the type of avatar (CartoonAvatar/RealisticAvatar/NoAvatar) and the level of facial expressions provided (HighExpr/LowExpr). The experiment involved two dyadic communication tasks: (i) the "20-question" game where one participant asks questions to guess a hidden word known by the other participant and (ii) a urban planning problem where participants have to solve a puzzle by collaborating. Each pair of participants performed both tasks using a specific type of avatar and facial animation. Our results indicate that while adding an avatar's head does not necessarily improve social presence, the amount of facial expressions provided through the social interaction does have an impact. Moreover, participants rated their performance higher when observing a realistic avatar but rated the cartoon avatars as less uncanny. Taken together, our results contribute to a better understanding of the role of partial avatars in local MR collaboration and pave the way for further research exploring collaboration in different scenarios, with different avatar types or MR setups.

SNS 이용 목적과 사용자의 성격 5요인에 따른 아바타 추구 유형 연구

The virtual reality technology industry, which is rapidly growing with new content services, is also being implemented on social network services such as Facebook and Instagram. At this time, spatial interaction, which is the characteristics of virtual space, and the expression of self-expression characters, that is, avatars, are also increasingly prominent as actual beings. This study sought to find out what type of avatar is selected as an element of self-expression according to the motivation for using existing SNS services, and to examine whether the user's personality type affects avatar self-expression in expressing avatars representing oneself in virtual space. Through the theoretical background, the five factors of avatar self-expression, purpose of using SNS, and personality were examined, and the relationship with avatar, a factor that can maximize the immersion experience of virtual reality, was considered. Interviews were conducted with Generation X, who are familiar with avatars and have a high probability of inflow through SayClub and Cyworld, and research results were derived based on this. Through this study, it is expected to be used as a basic guideline for developing virtual reality services in various social network services.

窓の開口幅と窓外を通過する歩行者の組み合わせが在室者の精神的負担に及ぼす影響

In this study, a subjective experiment was conducted using both a virtual environment technology and an electrodermal activity measurement method. This study is a part of research aimed at obtaining knowledge about window width that does not cause mental strain. The study results revealed that 1) These results mainly indicate that the narrower the window width, the higher the mental strain on the person staying in a room. 2) The results also suggested that mental strain varied depending on the type of avatar. These findings might be valuable when creating a window arrangement that results in less mental strain.

Real-Time Interaction for 3D Pixel Human in Virtual Environment

Conducting realistic interactions while communicating efficiently in online conferences is highly desired but challenging. In this work, we propose a novel pixel-style virtual avatar for interacting with virtual objects in virtual conferences that can be generated in real-time. It consists of a 2D segmented head video stream for real-time facial expressions and a 3D point cloud body for realistic interactions, both of which are generated from RGB video input of a monocular webcam. We obtain a human-only video stream with a human matting method and generate the 3D avatar’s arms with a 3D pose estimation method, which improves the stereoscopic realism and sense of interaction of conference participants while interacting with virtual objects. Our approach fills the gap between 2D video conferences and 3D virtual avatars and combines the advantages of both. We evaluated our pixel-style avatar by conducting a user study; the result proved that the efficiency of our method is superior to other various existing avatar types.

The Medical Metaverse, Part 1: Introduction, Definitions, and New Horizons for Neuropsychiatry.

The Medical Metaverse, Part 1: Introduction, Definitions, and New Horizons for Neuropsychiatry.

Avatar-Based Metaverse Interactions: A Taxonomy, Scenarios and Enabling Technologies

In virtual worlds like online games and metaverse platforms, an avatar represents a user in several graphical representations. In this paper, we offer a taxonomy for avatar-based interactions in the metaverse, highlighting scenarios that are relevant for various features of the used avatars. By using avatar types, flexibility, fidelity, and interaction as our chosen criteria, we try to include recent enabling technologies and existing avatar-based interactions in the taxonomy that is being provided. We explore how current metaverse research, platforms, and interaction technologies might be positioned in various circumstances to demonstrate the viability and usefulness of our approach.

Avatar design types and user engagement in digital educational games during evaluation phase

<span lang="EN-US">Avatar design types can range from human representations to abstract representations. In digital educational games (DEGs), avatars are frequently used to encourage users to play the game. However, the role of avatar design types and their engagement in digital games are still unclear and empirically under research. Therefore, a bespoke digital educational game in geography was developed and validated by six expert users. Then forty-five users participated in the evaluation phase to investigate engagement and avatar types on digital educational games using the user engagement scale (UES). The results reported aesthetics and satisfaction factors somehow influenced the avatar design types, but none of the UES subscales was influenced by preferred avatar design types. Moreover, the human-cartoon avatar, which was not entirely human and cartoonish, was the most popular avatar design type among young adults. Other issues discussed for future developers and research included incorporating more avatar design selections into the study, integrating social interaction features into the game, using the same drawing style for avatars and provide easy access to the bespoke game during data collection.</span>

"I've talked without intending to": Self-disclosure and Reciprocity via Embodied Avatar

Considering the importance of self-disclosure in building relationships, it is vital to investigate how self-disclosure is affected via avatars in virtual environments, as they are likely to become increasingly popular. Previous work has shown that using avatars increases friendliness and honesty. However, issues such as how and what types of avatars affect self-disclosure and reciprocity have not been fully explored. We conducted a study with 108 participants (54 dyads) discussing a personal topic using one of three communication media: videoconferencing, avatars with avatar-self appearance similarity, or avatars without avatar-self appearance similarity. The results showed that self-disclosure is most encouraged via the avatars without similarity. Reciprocity was formed via both types of avatars but not videoconferencing. Interestingly, although the participants disclosed more about themselves via avatars than via videoconferencing, there was no difference in their subjective experiences. It means that avatar users can disclose more about themselves without being particularly aware that they are using avatars, which suggests the usefulness of avatars to understand people's candid thoughts and feelings. Finally, we discuss the design implications for applications requiring self-disclosure.

Feeling close to a Crab-Thing in virtual reality: Does avatar appearance always matter in forming meaningful connections? A case study

Recent experimental research revealed that people can form meaningful relationships interacting with strangers in virtual reality (VR), with resulting affiliative outcomes (e.g., feelings of closeness) at the same levels as those attained via interactions in other sensory-rich communication modalities. The present preregistered experiment examined whether avatar type and avatar matching in VR influence levels of closeness (and affiliated constructs) generated among previously unacquainted strangers using a validated structured discussion procedure. Based on previous theory and research, we hypothesized that affiliative outcomes would not differ 1) regardless of whether the interacting avatars appeared to be human or not, and 2) regardless of whether there was a (mis)match in avatar type between interactants. Two hundred and four previously unacquainted undergraduate students were randomly assigned to interact in VR as pairs in one of three stylized avatar conditions: both human in appearance, both non-human in appearance (Crab-Things, created for this study), or one human and one Crab-Thing. Results were consistent with hypotheses, suggesting that closeness and related outcomes can be generated and experienced in VR regardless of the stylized avatar types used in the current study. Exploratory analyses of individual difference variables (personality and attachment) as possible moderators of stylized avatar type effects yielded non-significant findings, supporting the generalizability of findings across key intra- and interpersonal dispositions.

Multiple Groups of Agents for Increased Movement Interference and Synchronization.

We examined the influence of groups of agents and the type of avatar on movement interference. In addition, we studied the synchronization of the subject with the agent. For that, we conducted experiments utilizing human subjects to examine the influence of one, two, or three agents, as well as human or robot avatars, and finally, the agent moving biologically or linearly. We found the main effect on movement interference was the number of agents; namely, three agents had significantly more influence on movement interference than one agent. These results suggest that the number of agents is more influential on movement interference than other avatar characteristics. For the synchronization, the main effect of the type of the agent was revealed, showing that the human agent kept more synchronization compared to the robotic agent. In this experiment, we introduced an additional paradigm on the interference which we called synchronization, discovering that a group of agents is able to influence this behavioral level as well.

The Effects of Speed-Modulated Visual Stimuli Seen through Smart Glasses on Work Efficiency after Viewing.

It is known that subjective time and work efficiency are affected by visual stimuli. However, existing studies only consider the effects of visual information on the user during viewing and ignore the after effects. Using smart glasses lets users see visual information while moving until just before arriving at the office or school. We hypothesize that the user’s effects from the visual information they were looking at just before working or studying affects the subsequent work. Through two user studies, we investigated whether information presented on smart glasses affected subsequent work efficiency. In the first experiment, participants were presented with avatars running at two levels of speed, or no avatars, through simulated smart glasses in a virtual environment. They then solved a dot-clicking task on a desktop monitor. In the second experiment, we investigated whether the same effect could be shown while walking in the real environment, with a running and a fast-walking avatar both at the same speed in order to see the difference in the effects of the different movements. In the first experiment, we confirmed that the speed of later work tended to improve when presenting the running human-shaped avatar. From the results of the second experiment, which was conducted in the real environment, we did not confirm that the subsequent work speed varied depending on the type of avatar being displayed. As a reason for the trend of improvement in the task efficiency in the first experiment, observation of fast human motion may have unconsciously accelerated the observers’ body movement speed due to the mirror neuron mechanism. As a reason for why the work speed did not improve in the second experiment, the participants may be affected by other pedestrians and running cars. Additionally, it was difficult to see the images on the smart glasses while walking in the real environment.

Attitudes Toward Signing Avatars Vary Depending on Hearing Status, Age of Signed Language Acquisition, and Avatar Type.

The use of virtual humans (i.e., avatars) holds the potential for interactive, automated interaction in domains such as remote communication, customer service, or public announcements. For signed language users, signing avatars could potentially provide accessible content by sharing information in the signer's preferred or native language. As the development of signing avatars has gained traction in recent years, researchers have come up with many different methods of creating signing avatars. The resulting avatars vary widely in their appearance, the naturalness of their movements, and facial expressions—all of which may potentially impact users' acceptance of the avatars. We designed a study to test the effects of these intrinsic properties of different signing avatars while also examining the extent to which people's own language experiences change their responses to signing avatars. We created video stimuli showing individual signs produced by (1) a live human signer (Human), (2) an avatar made using computer-synthesized animation (CS Avatar), and (3) an avatar made using high-fidelity motion capture (Mocap avatar). We surveyed 191 American Sign Language users, including Deaf (N = 83), Hard-of-Hearing (N = 34), and Hearing (N = 67) groups. Participants rated the three signers on multiple dimensions, which were then combined to form ratings of Attitudes, Impressions, Comprehension, and Naturalness. Analyses demonstrated that the Mocap avatar was rated significantly more positively than the CS avatar on all primary variables. Correlations revealed that signers who acquire sign language later in life are more accepting of and likely to have positive impressions of signing avatars. Finally, those who learned ASL earlier were more likely to give lower, more negative ratings to the CS avatar, but we did not see this association for the Mocap avatar or the Human signer. Together, these findings suggest that movement quality and appearance significantly impact users' ratings of signing avatars and show that signed language users with earlier age of ASL acquisition are the most sensitive to movement quality issues seen in computer-generated avatars. We suggest that future efforts to develop signing avatars consider retaining the fluid movement qualities integral to signed languages.

Mouth-in-the-Door: The Effect of a Sound Image of an Avatar Intruding on Personal Space That Deviates in Position From the Visual Image

In this paper, we examine the audiovisual experience in virtual reality (VR) service context that enables a more effective interaction between a user immersed in a virtual environment (VE) and an avatar as a store staff. By utilizing the characteristics of VE experiences, we find the effects of this unrealistic relationship between the visual and auditory positions of the avatar presented to the user variable rather than uniformly presented in the same position. In this study, we conducted an experiment to investigate how the positional deviation between the sound and visual images can be tolerated in VE, the effect of positional deviation on the interpersonal distance to the avatar, and the possibility of manipulating the impression of the avatar by deviating the sound image from the visual image. For the experiment, we prepared a space resembling a VE store and conducted proximity experiments with 16 gender-balanced participants and six types of avatars. By utilizing the superiority of visual information over auditory information revealed in the experiments, we constructed an interpersonal situation with an avatar playing the role of store staff in which only the sound image intruded into the user’s personal space, and we investigated users’ impressions of the avatar. We also investigated users’ impressions of the avatar. We found the following two phenomena in the experimental conditions where the positional difference was allowed: 1) Even when the positional difference was allowed, it caused an “uncanny valley”-like phenomenon that led to a decrease in rapport; and 2) In the conditions where the positional difference was allowed when the sound image was closer than the visual image to the participant, the rapport was greater with the avatar playing the role of the store staff. This phenomenon is similar to the “foot-in-the-door” phenomenon in which small unconscious consent (i.e., allowing a sound image to intrude on one’s personal space) leads to an improvement in the evaluation of the other person (i.e., the rapport with another person). The techniques proposed in this paper, such as the positional difference between the sound and visual images, significantly improve the value of the service experiences obtained through interaction with others in VE.

Who tugs at our heart strings? The effect of avatar images on player generosity in the dictator game.

The present research was motivated by a prior study, where several wallets, each containing a photo of either a baby, a puppy, a family, or an elderly couple, were scattered across a city in the United Kingdom. Most of the wallets containing a photo of a baby were returned compared with less than one-third of the wallets containing a photo of an elderly couple. To investigate further, in a series of three studies we examined, using a pseudo online version of the dictator game, possible subtle cues supporting prosocial behaviour by manipulating the type of avatar used by the recipient of the donation made by the “dictator.” Overall, it emerged that participants showed significantly higher levels of generosity towards babies and older people, supporting the notion that perceptions of vulnerability and need drive prosocial behaviour.

The Influence of Avatar Representation on Interpersonal Communication in Virtual Social Environments.

Current avatar representations used in immersive VR applications lack features that may be important for supporting natural behaviors and effective communication among individuals. This study investigates the impact of the visual and nonverbal cues afforded by three different types of avatar representations in the context of several cooperative tasks. The avatar types we compared are No_Avatar (HMD and controllers only), Scanned_Avatar (wearing an HMD), and Heal_Avatar (video-see-through). The subjective and objective measures we used to assess the quality of interpersonal communication include surveys of social presence, interpersonal trust, communication satisfaction, and attention to behavioral cues, plus two behavioral measures: duration of mutual gaze and number of unique words spoken. We found that participants reported higher levels of trustworthiness in the Real_Avatar condition compared to the Scanned_Avatar and No_Avatar conditions. They also reported a greater level of attentional focus on facial expressions compared to the No_Avatar condition and spent more extended time, for some tasks, attempting to engage in mutual gaze behavior compared to the Scanned_Avatar and No_Avatar conditions. In both the Heal_Avatar and Scanned_Avatar conditions, participants reported higher levels of co-presence compared with the No_Avatar condition. In the Scanned_Avatar condition, compared with the Heal_Avatar and No_Avatar conditions, participants reported higher levels of attention to body posture. Overall, our exit survey revealed that a majority of participants (66.67%) reported a preference for the Real_Avatar, compared with 25.00% for the Scanned_Avatar and 8.33% for the No_Avatar, These findings provide novel insight into how a user's experience in a social VR scenario is affected by the type of avatar representation provided.

Statistical Learning of Facial Expressions Improves Realism of Animated Avatar Faces

A high realism of avatars is beneficial for virtual reality experiences such as avatar-mediated communication and embodiment. Previous work, however, suggested that the usage of realistic virtual faces can lead to unexpected and undesired effects, including phenomena like the uncanny valley. This work investigates the role of photographic and behavioral realism of avatars with animated facial expressions on perceived realism and congruence ratings. More specifically, we examine ratings of photographic and behavioral realism and their mismatch in differently created avatar faces. Furthermore, we utilize these avatars to investigate the effect of behavioral realism on perceived congruence between video-recorded physical person’s expressions and their imitations by the avatar. We compared two types of avatars, both with four identities that were created from the same facial photographs. The first type of avatars contains expressions that were designed by an artistic expert. The second type contains expressions that were statistically learned from a 3D facial expression database. Our results show that the avatars containing learned facial expressions were rated more photographically and behaviorally realistic and possessed a lower mismatch between the two dimensions. They were also perceived as more congruent to the video-recorded physical person’s expressions. We discuss our findings and the potential benefit of avatars with learned facial expressions for experiences in virtual reality and future research on enfacement.

Exploring Virtual Doppelgangers as Movement Models to Enhance Voluntary Imitation.

Virtual Reality (VR) setups offer the possibility to investigate interactions between model and observer characteristics in imitation behavior, such as in the chameleon effect of automatic mimicry. We tested the hypothesis that perceived affiliative characteristics of a virtual model, such as similarity to the observer and likability, will facilitate observers' engagement in voluntary motor imitation. In a within-subjects design, participants were exposed to four virtual characters of different degrees of realism and observer similarity (avatar numbers AN=1-4), ranging from an abstract stickperson to a personalized doppelganger avatar designed from 3d scans of the observer. The characters performed different trunk movements and participants were asked to imitate these. We defined functional ranges of motion (ROM) for spinal extension (bending backward, BB), lateral flexion (bending sideward, BS) and rotation in the horizontal plane (RH) based on shoulder marker trajectories as behavioral indicators of imitation. Participants' ratings on avatar appearance, characteristics and embodiment/ enfacement were recorded in an Autonomous Avatar Questionnaire (AAQ), factorized into three sum scales based on our explorative analysis. Linear mixed effects models revealed that for lateral flexion (BS), a facilitating influence of avatar type on ROM was mediated by perceived identificatory avatar properties such as avatar likability, avatar-observer-similarity and other affiliative characteristics (AAQ1). This suggests that maximization of model-observer similarity with a virtual doppelganger may be useful in observational modeling and this could be used to modify maladaptive motor behaviors in patients with chronic back pain.

Exploring the Effect of Avatar Trust on Learners’ Perceived Participation Intentions in an e-Learning Environment

With continued advancements in Web technology, e-learning systems have emerged as an effective venue in which learners can interact with online contents and they are often equipped with avatar instructors in lieu of human instructors. In this case, avatar trust, the learners’ perceived trust in the avatar instructor, plays an important role in learners’ perceived intentions to participate in the e-learning activities. We assumed that social presence positively affects participation intention (PI) through avatar trust. The main purpose of this study is to empirically validate this hypothesis. Using two types of avatars as a moderating factor, our hypothesis was tested against 200 valid questionnaires. We found that social presence had a statistically significant influence on perceived PI through avatar trust, and that an attractive avatar type sheds stronger moderating effect on paths between social presence and avatar trust, and path between trust and participation than does an expert avatar type.

The effects of static avatars on impression formation across different contexts on social networking sites

When making judgments about others, people use whatever social information is available in online environments. Such is the case for forming impressions of others. One type of such social information is a user’s avatar. This study examines different types of avatars (photographs, cartoon humans, and nonhumans) created for task, social or dating/romantic situations to study the effect of avatar type on judgments of uncertainty and task-specific attractiveness. Data suggest various patterns of uncertainty and attractiveness in these situations. Both the graphic from of an avatar and the context of impression formation have effects on subsequent impression formation. Judgments of uncertainty and attraction were affected by both the graphic from of avatar and by the consistency between the context of impression formation and the attractiveness cues of the avatar. These findings are discussed as are implications for future research.