Gonzalez-Franco, Mar;
Steed, Anthony;
Berger, Christopher C;
Tajadura-Jimenez, Ana;
(2024)
The impact of first-person avatar customization on embodiment in immersive virtual reality.
Frontiers in Virtual Reality
, 5
, Article 1436752. 10.3389/frvir.2024.1436752.
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Abstract
In virtual reality (VR), users can embody a wide variety of avatars, from digital replicas of themselves through diverse human body styles and appearances to non-humanoid representations. Although choosing a body to inhabit is part of what makes VR such an engaging experience, various studies have shown how embodiment may change the way we perceive ourselves and others both inside and outside VR. In our study, we explored whether first-person versus third-person avatar customization would lead to changes in embodiment. Furthermore, participants were embodied in larger-sized avatars based on the hypothesis that embodiment would lead to a change in implicit bias toward larger-sized people. Our results show that third-person avatar customization led to a decrease in the perceived embodiment of the larger-sized avatar and that, on the contrary, higher embodiment was associated with a reduction in implicit biases toward larger-sized people in the first-person avatar customization mode. These findings suggest that third-person avatar customization leads to reduced feelings of embodiment, while first-person avatar customization may support more radical body changes.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | The impact of first-person avatar customization on embodiment in immersive virtual reality |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.3389/frvir.2024.1436752 |
| Publisher version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2024.1436752 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | © 2024 Gonzalez-Franco, Steed, Berger and Tajadura-Jiménez. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Keywords: | Body ownership, avatar customization, bias reduction, immersive virtual reality, embodiment |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Div of Psychology and Lang Sciences > UCL Interaction Centre UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Engineering Science > Dept of Computer Science |
| URI: | https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10197411 |
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