Acting your avatar’s age: effects of virtual reality avatar embodiment on real life walking speed

Abstract

When immersive virtual reality users employ digital selfrepresentations, i.e., avatars, they may be subject to the Proteus effect. This effect describes changes in attitudes and behaviors in accordance with identity cues derived from the employed avatar's appearance, which can persist after leaving virtual reality. Individual reactions to the experience can affect the strength of observed Proteus effects. Especially the experienced illusions of body ownership of avatars and of being in the virtual environment (spatial presence) have been discussed in this context. This study investigated a Proteus effect of avatar age on post-embodiment walking speed, with special focus on how body ownership and spatial presence moderated this effect. Participants who had previously embodied older avatars took significantly longer to walk a set distance than either young avatar or control group participants. This was only apparent during the first half of the walking phase, which may indicate fast decay rates of the effect after embodiment ended. The reported body ownership could not be shown to impact the strength of the Proteus effect. Participants reporting more pronounced spatial presence were subject to stronger Proteus effects, with only the twothirds of the sample with higher spatial presence showing evidence of the effect.

Young Generations' Hopelessness Perpetuates Intractable Conflicts

“…Virtual reality offers the unique possibility to temporarily substitute participants' physical body with a virtual body (30), which can have very different characteristics than their own, such as a different age. Previous research has shown that embodiment in a virtual body of a different age alters participants' cognition and behavior in accordance with their virtual age (31,32). Building on these previous findings, Study 5 experimentally tested whether a virtual aging simulation can make young people more hopeful.…”

Exercise in virtual reality with a muscular avatar influences performance on a weightlifting exercise

“…Proteus effects were also observed in the context of pro-social and anti-social behaviors (Yoon & Vargas, 2014), product perception and purchasing behaviors (Yoo et al, 2015), and physical actions, like walking speed (Reinhard et al, 2020). Fox & Bailenson (2009) also demonstrated that the change in one's avatar's body affected their physical activities, although this study was based on social cognitive theory.…”

Testing Moral Disengagement and Proteus Effect Predictions on Feelings of Guilt and Self-Empowerment Attributed to Bearing Guns

“…For instance, participants assigned to thin instead of obese avatars showed more physical activity while playing a motion-controlled tennis game (Peña et al, 2016). Relative to participants assigned to young avatar or a control group, participants who had earlier embodied older avatars took longer to walk a set distance (Reinhard et al, 2020).…”