Avatar appearance &amp; information credibility in Second Life®

Hussain, Malik Naseer; Nakamura, Brandon; Marino, John

doi:10.1145/1940761.1940868

Cited by 7 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…On the other hand, the use of self-avatars can generate issues that stem from the perceived "uncanny valley" when users begin to doubt the authenticity of virtual characters due to divergences from realistic human behavior (see Raij et al, 2007;McDonnell et al, 2012;Piwek et al, 2014;Kätsyri et al, 2015). Hussain et al (2011) have found that the avatar's appearance has an impact of the credibility of the information they provide-observing that professional appearances in avatar designs correlate highly with perceived credibility by the users interacting with them. McDonnell et al (2012) have shown that small differences in rendering details can influence perception of CG characters.…”

Section: Self-avatarmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Foot Tracking Matters: The Impact of an Animated Self-Avatar on Interaction, Embodiment and Presence in Shared Virtual Environments

Pan

Steed

2019

Front. Robot. AI

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The use of a self-avatar representation in head-mounted displays has been shown to have important effects on user behavior. However, relatively few studies focus on feet and legs. We implemented a shared virtual reality for consumer virtual reality systems where each user could be represented by a gender-matched self-avatar controlled by multiple trackers. The self-avatar allowed users to see their feet, legs and part of their torso when they looked down. We implemented an experiment where participants worked together to solve jigsaw puzzles. Participants experienced either no-avatar, a self-avatar with floating feet, or a self-avatar with tracked feet, in a between-subjects manipulation. First, we found that participants could solve the puzzle more quickly with self-avatars than without self-avatars; but there was no significant difference between the latter two conditions, solely on task completion time. Second, we found participants with tracked feet placed their feet statistically significantly closer to obstacles than participants with floating feet, whereas participants who did not have a self-avatar usually ignored obstacles. Our post-experience questionnaire results confirmed that the use of a self-avatar has important effects on presence and interaction. Together the results show that although the impact of animated legs might be subtle, it does change how users behave around obstacles. This could have important implications for the design of virtual spaces for applications such as training or behavioral analysis.

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Section: Self-avatarmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Foot Tracking Matters: The Impact of an Animated Self-Avatar on Interaction, Embodiment and Presence in Shared Virtual Environments

Pan

Steed

2019

Front. Robot. AI

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“…They found that the addition of eye movement increases participant accuracy in detecting truth and deception when interacting with virtual avatars. Hussain et al (2011) investigated the impact that an avatar's appearance may have on the credibility of the information it shares with Second Life ® users. They observed high correlation between professional appearances in avatar design with high credibility measures.…”

Section: Avatarmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Comparison of Avatar-, Video-, and Robot-Mediated Interaction on Users’ Trust in Expertise

Pan

Steed

2016

Front. Robot. AI

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Communication technologies are becoming increasingly diverse in form and functionality. A central concern is the ability to detect whether others are trustworthy. Judgments of trustworthiness rely, in part, on assessments of non-verbal cues, which are affected by media representations. In this research, we compared trust formation on three media representations. We presented 24 participants with advisors represented by two of the three alternate formats: video, avatar, or robot. Unknown to the participants, one was an expert, and the other was a non-expert. We observed participants' advice-seeking behavior under risk as an indicator of their trust in the advisor. We found that most participants preferred seeking advice from the expert, but we also found a tendency for seeking robot or video advice. Avatar advice, in contrast, was more rarely sought. Users' self-reports support these findings. These results suggest that when users make trust assessments, the physical presence of the robot representation might compensate for the lack of identity cues.

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“…In this study, we considered another potential approach for helping people understand what population-based statistics mean for individual risk: the use of avatars. People understand avatars to represent individuals and react to them accordingly; for example, by putting more trust in more relatable avatars [ 32 ] or those with a more professional appearance [ 33 ]. Further, people perceive their avatar as representing them [ 34 - 36 ] and have been shown to identify strongly with their avatars in a variety of online applications [ 37 - 39 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Animated Randomness, Avatars, Movement, and Personalization in Risk Graphics

Witteman¹,

Fuhrel-Forbis²,

Wijeysundera³

et al. 2014

J Med Internet Res

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BackgroundRisk communication involves conveying two inherently difficult concepts about the nature of risk: the underlying random distribution of outcomes and how a population-based proportion applies to an individual.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to test whether 4 design factors in icon arrays—animated random dispersal of risk events, avatars to represent an individual, personalization (operationalized as choosing the avatar’s color), and a moving avatar—might help convey randomness and how a given risk applies to an individual, thereby better aligning risk perceptions with risk estimates.MethodsA diverse sample of 3630 adults with no previous heart disease or stroke completed an online nested factorial experiment in which they entered personal health data into a risk calculator that estimated 10-year risk of cardiovascular disease based on a robust and validated model. We randomly assigned them to view their results in 1 of 10 risk graphics that used different combinations of the 4 design factors. We measured participants’ risk perceptions as our primary outcome, as well as behavioral intentions and recall of the risk estimate. We also assessed subjective numeracy, whether or not participants knew anyone who had died of cardiovascular causes, and whether or not they knew their blood pressure and cholesterol as potential moderators.ResultsAnimated randomness was associated with better alignment between risk estimates and risk perceptions (F 1,3576=6.12, P=.01); however, it also led to lower scores on healthy lifestyle intentions (F 1,3572=11.1, P<.001). Using an avatar increased risk perceptions overall (F 1,3576=4.61, P=.03) and most significantly increased risk perceptions among those who did not know a particular person who had experienced the grave outcomes of cardiovascular disease (F 1,3576=5.88, P=.02). Using an avatar also better aligned actual risk estimates with intentions to see a doctor (F 1,3556=6.38, P=.01). No design factors had main effects on recall, but animated randomness was associated with better recall for those at lower risk and worse recall for those at higher risk (F 1,3544=7.06, P=.01).ConclusionsAnimated randomness may help people better understand the random nature of risk. However, in the context of cardiovascular risk, such understanding may result in lower healthy lifestyle intentions. Therefore, whether or not to display randomness may depend on whether one’s goal is to persuade or to inform. Avatars show promise for helping people grasp how population-based statistics map to an individual case.

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Avatar appearance & information credibility in Second Life®

Cited by 7 publications

References 7 publications

How Foot Tracking Matters: The Impact of an Animated Self-Avatar on Interaction, Embodiment and Presence in Shared Virtual Environments

How Foot Tracking Matters: The Impact of an Animated Self-Avatar on Interaction, Embodiment and Presence in Shared Virtual Environments

A Comparison of Avatar-, Video-, and Robot-Mediated Interaction on Users’ Trust in Expertise

Animated Randomness, Avatars, Movement, and Personalization in Risk Graphics

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