The Influence of Avatar Representation on Interpersonal Communication in Virtual Social Environments [journal]

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Journal

IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics - March 22, 2021

Authors

Sahar Aseeri (Ph.D. student), Victoria Interrante (professor)

Abstract

Current avatar representations used in immersive VR applications lack features that may support natural behaviors and effective communication among individuals. This work investigates the impact of the visual and nonverbal cues afforded by three different types of avatar representations in social context tasks. The avatar types we compared are: No_Avatar (HMD and controllers only), Scanned_Avatar (wearing an HMD), and Real_Avatar (video-see-through). We used subjective and objective measures to assess the quality of interpersonal communication. The findings provide novel insight into how a user’s experience in a social VR scenario is affected by the type of avatar representation provided.

Link to full paper

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

Keywords

virtual environments, graphics