Meeting Your Virtual Twin: Effects of Photorealism and Personalization on Embodiment, Self-Identification and Perception of Self-Avatars in Virtual Reality

Title of the Paper

Meeting Your Virtual Twin: Effects of Photorealism and Personalization on Embodiment, Self-Identification and Perception of Self-Avatars in Virtual Reality

Paper Information

• Research Domain: Virtual reality, self-avatars, digital human perception
• Keywords: virtual reality, photorealism, personalization, self-identification, embodiment

Research Background and Problem

• Problem and Challenges: Achieving photorealism and user personalization in digital avatars through VR technology is now possible, but the impact of these two features on user perception and behavior in virtual reality has not been thoroughly studied.
• Research Importance: High-quality digital avatars can significantly enhance users' sense of embodiment, presence, self-identification, and interaction experience in VR, which holds substantial value for building realistic social VR environments.
• Motivation and Related Work: Previous studies suggest that photorealism and personalization may significantly influence embodiment and presence in avatars. However, the combined effects of these factors in the context of highly realistic personalized digital avatars have not been systematically explored.

Solution

• Proposed Approach:

  1. Utilize advanced photogrammetry and motion capture technologies to create highly realistic and personalized virtual avatars and test their impact on user experience.
  2. Compare avatars with varying levels of realism (high/low) and personalization (personalized/generic) in terms of embodiment, self-identification, avatar perception, and presence.
  3. Design multiple experimental metrics: surveys, skin conductance response (SCR), and facial recognition tasks.

• Innovations:

  • For the first time, combining high-quality personalized avatars with photorealism to evaluate users' self-identification and embodiment in virtual reality.
  • Adapted a behavioral task (Self-Other Face Distinction Task) to detect subtle changes in self-identification.

• Implementation Steps:

  1. Construct four types of avatars: high-realism personalized, low-realism personalized, high-realism generic, low-realism generic.
  2. Experimental setup includes real-time motion capture to synchronize avatars with users, presenting a virtual mirror to enhance avatar experience.
  3. Analyze variables such as visual appeal, familiarity, and self-similarity of avatars through surveys while monitoring embodiment and skin conductance response.

Research Results

• Specific Findings:

  • High-realism personalized avatars significantly enhanced users' sense of embodiment and self-identification, while also improving visual appeal, familiarity, and realism of the avatars.
  • In the self-other face recognition task, high-realism personalized avatars led users to identify the avatar as themselves for a longer duration, demonstrating a stronger "face assimilation effect."

• Advantages Over Existing Solutions:

  • High-realism and personalized avatars markedly improved cognitive and emotional experiences in virtual reality, overcoming the "uncanny valley effect" observed in traditional studies.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Survey data showed that high-realism and personalized avatars scored the highest in embodiment, while generic or low-realism avatars performed poorly.
  • No significant changes were observed in skin conductance response, possibly due to insufficiently strong stimulus events during the experiment.
  • Presence scores were not significantly affected by avatar type, but familiarity and self-similarity scores were significantly higher for personalized avatars.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • Limitations:
    • Skin conductance response showed no significant differences, potentially requiring stronger stimulus events.
    • Lack of facial animation limited the dynamic visual performance of personalized avatars.
    • Realism manipulation only altered avatar texture, without fully simulating other visual factors like shape.
  • Future Directions:
    • Investigate the impact of facial animation on avatar experience.
    • Explore behavioral and cognitive changes in more complex social VR scenarios.
    • Conduct longitudinal studies to observe user reactions to repeated avatar embodiment.

Summary

This study reveals the significant advantages of high-realism and personalized avatars in virtual reality, enhancing users' embodiment, self-identification, and avatar perception. It provides systematic guidance for optimizing social VR experiences and lays a foundation for applying high-fidelity avatars in metaverse platforms. Additionally, it identifies directions for future research to further refine technical and user experience aspects.