The Effect of Avatars’ Transformed Facial Similarity on Users’ Sense of Copresence

• In Event: In the Digital Mirror: Avatars in Games

Abstract

The present study used both self-report and electroencephalogram (EEG) measures and explored if users’ sense of copresence with communication counterparts’ avatars would be salient when their own faces are morphed with the avatars’ faces. Thirty-four undergraduate female students participated in an EEG-based experiment using a 2 × 2 mixed ANOVA design. In the experiment, each of the subjects who were assigned to either the morphed face condition or the non-morphed condition was exposed to two types of image presentation of the counterpart (photo image vs. avatar image). The self-report data analyses indicated that the subjects felt significantly higher senses of being together with the counterparts whose faces were morphed with their own faces than those whose faces were not morphed. Further, the EEG data analyses demonstrated that the subjects paid much more attention to the counterparts whose faces were morphed than those who were not morphed

Authors

• Doohwang Lee, Kyung Hee University

• Jung-Gyo Lee, Kyung Hee U

• young-nam seo, nanyang technological university

• Minkyung Kim, Kyung Hee U

• Wooyeong Kil, Kyung Hee University

• Sungmin Kang, Kyunghee University

• Hyobeom Seo, Kyung Hee U