Avatars

Social ostracism, a negative affective experience in interpersonal interactions, is thought to modulate the gaze-cueing effect (GCE). However, it is unclear whether the impact of social exclusion on the GCE is related to the identity of the cueing face. Therefore, the present study employed a two-phase paradigm to address this issue. In the first phase, two groups of participants were instructed to complete a Cyberball game with two virtual avatars to establish a binding relationship between a specific face's identity and the emotions of social exclusion or inclusion...

The uncanny valley (UV) effect captures the observation that artificial entities with near-human appearances tend to create feelings of eeriness. Researchers have proposed many hypotheses to explain the UV effect, but the visual processing mechanisms of the UV have yet to be fully understood. In the present study, we examined if the UV effect is as accessible in brief stimulus exposures compared to long stimulus exposures (Experiment 1). Forty-one participants, aged 21-31, rated each human-robot face presented for either a brief (50 ms) or long duration (3 s) in terms of attractiveness, eeriness, and humanness (UV indices) in a 7-point Likert scale...

Immersive virtual reality-based training and research are becoming more and more popular and are in continuous development. For instance, it is now possible to be trained by one's virtual self (i.e., doppelganger), meaning that a trainee can participate in a training program in which the trainer resembles the trainee. While past research involving doppelgangers showed promising results, findings revealed gender effects such that doppelganger-based training seems to be beneficial only for male trainees. In the present research, we contribute to this literature by investigating the emotional reactions and perceptions that people have when they meet a virtual human in immersive virtual reality...

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Popularization of knowledge is of considerable importance and necessity, and traditional knowledge popularization activities suffer from high cost and low acceptance, which affect their effectiveness and coverage. Applying virtual avatars to educational videos may be an effective way to solve the problem. This study investigates the impact of applying virtual avatars to educational videos on user experience. Constructed a model of the impact of user experience on educational videos with virtual avatars, collected data from the target population, and analyzed it empirically...

PURPOSE: Virtual reality (VR) may be a viable method to observe and describe signals of implicit bias. Using the context of the human papillomavirus vaccine counseling, we sought to describe physicians' communication practices exploring differences when counseling parents with different skin colors. METHODS: Physicians (N = 90) at an academic primary care center were recruited for a VR study in which they counseled dark or light-skinned parent avatars who expressed hesitation about human papillomavirus vaccination for their adolescent child...

Due to the easing of the pandemic, public policies no longer mandated people to wear masks. People can choose to no wear or wear different types of masks based on personal preferences and safety perceptions during daily interaction. Available information about the influence of face mask type on interpersonal distance (IPD) by different aging populations is still lacking. Thus, this study aimed to investigate the face mask type (no wear, cloth, medical and N95 mask) and age group effect of avatars (children, adults and older adults) on IPD perception, threat feeling and physiological skin conductance response under active and passive approaching...

We developed a mobile application to promote healthy lifestyles and collect non-communicable disease (NCD) data in Mexico. Its theoretical foundations are supported by a framework-guided literature review. With design sprints, Scrum, Model-View-Controller, and Representational State Transfer architecture, we operationalized evidence-based nutrition/physical activity information into a crowdsourcing- and gamification-based application. The application was piloted for three months to monitor the response of 520 adults...

BACKGROUND: Social cognitive impairments are prevalent in schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD) and have detrimental effects on functioning. Cognitive remediation (CR) has shown its efficacy in improving social cognitive impairments, although the transfer of these skills to daily life and the personalization of these interventions remain challenging. RC2S (Remédiation Cognitive de la Cognition Sociale dans la Schizophrénie; Cognitive remediation of social cognition in Schizophrenia) is a French CR that combines the learning of strategies and practice using paper-and-pencil exercises and digital relational simulations...

PURPOSE: The present paper describes two new genera and species of the parasitic copepod family Chondracanthidae Milne Edwards, 1840 based on specimens collected from two species of deep-sea fishes at a depth of 212 m off Suruga Bay, Japan. Avatar nishidai gen. et sp. nov. is described from the host fish Chaunax abei Le Danois, 1978 (Chaunacidae). Kokeshioides surugaensis gen. et sp. nov. is described from the host fish Setarches longimanus (Alcock, 1894) (Setarchidae). METHODS: Fresh specimens of chondracanthids were collected from the buccal cavity of two species of deep-sea fishes (fish hosts were frozen), Chaunax abei Le Danois, 1978 (Lophiiformes: Chaunacidae) and Setarches longimanus (Alcock, 1894) (Perciformes: Setarchidae), caught at a depth of 212 m in Suruga Bay, Japan (34° 37'48...

Previous research has found that individuals with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) show different patterns of social function impairments in game-related and real-life social contexts. Impaired social reward processing may be the underlying mechanism according to the Social Motivation Theory. Thus, in this study, event-related potentials were recorded from 24 individuals with IGD and 24 healthy gamers during a social judgement task. We focused on reward positivity (RewP) elicited by game-related and real-life social rewards, and N170 elicited by game avatar faces and real faces...

In this article, we propose a lightweight and flexible enhanced Tai Chi training system composed of multiple standalone virtual reality (VR) devices. The system aims to enable a hyper-realistic multi-user action training platform at low cost by displaying real-time action guidance trajectories, providing real-world impossible visual effects and functions, and rapidly enhancing movement precision and communication interest for learners. We objectively evaluate participants' action quality at different levels of immersion, including traditional coach guidance (TCG), VR, and mixed reality (MR), along with subjective measures like motion sickness, quality of interaction, social meaning, presence/immersion to comprehensively explore the system's feasibility...

BACKGROUND: A large group of psychiatric patients suffer from auditory hallucinations (AH) despite relevant treatment regimens. In mental health populations, AH tend to be verbal (AVH) and the content critical or abusive. Trials employing immersive virtual reality (VR) to treat mental health disorders are emerging. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this scoping review is to provide an overview of clinical trials utilizing VR in the treatment of AH and to document knowledge gaps in the literature...

A person with impaired emotion recognition is not able to correctly identify facial expressions represented by other individuals. The aim of the present study is to assess eyes gaze and facial emotion recognition in a healthy population using dynamic avatars in immersive virtual reality (IVR). For the first time, the viewing of each area of interest of the face in IVR is studied by gender and age. This work in healthy people is conducted to assess the future usefulness of IVR in patients with deficits in the recognition of facial expressions...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) has the worst survival rate among tumors. At the time of diagnosis, over 80 percent of PDACs are considered surgically unresectable, and there is an unmet need for treatment options in these inoperable PDACs. The study aimed to establish a patient-derived organoid (PDO) platform from endoscopic ultrasound-guided fine needle biopsy (EUS-FNB) collected at diagnosis and to determine its clinical applicability for the timely treatment of unresectable PDAC...

Penalty kicks are increasingly decisive in major international football competitions. Yet, over 30% of shootout kicks are missed. The outcome of the kick often relies on the ability of the penalty taker to exploit anticipatory movements of the goalkeeper to redirect the kick toward the open side of the goal. Unfortunately, this ability is difficult to train using classical methods. We used an augmented reality simulator displaying an holographic goalkeeper to test and train penalty kick performance with 13 young elite players...

Several studies have shown that users of immersive virtual reality can feel high levels of embodiment in self avatars that have different morphological proportions th a n th ose of their actual bodies . Deformed and unrealistic morphological modifications are accepted by embodied users, underlying the adaptability of one's mental map of their body (body schema) in response to incomi ng sensory feedback. Before initiating a motor action, the brain uses the body schema to plan and sequence the necessary movements...

In many consumer virtual reality (VR) applications, users embody predefined characters that offer minimal customization options, frequently emphasizing storytelling over user choice. We explore whether matching a user's physical characteristics, specifically ethnicity and gender, with their virtual self-avatar affects their sense of embodiment in VR. We conducted a 2 × 2 within-subjects experiment (n=32) with a diverse user population to explore the impact of matching or not matching a user's self-avatar to their ethnicity and gender on their sense of embodiment...

Mixed reality (MR) interactions feature users interacting with a combination of virtual and physical components. Inspired by research investigating aspects associated with near-field interactions in augmented and virtual reality (AR & VR), we investigated how avatarization, the physicality of the interacting components, and the interaction technique used to manipulate a virtual object affected performance and perceptions of user experience in a mixed reality fundamentals of laparoscopic peg-transfer task wherein users had to transfer a virtual ring from one peg to another for a number of trials...

Embodied personalized avatars are a promising new tool to investigate moral decision-making by transposing the user into the "middle of the action" in moral dilemmas. Here, we tested whether avatar personalization and motor control could impact moral decision-making, physiological reactions and reaction times, as well as embodiment, presence and avatar perception. Seventeen participants, who had their personalized avatars created in a previous study, took part in a range of incongruent (i.e., harmful action led to better overall outcomes) and congruent (i...