Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment

The motion control of the virtual avatar enhances a sense of embodiment in a virtual reality (VR). Yet, the detailed relationship between motion control, assigned tasks, and the sense of embodiment remains unclear. We aim to investigate the relationships between degrees of control on a full-body ava...

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Main Authors: DoHyung Kim, Halim Yeo, Kyoungju Park
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Bioengineering
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/12/1/32
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author DoHyung Kim
Halim Yeo
Kyoungju Park
author_facet DoHyung Kim
Halim Yeo
Kyoungju Park
author_sort DoHyung Kim
collection DOAJ
description The motion control of the virtual avatar enhances a sense of embodiment in a virtual reality (VR). Yet, the detailed relationship between motion control, assigned tasks, and the sense of embodiment remains unclear. We aim to investigate the relationships between degrees of control on a full-body avatar and three elements of the sense of embodiment: the sense of self-location, agency, and ownership in standalone and interaction tasks. To do this, we conducted a user study with three conditions of control over a full-body avatar. The types of control are (1) Low—control of an upper-body avatar, (2) Mid—control of a full-body avatar from three sensors, and (3) High—control of a full-body avatar from six sensors. These three control methods, which were used to animate the avatars and imitate the users’ pose, differ in accuracy and stability. Participants embodied three kinds of control and performed a single-user task (obstacle avoidance) and a multi-user task (catch-ball). Our results indicate that the degree of control impacts participants’ embodiment. However, there was no significant difference between high- and mid-control in the multi-user task, which was a different result from the single-user task. This suggests for virtual bodies that the participants capacity to control and see are the same or different, which may affect embodiment. Our result also shows that the multi-user task enhanced the sense of embodiment compared to the single-user task in the low- and mid-control avatars. Yet, the multi-user task decreased the sense of agency of the high-control avatar. This suggests that a failure of the assigned task may affect the sense of agency, especially when it is close to success, yielding revulsion. We further elucidate the insights into the relationship between the degree of control, the assigned tasks, and the elements of a sense of embodiment.
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spelling doaj-art-265b175a821c4f3c9d137595de73f6d42025-01-24T13:23:01ZengMDPI AGBioengineering2306-53542025-01-011213210.3390/bioengineering12010032Effects of an Avatar Control on VR EmbodimentDoHyung Kim0Halim Yeo1Kyoungju Park2Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of KoreaDepartment of Computer Science and Engineering, Chung-Ang University, Seoul 06974, Republic of KoreaThe motion control of the virtual avatar enhances a sense of embodiment in a virtual reality (VR). Yet, the detailed relationship between motion control, assigned tasks, and the sense of embodiment remains unclear. We aim to investigate the relationships between degrees of control on a full-body avatar and three elements of the sense of embodiment: the sense of self-location, agency, and ownership in standalone and interaction tasks. To do this, we conducted a user study with three conditions of control over a full-body avatar. The types of control are (1) Low—control of an upper-body avatar, (2) Mid—control of a full-body avatar from three sensors, and (3) High—control of a full-body avatar from six sensors. These three control methods, which were used to animate the avatars and imitate the users’ pose, differ in accuracy and stability. Participants embodied three kinds of control and performed a single-user task (obstacle avoidance) and a multi-user task (catch-ball). Our results indicate that the degree of control impacts participants’ embodiment. However, there was no significant difference between high- and mid-control in the multi-user task, which was a different result from the single-user task. This suggests for virtual bodies that the participants capacity to control and see are the same or different, which may affect embodiment. Our result also shows that the multi-user task enhanced the sense of embodiment compared to the single-user task in the low- and mid-control avatars. Yet, the multi-user task decreased the sense of agency of the high-control avatar. This suggests that a failure of the assigned task may affect the sense of agency, especially when it is close to success, yielding revulsion. We further elucidate the insights into the relationship between the degree of control, the assigned tasks, and the elements of a sense of embodiment.https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/12/1/32virtual realityemotional responsesextended realityhead-mounted displayscharacter generation
spellingShingle DoHyung Kim
Halim Yeo
Kyoungju Park
Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
Bioengineering
virtual reality
emotional responses
extended reality
head-mounted displays
character generation
title Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
title_full Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
title_fullStr Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
title_full_unstemmed Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
title_short Effects of an Avatar Control on VR Embodiment
title_sort effects of an avatar control on vr embodiment
topic virtual reality
emotional responses
extended reality
head-mounted displays
character generation
url https://www.mdpi.com/2306-5354/12/1/32
work_keys_str_mv AT dohyungkim effectsofanavatarcontrolonvrembodiment
AT halimyeo effectsofanavatarcontrolonvrembodiment
AT kyoungjupark effectsofanavatarcontrolonvrembodiment