TY  - JOUR
AU  - Jung, Myeongul
AU  - Sim, Sangyong
AU  - Kim, Jejoong
AU  - Kim, Kwanguk
PY  - 2022
DA  - 2022/11/8
TI  - Impact of Personalized Avatars and Motion Synchrony on Embodiment and Users’ Subjective Experience: Empirical Study
JO  - JMIR Serious Games
SP  - e40119
VL  - 10
IS  - 4
KW  - embodiment
KW  - virtual reality
KW  - virtual avatar
KW  - personalization
KW  - personalized
KW  - body motion
KW  - presence
KW  - simulator sickness
KW  - simulator
KW  - simulation
KW  - avatar
KW  - motion
KW  - body ownership
KW  - self location
KW  - agency
KW  - experience
KW  - virtual world
KW  - immersive
AB  - Background: Embodiment through a virtual avatar is a key element for people to feel that they are in the virtual world. Objective: This study aimed to elucidate the interaction between 2 methods of eliciting embodiment through a virtual avatar: motion synchronization and appearance similarity between a human and avatar, to understand embodiment (agency, body ownership, and self-location) and subjective experience (presence, simulator sickness, and emotion) in virtual reality. Methods: Using a full-body motion capture system, 24 participants experienced their virtual avatars with a 3D-scanned face and size-matched body from a first-person perspective. This study used a 2 (motion; sync and async) × 2 (appearance; personalized and generic) within-subject design. Results: The results indicated that agency and body ownership increased when motion and appearance were matched, whereas self-location, presence, and emotion were affected by motion only. Interestingly, if the avatar’s appearance was similar to the participants (personalized avatar), they formed an agency toward the avatar’s motion that was not performed by themselves. Conclusions: Our findings would be applicable in the field of behavioral therapy, rehabilitation, and entertainment applications, by eliciting higher agency with a personalized avatar. 
SN  - 2291-9279
UR  - https://games.jmir.org/2022/4/e40119
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2196/40119
UR  - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36346658
DO  - 10.2196/40119
ID  - info:doi/10.2196/40119
ER  -