Speaking Through an Avatar: Emotional Expressiveness, Individual Differences, User Experience and Performance
Source abstract
Abstract
Emotionally expressive avatars are often used to increase engagement in virtual environments, but their effects on users’ emotional outcomes and experience during evaluative tasks are not well established. This study examined whether differences in avatar emotional expressiveness are associated with affective responses and user experience during a socially evaluative speech task in virtual reality (VR), and how individual characteristics and emotional variables relate to performance and user experience. Sixty-three university students were randomly assigned to deliver a five-minute self-presentation, simulating a job interview, in front of a virtual mirror while embodied in either a high-expressive or low-expressive avatar. In the present study, the manipulation of avatar expressiveness was implemented using Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro headsets, differing mainly in facial-tracking capability. Participants completed a structured three-phase protocol: pre-avatar embodiment (baseline questionnaires), avatar embodiment (speech task), and post-avatar embodiment (post-task measures). Emotional state and trait variables, speech fluency and engagement during the task, and user experience variables were assessed. No significant effects of avatar expressiveness were found on emotional or experiential variables. Correlation analyses revealed a positive association between extraversion and avatar embodiment. These findings contribute to our understanding of the factors that are associated with user experience and behaviour in avatar-based VR environments and suggest that individual traits, such as extraversion, should be considered when designing VR applications for training, education, and therapeutic purposes.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts · Social Robot Interaction and HRI · Action Observation and Synchronization
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Instituto Universitario de Automática e Informática Industrial, Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Departamento de Psicología y Sociología, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales y Humanas, Universidad de Zaragoza, 44003 Teruel, Spain
Departamento de Psicología, Facultad de Psicología, Universidad de Oviedo, 33003 Oviedo, Spain
Instituto de Neurociencias del Principado de Asturias (INEUROPA), 33003 Oviedo, Spain
Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria del Principado de Asturias (ISPA), 33011 Oviedo, Spain
IIS Aragón, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Funding
Ministerio de Ciencia Innovación y Universidades/ Agencia Estatal de Investigación/ ERDF/EU · Gobierno de Aragón
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