Exploring how people interact with virtual avatars

The growing prevalence of human interactions with artificial intelligence has increased the need for a better understanding of how the brain processes virtual reality. Because how others behave and move can influence how people understand social scenes and even themselves, exploring whether avatar appearance influences virtual interactions is important. To provide insight on this, Vanessa Era and colleagues from Sapienza University of Rome assessed interactions between human participants and avatars with human-like or inhuman bodies.  

Participants in this eNeuro paper observed avatars on a screen and tried to press an up or down button at the same time an avatar touched the top or bottom of a virtual bottle under different conditions: sometimes auditory cues were delivered to inform the participant of which button to press, and other times participants needed to predict the avatar’s movements. The researchers discovered that people processed movements differently based on the avatar’s bodily appearance. Furthermore, a neural system dedicated to perceiving others’ movements differentially contributed to how participants discriminated between movements based off avatar appearance. Some neural signals involved in assessing the movements of others in social settings were also influenced by the bodily appearance of the avatar. This study sheds light on how people process interactions with virtual entities, which may help scientists improve how “real” social interactions are with artificial intelligence.  

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About eNeuro

eNeuro is an online, open-access journal published by the Society for Neuroscience. Established in 2014, eNeuro publishes a wide variety of content, including research articles, short reports, reviews, commentaries and opinions.

About The Society for Neuroscience

The Society for Neuroscience is the world's largest organization of scientists and physicians devoted to understanding the brain and nervous system. The nonprofit organization, founded in 1969, now has nearly 35,000 members in more than 95 countries.