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Perspective Taking and Avatar-Self Merging.

Jochen Müsseler1, Sophia von Salm-Hoogstraeten1, Christian Böffel1

  • 1Institute of Psychology, Work and Engineering Psychology, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.

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Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Users can feel merged with their digital avatars, especially when controlling them. This avatar-self merging is a continuous process influenced by taking the avatar's perspective, affecting user behavior.

Keywords:
Theory of Event Codingagencyavatar embodimentavatar-self mergingminimal selfownershipperspective takingspatial compatibility

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Area of Science:

  • Human-Computer Interaction
  • Cognitive Psychology
  • Virtual Reality Studies

Background:

  • Avatars represent users in digital environments like games and virtual workplaces.
  • Users may experience a merging of their self with their avatar, influencing self-perception.
  • This phenomenon, avatar-self merging, impacts how users perceive their identity and actions in virtual spaces.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To introduce the event-coding approach of the self in the context of human-avatar interaction.
  • To argue that self-controlled avatars can lead to avatar-self merging.
  • To explore the factors contributing to avatar-self merging, including perspective-taking.

Main Methods:

  • Literature review on human-avatar interaction and the event-coding approach.
  • Theoretical argument based on user control, goal setting, action execution, and outcome comparison.
  • Discussion of affective, cognitive, and visuo-spatial perspective-taking.

Main Results:

  • Self-controlled avatars foster feelings of body ownership and agency.
  • Avatar-self merging is a continuous process, not binary.
  • Successful avatar perspective-taking can lead to spontaneous behaviors contrary to the user's own.

Conclusions:

  • Avatar-self merging is a significant aspect of human-avatar interaction.
  • User control and perspective-taking are key drivers of avatar-self merging.
  • Understanding avatar-self merging is crucial for designing immersive and engaging virtual experiences.