Gestures vs. Emojis: Comparing Non-Verbal Reaction Visualizations for Immersive Collaboration.

Area of Science:

• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality
• Communication Studies

Background:

• Collaborative virtual environments (CVEs) enable telepresence but often hinder non-verbal communication due to shared content.
• Reduced attention to non-verbal cues in CVEs leads to less effective communication among collaborators.
• Exploring novel visualization techniques is crucial for improving interaction fidelity in virtual settings.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the impact of exaggerated gestures and abstract visuals on communication effectiveness in CVEs.
• To compare the performance of natural, exaggerated, and abstract non-verbal visualizations.
• To determine the optimal combination of non-verbal cues for enhanced user perception and understanding.

Main Methods:

• User study design to assess identification time, understanding, and perception.
• Implementation of varied non-verbal visualization techniques within a collaborative virtual environment.
• Comparative analysis of user performance across different visualization conditions.

Main Results:

• Exaggerated gestures significantly outperformed non-exaggerated gestures in conveying non-verbal information.
• Abstract visuals proved effective for communicating intentional reactions and emotional states.
• The combination of exaggerated gestures and abstract visuals yielded benefits over individual methods.

Conclusions:

• Exaggerated gestures and abstract visuals are promising for improving non-verbal communication in CVEs.
• Optimizing avatar visualizations can mitigate attention conflicts with shared content.
• Future research should explore hybrid visualization approaches for richer virtual interactions.