Social Signal Processing in Affective Virtual Reality: Human-Shaped Agents Increase Electrodermal Activity in an...

Area of Science:

• Virtual Reality (VR) and Affective Computing
• Psychophysiology and Emotion Research

Background:

• Social stimuli generally elicit stronger physiological arousal (social EDA effect) than nonsocial stimuli.
• Virtual reality (VR) offers enhanced presence and ecological validity, but its impact on the social EDA effect is not well understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the social EDA effect within immersive virtual reality environments.
• To examine how the sense of presence (SoP) influences affective and physiological responses to social vs. nonsocial VR content.
• To explore the role of negative social content in VR-induced arousal.

Main Methods:

• Seventy-two participants experienced six virtual environments (VEs) designed for positive, negative, or neutral affect.
• VEs were presented in both social (with virtual agents) and nonsocial (without agents) contexts.
• Physiological arousal was measured using electrodermal activity (EDA); sense of presence (SoP) was self-reported.

Main Results:

• The social EDA effect was confirmed in VR, indicating higher arousal for social than nonsocial stimuli.
• Sense of presence (SoP) significantly amplified the social EDA effect.
• Negative social content in VR elicited a particularly strong social EDA effect, consistent with negativity bias.

Conclusions:

• Social content in VR significantly influences affective and physiological responses, amplifying arousal.
• The sense of presence (SoP) plays a crucial role in modulating the impact of social stimuli in VR.
• Findings highlight the potential of VR for studying emotion and the importance of social context, especially negative content, in VR applications.