An embodied body morphology task for investigating self-avatar proportions perception in Virtual Reality

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Body perception is prone to distortions, influenced by visual stimuli.
• Virtual Reality (VR) allows embodiment of avatars dissimilar to one's own body, mirroring real-world body judgment inaccuracies.

Purpose of the Study:

• Investigate self-perception of body morphology in healthy individuals within immersive VR.
• Examine the impact of co-present virtual humans on body self-perception during avatar embodiment.

Main Methods:

• Participants embodied various avatars with differing body proportions in VR.
• Body morphology judgments were compared between avatars and perceived own body.
• The influence of virtual agents' appearances was assessed during co-presence tasks.

Main Results:

• A consistent overestimation of participants' own leg length was observed.
• The appearance of co-present virtual agents did not significantly affect body perception judgments.
• Embodiment scores correlated with body morphology judgments, with lower embodiment reported for avatars with shorter legs.

Conclusions:

• Embodied experience in VR influences body self-perception, distinct from mere visual assessment.
• Specifics of embodied body judgment methods are suggested, highlighting the role of avatar embodiment in self-perception accuracy.