Agency and Virtual Body Ownership of a Virtual Bat´s Avatar in VR

Andreasen, Anastassia

4. term

Medialogy, Master

2016

2016-06-01

206

Virtuel virkelighed (VR) kan føles meget realistisk, men det er en udfordring at få brugere til at opleve en virtuel krop som deres egen, især når kroppen ikke er menneskelig. Dette speciale undersøger, hvad der understøtter illusionen om at eje en morfologisk anderledes krop (en flagermus) i VR med fokus på agens (oplevelsen af at have kontrol over handlinger) og kropsejerskab (følelsen af, at den virtuelle krop er ens egen). Begge eksperimenter viste signifikante forskelle mellem betingelserne. I det første eksperiment, som brugte visuotaktil feedback (sammenfald mellem det, deltagerne så, og det, de følte), brød fravær af taktil input illusionen om ejerskab. I det andet eksperiment, som undersøgte både bevægelser med lemmer og bevægelse gennem miljøet, reducerede passiv bevægelse på skærmen og fravær af proprioceptiv feedback (den indre sans for kropsstilling og bevægelse) kropsejerskab. Studiet fandt en lineær sammenhæng mellem agens og kropsejerskab: højere agens var forbundet med stærkere ejerskab, hvilket tyder på, at agens er med til at strukturere ejerskab i VR. Desuden kunne en asynkron mapping af kontrollerede bevægelser stadig opleves som om handlingerne var synkrone. Endelig var det vigtigt, at den virtuelle krop var synlig i scenen, når der blev brugt en ikke-menneskelig avatar.

Virtual reality (VR) can feel lifelike, but making users feel that a virtual body is their own, especially when it is not human, remains challenging. This thesis examines what supports the illusion of owning a morphologically different body (a bat) in VR by focusing on agency (the sense of controlling actions) and body ownership (the feeling that the virtual body is yours). Both experiments showed significant differences between conditions. In the first experiment, which used visuotactile feedback (matching what participants saw with what they felt), conditions without tactile input disrupted the illusion of ownership. In the second experiment, which examined both limb movements and movement through the environment, passive on-screen motion and the absence of proprioceptive feedback (the internal sense of body position and movement) reduced ownership. The study found a linear relationship between agency and body ownership: higher agency was associated with stronger ownership, suggesting that agency helps structure ownership in VR. Notably, an asynchronous mapping for controlled movements could still be experienced as if actions were synchronous. Finally, when using a non-human avatar, it was important that participants could see the virtual body in the scene.

[This abstract was generated with the help of AI]

VR ; Virtual Body Ownership ; Agency ; Virtual Embodiment ; Controlled Movements ; Uncontrolled Movements

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Andreasen, Anastassia:

• Agency and Virtual Body Ownership of a Virtual Bat´s Avatar in VR (2016)