Impact of avatar facial anthropomorphism on body ownership, attractiveness and social presence in collaborative tasks in immersive virtual environments

Effective collaboration in immersive virtual environments requires to be able communicate flawlessly using both verbal and non-verbal communication. We present two experiments investigating the impact of facial anthropomorphism on sense body ownership, avatar attractiveness, social presence performance collaborative tasks. In first experiment participants have solve a construction game according their partner’s instructions three avatars presenting different properties. Results reveal no significant difference terms ownership presence, but demonstrate differences attractiveness completion duration task. Unexpectedly, correlation analyses also link between performance. The more attractive avatar, shorter game. Our second was designed investigate further potential task carried out same avatars. While we observed very high tasks (asymmetric negotiation) with every our results did not conditions. However, statistically types. scores co-presence perceived message understanding dimensions were higher during negotiation appears sensitive, especially when communication becomes important face-to-face interaction environments.