Male Bodily Responses during an Interaction with a Virtual Woman

This work presents the analysis of the body movement of male participants, while talking with a life-size virtual woman in a virtual social encounter within a CAVE-like system. We consider independent and explanatory variables including whether the participant is the centre of attention in the scenario, whether the participant is shy or confident, and his relationship status. We also examine whether this interaction between the participant and the virtual character changes as the conversation progresses. The results show that the participants tend to have different hand movements, head movements, and posture depending on these conditions. This research therefore provides strong evidence for using body movement as a systematic method to assess the responses of people within a virtual environment, especially when the participant interacts with a virtual character. These results also point the way towards the application of this technology to the treatment of social phobic males.