Mal David, Wolf Erik, Dollinger Nina, Wienrich Carolin, Latoschik Marc Erich
IEEE Trans Vis Comput Graph. 2023 May;29(5):2358-2368. doi: 10.1109/TVCG.2023.3247089. Epub 2023 Mar 29.
Many studies show the significance of the Proteus effect for serious virtual reality applications. The present study extends the existing knowledge by considering the relationship (congruence) between the self-embodiment (avatar) and the virtual environment. We investigated the impact of avatar and environment types and their congruence on avatar plausibility, sense of embodiment, spatial presence, and the Proteus effect. In a $2\times 2$ between-subjects design, participants embodied either an avatar in sports- or business wear in a semantic congruent or incongruent environment while performing lightweight exercises in virtual reality. The avatar-environment congruence significantly affected the avatar's plausibility but not the sense of embodiment or spatial presence. However, a significant Proteus effect emerged only for participants who reported a high feeling of (virtual) body ownership, indicating that a strong sense of having and owning a virtual body is key to facilitating the Proteus effect. We discuss the results assuming current theories of bottom-up and top-down determinants of the Proteus effect and thus contribute to understanding its underlying mechanisms and determinants.
许多研究表明了普洛透斯效应在严肃虚拟现实应用中的重要性。本研究通过考虑自我化身与虚拟环境之间的关系（一致性）扩展了现有知识。我们研究了化身和环境类型及其一致性对化身可信度、具身感、空间临场感和普洛透斯效应的影响。在一项2×2的组间设计中，参与者在语义一致或不一致的环境中，以穿着运动服或商务装的化身进行虚拟现实中的轻度锻炼。化身与环境的一致性显著影响了化身的可信度，但对具身感或空间临场感没有影响。然而，只有那些报告有强烈（虚拟）身体拥有感的参与者才出现了显著的普洛透斯效应，这表明强烈的拥有虚拟身体的感觉是促进普洛透斯效应的关键。我们根据当前关于普洛透斯效应的自下而上和自上而下决定因素的理论来讨论结果，从而有助于理解其潜在机制和决定因素。
