Does the avatar embodiment moderate the Proteus effect?

Abstract

The Proteus effect refers to the tendency for individuals to conform to the stereotypes related to the visual characteristics of the avatar used in a virtual environment. If the phenomenon has been widely observed, underlying mechanisms (e.g., self-perception, priming) and moderation factors, such as avatar embodiment, need confirmation. The sense of embodiment emerges when the properties of the avatar are processed in the same way as the properties of the biological body. The objective of the present study was, first, to investigate the effect of avatar embodiment on the Proteus effect related to the influence of an elderly avatar on motor imagery, and second, to examine the extent to which this relationship is explained by a change in self-perception. In two virtual reality studies, the agency and the self-location components of embodiment were manipulated through visuo-motor synchronization and visual perspective respectively. The time required to perform motor imagery displacements while being embodied (visuo-motor synchrony and first-person perspective) or not (visuo-motor asynchrony and/or third-person perspective) in an elderly avatar was measured. The results showed that the Proteus effect was not stronger the more participants embodied the elderly avatar, which does not support that embodiment moderates the Proteus effect. Moreover, analyses did not confirm that change in explicit self-perception mediates the relationship between embodiment and the Proteus effect. The Proteus effect is discussed in the light of the avatar identification process and the active-self account: crossover between these mechanisms could offer new insights into understanding the influence of avatars on individuals’ behavior.