Previous research has drawn attention to the fact that Virtual Reality (VR) technology is primarily designed around the interests and needs of male, western, educated, and wealthy individuals. In this paper, we look specifically at the avatars used in VR research. We analyzed 40 recent studies in which research participants embodied full avatars or were given virtual hands. While nearly every study matched the gender of the participant to the gender of the avatar, similar efforts were not made regarding skin color. We draw attention to two serious problems in VR research: the explicit and implicit exclusion of participants on the basis of skin color through avatar design. Explicit exclusion, in which only participants whose skin tones matched the light-skinned avatar were recruited occurred in 5% of the studies analyzed. Implicit exclusion occurred when participants embodied an avatar whose skin tone did not match their own. Only 10 (17.5%) of the studies analyzed provided avatar personalization which included different skin tone options that participants could select. Some of the only studies (five out of 40) which utilized Black or dark-skinned avatars were doing so in the context of studying racial bias with all white participants. We argue that using light-skinned default avatars is not acceptable from a research ethics standpoint and that doing so serves to further maintain and normalize systemic racism. We provide recommendations for researchers with the goal of both mitigating and bringing awareness to current issues in VR research.

Schizophrenia is a serious mental health disorder which may include symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized behavior. In addition to experiencing a diverse symptomatology, individuals with schizophrenia suffer from significant stigmatization which can interfere with effective treatment of the disorder among other issues. As a primary source of stigmatization comes from healthcare professionals, we were motivated to explore new ways in which to educate healthcare students about the symptoms of schizophrenia. Despite its potential to immerse users in new experiences within a real environment, little research concerning the use of augmented reality (AR) to simulate schizophrenia exists. In this paper, we present Live-It, a tool designed using recommendations from prior work as well as inspiration from lived experiences to educate mental health students about schizophrenia. The simulation uses the video passthrough capabilities of the Meta Quest 3 headset to simulate delusions, auditory hallucinations and additional symptomatology. Using thematic analysis, we evaluated our simulation with nineteen students and eighteen experts in healthcare to understand its ability to engage users and reliably represent symptoms of the disorder, as well as to determine how best to improve upon the design before the tool is widely deployed in mental health curricula.Our findings suggest that participants better understood symptoms of schizophrenia after experiencing the simulation, highlighting the potential of Live-It to be used as an educational tool. We present our design, provide a detailed analysis of our findings, and underline next steps in the development of our tool.

Synthesizing photo products such as photo strips and slideshows using a database of images is a time-consuming and tedious process that requires significant manual work. To overcome this limitation, we developed a method that automatically synthesizes photo sequences based on several design parameters. Our method considers the valence and arousal ratings of images in conjunction with parameters related to both the visual consistency of the synthesized photo sequence and the progression of valence and arousal throughout the photo sequence. Our method encodes valence, arousal, and visual consistency parameters as cost terms into a total cost function while applying a Markov chain Monte Carlo optimization techniques called simulated annealing to synthesize the photo sequence based on user-defined target objectives in a few seconds. As our method was developed for the synthesis of photo sequences using the valence-arousal emotional model, a user study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of the synthesized photo sequences in triggering valence-arousal ratings as expected. Our results indicate that the proposed method synthesizes photo sequences in which valence and arousal dimensions are perceived as expected by participants; however, valence may be more appropriately perceived than arousal.

Summary As motion‐sensing devices become more accessible to consumers, it is important to understand how users experience embodiment when using these devices. In our 3 × 2 between‐groups study, we explored eye fixations and electrodermal activity (EDA) in order to more objectively understand potential interaction effects between the self‐avatar body, and the presence of a mirror within the context of low‐budget embodiment. We developed six experimental conditions concerning Body (human, mannequin, and zombie self‐avatars) and Mirror (mirror and no mirror) factors, and presented participants with a virtual environment in which they could control their self‐avatars by using HTC Vive controllers and trackers. In addition to eye fixations and EDA, we assessed self‐reported data concerning body ownership, agency, self‐location, as well as enjoyment of the experience. Our results suggest that the Body may have been more influential in eliciting body ownership than the Mirror, and that an interaction effect between Gender and Body may influence eye gaze behavior. Additionally, female participants reported significantly higher agency than males. We consider logical next steps for similar research which might elaborate upon our findings.

How does haptic feedback during a human-virtual human interaction affect emotional arousal in virtual reality? In this between-subjects study, we compare haptic feedback and no haptic feedback conditions in which a virtual human “bumps” into the participant in order to determine the influence of haptic feedback on emotional arousal, sense of presence, and embodiment in virtual reality, as well as compare self-report measures of emotional arousal to those objectively collected via event-related galvanic skin response (GSR) recordings. We plan to extend the current preliminary study by adding three more conditions as described in the future work section. Participants are students age 18-32 with at least moderate experience in virtual reality. Preliminary results indicate significant differences in presence and embodiment between haptic feedback and no haptic feedback groups. With our small sample size at the current time, GSR does not show significant differences between haptic and no haptic feedback conditions.

Abstract In this study, we compare haptic feedback and nonhaptic feedback conditions in which virtual characters bump into the participant who is immersed in a virtual environment. A questionnaire was developed to determine the influence of haptic feedback on a number of concepts (presence, embodiment, positive and negative affect, interaction realism with virtual character, and haptic feedback realism). Physiological data were also collected using galvanic skin response (GSR) to investigate the influence of haptic feedback on physiological arousal during human–virtual character interaction. Five conditions were developed (no haptic feedback, full intensity, half intensity, incorrect position, and delayed timing) to determine which aspects of haptic feedback are most important in influencing participant responses. Significant differences were found in embodiment, realism of virtual character interaction, and haptic feedback realism. In addition, significant differences were found in GSR amplitude after the first interaction with the virtual character. Implications for further research are discussed.