Self-expansion preference is characterized by a positive orientation toward discovering new aspects of oneself and has been shown to correlate positively with indicators of well-being. Previous research has primarily treated self-expansion preference as a stable individual trait, with little attention given to methods for actively cultivating it. As a first step toward developing approaches to foster self-expansion orientation for enhancing people’s well-being, this study focused on the potential of new successful experiences to nurture self-expansion orientation. To this end, we developed a virtual reality (VR) occupational experience system that allows users to virtually experience unfamiliar professions, and conducted experiments and user interviews with university students to investigate how different styles of successful experiences influence self-expansion preference. The results showed that participants who repeatedly experienced the fishing profession in VR five times demonstrated a significant increase in self-expansion preference, whereas participants who experienced five different occupations once each did not show similar changes. Post-experiment interview results suggested that such increases are influenced less by objective success or external feedback, and more by the perceived sense of having succeeded, which is facilitated by sufficient engagement enabling individuals to gain confidence in the task.
The Proteus effect refers to a phenomenon in which individuals infer expected behaviors and attitudes based on the appearance of their avatars. While previous research has explored the influence of the Proteus effect on various perceptual and cognitive domains, this study is the first to investigate its impact on taste perception. We hypothesized that embodying an avatar representing a wine expert, a sommelier, would enhance participants’ ability to perceive more complex wine flavors. To test this, we examined the changes in wine flavor perception when participants evaluated red wine in a virtual environment while embodying three different avatars (Hands-only, Non-expert, and Expert avatars). The results demonstrated that participants selected significantly more fruit-related terms (e.g., berry, cherry) when using the Expert avatar compared to the Non-expert avatar, as measured by an aroma wheel-based evaluation. Moreover, participants’ impressions of the avatar’s wine expertise positively correlated with their ratings of the wine’s fruitiness, mellowness, smoothness, and overall likability. These findings suggest that embodying avatars perceived as experts influence descriptive vocabulary, possibly by facilitating the recall of prototypical flavor-related terms.
The processing of multisensory information, such as vision and haptics, is crucial to perceive object properties surrounding us. According to the optimal integration framework, each sensory modality is weighted based on its reliability to make a coherent representation. Given dynamic changes in the environment, their weights should be flexible to perceive the surrounding environment. This study examined whether haptic sensitivity increases after experiencing incongruent visual-haptic stimuli. Participants touched two protrusions and judged their size. An incongruent visual-haptic stimulus was presented in between touching the two protrusions. Assuming that the weight of vision decreases with the presentation of an incongruent visual-haptic stimulus, the relative weight of haptics increases after experiencing an incongruent stimulus compared with that after experiencing a congruent stimulus. Such changes in the weights can increase haptic size sensitivity. The results demonstrated that haptic size sensitivity increases after experiencing an incongruent visual-haptic stimulus. We also analyzed the relationship between haptic sensitivity and cardiovascular and respiratory responses such as respiration rate, heart rate, tissue oxygenation index (a surrogate index of blood flow), and blood pressure. We found a correlation between changes in haptic sensitivity and forearm blood flow. These results indicate that the weights of sensory modalities change dynamically, and forearm blood flow may contribute to this modulation.
Previous research has demonstrated that avatars concealing personal attributes reduce psychological barriers and promote physical proximity during virtual interactions; however, it remains unclear whether these effects persist in later face-to-face encounters. To investigate the persistence of these effects, this study examined how avatar-mediated communication affects impression formation and subsequent face-to-face interaction, using intergenerational communication as a case study. In such contexts, differences in life experience and social discomfort can lead to reduced collaboration efficiency and potential prejudice. We conducted an experiment with two dialogue sessions under two conditions, involving young adults (aged 20 to 39) and older adults (aged 40 to 59), with a minimum age difference of 20 years between each pair. The two conditions were: (1) avatar-based communication followed by face-to-face communication, and (2) face-to-face communication in both sessions. Our findings indicate that while avatar-based communication initially reduced interpersonal distance during the virtual session, this effect did not carry over to subsequent face-to-face interactions. Qualitative analysis revealed that participants formed impressions and estimated their partner’s age primarily based on voice and conversation content rather than avatar appearance. These results suggest that avatars have limited influence in short-term hybrid communication contexts, particularly when users do not strongly identify avatars as their interaction partners. Further research should explore the specific conditions under which avatars can effectively contribute to impression formation, with potential applications for supporting intergenerational communication in both virtual and face-to-face contexts.
Recent advances in sensory integration theories have led to the development of sophisticated methods for understanding multimodal integration. Among these, the Bayesian causal inference (BCI) model, which does not assume mandatory integration, is considered capable of explaining the effects of individual differences that affect multisensory integration, such as bottom-up (i.e., sensory profiles) or top-down (i.e., knowledge or beliefs) factors. Hand redirection (HR), which creates an unnoticeable discrepancy between the actual hand movement and the visual feedback of the avatar hand in virtual reality, has attracted attention recently as a method for improving operability and haptic presentation. However, it has been reported that there are significant individual differences in awareness and effectiveness of HR. We hypothesized that by modeling HR using a BCI model rather than the maximum likelihood estimation or Bayesian integration models that have been examined in the past, we could investigate measures to improve the practicality of HR while accounting for individual variability. To test this hypothesis, we collected data on participants’ estimated positions of their real and virtual hands and detection thresholds using an device-driven HR approach that differs from conventional HR paradigms. Results demonstrated that the BCI model fit the overall trend of the position data well. However, the model fit decreased with the increasing number of trials at the individual level. Furthermore, our analysis suggested that specific parameters of the BCI model could explain individual differences in HR thresholds. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that BCI models can improve the explainability of HR, contributing to a better understanding of how individual differences manifest in the integration of multisensory input.
