Effects of Human and Animal Partner-Avatars on Profile Memory in Virtual Reality

Advancements in virtual reality technology have facilitated users in freely changing their appearance during communication. Notably, it has become evident that the perceptual and cognitive responses of users vary when their partner uses an animal avatar compared to those when using a human avatar. This study aimed to clarify the effects of partner-avatars on memory through experiments wherein participants were tasked with memorizing the profiles spoken by the partner-avatars. A preliminary experiment validated the assumption that both the animal avatars and the virtual environments could be integrated into processes of profile memory. Subsequently, the primary experiment examined differences in performance in remembering partners’ profiles when the partners were animal avatars versus human avatars. The results showed that the animal avatar condition was marginally inferior to the human avatar condition. Moreover, the perceived intimacy and the presence of others were significantly lower in the animal avatar condition. These findings suggested that interacting with animal avatars may have specific drawbacks in terms of profile memory and engagement in social interactions within virtual environments.