Self-Avatar Recognition in Virtual Reality: the Self Advantage Phenomenon and the Relative Importance of Motion and Visual Congruence

In virtual reality, avatars represent ourselves and serve as a means to interact with others and the environment. Thus, understanding the self-recognition process in VR and designing self-avatars that have strong connections with the self is critical in enhancing immersion and efficiency of interaction in VR. In this paper, we investigated the characteristics of the self-recognition process in VR and the crucial factors that enhance the bond between the self and the avatar. In Study 1, we tested whether the advantage in cognitive processing of self-related information, often observed in reality, is also replicated for briefly embodied self-avatars in VR and how it is modulated by way of avatar selection and the degree of embodiment. The results showed that the self-avatar was processed more efficiently than other avatars, despite the constant changes in the appearance and a brief embodiment period. Moreover, the self-advantage effect was more pronounced for personally selected avatars, rather than those assigned by the experimenter. In Study 2, we compared the relative importance of motion and visual congruence in the process of identifying an entity as the self-avatar. The results indicated that motion synchrony between the user and the avatar is relatively more emphasized than the match in visual appearance when identifying oneself in VR. These findings highlight the underlying mechanisms and crucial factors for self-recognition in VR, and provide valuable insights for designing more immersive virtual experiences in various social VR applications.