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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Can Avatar Appearance Influence Physical Activity? User-Avatar Similarity and Proteus Effects on Cardiac Frequency and Step Counts

Jessica NavarroAusiàs CebollaJorge E. PeñaRosa M. Baños

subject

medicine.medical_specialtyHealth (social science)Physical activity050801 communication & media studiesAudiologyUser-Computer Interface03 medical and health sciences0508 media and communicationsSimilarity (network science)medicineHumansExerciseComputingMethodologies_COMPUTERGRAPHICSAvatar030505 public healthbiologyCommunication05 social sciencesHeart rate monitorComputingMilieux_PERSONALCOMPUTINGProteus effectProteusbiology.organism_classificationProteus0305 other medical scienceCardiac frequencyPsychologyhuman activities

description

This study combined user-avatar similarity and Proteus effect predictions to incentivize physical activity. 305 participants ran while wearing accelerometers and a heart rate monitor. They were randomly assigned to onscreen motion-capturing avatars displaying either participant or stranger faces dressed in sports or formal clothes. Participants assigned to avatars displaying their own face showed increased cardiac frequency compared with those exposed to avatars with a stranger's face. Relative to the remaining conditions, participants assigned to avatars with their own face also wearing sports clothes showed increased cardiac frequency but participants assigned to avatars with a stranger's face wearing formal clothes showed decreased cardiac frequency. The results imply that user-avatar similarity and the Proteus effect can be harnessed to influence physical activity.

yearjournalcountryeditionlanguage
2020-10-15Health Communication
https://doi.org/10.1080/10410236.2020.1834194