Research into online social virtual worlds demonstrates their utility as a methodological tool
for studying social behaviors and traits. Less is known about what aspects of the virtual …

This article looks through a critical media lens at mediated effects and ethical concerns of
virtual reality (VR) applications that explore personal and social issues through embodiment …

This paper reports the results of three studies, each of which investigated the sense of
presence within virtual environments as a function of visual display parameters. These …

Virtual Reality (VR) has been increasingly referred to as the “ultimate empathy machine”
since it allows users to experience any situation from any point of view. However, empirical …

Preventing users from walking through virtual boundaries (eg, walls) is an important issue to
be addressed in room-scale virtual environments (VEs), considering the safety and design …

Empirical studies have repeatedly shown that autonomous artificial entities elicit social
behavior on the part of the human interlocutor. Various theoretical approaches have tried to …

Emotional support in the context of psychological caregiving is an important aspect of
human–human interaction that can significantly increase well-being. In this study, we tested …

Current avatar representations used in immersive VR applications lack features that may be
important for supporting natural behaviors and effective communication among individuals …

People mimic each other's actions and postures during everyday interactions. It is widely
believed this mimicry acts as a social glue, leading to increased rapport. We present two …

Abstract A survey study (N= 223) of participants in the social virtual world, Second Life,
examined the relationship between Big Five personality factors, experiences in the virtual …