Past research highlights the potential for leveraging both humans and animals as social
support figures in one's real life to enhance performance and reduce physiological and …

Background and objective As social interactions increasingly shift towards digitally mediated
communications, understanding the underlying mechanisms of virtually provided support …

When people are in emotional distress, they often seek support. Virtual humans may provide
unique and complementary benefits to human support provision, given that virtual humans …

Given the increasing use of virtual characters, research is challenged to gain sufficient
knowledge on the effects they may have on human cognitions, emotions and behaviors …

Domestic animals have a long history of enriching human lives physically and mentally by
filling a variety of different roles, such as service animals, emotional support animals …

Human–animal interaction (HAI) has been observed to effectively reduce stress and induce
positive emotions owing to the process of directly petting and interacting with animals …

New technologies, such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR), can be used as
an add-on to exposure therapy for common anxiety disorders. Although the benefits of VR …

We introduce a novel technique for the study of human–virtual character interaction in
immersive virtual reality. The human participants verbally administered a standard …

Background The uncanny valley hypothesis states that users may experience discomfort
when interacting with almost human-like artificial characters. Advancements in artificial …

Interactions with wildlife can contribute to biodiversity conservation outcomes, though safety
and accessibility considerations limit animal encounters from being a viable strategy. This …