How Realistic Should Avatars Be?
An Initial fMRI Investigation of Activation of the Face Perception Network by Real and Animated Faces
Abstract
Abstract. Increased interaction with characters in games and online necessitates a better understanding of how different characteristics of these agents impact media users. This paper investigates a possible neurological underpinning for a common research finding – namely, that animated characters designed to be comparatively more human, more real, and more similar to the people they represent elicit more positive self-reported evaluations. The goal of this study was to examine the extent to which these results might be due to differential processing of character features in brain networks recruited for face recognition. There is some evidence that parts of the face network may be specifically tuned for real human faces. An experiment was conducted where participants viewed photographs of faces of actual agents (humans and animals) or colored drawings of matched agents (cartoon humans and animals). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to measure blood oxygen-level dependent (BOLD) activation in the whole brain and specifically in the face network, we investigated the variation in patterns of activation with human and animal faces that were more or less real. The results were consistent with previous reports that the core regions of the face network are sensitive to the humanness of faces. However, our results extended previous work by showing that regions of the core and extended regions of the face network – and some regions outside the network – were sensitive to realism, but only realism of human faces.
References
(2005). The independent and interactive effects of embodied agent appearance and behavior on self-report, cognitive, and behavioral markers of copresense in Immersive Virtual Environments. PRESENCE: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 14, 379–393.
(2010). Heterogeneous structure in face-selective human occipito-temporal cortex. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22, 2276–2288. doi: 10.1162/jocn.2009.21346
(1996). Picture media and emotion: Effects of a sustained affective context. Psychophysiology, 33, 662–670.
(1997). The psychophysics toolbox. Spatial Vision, 10, 433–436.
(2004). Neural circuits involved in the recognition of actions performed by nonconspecifics: An FMRI study. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 16(1), 114–126. doi: 10.1162/089892904322755601
(2007). Anthropomorphism influences perception of computer-actions. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(3), 206–216.
(2010). Brain response to a humanoid robot in areas implicated in the perception of human emotional gestures. PloS ONE, 5(7), e11577.
(2008). Recognition profile of emotions in natural and virtual faces. PLoS ONE, 3(11), e3628. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0003628
(2009). Defining the face processing network: Optimization of the functional localizer in fMRI. Human Brain Mapping, 30, 1637–1651.
(2007). Virtual humans and persuasion: The effects of agency and behavioral realism. Media Psychology, 10(1), 1–22.
(2000). The distributed human neural system for face perception. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 4(6), 223–233.
(2008). Let’s face it: It’s a cortical network. Neuroimage, 40(2), 415–419. doi: S1053-8119(07)00988-3 [pii] 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.10.040
(2010). Temporal and spatial integration of face, object, and scene features in occipito-temporal cortex. Brain and Cognition, 74(2), 112–122.
(1997). The fusiform face area: a module in human extrastriate cortex specialized for face perception. Journal of Neuroscience, 17, 4302–4311.
(1999). The fusiform face area is selective for faces not animals. Neuroreport, 10(1), 183–187.
(2008). “They may be pixels, buy they’re MY pixels”: Developing a metric of character attachment in role-playing video games. Cyberpsychology and Behavior, 11, 515–518. doi: 10.1089/cpb.2007.0137
(2009). Too real for comfort? Uncanny responses to computer generated faces. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(3), 695–710. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2008.12.026
(2006). The uncanny advantage of using androids in cognitive and social science research. Interaction Studies, 7, 297–337.
(2007). Detecting agency from the biological motion of veridical vs animated agents. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2, 199–205. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsm011
(1970). Bukimi no tani [The uncanny valley]. Energy, 7(4), 33–35.
(2007). Amygdala activation at 3T in response to human and avatar facial expressions of emotions. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 161(1), 126–133. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2006.10.016
(1993). Voices, boxes, and sources of messages: Computers and social actors. Human Communication Research, 19, 504–527.
(2010). Decoding of faces and face components in face-sensitive human visual cortex. Frontiers in Psychology, 1, 28. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2010.00028
(2003). The effect of the agency and anthropomorphism on users’ sense of telepresence, copresence, and social presence in virtual environments. Presence-Teleoperators and Virtual Environments, 12(5), 481–494. doi: 10.1162/105474603322761289
(2009). The effect of image features on judgments of homophily, credibility, and intention to use as avatars in future interactions. Media Psychology, 12(1), 50–76. doi: 10.1080/15213260802669433
(2005). The influence of the avatar on Online perceptions of anthropomorphism, androgyny, credibility, homophily, and attraction. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 11(1), 153–178.
(2011). Mediating roles of self-presentation desire in online game community commitment and trust behavior of massive multiplayer online role-playing games. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(6), 2372–2379. doi: 10.1016/j.chb.2011.07.016
(1997). The VideoToolbox software for visual psychophysics: transforming numbers into movies. Spat Vis, 10, 437–442.
(2011). The role of the occipital face area in the cortical face perception network. Exp Brain Res, 209, 481–493. doi: 10.1007/s00221-011-2579-1
(2007). Region of interest analysis for fMRI. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(1), 67–70. doi: 10.1093/scan/nsm006
(2003). The human temporal lobe integrates facial form and motion: Evidence from fMRI and ERP studies. Neuroimage, 19, 861–869. doi: S1053811903001897 [pii]
(1996). The Media Equation: How people treat computers, television, and new media like real people and places. Stanford, CA: CSLI.
(2008). Constraining the cortical face network by neuroimaging studies of acquired prosopagnosia. Neuroimage, 40, 423–426. doi: S1053-8119(07)00990-1 [pii] 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.10.047
(2006). Divide and conquer: A defense of functional localizers. Neuroimage, 30, 1088–1096.
(2010). Teaching learning strategies with a pedagogical agent: The effects of a virtual tutor and its appearance on learning and motivation. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 22(2), 73–83. doi: 10.1027/1864-1105/a000010
(2011). Avatars and emotional engagement in asynchronous online communication. Cyberpsychology Behavior and Social Networking, 14(4), 207–212. doi: 10.1089/cyber.2010.0083
(2011). Facial expression of emotion and perception of the Uncanny Valley in virtual characters. Computers in Human Behavior, 27(2), 741–749. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2010.10.018
(2000). Response properties of the human fusiform face area. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 17(1–3), 257–280.
(2015). Brain imaging in communication research: A practical guide to understanding and evaluating fMRI studies. Communication Methods and Measures, 9(1), 1–26. doi: 10.1080/19312458.2014.999754
(2010). How socially relevant visual characteristics of avatars influence impression formation. Journal of Media Psychology: Theories, Methods, and Applications, 22(1), 37–43.
(2008). The face network: overextended? (Comment on: “Let’s face it: It’s a cortical network” by Alumit Ishai). Neuroimage, 40(2), 420–422. doi: S1053-8119(07)01103-2 [pii] 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2007.11.061
