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Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity

Humanness is an important characteristic for facilitating interpersonal communication, particularly through avatars in the metaverse. In this study, we explored the mirror neuron system (MNS) as a potential neural basis for perceiving humanness in avatars. Although previous research suggests that th...

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Autores principales: Miyamoto, Yuki, Uchitomi, Hirotaka, Miyake, Yoshihiro
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10582709/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37859767
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1173185
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author Miyamoto, Yuki
Uchitomi, Hirotaka
Miyake, Yoshihiro
author_facet Miyamoto, Yuki
Uchitomi, Hirotaka
Miyake, Yoshihiro
author_sort Miyamoto, Yuki
collection PubMed
description Humanness is an important characteristic for facilitating interpersonal communication, particularly through avatars in the metaverse. In this study, we explored the mirror neuron system (MNS) as a potential neural basis for perceiving humanness in avatars. Although previous research suggests that the MNS may be influenced by human-like shape and motion, the results have been inconsistent due to the diversity and complexity of the MNS investigation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of shape and motion humanness in avatars on MNS activity. Participants viewed videos of avatars with four different shapes (HumanShape, AngularShape, AbbreviatedShape, and ScatteredShape) and two types of motion (HumanMotion and LinearMotion), and their μ-wave attenuation in the electroencephalogram was evaluated. Results from a questionnaire indicated that HumanMotion was perceived as human-like, while AbbreviatedShape and ScatteredShape were seen as non-human-like. AngularShape’s humanity was indefinite. The MNS was activated as expected for avatars with human-like shapes and/or motions. However, for non-human-like motions, there were differences in activity trends depending on the avatar shape. Specifically, avatars with HumanShape and ScatteredShape in LinearMotion activated the MNS, but the MNS was indifferent to AngularShape and AbbreviatedShape. These findings suggest that when avatars make non-human-like motions, the MNS is activated not only for human-like appearance but also for the scattered and exaggerated appearance of the human body in the avatar shape. These findings could enhance inter-avatar communication by considering brain activity.
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spelling pubmed-105827092023-10-19 Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity Miyamoto, Yuki Uchitomi, Hirotaka Miyake, Yoshihiro Front Hum Neurosci Human Neuroscience Humanness is an important characteristic for facilitating interpersonal communication, particularly through avatars in the metaverse. In this study, we explored the mirror neuron system (MNS) as a potential neural basis for perceiving humanness in avatars. Although previous research suggests that the MNS may be influenced by human-like shape and motion, the results have been inconsistent due to the diversity and complexity of the MNS investigation. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the effects of shape and motion humanness in avatars on MNS activity. Participants viewed videos of avatars with four different shapes (HumanShape, AngularShape, AbbreviatedShape, and ScatteredShape) and two types of motion (HumanMotion and LinearMotion), and their μ-wave attenuation in the electroencephalogram was evaluated. Results from a questionnaire indicated that HumanMotion was perceived as human-like, while AbbreviatedShape and ScatteredShape were seen as non-human-like. AngularShape’s humanity was indefinite. The MNS was activated as expected for avatars with human-like shapes and/or motions. However, for non-human-like motions, there were differences in activity trends depending on the avatar shape. Specifically, avatars with HumanShape and ScatteredShape in LinearMotion activated the MNS, but the MNS was indifferent to AngularShape and AbbreviatedShape. These findings suggest that when avatars make non-human-like motions, the MNS is activated not only for human-like appearance but also for the scattered and exaggerated appearance of the human body in the avatar shape. These findings could enhance inter-avatar communication by considering brain activity. Frontiers Media S.A. 2023-10-04 /pmc/articles/PMC10582709/ /pubmed/37859767 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1173185 Text en Copyright © 2023 Miyamoto, Uchitomi and Miyake. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Human Neuroscience
Miyamoto, Yuki
Uchitomi, Hirotaka
Miyake, Yoshihiro
Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title_full Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title_fullStr Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title_full_unstemmed Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title_short Effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
title_sort effects of avatar shape and motion on mirror neuron system activity
topic Human Neuroscience
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10582709/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37859767
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2023.1173185
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