Virtual Humans: A framework for the embodiment in Avatars and social perception of others in Virtual Agents in Immersive Virtual Environments

Immersive Virtual Environments (IVEs) are increasingly pervasive and are used not only in the entertainment industry, but also in many fields of the domestic and public everyday life, such as medical studies and treatments, training, learning techniques, and cultural heritage. The work presented aims to improve Virtual Humans naturalness in IVEs, taking a step forward into the Uncanny Valley. To reach this objective, research is developed in two main areas. The first relies on well-established studies on human universal emotions (such as Ekman), that are exploited to create emotional virtual agents and virtual environments. This could be a base to create natural and ecological environments in which to carry out experiments on human behaviors. Different studies are presented in virtual environments with different types of participants and purposes: evaluations of the emotional content or evaluation of the impact of VR on training. The second area explores the embodiment and the induction of the user’s body ownership over a virtual human body. This could lead not only to more natural interactions in IVE but could also be a base to meaningful studies on human nature. Two studies are carried out that contribute to this investigation, one that analyses vicarious responses in tetraplegic participants, and the other that evaluates voice shifts during a singing performance in VR. In each area, the work relies on two main expertise fields: neuroscience Paradigms, that exploit various techniques for embodiment and natural interactions, and state of art level graphics, animations, and VR development.