Avatar Face Recognition and Self-Presence: An ERP Study

The present study was designed to investigate how users neurologically respond to self-relevant virtual avatars when they identify the avatars as themselves. In particular, using an electroencephalogram (EEG) measures, this study aimed to explore how users physiologically respond to the avatars wearing their own faces. 25 undergraduate students participated in an ERP-based experiment at a large university in Seoul, Korea. In the 2x4 within-subjects factorial design, each subject was exposed to the eight combinations of two types of face presentations (photo faces vs. avatar faces) and four categories of faces (self-faces, famous faces, ideal faces, unfamiliar faces). The findings demonstrated that users paid much more attention to their own faces than to other faces regardless of the face presentation type. In conclusion, the findings of this study suggest that the brain potential signals of EEG can be utilized for understanding the relationship between human face-recognition system and self-presence in the domain of virtual avatars.