ShareYourReality
Investigating Haptic Feedback and Agency in Virtual Avatar Co-embodiment
Karthikeya Puttur Venkatraj (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI))
Wo Meijer (TU Delft - Internet of Things)
Monica Perusquía-Hernández (Nara Institute of Science and Technology)
G. Huisman (TU Delft - Human Technology Relations)
Abdallah El Ali (Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI))
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Abstract
Virtual co-embodiment enables two users to share a single avatar in Virtual Reality (VR). During such experiences, the illusion of shared motion control can break during joint-action activities, highlighting the need for position-aware feedback mechanisms. Drawing on the perceptual crossing paradigm, we explore how haptics can enable non-verbal coordination between co-embodied participants. In a within-subjects study (20 participant pairs), we examined the effects of vibrotactile haptic feedback (None, Present) and avatar control distribution (25-75%, 50-50%, 75-25%) across two VR reaching tasks (Targeted, Free-choice) on participants’ Sense of Agency (SoA), co-presence, body ownership, and motion synchrony. We found (a) lower SoA in the free-choice with haptics than without, (b) higher SoA during the shared targeted task, (c) co-presence and body ownership were significantly higher in the free-choice task, (d) players’ hand motions synchronized more in the targeted task. We provide cautionary considerations when including haptic feedback mechanisms for avatar co-embodiment experiences.
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