Abstract
When an individual embodies an avatar, the latter’s characteristics or stereotype can change the individual’s behavior and attitudes; this is known as the Proteus effect. Here, we looked at whether the embodiment of an avatar resembling an elderly adult (seen from a first-person perspective and facing a virtual mirror) changed mentally represented physical activity in a motor imagery task performed by young adult participants (N = 52). To ensure that the impact of embodiment of an elderly avatar on the motor imagery task was not influenced by a potentially confounded stereotype assimilation effect (due to the mere presence of an avatar), a “young” avatar and an “elderly” avatar were always present together in the virtual environment–even though only one (the self-avatar) was embodied at a given time. We found that it took longer for the participants to perform the motor imagery task with the elderly self-avatar than with the young self-avatar. The more negative the participant’s beliefs about motor activity in the elderly, the greater the observed effect of the avatar on motor imagery performance. We conclude that knowledge about the characteristics of an embodied avatar can modify the subject’s level of mentally represented physical activity.
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We thank Dr David Fraser (Biotech Communication, Damery, France) for improving the manuscript's English.
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MB, JB, DL, PMS and MG participated in the conception and design of the study. MB, JB, DL, PMS and MG conducted the study. All the authors participated in the interpretation of the data and critically revised the manuscript before approving the final version.
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Beaudoin, M., Barra, J., Dupraz, L. et al. The impact of embodying an “elderly” body avatar on motor imagery. Exp Brain Res 238, 1467–1478 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05828-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-020-05828-5