Smile and the Virtual World Smiles With You: Electromyographic Response to Avatar Facial Expressions.

It has been noted that recent technological advances in massively multi-player online game (MMOG) communication - for example, voice-over IP (VOIP) - can enrich the mediated social experience offered, leading to increased communication and higher perceived levels of community (Williams et al., 2007). As the graphical capabilities of these social virtual worlds increase, nonverbal face-to-face communication between avatars may be the next step. To examine the extent to which avatar facial cues may be used as an effective communication channel within virtual environments, we obtained actual in-game facial expressions across a variety of avatar types, testing whether certain variables of avatar appearance (degree of human-likeness and stereotypical avatar disposition) affect the strength of expression recognition as measured by facial mimicry. This study employs a 2 (Human Likeness) x 2 (Stereotyped Disposition) x 2 (Valence) x 3 (Repetition) mixed design and operationalizes facial mimicry through EMG change scores. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]