More and more often, we interact with avatars—during online meetings, while shopping in virtual stores, and in similar situations. A new Japanese study has found that we tend to make riskier decisions when our actions are evaluated by avatars rather than humans. The research was conducted by the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT).
In the study, 28 participants would make a series of decisions, each time choosing between a safe option with a small but guaranteed economic reward and a risky option with a potential, higher reward. During the session, they would be observed by either a human or an avatar. When the participant chose the risky option, a successful outcome would trigger an admiring facial expression from the observer, while a failure would trigger a contemptuous expression.
“Results showed that participants made more risky choices in the avatar condition than in the human condition”, according to a press release from NICT.
Feedback in one specific brain region
While avatar-mediated communication is spreading rapidly, scientific studies on how avatars influence human cognition and decision-making are still in their early stages. Little is known about how behavior changes when a communication partner’s facial expressions are shown via avatars rather than real faces.
Supplementing the data on decision-making by the participants, the research team led by Dr. Tanaka Toshiko and Dr. Haruno Mashiko carried out fMRI brains scanning. This is a non-invasive imaging technique that measures brain activity by detecting changes in blood flow in specific brain regions.
Here, it transpired that the reaction of the participants to the risk-taking dilemmas was closely linked to the amygdala which is a structure found in the limbic system of brain. It plays a key role in processing emotions such as fear and anxiety, as well as interpreting facial expressions.
Results revealed that those who valued facial feedback higher in the avatar condition exhibited reduced amygdala activity in response to uncertainty during the avatar condition. This implies that increased risk-taking under avatar conditions may stem from decreased amygdala response to uncertainty.
More studies are under way
The researchers are not dismissing the use of avatars but underline that applications should consider that behavior is different relative to interacting with humans:
“These results offer important insights into how avatar-based social communication, such as in virtual and augmented reality, can affect human decision-making, and highlight the amygdala’s critical role in this process.”
The research was supported in part by programs under JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency). The full study was published in the journal PLOS Biology.
In future studies, the NICT researchers plan to further investigate how factors such as the avatar’s gender or age, individual personality traits, and other types of decision-making tasks are influenced by avatars. They will also aim to explore how avatars can be effectively used to support decision-making in real-world settings such as education and interpersonal support, while also identifying potential risks associated with avatar use.
Source: “Facial expressions of avatars promote risky decision-making”, press release, NICT.
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