Manual motor reaction while being absorbed into popular music

Approachability and Credibility of Virtual Character Faces: The Role of the Horizontal Viewing Angle

OBJECTIVE

The present work explores how the horizontal viewing angle of a virtual character's face influences perceptions of credibility and approachability.

BACKGROUND

When encountering virtual characters, people rely both on credibility and approachability judgments to form a first impression of the depicted virtual character. Research shows that certain perceptions are preferred either on frontal or tilted faces, but not how approachability or credibility judgments relate to horizontal viewing angles in finer granularity between 0° and 45°.

METHOD

52 participants performed a two-alternative forced choice (2AFC) task rating 240 pairwise comparisons of 20 virtual character faces shown in four horizontal viewing angles (0°, 15°, 30°, and 45°) on approachability and credibility. They also rated scales on individual differences based on the BIS-BAS framework (behavioral inhibition system, drive, and reward responsiveness), self-esteem, and personality traits (neuroticism, loneliness).

RESULTS

Both approachability and credibility were negatively related to the horizontal viewing angle, but the negative relationship was less pronounced for approachability. Notably, 15° tilted faces were associated with higher approachability than frontal faces by people scoring high in reward responsiveness, drive, and self-esteem, and scoring low in neuroticism and loneliness.

CONCLUSION

Our findings highlight the conditions under which showing a virtual character's face is preferred in a horizontally 15° tilted over a frontal position.

APPLICATION

The differential impact of the horizontal viewing angle on approachability and credibility should be considered when displaying virtual character faces.

The forgotten role of absorption in music reward

Interindividual differences in music-related reward have been characterized as involving five main facets: musical seeking, emotion evocation, mood regulation, social reward, and sensory-motor. An interesting concept related to how humans decode music as a rewarding experience is music transcendence or absorption (i.e., music-driven states of complete immersion, including momentary loss of self-consciousness or even time-space disorientation). Here, we investigated the relation between previously characterized facets of music reward and individual differences in music absorption. A first sample of participants (N = 370) completed both the Barcelona Music Reward Questionnaire (BMRQ) and the Absorption in Music Scale (AIMS). Results showed that both constructs were highly interrelated (r = 0.78, p < 0.001), indicating that higher music reward sensitivity is associated with a greater tendency to music-related absorption states. In addition, four items from the AIMS were identified as suitable to be added to an extended version of the BMRQ (eBMRQ). A second sample (N = 550) completed the eBMRQ for a validation study. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses on the whole sample (N = 920) showed the reliable psychometric properties of the eBMRQ and suggested that taking into account an absorption facet could contribute to a better characterization of individual differences in the sensitivity to experience music-related reward and pleasure.