Is This Person Real? Avatar Stylization and Its Influence on Human Perception in a Counseling Training Environment

This paper describes a pilot study planned by the Defense Equal Opportunity Employment Management Institute (DEOMI). By leveraging previous work in maturing a low-cost real-time puppeted character in a virtual environment, the team is seeking to explore the role stylization plays in how participants perceive emotions and connect with an avatar emotionally within a training atmosphere. The paper also describes future work in exploring how biases might be exposed when interacting with puppeted virtual characters.

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