{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,13]],"date-time":"2026-04-13T15:56:48Z","timestamp":1776095808757,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":71,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"17","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1630886400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/501100003725","name":"National Research Foundation of Korea","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","award":["2020R1A2B5B02002770"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["2020R1A2B5B02002770"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/501100003725","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>With the prevalence of virtual avatars and the recent emergence of metaverse technology, there has been an increase in users who express their identity through an avatar. The research community focused on improving the realistic expressions and non-verbal communication channels of virtual characters to create a more customized experience. However, there is a lack in the understanding of how avatars can embody a user\u2019s signature expressions (i.e., user\u2019s habitual facial expressions and facial appearance) that would provide an individualized experience. Our study focused on identifying elements that may affect the user\u2019s social perception (similarity, familiarity, attraction, liking, and involvement) of customized virtual avatars engineered considering the user\u2019s facial characteristics. We evaluated the participant\u2019s subjective appraisal of avatars that embodied the participant\u2019s habitual facial expressions or facial appearance. Results indicated that participants felt that the avatar that embodied their habitual expressions was more similar to them than the avatar that did not. Furthermore, participants felt that the avatar that embodied their appearance was more familiar than the avatar that did not. Designers should be mindful about how people perceive individuated virtual avatars in order to accurately represent the user\u2019s identity and help users relate to their avatar.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s21175986","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]],"date-time":"2021-09-06T21:47:38Z","timestamp":1630964858000},"page":"5986","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":49,"title":["Individual\u2019s Social Perception of Virtual Avatars Embodied with Their Habitual Facial Expressions and Facial Appearance"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"21","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1242-9264","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Sung","family":"Park","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design, Savannah, GA 31401, USA"}]},{"given":"Si Pyoung","family":"Kim","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Emotion Engineering, Sangmyung University, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03016, Korea"}]},{"given":"Mincheol","family":"Whang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Human Centered Artificial Intelligence, Sangmyung University, Jongno-gu, Seoul 03016, Korea"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,9,6]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3","DOI":"10.1007\/BF02173410","article-title":"Invited article: A parallel process model of nonverbal communication","volume":"19","author":"Patterson","year":"1995","journal-title":"J. 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