@inproceedings{a25053e90cbe42cca367f6c123049e30,
title = "Investigating the Effects of Sweating Avatars on Physiological and Perceptual Responses During Low- and High-Intensity Cycling in Virtual Reality",
abstract = "Virtual reality (VR) enables users to experience avatars as their own body. Avatars can induce the Proteus effect — a shift in behavior and perception conforming to the avatar{\textquoteright}s appearance. Previous work found that sweaty avatars can reduce the perceived exertion while cycling in VR. However, it is unknown if the effects of sweaty avatars depend on the cycling intensity and if they can also influence physiological responses. Hence, we conducted a study to investigate the effects of sweaty avatars on breathing responses and perception of effort while cycling at low and high intensities. We found that participants{\textquoteright} oxygen consumption and perception of effort was only influenced by the sweaty appearance of the avatar during low-intensity cycling. Results suggest that an avatar{\textquoteright}s sweaty appearance can influence breathing and perceptual responses, however, only during low-intensity workloads. Our work contributes to the Proteus effect on physiological and perceptual responses in VR.",
keywords = "avatar, breathing, cycling, heart rate, perception of effort, Proteus effect, sweat, virtual reality",
author = "Brenden Grace and Stephan Selinger and Philipp Wintersberger and Martin Kocur",
note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).; 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, CHI EA 2025 ; Conference date: 26-04-2025 Through 01-05-2025",
year = "2025",
month = apr,
day = "26",
doi = "10.1145/3706599.3720070",
language = "English",
series = "Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems - Proceedings",
publisher = "Association for Computing Machinery",
booktitle = "CHI EA 2025 - Extended Abstracts of the 2025 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems",
}