Browsing by Author "Sakurada, Kuniharu"

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    Developing a Controlled Experimental Space in VRChat: Comparing Embodiment in VRChat Users and Non-VRChat Users
    (The Eurographics Association, 2025) Kondo, Ryota; Sakurada, Kuniharu; Oyanagi, Akemi; Tanikawa, Tomohiro; Hirose, Michitaka; Jorge, Joaquim A.; Sakata, Nobuchika
    In virtual reality, it is possible for users to feel as if the avatar were their own innate body, a phenomenon known as the sense of embodiment. In conventional laboratory experiments, the movements and observations that induce avatar embodiment have typically been limited to a short duration of about five minutes. In contrast, in social VR, users are considered to naturally engage in prolonged movements and observations, and it is possible that the sense of embodiment is strengthened through long-term play. In this study, we constructed an experimental space in VRChat that enables the controlled manipulation and measurement of the sense of embodiment, and we compared VRChat users with non-users. The results showed that there was no significant difference in the sense of embodiment depending on whether or not participants had prior VRChat experience. On the other hand, among VRChat users, it was revealed that the component of embodiment known as self-location became stronger as playtime increased. In addition, our findings confirmed that the control and measurement of embodiment can be conducted in VRChat in a manner comparable to laboratory experiments. By utilizing the experimental space developed in this study, it will be possible in the future to conduct various experiments that investigate VRChat users in the extended context of the environments in which they live.
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    Exploring Ownership of an Avatar's Cat Ears through Visual, Auditory, and Haptic Multimodal Feedback
    (The Eurographics Association, 2025) Yamamura, Hiroo; Kondo, Ryota; Sakurada, Kuniharu; Normand, Jean-Marie; Sugimoto, Maki; Garro, Valeria; Young, Gareth; Elwardy, Majed
    Extensions of body parts that humans are not innately endowed with, such as supernumerary limbs, have attracted attention. Since these body parts resemble existing ones, their movements and sensations can be inferred from the innately existing body parts. However, the sense of ownership for imaginary body parts, such as cat ears, which humans have never possessed, has not been sufficiently investigated. This paper proposes an experiment to examine the changing sense of ownership of cat ears, a body part that humans are not innately endowed with, through multimodal feedback that integrates visual, auditory, and haptic stimuli. Using an avatar with cat ears attached to the top of the head, we suggest presenting visual stimuli of the avatar's cat ears along with spatially congruent auditory and haptic feedback to enhance the sense of ownership over imaginary cat ears.