Embodying an avatar with a dissimilar appearance enhances insight problem solving
Shih-Yu Lo, Li-Jung Hsu · 2025
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Description
Shih-Yu Lo and Li-Jung Hsu test how avatars shape problem solving in this two thousand twenty-five paper. In virtual reality, people can inhabit digital bodies unlike their own. Theory holds that feeling distant from a thing can free creative thought. The authors guessed that an unlike avatar would create that distance. They set up an experiment with headsets and tasks.
Participants solved insight problems while embodying avatars of varied likeness to themselves. Those in a dissimilar avatar solved more insight problems than those in a similar one. The authors read this as support for construal level theory, which links distance and creativity. The finding also has a practical side. Designers of virtual work spaces may use avatar choice to nudge creative thinking.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Shih-Yu Lo, Li-Jung Hsu |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2025 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 42 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |