An Eye Gaze Model for Dyadic Interaction in an Immersive Virtual Environment: Practice and Experience

TLDR

The eye‑gaze model builds on empirical studies of eye‑gaze behavior in face‑to‑face communication. The study investigates how avatar realism influences perceived communication quality in a negotiation scenario. A behavioural model simulates realistic eye‑gaze and body animations for avatars within a shared immersive virtual environment. The paper details the model’s technical features and presents a full analysis of the study’s results, including motivation and experimental procedures.

Abstract

Abstract This paper describes a behavioural model used to simulate realistic eye‐gaze behaviour and body animations for avatars representing participants in a shared immersive virtual environment (IVE). The model was used in a study designed to explore the impact of avatar realism on the perceived quality of communication within a negotiation scenario. Our eye‐gaze model was based on data and studies carried out on the behaviour of eye‐gaze during face‐to‐face communication. The technical features of the model are reported here. Information about the motivation behind the study, experimental procedures and a full analysis of the results obtained are given in [ 17 ].