Effects of gender mapping on the perception of emotion from upper body movement in virtual characters

Despite recent advancements in our understanding of the human perception of the emotional behaviour of embodied artificial entities in virtual reality environments, little remains known about various specifics relating to the effect of gender mapping on the perception of emotion from body movement. In this paper, a pilot experiment is presented investigating the effects of gender congruency on the perception of emotion from upper body movements. Male and female actors were enrolled to conduct a number of gestures within six general categories of emotion. These motions were mapped onto virtual characters with male and female embodiments. According to the gender congruency condition, the motions of male actors were mapped onto male characters (congruent) or onto female characters (incongruent) and vice-versa. A significant effect of gender mapping was found in the ratings of perception of three emotions (anger, fear and happiness), suggesting that gender may be an important aspect to be considered in the perception, and hence generation, of some emotional behaviours. © 2014 Springer International Publishing.