Avatar embodiment: from cognitive self-representation to digital body ownership

Abstract

Virtual reality experiences often use avatars to enhance their immersive potential, tapping into cognitive processes by which their bodies are perceived as our own. This in turn supposes that we are able to embody our cognitive self-representation in the avatar and accept the digital representation of this virtual body as an integral part of our identified body. This paper explores how the theory of embodied cognition accounts for the relationship between cognition, body, and environment. It further elaborates on the process of cognitive self-representation through notions of cognitive body, self-identity and goes on to define the avatar as a digitally simulated body, outlining its perceptual differences with the physical body. Finally, the process of digital body ownership is described according to sensorimotor theories of perception, while self-resembling avatars are identified as particularly conducive to embodiment.