Most of the time point-light figures are used for motion-recognition, which present motions by only displaying the moving joints of the actor. In this study we were interested in whether self-recognition of motion changes with different representations. First, we captured participants' motions and remapped them on a point-light figure and a male and female virtual avatar. In the second part the same participants were asked to recognize their own motions on all three representations. We found that the recognition rate for own motions is high across all representations and different actions. The recognition rate was better on the point-light figure, despite being perceived as most difficult from the participants. The gender of the visual avatar did not matter in self-recognition.

We investigated the influence of body shape and pose on the perception of physical strength and social power for male virtual characters. In the first experiment, participants judged the physical strength of varying body shapes, derived from a statistical 3D body model. Based on these ratings, we determined three body shapes (weak, average, and strong) and animated them with a set of power poses for the second experiment. Participants rated how strong or powerful they perceived virtual characters of varying body shapes that were displayed in different poses. Our results show that perception of physical strength was mainly driven by the shape of the body. However, the social attribute of power was influenced by an interaction between pose and shape. Specifically, the effect of pose on power ratings was greater for weak body shapes. These results demonstrate that a character with a weak shape can be perceived as more powerful when in a high-power pose.

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