Decision making is often based on the rational assessment of information, but recent research shows that emotional sentiment also plays an important role, especially for investment decision making. Emotional sentiment about a firm's stock that spreads rapidly through social media is more likely to be incorporated quickly into stock prices (e.g., on the same trading day it was expressed), while sentiment that spreads slowly takes longer to be incorporated into stock prices and thus is more likely to predict stock prices on future days. We analyzed the cumulative sentiment (positive and negative) in 2.5 million Twitter postings about individual S&P 500 firms and compared this to the stock returns of those firms. Our results show that the sentiment in tweets about a specific firm from users with less than 171 followers (the median in our sample) had a significant impact on the stock's returns on the next trading day, the next 10 days, and the next 20 days. Interestingly, sentiment in tweets from users with fewer than 171 followers that were not retweeted had the greatest impact on future stock returns. A trading strategy based on these findings produced meaningful economic gains on the order of an 11–15% annual return.

Developers have long strived to create virtual avatars that are more realistic because they are believed to be preferred over less realistic avatars; however, an "Uncanny Valley" exists in which avatars that are almost but not quite realistic trigger aversion. We used a field study to investigate whether users had different affinity, trustworthiness, and preferences for avatars with two levels of realism, one photo-realistic and one a cartoon caricature. We collected survey data and conducted one-on-one interviews with SIGGRAPH conference attendees who watched a live interview carried out utilizing two avatars, either on a large screen 2D video display or via 3D VR headsets. 18 sessions were conducted over four days, with the same person animating the photo realistic avatar but with different individuals animating the caricature avatars. Participants rated the photo-realistic avatar more trustworthy, had more affinity for it, and preferred it as a virtual agent. Participants who observed the interview through VR headsets had even stronger affinity for the photorealistic avatar and stronger preferences for it as a virtual agent. Interviews further surprisingly suggested that our ability to cross the Uncanny Valley may depend on who controls the avatar, a human or a virtual agent.

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Developers have long strived to create virtual avatars that are more realistic because they are believed to be preferred over less realistic avatars. However, an “uncanny valley” exists in which avatars trigger aversion when they are almost but not quite realistic. We used a field study to investigate whether users had different affinity, trustworthiness, and preferences for avatars with two levels of realism, one that was close to human-realistic and one a cartoon caricature. We observed behavior, conducted one-on-one interviews, and collected survey data from SIGGRAPH conference attendees who either participated in a live discussion session between two avatars in a VR environment, or observed it via 3D VR headsets or on a large screen 2D video display. Eighteen sessions were conducted over four days, with the same person animating the human-realistic avatar and different guests animating the caricature avatars. The guests who interacted with the human-realistic avatar had a positive experience in the VR environment. The observers had positive evaluations of both avatars while acknowledging their different levels of realism. They rated the human-realistic avatar as more trustworthy, had more affinity for it, and preferred it as a virtual agent. Participants who observed the interview through VR headsets had an even stronger affinity for the human-realistic avatar and stronger preferences for it than those who observed via the 2D screen. Effect sizes ranged from medium to large. Our results suggest that it is now possible to cross the uncanny valley with human-realistic avatars rendered in real time.