@inproceedings{10.1145/3772363.3799291,

title = {Exploring the Time Course of the Proteus Effect: Effects of Avatar Age and Embodiment Time on Walking in Virtual Reality},

author = {Alexander Kalus and Katrin Wolf and Sümeyye R. Yildiran and Martin Kocur},

url = {https://doi.org/10.1145/3772363.3799291},

doi = {10.1145/3772363.3799291},

isbn = {9798400722813},

year  = {2026},

date = {2026-01-01},

booktitle = {Proceedings of the Extended Abstracts of the 2026 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems},

publisher = {Association for Computing Machinery},

address = {New York, NY, USA},

series = {CHI EA '26},

abstract = {Avatar appearance can influence users’ behaviour within Virtual Reality (VR), a phenomenon known as the Proteus effect. Prior work suggests that walking behavior after VR exposure is affected by the previously embodied avatar’s apparent age. However, little is known about how such effects unfold during ongoing avatar embodiment in VR. We conducted a study where 32 full-body tracked participants embodied young- and old-looking avatars and repeatedly completed a walking route in VR. Results show that participants walked significantly slower when embodying old-looking avatars. Presence and body ownership increased over time. Interestingly, embodiment duration did not significantly affect the magnitude of the Proteus effect on walking speed, with descriptive differences remaining largely stable. These results suggest that the behavioral impact of avatar age persists without substantial change over a 15 to 20-minute VR session. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of avatar age as a design parameter in VR.},

keywords = {Age, Avatar, Embodiment, Proteus Effect, virtual reality},

pubstate = {published},

tppubtype = {inproceedings}

}