He or a She? Nonverbal Gender Detection in Immersive Virtual Environments

This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Abstract

<= span style=3D'font-size:50%'>oThe purpose of this study was to examine whether individuals can dete= ct and transmit meaningful information non-verbally in an Immersive Virtual Environment (IVET). Participants were 32 (16 male, 16 female) introductory psychology students who engaged in a series of non-verbal interactions with each other. Each participant entered an immersive virtual environment with= two others – always one male and one female. We sought to determine if participants could successfully identify the gender of the other interacta= nts. Each person was represented by an avatar that was designed to be gender neutral so as not to provide any cues as to the gender of the interaction partners. There were three phases of trials in the experiment: a baseline block in which no specific instructions were provided, a block of trials in which participants were asked to try to determine who among their interact= ion partners was the male and who was the female, and a block in which participants were asked to continue to detect the gender of their interact= ion partners and to also non-verbally transmit their gender to their partners.= The location of the interaction partners in the virtual world alternated rando= mly. Results indicated that participants were not able to detect the gender of their interaction partners significantly above chance in the baseline bloc= k. Mean accuracy for this block was 47%, t (31) =3D -0.49, n. s. Nor were participants significantly better than chance= in the next block of trials where they were asked to detect gender only. Mean accuracy for this block was 54%, t= (31) =3D 0.81, n. s. However, participants in the= final block of trials were significantly better than chance at accurately detect= ing the gender of the interaction partners. In this case, mean accuracy was 64= %, t (27)= =3D 2.83, p < .01. There were no gender differences in accuracy scores. Thus, it appears that men and women can detect gender via nonverbal interaction in = the absence of visual cues to gender, but only if the target was trying to con= vey his or her gender.

This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Introduction: Purpose of Experiment

oThe purpose of this stud= y was to examine whether meaningful informa= tion could be transmitted non-verbally between participants in a Virtual Environ= ment. oIn the absence of visual cues for ge= nder, we asked participants to try to determ= ine the gender of the other participants= in their virtual environments.

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Introduction: Turing Test

oInspir= ed by the original paradigm Turing (1950) used in his
formulation of what is now ref= erred to as:

n“The new form of the problem can be describe= d in terms of a game which= we call the ‘imitation game.’ It is played with three people, a <= /span>man (A), a woman (B), and an interrogator (C) who = may be of either sex. The interrogator stays in a room apart from the other two. The object of the game for the interrogator i= s to determine which of the othe= r two is the man and which is the woman. He knows them by labels X and Y, and at the end of th= e game he says either ‘X i= s A and Y is B’ or ‘X is B and Y is A.’ The interrogator is = allowed to put questions to A and B”.

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Predictions

oWe predicted that:

nMeaningful information such as gender could be transmitted non-verbally in IVET

nIndividuals would be able to detect gender from other’s head movements, particularly when instructed to= transmit their gender to the individuals they interacted with.

nWomen would be more accurate than men because women are more adept at decoding non-verbal cues (Rosenthal & DePaulo, 1979)

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Method

oParticipants were 32 (16 male, 16 fem= ale) undergraduates who were run in groups of 4.

oParticipants were told that the purpo= se of the study was to examine non-verbal communication in virtual environments.

nThey were additionally asked to inter= act with other participants via only head movements.

oThere were three phases of the study:=

nbaseline data were gathered (2 trials= ).

nparticipants were asked to determine = the gender of the other participants (12 trials).

nparticipants were asked to determine = the gender of the other participants as well as try to convey their own gender to the other participants (12 trials).

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Method

oThe location of the individuals in the virtual world varied across trials.

oOnce in the virtual world, participants appeared t= o each other as an identical gender n= eutral avatars.

oRegardless of participant sex, each participant saw avatars representing one = real male and one real female.

oThus, participants interacted with two other indiv= iduals per session but not a= ll participants in each session interacted with each other.

oSee Figure 1 for a screen shot of the virtual world.

oSee Figure 2 for the lay out of the experiment.

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Method

oThe following dependent measures were assessed: &#= 13;

nGender selection (collapsed across block)

nAfter each trial, participants were asked to select:

owho looked at them more

owho had the most abrupt head movements =

owho they liked more

nAt the end of the experiment, participants completed:

oPersonal Attributes Questionnaire (Spence & Helmreich, 1978)

oA measure of gender identification scale

oA manipulation check to assess whether participants actually <= span style=3D'position:absolute;top:84.25%;left:17.22%;width:76.96%;height:4.5%= '>believed they were interacting with other real humans

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Results: Accuracy in Gender Determi= nation

oThere were no gender differences in a= ccuracy of dete= rmining gender. There were no groups of participants who together were more accurate than = other groups.

oAccuracy averaged over the trials is = as follows:

n% correct selection of male/female:&#= 13;

obaseline: 46%, n. s.

ofirst block (detect gender only): 53%, n. s.

osecond block (detect and transmit gen= der): 64% t (27) =3D 2.83, p<= /span> < .01.

nSee Figure 3.

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This research was supported by the following grant: NSF ITR Award IIS 0205740<= ![endif]>

Results: Adjusting for detecting but not properly encoding the signal

oAdjustment for picking up on a signal= but incorrectly encoding it.

nThe accuracy was rescaled to make the= range from –0.50 to +0.50 with the chance/mid-point at zero, took the absolute va= lue of each accuracy score on this new scale and looked to see if overall they differed significantly from chance:

n% correct selection of male/female:&#= 13;

obaseline: 3%, n. s.

ofirst block: 18%, t (31) =3D 6.22, p < .001.=

osecond block: 22%, t (27) =3D 6.25, p < .001.=

nSee Figure 4.

nThese results suggest that some parti= cipants did detect a difference in head movements but encoded it the wrong way. <= /span>

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