Virtual humans are increasingly taking on roles that were once reserved for real humans. A new study by researchers at Indiana University found that men’s decisions were strongly affected by certain appearance aspects of computer-generated women, such as jerky movements, while women’s decisions were not.
In the study, a simulated female character presented participants with an ethical dilemma related to sexual conduct and marital infidelity. The character’s human photorealism and motion quality were varied in four ways. The changes had no significant effect on female viewers, while male viewers were much more likely to rule against the character when her visual appearance was obviously computer generated and her movements were jerky.
Full story at Futurity.