In many consumer virtual reality (VR) applications, users embody predefined characters that offer minimal customization options, frequently emphasizing storytelling over user choice. We explore whether matching a user's physical characteristics, specifically ethnicity and gender, with their virtual self-avatar affects their sense of embodiment in VR. We conducted a 2 x 2 within-subjects experiment (n=32) with a diverse user population to explore the impact of matching or not matching a user's self-avatar to their ethnicity and gender on their sense of embodiment. Our results indicate that matching the ethnicity of the user and their self-avatar significantly enhances sense of embodiment regardless of gender, extending across various aspects, including appearance, response, and ownership. We also found that matching gender significantly enhanced ownership, suggesting that this aspect is influenced by matching both ethnicity and gender. Interestingly, we found that matching ethnicity specifically affects self-location while matching gender specifically affects one's body ownership.

翻译：在许多消费级虚拟现实（VR）应用中，用户使用预定义的、提供最少自定义选项的化身，这些应用通常优先考虑叙事而非用户选择。我们探究了用户的身体特征（特别是种族和性别）与其虚拟化身匹配是否会影响其在VR中的具身感。我们面向多元化用户群体开展了一项2×2被试内实验（n=32），旨在考察用户化身种族和性别的匹配与否对具身感的影响。结果表明，无论性别如何，匹配用户与化身的种族均能显著增强具身感，这一效应延伸至外观、反应和拥有感等多个方面。我们还发现，匹配性别显著增强了拥有感，表明该维度受到种族与性别匹配的共同影响。有趣的是，匹配种族特异性地影响自我定位，而匹配性别则特异性地影响身体拥有感。