People take more risks when talking to avatars

In a world increasingly shaped by virtual reality, the way humans interact is changing. Avatars have quickly become vital players in online communication, from professional meetings to shopping experiences.

Yet, how deeply they influence our thoughts and decisions is still being uncovered. One critical aspect now gaining attention is how avatars affect risk-taking behavior.

Recent research led by Dr. Toshiko Tanaka and Dr. Masahiko Haruno at the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) reveals that avatars play a powerful role in shaping human behavior.

The study, published in PLOS Biology, offers fresh insights into how expecting feedback from an avatar can encourage people to take greater risks compared to feedback from real human faces.

Avatars make humans take more risks

The study by Tanaka and Haruno highlights an important psychological shift. Participants showed an increased tendency toward risky behavior when interacting with avatars rather than real people.

The key mechanism behind this shift lies in how the brain’s amygdala processes uncertainty in feedback from avatars.

“Participants were more likely to take risks when facial expressions (such as admiration or contempt) were displayed by avatars than when the same expressions were shown on real human faces,” the authors noted.

Their work fills a critical gap. Previous research mainly focused on how using one’s own avatar impacts behavior. Few studies addressed how a communication partner appearing as an avatar might alter decision-making.

With avatar-based communication expanding rapidly across industries, these insights arrive at an essential time.

Testing avatar and human reactions

To explore these dynamics, the researchers designed a task where participants engaged in a gambling game.

Participants received dynamic facial-expression feedback either from an observer’s real face or their avatar representation after each trial outcome. This creative setup allowed the team to alternate between avatar and human interactions in a natural and controlled way.

A total of 28 individuals participated in behavioral experiments, while 51 individuals underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning.

During the task, participants faced decisions between a guaranteed small reward and a larger, riskier reward. Each time they made a choice, their communication partner’s expression reflected success or failure, either through a real human face or an avatar.

Avatar feedback leads to more risk-taking

Results from the experiments revealed something striking. When participants anticipated receiving feedback from an avatar, they chose the riskier option more frequently. This trend held true both in behavioral studies and during fMRI scans.

“We found that people tend to take more risks when their partner responds through an avatar rather than showing their real face. This seems to be driven by a change in how they process uncertainty – and interestingly, that change is reflected in the amygdala,” noted co-author Masahiko Haruno.

The fMRI data supported these behavioral observations. It showed that expecting avatar feedback created changes in how the amygdala responded to uncertainty. When interacting with avatars, participants viewed uncertain feedback more favorably, making them more willing to gamble.

Communication partners and brain function

The computational modeling revealed that the increased gambling behavior was directly linked to an altered valuation of uncertainty.

Specifically, a negative amygdala response to feedback uncertainty facilitated this heightened risk-taking. This brain-based response occurred both in avatar and human conditions but had a stronger effect when avatars were involved.

This finding highlights the amygdala’s importance not only in emotional reactions but also in decision-making during virtual interactions. It reveals that even subtle differences in how we perceive communication partners – avatars versus humans – can significantly alter brain function.

Personality and risk sensitivity

Another fascinating discovery from the study was the link between personality traits and sensitivity to feedback uncertainty. Individual differences in emotional consideration for others predicted variations in both behavioral and neural responses to avatar interactions.

Those with stronger interpersonal emotional sensitivity exhibited different amygdala activity patterns. They were also more prone to changing their risk-taking behavior depending on whether they faced an avatar or a human.

Study co-author Toshiko Tanaka elaborated on the complexity of the experiments: “Using the same confederate and having them pass as just another participant every time wasn’t easy – it took a lot of effort to keep things feeling real for each new person.”

Broader implications for virtual society

As avatars continue to blend into our professional, educational, and social lives, understanding their psychological effects becomes crucial. The research provides evidence that avatars are not neutral mediums. They can actively shape how people assess risks and rewards, driven by deep neural processes.

With virtual environments becoming more realistic and immersive, the line between real and virtual communication partners will keep blurring. Designing systems that acknowledge these psychological impacts could lead to better, safer virtual interactions.

Future studies on avatars and humans

The study opens new avenues for research. Tanaka and Haruno plan to explore how other factors, like avatar gender and age or the type of decision-making task, influence outcomes.

The experts aim to investigate how avatars can support informed decision-making in real-world applications, such as education, counseling, and commerce.

Understanding these influences will be critical for creating healthy digital environments. It will also help avoid unintended consequences where avatar-based interactions encourage reckless decisions.

This research was supported by the JST Moonshot R&D Program, the JST CREST Program, and a Grant-in-Aid for Transformative Research Areas.​Japan Social Security Agency.​

The study is published in the journal PLOS Biology.

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