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 "aboutThisFile": {
  "whatThisIs": "A research brief: a structured summary of one paper, prepared for seanrintel.com from the paper's full text.",
  "howItWasMade": "This brief was prepared with AI assistance and published by Sean Rintel. It is not the authors' published text.",
  "whatIsVerbatim": "Only 'quote' fields, figure captions and 'abstract' are the authors' own words. Research questions follow the paper's wording where it states them. Takeaway, summaries, answers, definitions and method are the site's plain-language paraphrase.",
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   "For a quick answer, use 'takeaway' and 'questions'. For evidence, use 'findings' (each has a verbatim quote, its location in the paper and a 'url' anchored to that finding on the paper's page).",
   "Locations such as '§5.2, p. 9' refer to the version at 'pageNumbersReferTo'.",
   "For anything not covered here, read the paper itself: 'fullTextSources' lists free versions first.",
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  ],
  "authorship": "Sean Rintel's role on each paper: lead author when he is first author, sole author when he is the only author, and otherwise senior author. Senior author here means the senior researcher on the team, whatever his position in the author list.",
  "howToCite": "Cite the paper, not this file: use 'citation' or the ready-made 'bibtex' (DOI where given) and name every author. Attribute paraphrase to the paper's findings, and use quotation marks only for 'quote' text."
 },
 "name": "Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception",
 "author": [
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Marta Wilczkowiak"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Marco Gillies"
  },
  {
   "@type": "Person",
   "name": "Xueni Pan"
  },
  {
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   "name": "Sean Rintel",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/",
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    "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/people/serintel/",
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 ],
 "datePublished": "2025-11",
 "doi": "10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
 "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html",
 "citation": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
 "bibtex": "@article{dobre2025avatars,\nauthor = {Dobre, Georgiana Cristina and Wilczkowiak, Marta and Gillies, Marco and Pan, Xueni and Rintel, Sean},\ntitle = {Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception},\nyear = {2025},\nmonth = {November},\nurl = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632},\njournal = {International Journal of Human-Computer Studies},\nvolume = {205},\ndoi = {10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632},\n}",
 "abstract": "We conducted a within-subjects study to examine how realistic faces and cartoon faces on avatars affect communication, task satisfaction, sense of presence, and mood perception in mixed reality meetings. Over the course of two weeks, six groups of co-workers (14 people) held recurring meetings using Microsoft HoloLens2 devices, each person embodying a personal full-body avatar with either a realistic face or cartoon face. Half of the groups started with the realistic face avatar and switched to the cartoon face version halfway through (RC condition), and the other half with the cartoon-face avatar first (CR condition). Results showed that participants in the RC condition may have had higher expectations and more errors in perceiving their colleagues’ moods. Participants in the CR condition reported that the avatars’ appearance mattered less over time and experienced increased comfort and improved identification of their colleagues. Participants rated words, tone of voice, and movement as the most useful cues for perceiving colleagues’ moods, regardless of avatar rendering style. In the RC condition, participants rated gaze as more useful than facial expressions, while in the CR condition, both gaze and facial expressions were rated as the least useful. Results also suggested that participants had more errors when perceiving negative moods in their colleagues, with this trend appearing for most moods, but depending on conditions. Implications of these findings for mixed and virtual reality meetings are discussed. This work contributes to the field of remote collaboration by providing insights from longitudinal data on the impact of avatar appearance on various aspects of work meetings in virtual environments.",
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   "url": "https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
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 "fullTextAvailable": true,
 "takeaway": "In mixed-reality work meetings, an avatar's communicative value matters more than likeness. With cartoon faces, colleagues read each other's moods more accurately and recognised each other better over time, while realistic faces may have raised expectations their limited body language couldn't meet.",
 "whyItMatters": {
  "stateOfTheArt": {
   "summary": "Research on realistic versus cartoon avatars has produced mixed results, mostly from one-off lab studies in virtual reality with strangers, short animations or still images, which are prone to novelty effects.",
   "quote": "We know little about how these findings apply to MR, less about effects in real-world contexts, and very little about the longitudinal effects on avatar acceptance.",
   "location": "§1, p. 2"
  },
  "contribution": {
   "summary": "A longitudinal field study in which real co-workers held their usual meetings in mixed reality using personalised full-body avatars, switching between realistic and cartoon faces halfway through.",
   "quote": "To the best of our knowledge, there have been no studies comparing personalised realistic versus cartoon face styles on the same full-body avatars in IVEs, over time, in the field, and especially in business contexts.",
   "location": "§2, p. 3"
  },
  "whoCares": {
   "summary": "Researchers of avatars and remote collaboration, and builders of commercial mixed and virtual reality meeting systems deciding how to design and deploy avatars.",
   "quote": "A key message for future research and commercial usage, then, is to prioritise features and deployment plans around communicative value for the situations in which avatars will be used over accuracy",
   "location": "§8, p. 15"
  }
 },
 "researchQuestions": [
  "RQ1: How do the avatar representations interact with the functional communicative value based on (a) the identification of the other person (people); (b) the perceived authenticity of communications; (c) the perceived usefulness of expression and movement.",
  "RQ2: How do the avatar representations interact with the task satisfaction based on: (a) the level of task impact, (b) comfort and (c) engagement.",
  "RQ3: How do the avatar representations interact with the concept of presence based on: (a) co-presence and (b) social presence.",
  "RQ4: Does the avatar representation change the self-reported moods (a) overall and (b) over time?",
  "RQ5: Does the avatar representation affect how accurately people perceive others' moods (a) overall and (b) do they improve overtime?",
  "RQ6: Does positive or negative moods affect how accurately they are perceived by others?",
  "RQ7: What are the most valuable cues available for identifying moods and are these different depending on the avatar rendering styles?"
 ],
 "concepts": [
  {
   "term": "Avatar rendering style",
   "definition": "How an avatar is drawn, for example realistic or cartoon. Here only the personalised face differed, on otherwise similar full-body avatars.",
   "quote": "Avatars can have different representations, ranging from floating spheres with hands to full or partial humanoid bodies with different appearance rendering styles (e.g., cartoon, realistic).",
   "location": "§1, p. 1"
  },
  {
   "term": "Mood",
   "definition": "Defined following Matthews and colleagues. Four moods were rated (optimistic, focused, annoyed and stressed):",
   "quote": "mood being defined here as an emotion-like experience lasting for at least several minutes",
   "location": "§4.5, p. 6"
  },
  {
   "term": "Order conditions (CR and RC)",
   "definition": "Half the groups used cartoon-faced avatars in the first week and realistic ones in the second (Cartoon-Realistic). The other half the reverse (Realistic-Cartoon)."
  },
  {
   "term": "Mood perception error",
   "definition": "How far a colleague's rating of someone's mood was from that person's own rating, scaled from 0 (no error) to 1 (maximum error)."
  }
 ],
 "method": {
  "design": "Within-subjects longitudinal field study. Each group used one avatar rendering style for half its meetings and the other for the rest, with the starting style counterbalanced across groups.",
  "prototype": "A networked mixed-reality meeting application for Microsoft HoloLens2, built in Unity. Each person had a personalised full-body avatar whose head was generated from a head-and-shoulders photo, in a realistic and a cartoon version on near-identical bodies. Wearing the headset in their own room, users gather around a shared hologram table where colleagues' avatars appear, and use a menu to create or join meetings, mute and switch avatar. The avatar's head, hands and walking follow the headset's head and hand tracking, its mouth moves with voice volume and its eyes blink. There was no tracked gaze or facial expression. The only comparison was the realistic face versus the cartoon face, with identical movement.",
  "prototypeFigure": 1,
  "setting": "Groups of co-workers from a global technology company held one of their regular daily meetings (such as stand-ups and status reports, at least 10-15 min) in mixed reality. Each person joined from their own space rather than a lab, standing for the meeting.",
  "sample": "14 participants (7 female, 6 male and 1 non-binary, aged 21-45) in 6 groups: 4 dyads and 2 triads.",
  "n": 14,
  "duration": "Two to three weeks. 54 meetings in total.",
  "analysis": "124 daily questionnaire responses: 12 Likert items on communication, task satisfaction and presence, self-rated and perceived moods, and rankings of cues used to read moods. Analysed with repeated measures ANOVA, paired t-tests and linear regressions over time."
 },
 "findings": [
  {
   "headline": "Realistic faces seemed more expressive.",
   "summary": "Co-workers who met daily as avatars rated realistic-faced avatars' body language as more appropriate and more useful for understanding colleagues than cartoon-faced avatars', although the movement was generated identically for both styles.",
   "quote": "Overall I was really impressed with the likeness of the avatars to the real people",
   "location": "§6, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§6, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "But moods were read better with cartoons.",
   "summary": "After each meeting, people rated their own mood and their colleagues' moods. Colleagues' ratings came closer to people's own with cartoon avatars than with realistic ones, and were furthest off in groups that started with realistic avatars.",
   "quote": "Errors in reading other participants' emotions may have occurred because participants put too much trust in non-verbal cues relative to the more accurate verbal cues.",
   "location": "§6, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-2",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§6, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Cartoon avatars grew on people.",
   "summary": "Groups that used cartoon avatars in their first week said, as the days went on, that the avatars' appearance mattered less and affected their comfort less. Across all groups, recognising colleagues improved over time with cartoon avatars but not with realistic ones.",
   "quote": "It is possible that using Cartoon avatars first allowed participants to become more accustomed to the appearance of the avatars, leading to increased comfort and a reduced focus on appearance.",
   "location": "§6, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-3",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§6, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Voices mattered more than faces.",
   "summary": "Asked to rank the cues they used to read colleagues' moods, people put choice of words, tone of voice and movement first with either avatar style, and gaze and facial expressions lowest. The avatars had no tracked gaze or facial expressions.",
   "quote": "The voice part is ok, however the avatar does not match the expression of my colleagues.",
   "location": "§6, p. 13",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-4",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§6, p. 13)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "Negative moods were harder to read.",
   "summary": "The more annoyed people said they were, the more their colleagues misjudged it, with both avatar styles. Stress showed the same pattern only in groups that started with realistic avatars, and positive moods did not.",
   "quote": "This may be due to people tending to mask negative emotions more (and masking being easier with avatars that show limited non-verbal cues).",
   "location": "§6, p. 14",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-14",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§6, p. 14)"
  },
  {
   "headline": "No significant difference in satisfaction or presence.",
   "summary": "Avatar style made no significant difference to how engaged or comfortable people felt in the meeting, or to their overall sense of being present with their colleagues.",
   "quote": "there were no significant differences between the two avatars in terms of the participants' level of engagement",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7",
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s5-1-p-7",
   "cite": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632 (§5.1, p. 7)"
  }
 ],
 "questions": [
  {
   "question": "Does a more lifelike avatar help people understand each other?",
   "answer": "Not necessarily. When co-workers met daily as mixed reality avatars for two to three weeks, they rated realistic faces' body language more useful than cartoon faces', despite identical movement. Yet they misread moods more with realistic faces. Realism may raise expectations, so people trust nonverbal over more accurate verbal cues.",
   "source": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13"
    },
    {
     "location": "§6, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-2"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "What do people rely on to read colleagues' feelings through avatars?",
   "answer": "Mostly what they hear and see in motion, such as choice of words, tone of voice and body movement. Avatars without tracked gaze or facial expressions gave little to read in the face, whichever style they were drawn in.",
   "source": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-4"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Why are negative emotions harder to read through avatars?",
   "answer": "Possibly because people tend to mask negative emotions, and avatars that show few nonverbal cues make masking easier. Among co-workers meeting as avatars, the more annoyed someone said they were, the more colleagues misjudged it, with realistic or cartoon faces alike. Positive moods showed no such pattern.",
   "source": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6, p. 14",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-14"
    }
   ]
  },
  {
   "question": "Do people get used to avatars in meetings over time?",
   "answer": "Partly, so first impressions are a poor guide. Over time, co-workers who began with cartoon avatars said appearance mattered less. Recognising colleagues also improved over time with cartoon avatars, but not realistic ones. People may simply grow used to an avatar style, and recognition matters less once avatars are familiar.",
   "source": "Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632",
   "basedOn": [
    {
     "location": "§6, p. 13",
     "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.html#at-s6-p-13-3"
    }
   ]
  }
 ],
 "cites": [
  {
   "url": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/nice-is-different-than-good-longitudinal-communicative-effects-of-realistic-and-cartoon-avatars-in-real-mixed-reality-work-meetings.html",
   "title": "Nice is Different than Good: Longitudinal Communicative Effects of Realistic and Cartoon Avatars in Real Mixed Reality Work Meetings",
   "location": "p. 15"
  }
 ],
 "quantitative": [
  {
   "measure": "Realistic avatars' nonverbal behaviour rated more appropriate for the context (Q11)",
   "value": "F(1, 13) = 7.14, p = .019, η2 = .355",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Realistic avatars' nonverbal behaviour rated more useful for understanding colleagues (Q12)",
   "value": "F(1, 13) = 5.5, p = .036, η2 = .296",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Mood perception error, cartoon vs realistic avatars",
   "value": "M = .22 vs M = .25; F(1, 18) = 5.13, p = .036, η2 = .22",
   "location": "§RQ5: Accuracy of perceived moods, p. 9"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Mood perception error, Realistic-Cartoon order: realistic week 1 vs cartoon week 2",
   "value": "R W1: .27; C W2: .21; t (9) = 3.79, p = .004",
   "location": "§RQ5: Accuracy of perceived moods, p. 10"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Recognising colleagues improved over time with cartoon avatars (Q8)",
   "value": "R 2 = .06, F(1, 59) = 4.25, p = .04",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Appearance mattered less over time, cartoon avatars in week 1 (Q6)",
   "value": "R 2 = .27, F(1, 29) = 11.06, p = .002",
   "location": "§5.1, p. 7"
  },
  {
   "measure": "Self-reported optimism, realistic vs cartoon avatars",
   "value": "t (13) = 2.53, p = .025",
   "location": "§RQ4: Self-reported moods, p. 8"
  }
 ],
 "implications": [
  {
   "summary": "First impressions of avatars set expectations. With current limited expressiveness, realistic avatars' communicative value is more fragile than cartoon avatars'.",
   "quote": "the communicative value of realistically rendered avatars is more fragile than that of cartoon avatars",
   "location": "§6, p. 14"
  },
  {
   "summary": "In the short term, better audio may matter more than more realistic visuals.",
   "quote": "may provide more impact than improving visual realism",
   "location": "§6, p. 14"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Avatars should be evaluated as whole communicative systems, with voice, not as still images or silent video.",
   "quote": "Specifically, new avatars must not be evaluated as still images only or silent video.",
   "location": "§6, p. 14"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Avatar research should include repeated encounters over time.",
   "quote": "We would urge that future research on avatars features multiple encounters over time, lest we over-index on first impressions instead of allowing that time will tell.",
   "location": "§6, p. 14"
  }
 ],
 "limitations": [
  {
   "summary": "A small sample, so effects of prior mixed-reality experience could not be tested.",
   "quote": "Thus, another limitation is the relatively small number of participants.",
   "location": "§7, p. 14"
  },
  {
   "summary": "Avatars had no tracked gaze or facial expressions, which may have shaped which cues people found useful.",
   "quote": "Due to limited time, we did not implement into the avatars nonverbal behaviour gaze or facial expressions.",
   "location": "§7, pp. 14–15"
  },
  {
   "summary": "No pre-meeting baseline mood rating, so self-reported moods may reflect the work rather than the avatars.",
   "quote": "we did not compare these to a pre-meeting baseline rating",
   "location": "§7, pp. 14–15"
  },
  {
   "summary": "All participants worked at a technology company and may be more open to novel systems. Each research question used only one or two questionnaire items.",
   "quote": "All participants were part of a technology company.",
   "location": "§7, p. 14"
  }
 ],
 "figures": [
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception/fig-5.webp",
   "caption": "Fig. 5. Boxplots showing the averaged mapping error of the perceived mood of each participant to that of their colleagues. The averaged mapping error on the 𝑌 -axis ranges from 0 (no error) to 1 (maximum error possible). Panel A: The error values are separated by order (Cartoon-Realistic or Realistic-Cartoon), and the data from each order is further separated by avatar rendering style (Cartoon or Realistic). The shape of each data point indicates the week (W1 or W2) in which the data was collected. Panel B: The data from each avatar rendering style is separated by order and by mood, with each boxplot showing the error of perceiving a specific mood (Optimistic, Focused, Annoyed, or Stressed), separated by avatar rendering style.",
   "alt": "Boxplots of mood perception error by order and avatar style. In the Realistic-Cartoon order, error is higher with realistic avatars (.27) than cartoon (.21), significantly so overall and for Annoyed and Stressed moods.",
   "location": "Fig. 5, p. 10",
   "credit": "Figure 5 from Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception/fig-8.webp",
   "caption": "Fig. 8. Box plots of the ranked cues used to perceive the other's moods. On the 𝑌 -axis, there is a 1 - 5 ranking, with 1 meaning the most useful cue and 5 the least useful.",
   "alt": "Box plots of cue rankings from 1 (most useful) to 5, by order and avatar style. Choice of words and tone of voice rank highest, then gestures. Gaze and facial expressions rank lowest, with facial expressions lowest in the Realistic-Cartoon order.",
   "location": "Fig. 8, p. 12",
   "credit": "Figure 8 from Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632"
  },
  {
   "src": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/figures/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception/fig-1.webp",
   "caption": "Fig. 1. Example of people interacting in remote meetings using the HoloLens Mixed Reality device (a,b). Example meetings where participants are embodying realistic (c) and cartoon (d) full-body rendering style avatars.",
   "alt": "Panels of people wearing HoloLens headsets in offices, and the full-body realistic and cartoon avatars of remote colleagues they see standing in the room.",
   "location": "Figure 1, p. 5",
   "credit": "Figure 1 from Georgiana Cristina Dobre, Marta Wilczkowiak, Marco Gillies, Xueni Pan, and Sean Rintel. 2025. Avatars in mixed-reality meetings: A longitudinal field study of realistic  versus cartoon facial likeness effects on communication, task satisfaction,  presence, and emotional perception. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies 205. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhcs.2025.103632"
  }
 ],
 "pageNumbersReferTo": "https://seanrintel.com/publications/avatars-in-mixed-reality-meetings-a-longitudinal-field-study-of-realistic-versus-cartoon-facial-likeness-effects-on-communication-task-satisfaction-presence-and-emotional-perception.pdf",
 "verified": "2026-10-25",
 "studyFigure": {
  "about": "The opening figure on this paper's page, made for the site with AI assistance from this verified brief. It is not the paper's own figure. Evidence entries index this file's quantitative, findings and limitations arrays.",
  "study": {
   "kind": "comparison",
   "summary": "Within-subjects field study with 14 employees of a global technology company, in 6 groups of co-workers. Over two to three weeks, the groups held 54 regular daily meetings in mixed reality as avatars, switching face style halfway.",
   "columns": [
    "Daily meetings",
    "After each meeting"
   ],
   "groups": [
    {
     "name": "Realistic faces",
     "n": 14,
     "nLabel": "all 14 people",
     "cells": [
      "Half the meetings, as a personalised avatar with a realistic face",
      "Rated communication, presence, and own and colleagues' moods"
     ]
    },
    {
     "name": "Cartoon faces",
     "n": 14,
     "nLabel": "all 14 people",
     "cells": [
      "Half the meetings, as the same avatar with a cartoon face",
      "Rated communication, presence, and own and colleagues' moods"
     ]
    }
   ]
  },
  "tool": {
   "heading": "The system",
   "steps": [
    {
     "title": "Make two avatars",
     "text": "A head and shoulders photo of each person generates a full-body avatar, in a realistic and a cartoon version.",
     "part": true
    },
    {
     "title": "Meet around a table",
     "text": "Wearing a HoloLens 2 headset in their own room, colleagues gather around a shared hologram table where each other's avatars appear."
    },
    {
     "title": "Move the avatar",
     "text": "The headset's head and hand tracking move the avatar. Its mouth moves with voice volume and its eyes blink."
    },
    {
     "title": "Switch faces",
     "text": "A menu lets each person create or join meetings, mute and switch between the realistic and cartoon face.",
     "part": true
    }
   ],
   "note": "Movement was identical for both face styles. The avatars had no tracked gaze or facial expression."
  },
  "findings": {
   "legend": "comparison",
   "legendText": "↑ better than with the other face style   ↓ worse   – no reliable difference",
   "stages": [
    {
     "title": "How expressive avatars seemed",
     "sub": "ratings of body language with each face style",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "up",
       "text": "Realistic faces: body language rated more useful and more appropriate.",
       "detail": "Self-reported. Movement was generated identically for both styles. Reliable differences, p = .036 for usefulness and p = .019 for appropriateness.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[0]",
        "quantitative[1]",
        "findings[0]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "flat",
       "text": "Realistic faces: engagement, comfort and presence were about the same as with cartoon faces.",
       "detail": "Self-reported. Each research question rested on one or two questionnaire items.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[5]",
        "limitations[3]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "Reading moods and recognising colleagues",
     "sub": "colleagues' ratings against each person's own, and trends over the days",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "up",
       "text": "Cartoon faces: colleagues' ratings of a person's mood were less far off.",
       "detail": "Mood error, the gap between a colleague's rating and the person's own, averaged .22 with cartoon and .25 with realistic faces. A reliable difference, p = .036.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[2]",
        "findings[1]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Realistic faces: mood errors were largest in groups that started with them.",
       "detail": "In those groups, mood error fell from .27 with realistic faces in week 1 to .21 with cartoon faces in week 2, p = .004.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[3]",
        "findings[1]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Cartoon faces: recognising colleagues got easier over the days.",
       "detail": "Self-reported. A weak but reliable trend, p = .04. Realistic faces showed no such trend.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[4]",
        "findings[2]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Cartoon faces: groups that started with them said appearance mattered less over time.",
       "detail": "Self-reported, p = .002.",
       "evidence": [
        "quantitative[5]",
        "findings[2]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    },
    {
     "title": "Cues to mood",
     "sub": "patterns seen with both face styles",
     "items": [
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Cartoon faces: words, voice tone and movement ranked top as mood cues, as with realistic faces.",
       "detail": "Gaze and facial expressions ranked lowest with either style. The avatars had no tracked gaze or facial expressions.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[3]",
        "limitations[1]"
       ]
      },
      {
       "dir": "none",
       "text": "Cartoon faces: the more annoyed people said they were, the more colleagues misjudged it.",
       "detail": "The same held with realistic faces, and positive moods showed no such pattern. The authors suggest people may mask negative emotions, which limited avatars make easier.",
       "evidence": [
        "findings[4]"
       ]
      }
     ]
    }
   ]
  },
  "keyTerm": "communicative value",
  "takeaway": "In mixed reality meetings, avatars can carry communicative value without looking lifelike. A realistic rendering style may raise expectations limited body language cannot meet, while cartoon faces can make moods easier to read."
 }
}