Spark

How our on-screen avatars can influence our real-world behaviour

The relationship between our physical and virtual selves.
Avatars used in Jorge Pena’s study on avatars and perception. (UC Davis)

This story first aired in March 2015.

Jorge Peña discovered that by altering the appearance of a video game avatar, he was able to make real-world changes to a player's activity level. We look at what Jorge's research says about the relationship between our physical and virtual selves.