Reversed effect of spatial compatibility when taking avatar’s perspective

Abstract

If an actor takes the perspective of an avatar, spatial dissociations could arise between the perspective of the actor and the perspective of the avatar. These become particularly interesting when solving spatial compatibility tasks. Effects of spatial compatibility are usually explained by a match or mismatch of automatic behavioural tendencies and intentional mapping processes. The question is whether actors develop such behavioural tendencies for an avatar and thereby are able to neglect their own perspective. In the experiments, actors take the perspective of the avatar and pressed ipsilateral or contralateral left–right keys in response to lateralised coloured discs. Experiments 1 and 2 showed that compatibility effects are tied to the avatar but not to the actor. Experiment 3 revealed that participants could ignore the perspective of the avatar. We concluded that the automatic behavioural tendencies in compatibility experiments are not as automatic as sometimes assumed. It is likely that the present results are not only applicable to the use of avatars but also to other human-controlled robots and drones.