Raise Your Eyebrows Higher: Facilitating Emotional Communication in Social Virtual Reality Through Region-Specific Facial Expression Exaggeration

While exaggerated facial expressions in cartoon avatars can enhance emotional communication in social virtual reality (VR), they risk triggering the uncanny valley effect. Our research reveals that this effect varies significantly across different emotions. In Study 1 (N=30), participants evaluated scaled facial expressions during simulated VR conversations. We found that expression exaggeration had opposing effects: it decreased facial realism for joy, surprise, and disgust due to overly dramatic mouth movements, while enhancing realism for fear, sadness, and anger—emotions that rely on upper facial expressions typically constrained by HMD pressure. Based on these findings, we developed a region-specific facial expression exaggeration strategy that enhances under-expressed upper facial features while maintaining natural lower facial movements. Study 2 (N=20) validated this approach, demonstrating enhanced emotional intensity and contagion for negative emotions while mitigating the uncanny valley effect. Our research provides practical guidelines for optimizing avatar-mediated emotional communication in social VR environments.