Virtual Vogue: The Psychology of AR Clothing
“Although the saying goes that clothes do not make the man, our results suggest that they do hold a strange power over their wearers.”
Images of AR fashion. Images courtesy of RTFKT, Harper’s Bazaar China, and The Fabricant.
Intro
In a world where augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are rapidly transforming how we interact with the digital world, virtual clothing has emerged as a fascinating frontier. But what makes VR fashion so cool? It’s not just about style. It’s about the potential to redefine what it means to express oneself through fashion. Virtual clothing can blend the physical and digital realms, allowing us to experience fashion in entirely new ways.
AR fashion is already setting trends and turning heads, with brands like Nike and Balenciaga venturing into the metaverse, releasing digital clothing lines as NFTs. Virtual fashion isn't just a gimmick; it's becoming a significant aspect of the digital world, and its implications could be profound.
Our project aimed to explore this uncharted territory: specifically, whether wearing virtual clothing in AR could have the same cognitive effects as wearing physical clothes.
Overview
Background
User research design project for the Stanford University class CS 547: Human-Computer Interaction Seminar investigating the psychological influences of wearing AR clothing.
Who
Helen He, Hyunseok Hwang, Karson Lippert
When
March 2023
Skills
User Research, AR Development, Cognitive Testing
Foundational work
This project is built on the foundational work of the 2012 “Enclothed Cognition” study by Adam and Galinsky, published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology. This study demonstrated how the clothes we wear can significantly influence our cognitive processes. By showing that physical clothing affects how we think and perform, Adam and Galinsky laid the groundwork for understanding the psychological power of what we wear.
Taking this idea further, our project enters unexplored territory on whether virtual clothing in augmented reality (AR) can have similar effects. We also drew on the self-perception theory, proposed by Bem in “Self-Perception” (Psychology Review, 1967) which suggests that people infer their attitudes and emotions by observing their own behavior, as if they were an impartial observer. Additionally, we were inspired by the 2007 “Proteus Effect” study by Yee and Bailenson, published in Human Communication Research, which highlights how digital avatars can influence user behavior in virtual environments.
By drawing from the methods and findings from these existing works, we aimed to see if embodying virtual outfits—like a doctor’s or painter’s coat in AR—could influence attention and creativity just as physical clothes do.
The AR coat
The coat
We based our experiment on the methodology from Adam and Galinsky’s “Enclothed Cognition” study, where participants wore the same physical lab coat but were told it was either a doctor’s coat or a painter’s coat, depending on their group. This label influenced how participants perceived the coat's symbolic meaning, which impacted their performance on the Stroop test.
In our study, we adapted this by using a virtual version of the coat in AR. Participants saw themselves wearing the same AR coat, but it was labeled as either a doctor’s or a painter’s coat. This allowed us to explore whether the cognitive effects seen with physical clothing could be replicated in a virtual environment.
The doctor’s coat (left) and painter’s coat (right) used in the experiment. Both coats are actually identical. The only difference is whether they’re labeled “doctor’s” or “painter’s,” thus influencing wearer’s symbolic perception of coat. We used Snapchat QR codes as labels.
Constructing the coat
We sourced the coat from SketchFab, aligned the mesh Blender, and finalised the mesh for 3D body-tracking using Snapchat AR Lens Studio.
Our hypotheses
-
Participants who wear an AR doctor’s coat and associate the coat with attentiveness and carefulness will outperform other experiment groups on attention-related tasks. We measured this with the Stroop test, which involves participants saying out loud the color of words as fast as possible. The Stroop test measured the selective attention index and was also used in the Adam and Galinsky paper.
-
Participants who wear an AR painter’s coat and associate the coat with creativity will outperform other experiment groups on creativity-related tasks. We measured this with the divergent association task (DAT) test. We chose this test for its speed and efficiency in quantitatively measuring creativity.
The testing procedure
Above, a diagram of the experiment room setup.
Through university email lists, campus flyers, and classmate contacts, we recruited 35 undergraduate students (age range: 18-23 years).
Each participant went through the following procedure:
-
For participants wearing the AR coat, we did an embodiment activity was conducted to help them get a feel for the AR outfit.
Participants held up their phones while facing a mirror wall, observing themselves in the AR outfit. They were then guided through a series of action commands, such as raising their hands, turning around, jogging in place, and stretching. This activity helped them embody the virtual clothing before moving on to the cognitive tests.
-
Assesses how well a person can manage cognitive interference and maintain focus. Participants are asked to quickly name the color of the ink in which a word is printed, even when the word itself is the name of a different color (e.g. the word RED printed in blue ink).
-
A creativity test that evaluates a person's ability to generate diverse and original ideas. participants are asked to think of 10 unrelated words. Words with greater "distances" between them tend to reflect a higher degree of creativity and originality. Administered with this DAT test.
-
Short-term memory assessment. Each participant was shown a number at the beginning of the session and then asked to recall it at the end after completing other tasks.
Embodiment activity with AR coat.
Phone faces participants, so they are aware that they’re wearing an AR coat throughout the whole experiment.
Participants do the Stroop test while wearing a coat in AR.
Our findings
Doctor’s coat, attention boost
Participants wearing the AR doctor’s coat excelled in the Stroop test, making fewer errors and responding more quickly. The simple act of seeing themselves in a “doctor’s coat” appeared to sharpen their focus.
Creative surprises
While the AR painter’s coat was expected to enhance creativity—and it did—the doctor’s coat group also performed unexpectedly well. This suggests that the impact of AR clothing on cognition might be more complex and wide-reaching than initially thought.
Memory test quirks
Interestingly, the control group, who wore no virtual coat, outperformed both the doctor and painter groups in the memory test. This unexpected result hinted at the influence of study duration on memory retention, opening the door to further exploration.
Concusions
Notes from the experiment
While our findings were both surprising and insightful, they also highlighted areas for further research. Why did the control group outperform in memory tests? Could other types of virtual clothing have different cognitive impacts? These are questions that we hope to explore in future studies.
Looking to the future
This study reveals the untapped potential of AR clothing, showing that virtual outfits can do more than just look stylish—they can enhance cognitive functions. For example, students could wear virtual lab coats to boost focus during lessons, or patients might use AR outfits to adopt new mental frameworks for recovery or stress management. Even in fashion, virtual clothing could evolve from a mere style statement to a tool for mental preparation and cognitive enhancement.
Our exploration of virtual coats in AR demonstrates that what we wear, even virtually, can significantly influence our thoughts and behaviors. As we continue to push the boundaries of AR technology, the potential for virtual clothing to enhance cognitive abilities is vast and largely unexplored. With further research, this emerging field could revolutionize our approaches to education, therapy, and everyday interactions.