Résumé :

In recent years, virtual reality (VR) systems have become increasingly accessible and affordable, leading to their growing adoption by researchers as tools for fostering creativity. Prior studies have demonstrated that virtual environments can enhance creative performance compared to physical settings. However, few studies have directly compared the creativity enhancing effects of virtual environments with different levels of immersion, such as nonimmersive versus immersive VR systems. This thesis addresses this gap by investigating how non-immersive and immersive virtual environments influence creativity at both individual and collective levels. Specifically, it examines how avatars and virtual contexts within these environments affect creative performance, and how user experience and individual characteristics moderate these relationships. To this end, three laboratory experiments were conducted to assess participants’ perceptions, cognitions, behaviors, and creative performance across different virtual settings. Study 1 explored the relationship between contextual richness, immersion, and divergent thinking. Study 2 examined how avatars and immersion jointly influence individual creative performance, including both divergent and convergent thinking. Study 3 investigated how
virtual context, avatar type, and immersion interact to influence collective creative performance. In all three studies, user experience and individual characteristics were assessed. The results revealed a complex pattern of interactions among virtual environment configurations (i.e., virtual context, avatar, immersion), user experience, individual
characteristics, and creative performance. Whereas virtual environment configurations systematically enhanced creativity under some circumstances, their effects varied substantially depending on user experience and individual characteristics. Notably, immersion acted as an amplifier, strengthening the influence of virtual contexts and avatars on creative performance. Based on these empirical findings, the thesis proposes a theoretical framework that integrates virtual environment configurations, user experience, and individual characteristics, offering an explanation of their combined influence on creativity in virtual settings.

Keywords : Creative process, Creative performance, Virtual environment, Virtual context, Presence, Avatar, Avatar identification, Embodiment

Jury :

• Pr. Frédéric VALLÉE-TOURANGEAU, Professeur, Kingston University, Rapporteur
• Dr. Isabelle MILLEVILLE-PENNEL, Directrice de Recherche, École Centrale de Nantes, Rapporteur
• Pr. Roni REITER-PALMON, Professeur, University of Nebraska Omaha, Examinateur
• Pr. Simon RICHIR, Professeur, Institut de Arts et Métiers, Examinateur
• Dr. Stéphanie BUISINE, Directrice de Recherche, CESI Paris Nanterre, Examinateur
• Dr. Jean-Marie BURKHARDT, Directeur de Recherche, Université Gustave Eiffel, Directeur de thèse
• Pr. Todd LUBART, Professeur, Université Paris Cité, France, Co-directeur de thèse

Liu, Jiayin, Jean-Marie Burkhardt, and Todd Lubart. 2023. “Boosting Creativity through Users’ Avatars and Contexts in Virtual Environments—A Systematic Review of Recent Research.” Journal of Intelligence 11 (7): 144. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/11/7/144.