Avatar eyes in social VR: balancing gaze communication and uncanny-valley effects

In plain English

Twenty-four people in a VR headset judged where an embodied agent was looking under three eye designs: ordinary pupils, a hybrid that showed the gaze target as a reflection in the iris, and a projection that replaced the iris entirely with the target. Readability and comfort pulled in opposite directions — projection was the most accurate to read but 23 of 24 participants called it the most uncanny, while plain pupils felt the most natural. The hybrid won overall preference (16 of 24), and social presence did not differ between designs once gaze behaviour was held constant.