FWIW, roleplaying isn't my preferred term either. I tend to just say "playing," or even better "enacting." (It's possible you aren't a fan of these either!)

Curious what you find to be the most compelling evidence of symmetry breaking. There definitely is some, but on the whole I am often struck by how little there seems to be, both behaviorally and in activations. (This has been an update for me -- when I started doing interp I assumed the Assistant would be qualitatively different!)