Emotional Responses to Immersive Media

The five experiments presented in this thesis aimed to investigate the relationship between subjective presence (the sense of 'being there' in a mediated environment) and subjective and physiological emotional responses. The investigation served as an initial step in the evaluation of emotion-based corroborative measures of presence. Two of the determinants of presence (Media Form and Media Content) were experimentally manipulated in order to create varying levels of presence and different types of subjective and physiological emotional responses. Varying levels of presence were created by manipulating Media Form characteristics in the context of a video display - specifically, the absence and presence of stereoscopic cues (Experiments I and 2) and small versus large eye-to-screen visual angles (Experiments 3 and 5). Media Content (video clips) with varying types of emotional impact was presented to participants via the video displays (Experiments I, 2, 3 and 5). The research showed that enhancements in Media Form increased both subjective presence and subjective arousal across all Content types. However, there was little evidence to show that Media Form manipulations affected physiological arousal, indicating limited utility for physiological measures of presence in this context. Media Content characteristics were investigated in more depth in Experiments 4 and 5. Differences in SUbjective presence between Media Contents shown to elicit different types of subjective emotion were investigated and correlations between subjective presence and subjective emotion were examined. The research indicated that the quality and intensity of emotional responses elicited by Media Content are potentially important determinants of subjective presence. The thesis concludes by suggesting that in further investigations of presence and emotion, which aim to identify corroborative measures of presence, it may be useful to analyse the relationship between different dimensions of presence (physical Space, Naturalness and Engagement) and different components of emotional responses (Subjective, Cognitive, Behavioural and Physiological)

Perception while watching movies:effects of physical screen size and scene type

Over the last decade, television screens and display monitors have increased in size considerably, but has this improved our televisual experience? Our working hypothesis was that the audiences adopt a general strategy that “bigger is better.” However, as our visual perceptions do not tap directly into basic retinal image properties such as retinal image size (C. A. Burbeck, 1987), we wondered whether object size itself might be an important factor. To test this, we needed a task that would tap into the subjective experiences of participants watching a movie on different-sized displays with the same retinal subtense. Our participants used a line bisection task to self-report their level of “presence” (i.e., their involvement with the movie) at several target locations that were probed in a 45-min section of the movie “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.” Measures of pupil dilation and reaction time to the probes were also obtained. In Experiment 1, we found that subjective ratings of presence increased with physical screen size, supporting our hypothesis. Face scenes also produced higher presence scores than landscape scenes for both screen sizes. In Experiment 2, reaction time and pupil dilation results showed the same trends as the presence ratings and pupil dilation correlated with presence ratings, providing some validation of the method. Overall, the results suggest that real-time measures of subjective presence might be a valuable tool for measuring audience experience for different types of (i) display and (ii) audiovisual material

Should a movie have two different soundtracks for its stereoscopic and non-stereoscopic versions? A study on the front/rear balance

Best paper awardInternational audienceFew psychoacoustic studies have been made on the influence of stereoscopy on the sound mixing of movies. Yet very different opinions can be found among scientific, esthetical or technical communities. Some argue that sound needs to be mixed differently for stereoscopic movies, whereas others pretend that image has actually caught up with sound, that was already "three-dimensional" and should not therefore be affected by stereoscopy. In the present experiment, expert subjects were asked to achieve surround sound ambiance mixings for eleven short sequences presented in both stereoscopic and nonstereoscopic versions. The results suggest that the influence of stereoscopy on the front/rear balance strongly depends on the content of the sequence and only appears in a few specific situations

Stereoscopic Displays: Factors Affecting Realism

This paper presents the final outcome of the Final Year Project entitled Stereoscopic Displays: Factors Affecting Realism. The term "Stereoscopic Displays" refers to the stereoscopic technology that is being used in Virtual Reality in order to project a realistic image. The aim of the study is to find out the factors that affect the realism of the projected image in stereoscopic displays as well as to identify image parameter that gives the most impact to user's depth perception of a 3D scene. The study is done by undertaking intensive research from previous literatures, and then carrying out an experiment to determine the parameters that gives the most impact to the depth perception of user. By knowing which parameters that affects the depth perception the most, it can be useful in designing an application that will project a quality 3D image, which will therefore increase the realism effect and then also increases the sense of presence in the users. The research has found out that the factor that affects the realism revolves around on the technical and the human issues. The experiment have been focusing on the testing of 4 parameters, which are motion cues, number of edges on objects, background brightness and distances of objects from the user. From there it has been proven that motion cues, background brightness and distances of objects from user have a positive impact on the depth perception, while the number of edges on the objects is proven to have an impact, but the extent of its effect is inconclusive. As a conclusion to the study, the author believes that this study is only complete at a preliminary level, and still needs continuation to further support the findings that have been made

Watching movies on netflix: Investigating the effect of screen size on viewer immersion

Film and television content is moving out of the living room and onto mobile devices - viewers are now watching when and where it suits them, on devices of differing sizes. This freedom is convenient, but could lead to differing experiences across devices. Larger screens are often believed to be favourable, e.g. to watch films or sporting events. This is partially supported in the literature, which shows that larger screens lead to greater presence and more intense physiological responses. However, a more broadly-defined measure of experience, such as that of immersion from computer games research, has not been studied. In this study, 19 participants watched content on three different screens and reported their immersion level via questionnaire. Results showed that the 4.5-inch phone screen elicited lower immersion scores when compared to the 13-inch laptop and 30-inch monitor, but there was no difference when comparing the two larger screens. This suggests that very small screens lead to reduced immersion, but after a certain size the effect is less pronounced

Investigating the impact of television advertisement image quality on telepresence, attitude towards brands and purchase intentions

In an experiment manipulating the image quality of television ads, 127 participants watched television commercials in either high or low image quality. The participants rated each ad for their attitude towards the ad and purchase intentions. Additionally, sensations of telepresence and transportation were assessed. The participants who viewed the ads in higher image quality reported more positive attitudes towards the brands, and higher levels of telepresence. The implications are discussed

A Cross-Media Presence Questionnaire: The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory

The presence research community would benefit from a reliable and valid cross-media presence measure that allows results from different laboratories to be compared and a more comprehensive knowledge base to be developed. The ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory (ITC-SOPI) is a new state questionnaire measure whose development has been informed by previous research on the determinants of presence and current self-report measures. It focuses on users' experiences of media, with no reference to objective system parameters. More than 600 people completed the ITC-SOPI following an experience with one of a range of noninteractive and interactive media. Exploratory analysis (principal axis factoring) revealed four factors: Sense of Physical Space, Engagement, Ecological Validity, and Negative Effects. Relations between the factors and the consistency of the factor structure with others reported in the literature are discussed. Preliminary analyses described here demonstrate that the ITC-SOPI is reliable and valid, but more rigorous testing of its psychometric properties and applicability to interactive virtual environments is required. Subject to satisfactory confirmatory analyses, the ITC-SOPI will offer researchers using a range of media systems a tool with which to measure four facets of a media experience that are putatively related to presence