The Effects of Pictorial Realism, Delay of Visual Feedback, and Observer Interactivity on the Subjective Sense of Presence

Two experiments examined the effects of pictorial realism, observer interactivity, and delay of visual feedback on the sense of presence. Subjects were presented pairs of virtual enviornments (a simulated driving task) that differed in one or more ways from each other. After subjects had completed the second member of each pair they reported which of the two had produced the greater amount of presence and indicated the size of this difference by means of a 1-100 scale. As predicted, realism and interactivity increased presence while delay of visual feedback diminished it. According to subjects\u27 verbal responses to a postexperiment interview, pictorial realism was the least influential of the three variables examined. Further, although some subjects reported an increase in the sense of presence over the course of the experiment, most said it reamined unchanged or became weaker

Media Presence and Inner Presence: The Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Technologies

Abstract. Presence is widely accepted as the key concept to be considered in any research involving human interaction with Virtual Reality (VR). Since its original description, the concept of presence has developed over the past decade to be considered by many researchers as the essence of any experience in a virtual environment. The VR generating systems comprise two main parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. The different relevance given to them produced two different but coexisting visions of presence: the rationalist and the psychological/ecological points of view. The rationalist point of view considers a VR system as a collection of specific machines with the necessity of the inclusion \ud of the concept of presence. The researchers agreeing with this approach describe the sense of presence as a function of the experience of a given medium (Media Presence). The main result of this approach is the definition of presence as the perceptual illusion of non-mediation produced by means of the disappearance of the medium from the conscious attention of the subject. At the other extreme, there \ud is the psychological or ecological perspective (Inner Presence). Specifically, this perspective considers presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the control of the human activity. \ud Given its key role and the rate at which new approaches to understanding and examining presence are appearing, this chapter draws together current research on presence to provide an up to date overview of the most widely accepted approaches to its understanding and measurement

From presence to consciousness through virtual reality

Immersive virtual environments can break the deep, everyday connection between where our senses tell us we are and where we are actually located and whom we are with. The concept of 'presence' refers to the phenomenon of behaving and feeling as if we are in the virtual world created by computer displays. In this article, we argue that presence is worthy of study by neuroscientists, and that it might aid the study of perception and consciousness

Effects of prolonged exposure to feedback delay on the qualitative subjective experience of virtual reality

When interacting with virtual environments, feedback delays between making a movement and seeing the visual consequences of that movement are detrimental for the subjective quality of the VR experience. Here we used standard measures of subjective experiences such as ownership, agency and presence to investigate whether prolonged exposure to the delay, and thus the possibility to adapt to it, leads to the recovery of the qualitative experience of VR. Participants performed a target-tracking task in a Virtual Reality environment. We measured the participants' tracking performance in terms of spatial and temporal errors with respect to the target in both No-Delay and Delay conditions. Additionally, participants rated their sense of ``ownership'' of holding a virtual tool, agency and presence on each trial using sliding scales. These single trial ratings were compared to the results of the more traditional questionnaires for ownership and agency and presence for both No-Delay and Delay conditions. We found that the participants' sliding scales ratings corresponded very well to the scores obtained from the traditional questionnaires. Moreover, not only did participants behaviourally adapt to the delay, their ratings of ownership and agency significantly improved with prolonged exposure to the delay. Together the results suggest a tight link between the ability to perform a behavioural task and the subjective ratings of ownership and agency in virtual reality

Understanding user experience in gaming

This research examines the effect of virtual reality gaming versus desktop based gaming on spatial presence, social presence, and intention to play. It draws on cognitive theory of presence, social presence theory, and theory of reasoned action to generate the research hypotheses and explain the observed phenomenon. A within-subject experimental design (N=53) was used to evaluate the effects of virtual reality versus desktop based gaming. The results suggest that both spatial presence and social presence were significantly enhanced in the virtual reality gaming environment while intention to play was significantly greater in the desktop based gaming environment --Abstract, page iii

Effects of Sensory Information and Prior Experience on Direct Subjective Ratings of Presence

We report three experiments using a new form of direct subjective presence evaluation that was developed from the method of continuous assessment used to assess television picture quality. Observers were required to provide a continuous rating of their sense of presence using a handheld slider. The first experiment investigated the effects of manipulating stereoscopic and motion parallax cues within video sequences presented on a 20 in. stereoscopic CRT display. The results showed that the presentation of both stereoscopic and motion parallax cues was associated with higher presence ratings. One possible interpretation of Experiment 1 is that CRT displays that contain the spatial cues of stereoscopic disparity and motion parallax are more interesting or engaging. To test this, observers in Experiment 2 rated the same stimuli first for interest and then for presence. The results showed that variations in interest did not predict the presence ratings obtained in Experiment 1. However, the subsequent ratings of presence differed significantly from those obtained in Experiment 1, suggesting that prior experience with interest ratings affected subsequent judgments of presence. To test this, Experiment 3 investigated the effects of prior experience on presence ratings. Three groups of observers rated a training sequence for interest, presence, and 3-Dness before rating the same stimuli as used for Experiments 1 and 2 for presence. The results demonstrated that prior ratings sensitize observers to different features of a display resulting in different presence ratings. The implications of these results for presence evaluation are discussed, and a combination of more-refined subjective measures and a battery of objective measures is recommended

Using Behavioral Realism to Estimate Presence: A Study of the Utility of Postural Responses to Motion Stimuli

We recently reported that direct subjective ratings of the sense of presence are potentially unstable and can be biased by previous judgments of the same stimuli (Freeman et al., 1999). Objective measures of the behavioral realism elicited by a display offer an alternative to subjective ratings. Behavioral measures and presence are linked by the premise that, when observers experience a mediated environment (VE or broadcast) that makes them feel present, they will respond to stimuli within the environment as they would to stimuli in the real world. The experiment presented here measured postural responses to a video sequence filmed from the hood of a car traversing a rally track, using stereoscopic and monoscopic presentation. Results demonstrated a positive effect of stereoscopic presentation on the magnitude of postural responses elicited. Posttest subjective ratings of presence, vection, and involvement were also higher for stereoscopically presented stimuli. The postural and subjective measures were not significantly correlated, indicating that nonproprioceptive postural responses are unlikely to provide accurate estimates of presence. Such postural responses may prove useful for the evaluation of displays for specific applications and in the corroboration of group subjective ratings of presence, but cannot be taken in place of subjective ratings

System design effects on social presence and telepresence in virtual communities

The influence of presence on users attitudes and behavior is widely reported in the literature. However, we still lack a good understanding of the effects of system design on the formation of a sense of presence in computer-mediated environments in general and virtual communities in particular. In this research, we address this void. More specifically, we examine the relationship between important system design characteristics and perceived presence. We adopt a multidimensional conceptualization of presence, distinguishing between telepresence and social presence. Deviating from the virtual reality literature, we apply new frameworks for the conceptualization of the main determinants of presence (i.e., interactivity and vividness) that are more relevant to the virtual community context. An empirical study involving 149 members of a virtual community specializing in health issues provided strong support for our model. Vividness and interactivity are found to be significant determinants of both telepresence and social presence. While the role of vividness is more important for social presence, that of interactivity is more important for telepresence. All interactivity dimensions (i.e., active control, communication, and synchronicity) are found to be significant for telepresence. For social presence, however, synchronicity does not seem to be as important as the other interactivity dimensions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed

System Design Effects on Social Presence and Telepresence in Virtual Communities

The influence of presence on users attitudes and behavior is widely reported in the literature. However, we still lack a good understanding of the effects of system design on the formation of a sense of presence in computer- mediated environments in general and virtual communities in particular. In this research, we address this void. More specifically, we examine the relationship between important system design characteristics and perceived presence. We adopt a multidimensional conceptualization of presence, distinguishing between telepresence and social presence. Deviating from the virtual reality literature, we apply new frameworks for the conceptualization of the main determinants of presence (i.e., interactivity and vividness) that are more relevant to the virtual community context. An empirical study involving 149 members of a virtual community specializing in health issues provided strong support for our model. Vividness and interactivity are found to be significant determinants of both telepresence and social presence. While the role of vividness is more important for social presence, that of interactivity is more important for telepresence. All interactivity dimensions (i.e., active control, communication, and synchronicity) are found to be significant for telepresence. For social presence, however, synchronicity does not seem to be as important as the other interactivity dimensions. The theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed