Rapport d'étape du projet "Devenez Avatar"

Le projet « Devenez Avatar » concerne l’immersion avatariale abordée à travers une approche expérimentale transdisciplinaire. Son objectif, à la croisée de la création en images et technologies interactives, des sciences de l’information et de la communication, de la réalité virtuelle et de la neurophysiologie est de créer un dispositif expérimental permettant des mesures physiologiques pour étayer l’hypothèse d’un état de dédoublement. Une présence à la fois ici, devant l’écran et là-bas dans son au-delà, ce dont témoignent les vidéo-joueurs et des études empiriques des game studies. Ce type d’état entre en résonance en neurophysiologie, avec la « sortie du corps », les « Out of Body Experiences » artificielles, sensations provoquées à l’aide d’appareillages de réalité virtuelle sur des sujets sains

Effect of Observing a Virtual Double on Paranoia in Social Virtual Environments: Experiment Preliminary Presentation

We present an experiment designed to investigate whether seeing a virtual double performing an action in a social context can impact participants’ psychological state. With the help of a 3D scanning process, we are interested in exposing participants suffering from moderate paranoid thinking to a ubiquitous social situation where they see their virtual double carry out a social interaction task, in order to observe if this can reduce anxiety and paranoia levels prior to carrying out the task themselves

Experimenting the Interaction Effect Between a Physical and a Human-Controlled Virtual Actor in Theatrical Performances

With this paper, we aim at introducing an empirical experiment to explore the impact of different interactions between a physical actor and a virtual avatar (digital character controlled by a second actor equipped with a motion-capture suit) on spectators' sense of social presence in the frame of theatrical performances. This investigation relies on previous creation-researches that permitted us to put forward a hypothesis that different types of interactions could impact spectators' attitude, making them drive their attention towards the physical and/or the virtual environment during the performance. With the proposed experiment we want to apply an empirical scientific approach to our artistic practice in order to share guidelines, techniques and exercises with theater makers confronting physical actors and digital characters in their practice

The autoscopic flying avatar: a new paradigm to study bilocated presence in mixed reality

This position paper presents the project "Becoming Avatar" deals with avatarial immersion [1] addressed through an interdisciplinary experimental approach. Its goal, at the crossroad of the creation of images and interactive technology, of virtual reality, neurophysiology and information and communication sciences, is to develop a device and a media scenario to support the hypothesis of a split state and to objectify the situation of bilocation [2]. Being present both here in front of the screen and over there, beyond the screen, which is shown by empirical studies of video games and by artists and metaverse explorers in Second Life. This type of state resonates in neurophysiology with the artificial "Out-of-Body Experiences" sensations produced with the aid of virtual reality equipment on healthy subjects. The production includes the development of a scientific experimental facility for physiological measurements and a public installation allowing someone to live a non-ordinary experience of split self. The common feature to both aspects of the project is based on the original idea of integrating video and 3D technology in order to experiment a situation of flight in mixed reality. The subject is literally invited to "become an avatar", indeed, he sees his own image, filmed from behind, inlaid into a synthetic world where he will be able to move freely and experiment different events. This autoscopic system of immersion was imagined in 2012 by E. Pereny and worked again in 2013-2014 with Pr A. Berthoz and E.A. Amato, to be developed and finalized with N. Galinotti and G. Gorisse, with Jams sessions integrating students

REC: A Unity Tool to Replay, Export and Capture Tracked Movements for 3D and Virtual Reality Applications

We present REC, a Unity open-source tool for developers and researchers to record, export and replay the movements of virtual reality users and virtual characters. Recording both real-time body tracking and animations, this tool makes it possible to export skeletal data in a comma-separated values (CSV) file allowing to process and analyze users' movements. We also provide a feature to reload and replay saved movements directly from the CSV file on virtual characters in a 3D environment

De la présence à l’incarnation: proposition d’un méta-modèle pour la réalité virtuelle

Les sentiments de présence et d’incarnation sont deux dimensions centrales de l’expérience utilisateur en environnement virtuel immersif. Suite à une revue de littérature portant sur ces deux concepts, nous en proposons une articulation théorique au sein d’un méta-modèle « Présence – Incarnation ». L’introduction de ce modèle aboutit à la proposition d’un questionnaire permettant l’évaluation subjective des sentiments de présence et d’incarnation d’utilisateurs immergés dans une application de réalité virtuelle. Les implications méthodologiques de ce modèle et ses perspectives applicatives sont ensuite évoquées afin d’introduire la ligne directrice de nos travaux futurs

Using virtual reality to assess gesture performance deficits in schizophrenia patients

Introduction: Gesture performance deficits are prevalent in schizophrenia patients and are strongly associated with poor social communication skills and community functioning, affecting their overall quality of life. Currently, video-recording technology is widely used in clinical settings to assess gesture production deficits in schizophrenia patients. Nevertheless, the subjective evaluation of video-recordings can encumber task assessment. The present study will aim to use virtual reality to examine its potential use as an alternative tool to objectively measure gesture performance accuracy in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Methods: Gesture performance in the virtual reality setting will be based on the well-established Test of Upper Limb Apraxia. Participants will be immersed in a virtual environment where they will experience themselves being embodied in a collocated virtual body seen from a first-person perspective. Motion trackers will be placed on participants’ hands and elbows to track upper body movements in real-time, and to record gesturemovement for later analysis. Participants will see a virtual agent sitting across fromthem, with a virtual table in between. The agent will performvarious types of gestures and the participants’ task will be to imitate those gestures as accurately as possible. Measurements from the tracking devices will be stored and analyzed to address gesture performance accuracy across groups. Discussion: This study aims to provide objective measurements of gesture performance accuracy in schizophrenia patients. If successful, the results will provide new knowledge to the gesture literature and offer the potential for novel therapeutic interventions using virtual reality technologies. Such interventions can improve gesturing and thus advance social communication skills in schizophrenia patients

Quantitative and Qualitative Exploration of the Effect of a Wearable Item on Non-Organic Virtual Limb Embodiment and User Behavior in Immersive Environments

This experiment was designed to investigate the potential contribution to the sense of embodiment of a wristband worn by the participants in both real and virtual environments. In addition, two virtual limb models were compared following a mixed between-within subjects design: an organic hand and a non-organic prosthesis matching the proposed task. Quantitative results revealed no significant effect of the wristband, while post-experiment semistructured interviews revealed that the wristband fostered the identification with the virtual limbs for several participants, but that it might be conditioned by interindividual differences. Ownership scores were significantly higher with the virtual hand. However, participants experienced a very high sense of agency with both conditions despite the lack of finger tracking when controlling the prosthesis. Agency was positively correlated with participants' perceived change in their body schema when embodying the prosthesis. Subjective and objective measures demonstrated that participants were less hesitant and that more collisions were recorded at higher speeds against potentially threatening objects with the non-organic prosthesis

Effects of voluntary heart rate control on user engagement and agency in a virtual reality game

It has been demonstrated that virtual reality (VR) exposure can afect the subjective experience of diferent situations, cognitive capabilities or behavior. It is known that there is a link between a person’s physiological state and their psychological self-report and user experience. As an immersive experience can afect users’ physiological data, it is possible to adapt and enhance the content of a virtual environment in real-time base on physiological data feedback (biofeedback). With the rapid evolution of the physiological monitoring technologies, it is now possible to exploit diferent modalities of biofeedback, in a cheap and non-cumbersome manner, and study how they can afect user experience. While most of the studies involving physiological data use it as a measuring tool, we want to study its impact when direct and voluntary physiological control becomes a mean of interaction. To do so, we created a two-parts protocol. The frst part was designed to categorize the participants on their heart rate control competency. In the second part of the study, we immersed our participants in a VR experience where they must control their heart rate to interact with the elements in the game. The results were analyzed based on the competency distribution. We observed consistent results between our competency scale and the participants’ control of the biofeedback game mechanic. We also found that our direct biofeedback mechanic is highly engaging. We observed that it generated a strong feeling of agency, which is linked with users’ level of heart rate control. We highlighted the richness of biofeedback as a direct game mechanic, prompting interesting perspective for personalized immersive experiences

A Subjective Review

Virtual Reality (VR) is now an affordable technology that is starting to penetrate the mass market. While cardboard is the most distributed system, it lacks interaction to provide really engaging experiences. Providing low cost solutions to enhance VR experiences is crucial. We hypothesized that the integration of a smart wristband in a VR experience, provide a reliable and comfortable enough setup to add a biofeedback loop to a game. We created a physiologically enhanced game and coupled it with a smart wristband capable of monitoring one's heart rate. We tested our game with and without biofeedback and compared the reported novelty. We observed a high interest of the participants for the integration of smart wearables in VR. We highlighted the stability of our setup, even in mobility and the reported absence of discomfort created by the addition of the wristband