Understanding and realizing presence in the Presenccia project.

People who experience an immersive VR system usually report feeling as if they were really in the displayed virtual situation, and can often be observed behaving in accordance with that feeling, even though they know that they're not actually there. Researchers refer to this feeling as "presence" in virtual environments, yet the term has come to have many uses and meanings, all of which evolved from the notion of telepresence in teleoperator systems. In Presenccia, we take an operational approach to the presence concept. Our approach lets us assess the extent of presence using tools beyond traditional questionnaires, and therefore we avoid many of the problems involved with sole reliance on these. Instead, we consider the extent to which mixed reality (MR) and VR participants realistically respond to virtually generated sensory data. Specifically, we measure the similarity of their response with what we might observe or predict if the sensory data-the situation, place, or events-were real, rather than virtual. We consider this response on several levels.     

Exploring the relationship between presence and enjoyment in a virtual museum

The Augmented Representation of Cultural Objects (ARCO) system, developed as a part of an EU ICT project, provides museum curators with software and interface tools to develop web-based virtual museum exhibitions by integrating augmented reality (AR) and 3D computer graphics. ARCO technologies could also be deployed in order to implement educational kiosks placed in real-world museums. The main purpose of the system is to offer an entertaining, informative and enjoyable experience to virtual museum visitors. This paper presents a formal usability study that has been undertaken in order to explore participants’ perceived ‘sense of being there’ and enjoyment while exposed to a virtual museum exhibition in relation to real-world visits. The virtual museum implemented was based on an existing gallery in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK. It is of interest to determine whether a high level of presence results in enhanced enjoyment. After exposure to the system, participants completed standardized presence questionnaires related to the perceived realism of cultural artifacts referred to as AR objects’ presence, as well as to participants’ generic perceived presence in the virtual museum referred to as VR presence. The studies conducted indicate that previous experience with ICTs (Information and Communication Technologies) did not correlate with perceived AR objects’ presence or VR presence while exposed to a virtual heritage environment. Enjoyment and both AR objects’ presence and VR presence were found to be positively correlated. Therefore, a high level of perceived presence could be closely associated with satisfaction and gratification which contribute towards an appealing experience while interacting with a museum simulation system.     

Cyber sickness in low-immersive,semi-immersive,and fully immersive virtual reality

Virtual Reality - It is known that virtual reality (VR) experience may cause cyber sickness. One aspect of VR is an immersion or otherwise sense of presence, the sense of feeling oneself in a...     

Can a More Neutral Position of the Forearm When Operating a Computer Mouse Reduce the Pain Level for Visual Display Unit Operators? A Prospective Epidemiological Intervention Study: Part II

In virtual reality (VR) applications the user's subjective experiences and responses to the same VR technology, like the presence experience, can differ enormously between people. Such interindividual differences are not well examined yet. The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship between personality variables and presence in VR. Thirty female participants completed different personality questionnaires before they were exposed to an interactive and immersive virtual environment. Afterward, they completed various presence questionnaires to determine whether correlations between personality and presence depend on the used presence measure, or if different presence questionnaires reveal comparable results. Significant positive correlations were found among the different presence questionnaires. Nevertheless, personality variables like impulsive tendencies, empathy, locus of control, or the Big Five personality traits showed heterogeneous correlations with presence, depending on the presence questionnaire used. Absorption seemed to be the best predictor for the feeling of presence in VR and showed the strongest relationship with presence, independent of the used presence measure. Mental imagination, perspective taking, and immersive tendencies showed significant correlations with presence too, which were comparable between different presence measures. Hence, to find valid and meaningful relationships between personality variables and presence in VR it is beneficial to use different measures to assess presence.     

A questionnaire for measuring presence in virtual environments: factor analysis of the presence questionnaire and adaptation into Brazilian Portuguese

The increasing use of virtual reality (VR) environments in different domains of research and psychotherapy offers advantages over traditional treatment approaches. However, in order to feel immersed and involved by the VR experience, participants require VR scenarios that promote the subjective feeling of “being there,” i.e., presence. The most utilized mean of operationalization of presence is through self-report scales and questionnaires. This article aims to report the translation and adaptation of the presence questionnaire (PQ) into Brazilian Portuguese, comparing the factorial distribution of the adapted version with the original PQ. Translation and back-translations were conducted by a team of Brazilian psychologists and computer science professionals with experience on the field. Participants (n = 100) answered the Brazilian version of the questionnaire after wearing a head-mounted display (HMD) and driving a virtual automobile in a VR scenario. The principal component analysis of the translated version generated factors consistently with the original study; however, items that had equivocal construct adequacy in the original PQ changed factors. The factor structure of the PQ is discussed. The growing use of VR environments requires instruments assessing the presence of immersed individuals, and the Brazilian Portuguese version of the PQ appears to be a viable option.     

Effects of virtual presence and learning outcome using low-end virtual reality systems

Low-cost technology is essential to integrate Virtual Reality (VR) into educative institutions around the world. However, low-cost technology usually refers to low-end technology, which may compromise the level of immersion of the VR system. This study evaluates whether low-end and high-end VR systems achieve a comparable learning outcome regardless their immersion level. We also analyze the relationship between virtual presence and the learning outcome arising from a VR educational experience. An evaluation with 42 participants was conducted. We measured learning outcome and virtual presence under three different configurations, namely: a desktop computer, a low-end VR system, and a high-end VR system. The impact of simulator sickness was also analyzed. Results revealed a lower learning outcome in the less immersive configuration (i.e. desktop) and a similar learning outcome in both low-end and high-end VR systems. Even though low-end VR systems are less immersive and produce a lower level of virtual presence than high-end VR systems, the results support the use of low-end VR systems for educative applications.     

Human–Computer Interface Issues in Controlling Virtual Reality With Brain–Computer Interface

We have integrated the Graz brain–computer interface (BCI) system with a highly immersive virtual reality (VR) Cave-like system. This setting allows for a new type of experience, whereby participants can control a virtual world using imagery of movement. However, current BCI systems still have many limitations. In this article we present two experiments exploring the different constraints posed by current BCI systems when used in VR. In the first experiment we let the participants make free choices during the experience and compare their BCI performance with participants using BCI without free choice; this is unlike most previous work in this area, in which participants are requested to obey cues. In the second experiment we allowed participants to control a virtual body with motor imagery. We provide both quantitative and subjective results, regarding both BCI accuracy and the nature of the subjective experience in this new type of setting.     

Early cortical processing of vection-inducing visual stimulation as measured by event-related brain potentials (ERP)

Visual motion stimuli can induce the perception of self-motion in stationary observers (known as vection). In the present study, we investigated the sensory processing underlying vection by measuring the human event-related brain potentials (ERPs) elicited by the movement onset of a visual stimulus. We presented participants a visual stimulus consisting of alternating black-and-white vertical bars that moved in horizontal direction, creating the sensation of vection. The stimulus was presented on a screen that was divided into a central and a surrounding peripheral visual area. Both areas moved independently from each other, resulting in four different movement patterns: the peripheral and the central stimulus moved in the same or opposite direction, or one of the two visual areas of the stimulus moved while the other remained stable. In addition, two different stimulus types varying with respect to the bars’ width (narrow vs. wide) were used. Participants were presented with these stimuli in two phases of the experiment: During EEG-recording, only short phases (2.5–3.5 ms) of visual motion were applied. In a separate rating phase, visual motion was presented for 45 s. In this phase, vection onset, intensity, and duration were verbally recorded. Overall, the visual stimulation generated vection with different intensities (i.e., weakest vection with sole central stimulus movement). Stimulus type did not affect vection. In the ERPs, stimulus onset elicited parieto-occipital P2 and N2 components. The amplitudes of the ERP components differed significantly between the four movement patterns (irrespective of stimulus type), however, they did not fully align with the subjective vection ratings. Since the ERPs are associated with early sensory processing preceding vection, we argue that the ERPs mirror the contribution of sensory cortical processes to vection rather than the subjective sensation of vection per se.     

Health and safety implications of virtual reality: a review of empirical evidence

For the last 10 years a number of papers have been written that discuss human factors issues associated with virtual reality (VR). The nature of these papers has gradually evolved from speculation and anecdotal report to empirical research. Despite developments in VR technology, some participants still experience health and safety problems associated with VR use-termed VR-induced symptoms and effects (VRISE). The key concern from the literature is VR-induced sickness, experienced by a large proportion of VR participants, but for the majority these effects are mild and subside quickly. This paper makes a number of recommendations regarding the future direction of research into health and safety implications of VR, including the need to take into account the way in which VR is being used when conducting empirical research: first, to ensure that studies consider both effects and their consequences, second, to ensure that empirical trials reflect the actual likely context of VR use; third, to consider interactions between effects: and finally, to consider ways in which effects can be managed.     

Usability evaluation of a virtual reality smartphone app for a living museum

This paper elaborates the empirical evidence of a usability evaluation of a VR and non-VR virtual tour application for a living museum. The System Usability Scale (SUS) was used in between participants experiments (Group 1: non-VR version and Group 2: VR version) with 40 participants. The results show that the mean scores of all components for the VR version are higher compared to the non-VR version, overall SUS score (72.10 vs 68.10), usability score (75.50 vs 71.70), and learnability (58.40 vs 57.00). Further analysis using a two-tailed independent t test showed no difference between the non-VR and VR versions. Additionally, no significant difference was observed between the groups in the context of gender, nationality, and prior experience (other VR tour applications) for overall SUS score, usability score, and learnability score. Α two-tailed independent t test indicated no significant difference in the usability score between participants with VR experience and no VR experience. However, a significant difference was found between participants with VR experience and no VR experience for both SUS score (t(38) = 2.17, p = 0.037) and learnability score (t(38) = 2.40, p = 0.021). The independent t test results indicated a significant difference between participant with and without previous visits to SCV for the usability score (t(38) = −2.31, p = 0.027), while there was no significant differences observed in other components. It can be concluded that both versions passed based on the SUS score. However, the sub-scale usability and learnability scores indicated some usability issue.

     

Perceiving interpersonally-mediated risk in virtual environments

Using virtual reality (VR) to examine risky behavior that is mediated by interpersonal contact, such as agreeing to have sex, drink, or smoke with someone, offers particular promise and challenges. Social contextual stimuli that might trigger impulsive responses can be carefully controlled in virtual environments (VE), and yet manipulations of risk might be implausible to participants if they do not feel sufficiently immersed in the environment. The current study examined whether individuals can display adequate evidence of presence in a VE that involved potential interpersonally-induced risk: meeting a potential dating partner. Results offered some evidence for the potential of VR for the study of such interpersonal risk situations. Participants’ reaction to the scenario and risk-associated responses to the situation suggested that the embodied nature of virtual reality override the reality of the risk’s impossibility, allowing participants to experience adequate situational embedding, or presence.     

Mild stress stimuli built into a non-immersive virtual environment can elicit actual stress responses

The experience of Virtual Reality (VR) can lead to unwanted or wanted psychological stress reactions. Highly immersive VR games for instance utilise extreme, life-threatening, or dangerous situations to achieve those responses from their players. There is also sufficient evidence that in clinical settings and specific situations, such as fear of heights or post-traumatic stress, virtual stimuli can lead to perceived stress for clients. However, there is a gap in research targeting everyday, mild emotional stimuli, which are neither extreme nor specific and which are not presented in an immersive system. To what extent can common stimuli in a non-immersive virtual environment elicit actual stress reactions for its users? We developed a desktop VR system and evaluated it in a study with 54 participants. We could show that virtual stimuli in a common, domestic family environment led to a significant increase in perceived stress as measured by quantitative (self-reports) and qualitative (semi-structured interviews analysed with a General Inductive Approach (GIA)) responses. The results also showed that the introduction of virtual stimuli induced significantly higher levels of perceived workload and sense of presence and led to different physiological reactions. These findings have implications for the design and implementation of non-immersive VR systems.     

How the physical appearance of companions affects females with high or low social physique anxiety: a virtual reality exercise study

Virtual Reality - Technologies such as virtual reality (VR), an immersive computer-based environment that induces a feeling of mental and physical presence, are becoming increasingly popular for...     

A systematic review of the application of interactive virtual reality to sport

Virtual reality (VR) technology is being increasingly used by athletes, coaches, and other sport-related professionals. The present systematic review aimed to document research on the application of VR to sport to better understand the outcomes that have emerged in this work. Research literature databases were searched, and the results screened to identify articles reporting applications of interactive VR to sport with healthy human participants. Twenty articles were identified and coded to document the study aims, research designs, participant characteristics, sport types, VR technology, measures, and key findings. From the review, it was shown that interactive VR applications have enhanced a range of performance, physiological, and psychological outcomes. The specific effects have been influenced by factors related to the athlete and the VR system, which comprise athlete factors, VR environment factors, task factors, and the non-VR environment factors. Important variables include the presence of others in the virtual environment, competitiveness, task autonomy, immersion, attentional focus, and feedback. The majority of research has been conducted on endurance sports, such as running, cycling, and rowing, and more research is required to examine the use of interactive VR in skill-based sports. Additional directions for future research and reporting standards for researchers are suggested.     

An objective measure for the visual fidelity of virtual reality and the risks of falls in a virtual environment

Despite decades of development of virtual reality (VR) devices and VR’s recent renaissance, it has been difficult to measure these devices’ effectiveness in immersing the observer. Previously, VR devices have been evaluated using subjective measures of presence, but in this paper, we suggest that postural stability can be used to objectively assess visual fidelity of VR headsets. We validated this measure by testing known differences between the devices. This study also aimed to determine the stability of healthy participants, while in a stable virtual world, compared to eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions and therefore provide a standard of safety requirements for future experimentation. Participants’ ability to maintain a stable centre of pressure was measured using a Wii Balance Board, covered by a foam pad. Stability in eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions was compared with: (1) an iPod Touch in a simple Google cardboard style headset, (2) the Oculus Rift Development Kits (DK) DK1, DK2, with and without the tracking of linear head movements, and (3) the Samsung Gear VR. With a stable VR visual stimulus, the eyes-open condition allowed for significantly greater postural stability than the other conditions, which supports the validity of posturography as a measure of visual fidelity. Further, the iPod Touch, with its narrow field of view and rudimentary software, was significantly less effective at destabilising participants with visual perturbations than the other headsets, with their wider field of view and time warping. Unexpected results are discussed with respect to the possible limitations of the experimental design.     

Effects of electrical brain stimulation on brain indices and presence experience in immersive,interactive virtual reality

Virtual Reality - The subjective presence experience in virtual reality (VR) is associated with distinct brain activation patterns. Particularly, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) seems to...     

Demographic differences in presence across seven studies

Virtual Reality - It is often necessary for virtual reality (VR) users to experience a sense of presence for the benefits of VR applications to be realized. However, feelings of presence are...     

The Effect of Head Tracking on the Degree of Presence in Virtual Reality

ABSTRACT

The performance of a virtual reality (VR) system can be assessed from two aspects in the human-VR interaction loop. One aspect is the degree of immersion, which objectively quantifies the performance of the VR system using metrics such as the display field of view or the refresh rate. The other aspect is presence, which measures the user response to the VR system. This article presents a study that compares the impact on presence by changing immersion through enabling and disabling of the head tracking ability on a VR headset. The study quantitatively assesses this change by taking objective measurements of posture and subjective ratings of the VR experience, in terms of presence and motion sickness, after participants have gone through two versions of a roller coaster simulation; one with head tracking on and the other with head tracking off. The results indicate that a loss of immersion, caused by turning the head tracking feature off, results in a significant reduction in postural sway. This loss of immersion also affected presence, as shown through the user surveys. The survey responses indicate that the simulation with head tracking off was less enjoyable and caused more motion sickness compared to when head tracking is kept on.     

Virtual reality

Although the terms cyberspace and virtual reality have been around for years, virtual reality as an industry is in its infancy. The term virtual reality is credited to Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL Research; earlier experimenters, like Myron Krueger in the mid-1970s, used phrases like artificial reality. William Gibson coined cyberspace in his 1984 science fiction novel. Neuromancer. Few technologies in recent years have evoked such fiery discussions in the technical community, and fewer still have sparked such passionate involvement of the humanities and the cultural sector. Maybe the humanities community reacts because the VR interaction is so tightly coupled to the human senses. Perhaps the cultural sector clamours for a role in the evolution of VR because the technology is finally interfacing with the human, rather than the human interfacing with the technology. Whatever the reasons, VR is more a convergence of previously disparate disciplines than a whole new branch of technology. It simply takes a fresh look at human interaction. Evolving from user interface design, flight and visual simulation, and telepresence technologies, VR is unique in its emphasis on the experience of the human participant. VR focuses the user's attention on the experience while suspending disbelief about the method of creating it. We feel that neither the devices used nor the level of interactiveness or fidelity determine whether a system is VR. The quality of the experience is crucial. To stimulate creativity and productivity. the virtual experience must be credible. The reality must both react to the human participants in physically and perceptually appropriate ways, and conform to their personal cognitive representations of the microworld in which they are engrossed. The experience does not necessarily have to be realistic-just consistent     

Platform is not destiny: Embodied learning effects comparing 2D desktop to 3D virtual reality STEM experiences

Experiences in immersive 3D virtual reality (VR) are more presence-inducing, and so it may be tempting to claim that content will be learned better in VR. This randomized control trial study on natural selection challenges that assumption. This study answers the question of whether learning STEM in an immersive 3D VR environment is always superior to learning via a 2D monitor (PC). This is a 2 × 2 × 3 design. The first factor is platform immersivity (low = 2D PC, or high = 3D VR), the second factor is level of embodiment (lower = watching playback video, or higher = using mouse/controller to agentically manipulate content), and the third factor is test time (pretest, posttest, and follow-up). There was a significant main effect for embodiment, the high embodied and agentic groups learned the most. There was not a main effect for platform, because the participants in the low embodied VR group performed significantly worse than the three other groups. Although, the one high embodied, VR group learned and retained the most knowledge. A path-analysis revealed that the effect of platform was significantly mediated by presence, agency, and engagement. The smaller learning gain in the low embodied VR condition suggests that participants come to the immersive VR experience with expectations about agency and control of the virtual content, and when those expectations were not met, the disconnect was deleterious for learning. More agentic and interactive control of manipulable virtual content is encouraged. Design is critical, and platform is not destiny.