Correlating the effects of flow and telepresence in virtual worlds: Enhancing our understanding of user behavior in game-based learning

Recent research on online learning suggests that virtual worlds are becoming an important environment to observe the experience of flow. From these simulated spaces, researchers may gather a deeper understanding of cognition in the context of game-based learning. Csikszentmihalyi (1997) describes flow as a feeling of increased psychological immersion and energized focus, with outcomes that evoke disregard for external pressures and the loss of time consciousness, issuing in a sense of pleasure. Past studies suggest that flow is encountered in an array of activities and places, including those in virtual worlds. The authors’ posit that flow in virtual worlds, such as Second Life (SL), can be positively associated with degrees of the cognitive phenomenon of immersion and telepresence. Flow may also contribute to a better attitude and behavior during virtual game-based learning. This study tested three hypotheses related to flow and telepresence, using SL. Findings suggest that both flow and telepresence are experienced in SL and that there is a significant correlation between them. These findings shed light on the complex interrelationships and interactions that lead to flow experience in virtual gameplay and learning, while engendering hope that learners, who experience flow, may acquire an improved attitude of learning online.     

Motivation,engagement, and performance across multiple virtual reality sessions and levels of immersion

This study investigated changes in learners' motivation, engagement, performance, and spatial reasoning over time and across different levels of virtual reality (VR) immersion. Undergraduate participants explored a virtual solar system via a moderately immersive or highly immersive VR platform over three sessions. In a third condition, participants initially learned with moderate immersion and transitioned to higher immersion after the second session. Following research on novelty effects, we explored whether subjective experiences and performance would decline over time (e.g., decreasing motivation or performance) as participants became familiar with the virtual environment and tools. However, we hypothesized that transitional immersion (i.e., switching from moderate to higher immersion) might lead to a renewed sense of novelty. Results suggested that both moderate and higher levels of immersion were motivating, engaging, and supportive of learning. In contrast to predictions based on novelty effects, these outcomes did not decline overall as learners gained familiarity with the systems. However, transitional immersion emerged as a promising and testable pedagogical approach for future VR education. All participants also showed gains in spatial reasoning.     

Effects of immersion on visual analysis of volume data

Volume visualization has been widely used for decades for analyzing datasets ranging from 3D medical images to seismic data to paleontological data. Many have proposed using immersive virtual reality (VR) systems to view volume visualizations, and there is anecdotal evidence of the benefits of VR for this purpose. However, there has been very little empirical research exploring the effects of higher levels of immersion for volume visualization, and it is not known how various components of immersion influence the effectiveness of visualization in VR. We conducted a controlled experiment in which we studied the independent and combined effects of three components of immersion (head tracking, field of regard, and stereoscopic rendering) on the effectiveness of visualization tasks with two x-ray microscopic computed tomography datasets. We report significant benefits of analyzing volume data in an environment involving those components of immersion. We find that the benefits do not necessarily require all three components simultaneously, and that the components have variable influence on different task categories. The results of our study improve our understanding of the effects of immersion on perceived and actual task performance, and provide guidance on the choice of display systems to designers seeking to maximize the effectiveness of volume visualization applications.     

Effects of display technologies on operation performances and visual fatigue

The use of 3D stereoscopic display technology in all aspects of life has attracted considerable research attention. However, only few studies have simultaneously considered the effects of stereoscopic display technologies on visual fatigue and operating performances. This study with 36 participants (50% females; mean age = 23.17 years, SD = 3.3) analyzed the effects of display technologies, task complexity, and use time on operation performances, subjective and objective visual fatigue. Results indicated that display technology did not significantly affect the operation performances, whereas task complexity did. However, no interaction took place between them. Display technology had no significant effects on subjective visual fatigue and near-point accommodation (NPA) but affected critical fusion frequency (CFF) significantly. Use time had significant effects on both subjective and objective visual fatigue.     

Demand characteristics in assessing motion sickness in a virtual environment: or does taking a motion sickness questionnaire make you sick?

The experience of motion sickness in a virtual environment may be measured through pre and postexperiment self-reported questionnaires such as the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ). Although research provides converging evidence that users of virtual environments can experience motion sickness, there have been no controlled studies to determine to what extent the user's subjective response is a demand characteristic resulting from pre and posttest measures. In this study, subjects were given either SSQ's both pre and postvirtual environment immersion, or only postimmersion. This technique tested for contrast effects due to demand characteristics in which administration of the questionnaire itself suggested to the participant that the virtual environment may produce motion sickness. Results indicate that reports of motion sickness after immersion in a virtual environment are much greater when both pre and postquestionnaires are given than when only a posttest questionnaire is used. The implications for assessments of motion sickness in virtual environments are discussed.     

Effects of interface and spatial ability on manipulation of virtual models in a STEM domain

Virtual models are increasingly employed in STEM education to foster learning about spatial phenomena. However, the roles of the computer interface and students’ cognitive abilities in moderating learning and performance with virtual models are not yet well understood. In two experiments students solved spatial organic chemistry problems using a virtual model system. Two aspects of the virtual model interface were manipulated: display dimensionality (stereoscopic vs. monoscopic displays) and the location of the hand-held device used to manipulate the virtual molecules (co-located with the visual display vs. displaced). The experimental task required participants to interpret the spatial structure of organic molecules and to manipulate the models to align them with orientations and configurations depicted by diagrams in Experiment 1 and three-dimensional models in Experiment 2. Co-locating the interaction device with the virtual image led to better performance in both experiments and stereoscopic viewing led to better performance in Experiment 2. The effect of co-location on performance was moderated by spatial ability in Experiment 1, and the effect of providing stereo viewing was moderated by spatial ability in Experiment 2. The results are in line with the ability-as-compensator hypothesis: participants with lower ability uniquely benefited from the treatment, while those with higher ability were not affected by stereo or co-location. The findings suggest that increased fidelity in a virtual model system may be one way of alleviating difficulties of low-spatial participants in learning spatially demanding content in STEM domains.     

Reduced mental load in learning a motor visual task with virtual 3D method

Distance learning is expanding rapidly, fueled by the novel technologies for shared recorded teaching sessions on the Web. Here, we ask whether 3D stereoscopic (3DS) virtual learning environment teaching sessions are more compelling than typical two‐dimensional (2D) video sessions and whether this type of teaching results in superior learning. The research goal was to compare learning in 2 virtual learning scenarios—on 2D displays and with an identical 3DS scenario. Participants watched a 2D or 3DS video of an instructor demonstrating a box origami paper‐folding task. We compared participants' folding test scores and self‐assessment questionnaires of the teaching scenarios and calculated their cognitive load index (CLI) based on electroencephalogram measurements during the observation periods. Results showed a highly significant difference between participants' folding test scores, CLI, and self‐assessment questionnaire results in 2D compared to 3DS sessions. Our findings indicate that employing stereoscopic 3D technology over 2D displays in the design of emerging virtual and augmented reality applications in distance learning has advantages.     

Avatars Versus Agents: A Meta-Analysis Quantifying the Effect of Agency on Social Influence

Existing research has investigated whether virtual representations perceived to be controlled by humans (i.e., avatars) or those perceived to be controlled by computer algorithms (i.e., agents) are more influential. A meta-analysis (N = 32) examined the model of social influence in virtual environments (Blascovich, 2002) and investigated whether agents and avatars in virtual environments elicit different levels of social influence. Results indicated that perceived avatars produced stronger responses than perceived agents. Level of immersion (desktop vs. fully immersive), dependent variable type (subjective vs. objective), task type (competitive vs. cooperative vs. neutral), and actual control of the representation (human vs. computer) were examined as moderators. An interaction effect revealed that studies conducted on a desktop that used objective measures showed a stronger effect for agency than those that were conducted on a desktop but used subjective measures. Competitive and cooperative tasks showed greater agency effects than neutral tasks. Studies in which both conditions were actually human controlled showed greater agency effects than studies in which both conditions were actually computer controlled. We discuss theoretical and design implications for human–computer interaction and computer-mediated communication.     

Interactive stereoscopic rendering of volumetric environments

We present an efficient stereoscopic rendering algorithm supporting interactive navigation through large-scale 3D voxel-based environments. In this algorithm, most of the pixel values of the right image are derived from the left image by a fast 3D warping based on a specific stereoscopic projection geometry. An accelerated volumetric ray casting then fills the remaining gaps in the warped right image. Our algorithm has been parallelized on a multiprocessor by employing effective task partitioning schemes and achieved a high cache coherency and load balancing. We also extend our stereoscopic rendering to include view-dependent shading and transparency effects. We have applied our algorithm in two virtual navigation systems, flythrough over terrain and virtual colonoscopy, and reached interactive stereoscopic rendering rates of more than 10 frames per second on a 16-processor SGI challenge.     

Quality assessment for virtual reality technology based on real scene

Virtual reality technology is a new display technology, which provides users with real viewing experience. As known, most of the virtual reality display through stereoscopic images. However, image quality will be influenced by the collection, storage and transmission process. If the stereoscopic image quality in the virtual reality technology is seriously damaged, the user will feel uncomfortable, and this can even cause healthy problems. In this paper, we establish a set of accurate and effective evaluations for the virtual reality. In the preprocessing, we segment the original reference and distorted image into binocular regions and monocular regions. Then, the Information-weighted SSIM (IW-SSIM) or Information-weighted PSNR (IW-PSNR) values over the monocular regions are applied to obtain the IW-score. At the same time, the Stereo-weighted-SSIM (SW-SSIM) or Stereo-weighted-PSNR (SW-PSNR) can be used to calculate the SW-score. Finally, we pool the stereoscopic images score by combing the IW-score and SW-score. Experiments show that our method is very consistent with human subjective judgment standard in the evaluation of virtual reality technology.

     

Measuring flow experience in an immersive virtual environment for collaborative learning

In contexts other than immersive virtual environments, theoretical and empirical work has identified flow experience as a major factor in learning and human–computer interaction. Flow is defined as a ‘holistic sensation that people feel when they act with total involvement’. We applied the concept of flow to modeling the experience of collaborative learning in an immersive virtual environment. The aims were, first, to psychometrically evaluate a measurement model of flow and, second, to test a structural model of flow. Pairs of small teams engaged in collaborative problem‐solving tasks while communicating by way of an immersive virtual environment. Flow was measured after each session, using Guo and Poole's inventory for measuring flow in human–computer interaction. In relation to the first aim, partial‐least‐squares analysis demonstrated strong evidence for the measurement model. In relation to the second aim, the structural model was supported: the effect of learning‐task characteristics on flow experience was mediated by its precursors, with extraneous variables held constant. It is reasoned that the experiment and resultant analysis of this work contributes to the development of measurement models and structural models of flow in immersive virtual environments.     

The stress and workload of virtual reality training: the effects of presence,immersion and flow

The present investigation evaluated the effects of virtual reality (VR) training on the performance, perceived workload and stress response to a live training exercise in a sample of Soldiers. We also examined the relationship between the perceptions of that same VR as measured by engagement, immersion, presence, flow, perceived utility and ease of use with the performance, workload and stress reported on the live training task. To a degree, these latter relationships were moderated by task performance, as measured by binary (Go/No-Go) ratings. Participants who reported positive VR experiences also tended to experience lower stress and lower workload when performing the live version of the task. Thus, VR training regimens may be efficacious for mitigating the stress and workload associated with criterion tasks, thereby reducing the ultimate likelihood of real-world performance failure.

Practitioner Summary: VR provides opportunities for training in artificial worlds comprised of highly realistic features. Our virtual room clearing scenario facilitated the integration of Training and Readiness objectives and satisfied training doctrine obligations in a compelling engaging experience for both novice and experienced trainees.     

Manipulating subjective realism and its impact on presence: Preliminary results on feasibility and neuroanatomical correlates

The feeling of presence has been shown to be an important concept in several clinical applications of virtual reality. Among the factors influencing presence, realism factors have been examined extensively from the angle of objective realism. Objective realism has been manipulated by altering numerous technological characteristics such as pictorial quality, texture and shading, or by adding more sensory information (i.e., smell, touch). Much less studied is the subjective (or perceived) realism, the focus of the two pilot studies reported in this article. In Study 1, subjective realism was manipulated in order to assess the impact on the feeling of presence. Method: Presence was measured in 31 adults after two immersions in virtual reality. Participants were immersed in a neutral/irrelevant virtual environment and subsequently subjected to the experimental manipulation. Participants in the experimental condition were falsely led to believe that they were immersed live in real time in a “real” room with a “real” mouse in a cage. In the control condition, participants believed they were immersed in a replica of the nearby room. All participants were actually immersed in the exact same virtual environment. Results: A manipulation check revealed that 80% of the participants believed in the deception. A 2 Times by 2 Conditions repeated measure ANOVA revealed that leading people to believe they were seeing a real environment digitized live in virtual reality increased their feeling of presence compared to the control condition. In Study 2, the same experimental design was used but with simultaneous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in order to assess brain areas potentially related to the feeling of presence. fMRI data from five participants were subjected to a within subject fixed effect analysis to verify differences between the experimental immersion (higher presence) and the control immersion (lower presence). Results revealed a statistically significant difference in left and right parahippocampus areas. Conclusion: Results are discussed according to layers of presence and consciousness and the meaning given to experiences occurring in virtual reality. Some suggestions are formulated to target core presence and extended presence.     

Effects of Duration of Immersion in a Virtual Reality Environment on Postural Stability

Few studies have been carried out to examine the relation between postural stability and subjective reports or feelings of motion sickness. Two views seem to exist on the relation between immersion in a virtual reality (VR) environment and subjective feelings of motion sickness. One predicts that the immersion induces both postural instability and motion sickness. Another view is that preimmersion postural instability predisposes people to motion sickness. However, these views are not supported by empirical research. Longer immersions in a VR environment may induce higher levels of postural instability and symptoms of motion sickness. In this study, effects of long-hours immersion in a VR environment on postural stability were examined to approach the underlying mechanism of postural instability and motion sickness using force platform measurement and self-reported questionnaire on motion sickness. As a result, it was suggested that longer immersion in a VR environment induced postural instability and symptoms of motion sickness.     

Evaluation of grounded isometric interface for whole‐body navigation in virtual environments

Whole‐body interaction is an effective way to promote the level of presence and immersion in virtual reality systems. In this paper, we introduce “G‐Bar,” a grounded isometric interaction device that naturally induces whole‐body interaction without complicated sensing and active haptic feedback apparatus. G‐Bar takes advantage of the significant passive reaction force feedback sensed throughout the body to produce an enhanced level of presence/immersion and possibly even task performance. For detailed investigation in the contributing factors, two experiments were carried out to assess the comparative effectiveness of G‐Bar to the following: (1) grounded but isotonic device (with force feedback and without); and (2) nongrounded handheld devices (both isotonic and isometric). The results showed that the G‐Bar induced significantly higher presence and competitive task performance (fixed velocity navigation) than the isotonic (grounded or handheld) and nongrounded isometric interfaces. Compared with the grounded isometric device with active force feedback, G‐Bar produced competitive performance. In particular, the analysis of the subjective evaluation revealed a high correlation between the level of presence and whole‐body interaction. On the other hand, whole‐body experience was not induced as much with just the active force‐feedback devices. Thus, for appropriate tasks, the grounded isometric interface can be a viable alternative to expensive and mechanically limiting active force‐feedback devices in enhancing user experience. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimenting with electromagnetism using augmented reality: Impact on flow student experience and educational effectiveness

Educational researchers have recognized Augmented Reality (AR) as a technology with great potential to impact affective and cognitive learning outcomes. However, very little work has been carried out to substantiate these claims. The purpose of this study was to assess to which extent an AR learning application affects learners' level of enjoyment and learning effectiveness. The study followed an experimental/control group design using the type of the application (AR-based, web-based) as independent variable. 64 high school students were randomly assigned to the experimental or control group to learn the basic principles of electromagnetism. The participants' knowledge acquisition was evaluated by comparing pre- and post-tests. The participants' level overall-state perception on flow was measured with the Flow State Scale and their flow states were monitored throughout the learning activity. Finally, participants' perceptions of benefits and difficulties of using the augmented reality application in this study were qualitatively identified. The results showed that the augmented reality approach was more effective in promoting students' knowledge of electromagnetic concepts and phenomena. The analysis also indicated that the augmented reality application led participants to reach higher flow experience levels than those achieved by users of the web-based application. However, not all the factors seem to have influence on learners' flow state, this study found that they were limited to: concentration, distorted sense of time, sense of control, clearer direct feedback, and autotelic experience. A deeper analysis of the flow process showed that neither of the groups reported being in flow in those tasks that were very easy or too difficult. However, for those tasks that were not perceived as difficult and included visualization clues, the experimental group showed higher levels of flow that the control group. The study suggests that augmented reality can be exploited as an effective learning environment for learning the basic principles of electromagnetism at high school provided that learning designers strike a careful balance between AR support and task difficulty.     

Social facilitation effects of virtual humans

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether virtual humans produce social facilitation effects. BACKGROUND: When people do an easy task and another person is nearby, they tend to do that task better than when they are alone. Conversely, when people do a hard task and another person is nearby, they tend to do that task less well than when they are alone. This phenomenon is referred to in the social psychology literature as social facilitation. The present study investigated whether virtual humans can evoke a social facilitation response. METHOD: Participants were given different tasks to do that varied in difficulty. The tasks involved anagrams, mazes, and modular arithmetic. They did the tasks alone, in the company of another person, or in the company of a virtual human on a computer screen. RESULTS: For easy tasks, performance in the virtual human condition was better than in the alone condition, and for difficult tasks, performance in the virtual human condition was worse than in the alone condition. CONCLUSION: As with a human, virtual humans can produce social facilitation. APPLICATION: The results suggest that designers of virtual humans should be mindful about the social nature of virtual humans; a design decision as to when and how to present a virtual human should be a deliberate and informed decision. An ever-present virtual human might make learning and performance difficult for challenging tasks.     

Stereoscopic 3D displays and human performance: A comprehensive review

To answer the question: “what is 3D good for?” we reviewed the body of literature concerning the performance implications of stereoscopic 3D (S3D) displays versus non-stereo (2D or monoscopic) displays. We summarized results of over 160 publications describing over 180 experiments spanning 51 years of research in various fields including human factors psychology/engineering, human–computer interaction, vision science, visualization, and medicine. Publications were included if they described at least one task with a performance-based experimental evaluation of an S3D display versus a non-stereo display under comparable viewing conditions. We classified each study according to the experimental task(s) of primary interest: (a) judgments of positions and/or distances; (b) finding, identifying, or classifying objects; (c) spatial manipulations of real or virtual objects; (d) navigation; (e) spatial understanding, memory, or recall and (f) learning, training, or planning. We found that S3D display viewing improved performance over traditional non-stereo (2D) displays in 60% of the reported experiments. In 15% of the experiments, S3D either showed a marginal benefit or the results were mixed or unclear. In 25% of experiments, S3D displays offered no benefit over non-stereo 2D viewing (and in some rare cases, harmed performance). From this review, stereoscopic 3D displays were found to be most useful for tasks involving the manipulation of objects and for finding/identifying/classifying objects or imagery. We examine instances where S3D did not support superior task performance. We discuss the implications of our findings with regard to various fields of research concerning stereoscopic displays within the context of the investigated tasks.     

用户多维感知的3D图像体验质量评价

目的 符合用户视觉特性的3维图像体验质量评价方法有助于准确、客观地体现用户观看3D图像或视频时的视觉感知体验,从而给优化3维内容提供一定的思路。现有的评价方法仅从图像失真、深度感知和视觉舒适度中的一个维度或两个维度出发对立体图像进行评价,评价结果的准确性有待进一步提升。为了更加全面和准确地评价3D图像的视觉感知体验,提出了一种用户多维感知的3D图像体验质量评价算法。方法 首先对左右图像的差异图像和融合图像提取自然场景统计参数表示失真特征;然后对深度图像提取敏感区域,对敏感区域绘制失真前后深度变换直方图,统计深度变化情况以及利用尺度不变特征变换（SIFT）关键点匹配算法计算匹配点数目,两者共同表示深度感知特征;接下来对视觉显著区域提取视差均值、幅值表示舒适度特征;最后综合考虑图像失真、深度感知和视觉舒适度3个维度特征,将3个维度特征归一化后联合成体验质量特征向量,采用支持向量回归（SVR）训练评价模型,并得到最终的体验质量得分。结果 在LIVE和Waterloo IVC数据库上的实验结果表明,所提出的方法与人们的主观感知的相关性达到了0.942和0.858。结论 该方法充分利用了立体图像的特性,评价结果优于比较的几种经典算法,所构建模型的评价结果与用户的主观体验有更好的一致性。