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.     

Using auditory event-related EEG potentials to assess presence in virtual reality

The feeling of presence in a virtual reality (VR) is a concept without a standardized objective measurement. In the present study, we used event-related brain potentials (ERP) of the electroencephalogram (EEG) elicited by tones, which are not related to VR, as an objective indicator for the presence experience within a virtual environment. Forty participants navigated through a virtual city and rated their sensation of being in the VR (experience of presence), while hearing frequent standard tones and infrequent deviant tones, which were irrelevant for the VR task. Different ERP components elicited by the tones were compared between participants experiencing a high level of presence and participants with a low feeling of presence in the virtual city. Early ERP components, which are more linked to automatic stimulus processing, showed no correlation with presence experience. In contrast, an increased presence experience was associated with decreased late negative slow wave amplitudes, which are associated with central stimulus processing and allocation of attentional resources. This result supports the assumption that increased presence is associated with a strong allocation of attentional resources to the VR, which leads to a decrease of attentional resources available for processing VR-irrelevant stimuli. Hence, ERP components elicited by the tones are reduced. Particularly, frontal negative slow waves turned out to be accurate predictors for presence experience. Summarizing, late ERPs elicited by VR-irrelevant tones differ as a function of presence experience in VR and provide a valuable method for measuring presence in VR.     

Study on interaction-induced symptoms with respect to virtual grasping and manipulation

Owing to the popularity of various hand tracking interfaces, there have been numerous applications developed to provide intuitive hand interaction with the virtual world. As users start with great anticipation, they end up with dissatisfaction due to difficulties of manipulation or physical tiredness coming very short. Although the task itself is rather trivial in a real life situation, it requires much effort in the virtual environment. We address this awkwardness as ‘VR interaction-induced fatigue symptom’ and hypothesize its causes based on our observations. We argue that the source of the fatigue comes from the restricted sensory information of the VR interfaces, and that users try to accommodate the missing sensory feedback by excessive motion leading to wrong posture or bad timing. We demonstrate our hypothesis by conducting experiments of two types of virtual interaction scenarios: object transport and 3D selection. Furthermore, by analyzing the behaviors of users' action collected from our experiment, we derive essential factors to be considered in designing VR applications, and propose a conceptual interaction model for orchestrating virtual grasping.     

The influence of different sensory cues as selection feedback and co-location in presence and task performance

For some applications based on virtual reality technology, presence and task performance are important factors to validate the experience. Different approaches have been adopted to analyse the extent to which certain aspects of a computer-generated environment may enhance these factors, but mainly in 2D graphical user interfaces. This study explores the influence of different sensory modalities on performance and the sense of presence experienced within a 3D environment. In particular, we have evaluated visual, auditory and active haptic feedback for indicating selection of virtual objects. The effect of spatial alignment between proprioceptive and visual workspaces (co-location) has also been analysed. An experiment has been made to evaluate the influence of these factors in a controlled 3D environment based on a virtual version of the Simon game. The main conclusions obtained indicate that co-location must be considered in order to determine the sensory needs during interaction within a virtual environment. This study also provides further evidence that the haptic sensory modality influences presence to a higher extent, and that auditory cues can reduce selection times. Conclusions obtained provide initial guidelines that will help designers to set out better selection techniques for more complex environments, such as training simulators based on VR technology, by highlighting different optimal configurations of sensory feedback.     

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.     

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...     

Integrated manufacture: A role for virtual reality?

Virtual Reality (VR) is fast becoming an affordable technology with potentially wide-ranging applications in many professions including education, medicine and industry. Its advantages over existing technology are primarily that users can visualise, feel involvement and interact with virtual representations of real world activities in real time.

A recently completed study, funded by the EPSRC, examined the feasibility of VR as a tool for UK manufacturing industry. Of primary interest was whether manufacturers perceive a use for VR in their inudstry and, if so, what impact they envisage it will have within their company. A national survey was distributed to over 2,000 UK manufacturing companies randomly selected and interviews carried out with existing users of VR technology. A brief summary of these results is presented.

A demonstration application was developed in desktop VR representing the manufacture of a consumer product in which various stages of the manufacturing process were featured including initial design, manufacture, and testing. The demonstration application is described in detail and user assessments are presented. On the basis of these findings, the potential future role of VR in integrated manufacture is discussed. Relevance to industry

In only a short time, virtual environments have become a focus of serious consideration as a tool for manufacturing and other industry. In order that VR has greatest industrial utility we need to examine and develop its potential as a specialism-free integrating medium within a simultaneous engineering approach.     

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.     

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...     

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.     

Virtual reality and mobile phones in the treatment of generalized anxiety disorders: a phase-2 clinical trial

Several studies have demonstrated that exposure therapy—in which the patient is exposed to specific feared situations or objects that trigger anxiety—is an effective way to treat anxiety disorders. However, to overcome a number of limitations inherent in this approach—lack of full control of the situation, costs and time required, etc.—some therapists have started to add virtual reality (VR) to the in vivo exposure-based therapy, providing in-office, controlled exposure therapy. Compared to the in vivo exposure, VR Exposure Therapy (VRET) is completely controlled: the quality, the intensity and the frequency of the exposure are decided by the therapist, and the therapy can be stopped at any time if the patient does not tolerate it. Moreover, the flexibility of a virtual experience allows the patient to experience situations that are often much worse and more exaggerated than those that are likely to be encountered in real life. However, a critical issue underlying the use of VRET in the treatment of anxiety-related disorders is the lack of a virtual reality system in the patient’s real-life context. In this paper, we present a clinical protocol for the treatment of Generalized Anxiety Disorders (GAD) based on the ubiquitous use of a biofeedback-enhanced VR system. The protocol includes the use of a mobile exposure system allowing patients to perform the virtual experience in an outpatient setting. A between-subjects study, involving 25 GAD patients, was carried out to verify the efficacy of the proposed approach. The clinical data in this pilot study seemed to support the efficacy of the ubiquitous approach.     

Semiotics of virtual reality as a communication process

ABSTRACT

The experience of immersive virtual reality (VR) can be considered as a communication process between human beings, mediated by computer systems, which uses visualisation and other sensory stimulation. In this paper, we analyse how VR characteristics can be explored using semiotic theory and, with methods of generative semiotics, we explore aspects of narrative and interaction in VR. We propose a semiotic analysis of VR communication focusing on syntax, semantics and pragmatics and considering also some principles of generative semiotics. The syntactic level is analysed as determined by the characteristics of the visual communication adopted. The semantic of VR is related to the functional model chosen to realise the virtual system. The pragmatic of VR is based on the human–computer interaction that changes the user's role. We explore how these aspects can be characterised in the context of VR communication design and what principles can be adopted for a VR application, and we present an analysis and a classification of the iconic signs that are being used in VR. Moreover, we present a framework that can be used to classify and describe different kinds of virtual reality systems and to better understand communication in VR, and we use it to classify eight popular systems for e-learning and collaboration.     

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.     

Optimisation-based proximity queries and penetration depth computation

The virtual reality (VR) was found to be a perfect technique that could be used as a training approach, since it shows many advantages despite its weakness. In the VR some major bottlenecks arises namely the proximity queries (PQ) and penetration depth computation. This paper shows a novel algorithm used to solve those problems. Problems of PQ are ubiquitous within many tasks in computer graphics, virtual environments, robotics, manufacturing, and mechanical design. Interactions in any virtual scene usually involve contact or close proximity between its objects. Determining which pairs of objects are in contact or at close proximity is a complex task in most of the virtual environments. The PQ is the shortest vector over which one object needs to be translated in order to bring the pair in contact.     

RoleVR: Multi-experience in immersive virtual reality between co-located HMD and non-HMD users

In this study, we present RoleVR, which can provide a similar high level of presence and multi experience for co-located head-mounted display (HMD) and Non-HMD users in an asymmetric virtual reality (VR) environment. The core of RoleVR is distinguishing the difference between the asymmetric environments (in terms of the system and the experience) of HMD and Non-HMD users to design optimized roles for these users. Here, we assign HMD user with spatial role that maximizes the sense of space based on three-dimensional visual information, and we assign Non-HMD user with temporal role in which they take control of communication and action, and understand the overall situation according to the flow of time. We also design an interaction for walking and a hand interface to enhance presence. This is achieved by understanding the user’s role, thereby improving the immersion. Finally, we created an asymmetric VR application that considers the interaction between roles and performed survey-based experiments to verify the basic presence and multi-experience of users in RoleVR. Through this process, we confirmed that RoleVR provides satisfactory presence for co-located HMD and Non-HMD users, and a variety of experiences specialized for each role.

     

The need for a socio-cultural perspective in the implementation of virtual environments

For many researchers, virtual reality (VR) is first of all a technology. This vision is also well reflected in the growing research work concerned with virtual environments: most of it has been addressed primarily the development of new rendering technologies rather than the highly interactive and dynamic nature of user-system interaction that VR supports. However, this focus on technology is disappointing for developers and researchers. To overcome this limitation, this paper describes VR as an advanced communication tool: a communication interface in single-user VR, and a communication medium in the case of multi-user VR. This leads us to propose acultural concept of presence as a social construction. Lying at the base of this view are two elements that guarantee an elevated sense of presence: acultural framework and the possibility ofnegotiation, both of actions and of their meaning. Within this view, experiencing presence and telepresence does not depend so much on the faithfulness of the reproduction of physical aspects of external reality as on the capacity of simulation to produce a context in which social actors may communicate and cooperate. The consequences of this approach for the design and the development of VR systems are presented.The first author is responsible for the preparation of Section 3. The second author prepared Section 2. Introduction and Conclusions were prepared by both authors. Moreover, to both authors must be attributed the definition of contents and the final structure of the paper.     

An integrated emotional and physiological assessment for VR-based active shooter incident experiments

Unfortunately, active shooter incidents are on the rise in the United States. With the recent technological advancements, virtual reality (VR) experiments could serve as an effective method to prepare civilians and law enforcement personnel for such scenarios. However, for VR experiments to be effective for active shooter training and research, such experiments must be able to evoke emotional and physiological responses as live active shooter drills and events do. The objective of this study is thus to test the effectiveness of an active shooter VR experiment on emotional and physiological responses. Additionally, we consider different locomotion techniques (i.e., walk-in-place and controller) and explore their impact on users’ sense of presence. The results suggest that the VR active shooter experiment in this study can induce emotional arousal and increase heart rate of the participants immersed in the virtual environment. Furthermore, compared to the controller, the walk-in-place technique resulted in a higher emotional arousal in terms of negative emotions and a stronger sense of presence. The study presents a foundation for future active shooter experiments as it supports the ecological validity using VR for active shooter incident related work for the purposes of training or research.     

Seeing size and feeling weight: the size-weight illusion in natural and virtual reality

OBJECTIVE: We experimentally tested the degree that the size-weight illusion depends on perceptual conditions allowing the observer to assume that both the visual and the kinesthetic stimuli of a weight seen and lifted emanate from the same object. We expected that the degree of the illusion depended on the "realism" provided by different kinds of virtual reality (VR) used when the weights are seen in virtual reality and at the same time lifted in natural reality. BACKGROUND: Welch and Warren (1980) reported that an intermodal influence can be expected only if perceptual information of different modalities is compellingly related to only one object. METHOD: Objects of different sizes and weights were presented to 50 participants in natural reality or in four virtual realities: two immersive head-mounted display VRs (with or without head tracking) and two nonimmersive desktop VRs (with or without screening from input of the natural environment using a visor). The objects' heaviness was scaled using the magnitude estimation method. RESULTS: Data show that the degree of the illusion is largest in immersive and lowest in nonimmersive virtual realities. CONCLUSION: The higher the degree of the illusion is, the more compelling the situation is perceived and the more the observed data are in correspondence with the data predicted for the illusion in natural reality. This shows that the kind of mediating technology used strongly influences the presence experienced. APPLICATION: The size-weight illusion's sensitivity to conditions that affect the sense of presence makes it a promising objective presence measure.     

Interfaces That Heal: Coupling Real and Virtual Objects to Treat Spider Phobia

Tactile augmentation is a simple, safe, inexpensive interaction technique for adding physical texture and force feedback cues to virtual objects. This study explored whether virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy reduces fear of spiders and whether giving patients the illusion of physically touching the virtual spider increases treatment effectiveness. Eight clinically phobic students were randomly assigned to one of 3 groups-(a) no treatment, (b) VR with no tactile cues, or (c) VR with a physically "touchable" virtual spider-as were 28 nonclinically phobic students. Participants in the 2 VR treatment groups received three 1-hr exposure therapy sessions resulting in clinically significant drops in behavioral avoidance and subjective fear ratings. The tactile augmentation group showed the greatest progress on behavioral measures. On average, participants in this group, who only approached to 5.5 ft of a live spider on the pretreatment Behavioral Avoidance Test (Garcia-Palacios, 2002), were able to approach to 6 in. of the spider after VR exposure treatment and did so with much less anxiety (see www.vrpain.com for details). Practical implications are discussed.     

Using virtual reality technology for aircraft visual inspection training: presence and comparison studies

The aircraft maintenance industry is a complex system consisting of several interrelated human and machine components. Recognizing this, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has pursued human factors related research. In the maintenance arena the research has focused on the aircraft inspection process and the aircraft inspector. Training has been identified as the primary intervention strategy to improve the quality and reliability of aircraft inspection. If training is to be successful, it is critical that we provide aircraft inspectors with appropriate training tools and environment. In response to this need, the paper outlines the development of a virtual reality (VR) system for aircraft inspection training.

VR has generated much excitement but little formal proof that it is useful. However, since VR interfaces are difficult and expensive to build, the computer graphics community needs to be able to predict which applications will benefit from VR. To address this important issue, this research measured the degree of immersion and presence felt by subjects in a virtual environment simulator. Specifically, it conducted two controlled studies using the VR system developed for visual inspection task of an aft-cargo bay at the VR Lab of Clemson University. Beyond assembling the visual inspection virtual environment, a significant goal of this project was to explore subjective presence as it affects task performance. The results of this study indicated that the system scored high on the issues related to the degree of presence felt by the subjects. As a next logical step, this study, then, compared VR to an existing PC-based aircraft inspection simulator. The results showed that the VR system was better and preferred over the PC-based training tool.