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Papers by Eugene Kukshinov

˜The œcommunication review/˜The œCommunication review (Philadelphia, Pa. Online), Jul 2, 2024

PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality

This article discusses boundaries of immersive technologies applied for storytelling by exploring... more This article discusses boundaries of immersive technologies applied for storytelling by exploring the experiential differences between sensory/technological and mental/narrative immersions as distinct cognitive states. While storytelling, as a reproduction of narratives, can be immersive in itself, the way immersive technologies are afforded by users can be better described in terms of the sense of presence. Understanding differences between immersions is necessary because sensory and mental immersions can contradict each other as they rely on different sides of cognition to gain experiences. Their differentiation can help to better incorporate storytelling with immersive technologies or virtual simulations, as well as to study its effects (e.g., in terms of empathy) and factors that contribute to it.

Psychology of Popular Media, 2022

Although researchers have explored how, when, or why players may choose avatars or player charact... more Although researchers have explored how, when, or why players may choose avatars or player characters that are like or unlike them (Ducheneaut et al., 2006; Lim & Reeves, 2009; Martey et al., 2014; MacCallum-Stewart, 2008; Shaw, 2014; Thompson et al., 2010), there has been little experimental research on the relationship between being in a dominant or marginalized subject position and character choice. This study used an experimental online survey design to investigate if there are behavioral differences between the members of the dominant and marginalized groups in how they select playable characters. As these groups have dissimilar cultural experiences and unequal representation in media, it was hypothesized that members of marginalized groups would be more likely to select characters that share their gender and/or race than White male participants. The results confirmed that White male participants, occupying dominant subject positions, did not recognize and did not look for characters “like them” in comparison with the non-White nonmale participants. This was an interdisciplinary study that attempts to connect critical scholarship and social/psychological sciences via the issue of representation, with potential implications for video game makers to consciously diversify the unnecessarily homogeneous playable character options.

Discourse & Communication

This article examines and exposes substantial fragments of the crucial for the Russian autocracy ... more This article examines and exposes substantial fragments of the crucial for the Russian autocracy discursive formation that hegemonically produces disempowered identities and relationships, inactive social practice and representations for ordinary Russian people. Employing a multi-sited critical discourse analysis of a school textbook, TV coverage of protests, and an annual press-conference with Vladimir Putin, this study looks at the contexts, representations and identities constructed via interrelated means of power, participation and change. The analysis shows how the state perpetually and diversely propagates via the discourse of non-participation a necessity to leave the matter of the social change to those in power. As a result, non-participation represents both the politically intentional absence of participatory practices among citizens, and forms of ‘participation’ suggested and mediated by the state. Overall, the study illustrates the suppressive ideological work that the R...

2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 2021

This is a research project that involves development and further validation of the VR application... more This is a research project that involves development and further validation of the VR application that can be used by researchers as a behavioral measure of the sense of presence in VR, more specifically, of the factors unrelated to the virtual content. Another side of the project relates to one of the possible factors, which is priming via preamble, or a virtual replica of the immediate physical environment, used to stimulate presence. It is planned to manipulate the realisticness of the preamble, where less realistic preamble can lower expectations towards the next virtual environment increasing chances for the sense of presence to appear. The project is on the ‘pre-research stage’ due to the difficulties that the pandemic has brought in many aspects of our life. Therefore, one of the questions that is necessary to discuss is how to conduct a subject-based research at the times of ‘social’ distancing.

International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2015

The author employs a theoretic construct based on self-presentation approach and a self-concept w... more The author employs a theoretic construct based on self-presentation approach and a self-concept which is taken as a complex structure of self-schema and possible selves. Within the framework of this model (or “self-matrix”), self-presentation is observed under the conditions of virtual reality, in which the usual ties between various aspects of one's self may be lost, producing uncharacteristic performance. The author claims that immersive interaction within the simulated environment of virtual reality may be experienced to such an extent that new properties of the self are obtained, bringing a change in real behavior. The resultant performance might contradict existing social circumstances and vice versa.

В данной статье автор исследует понятие «иммерсия» - основополагающий механизм осуществляемого ме... more В данной статье автор исследует понятие «иммерсия» - основополагающий механизм осуществляемого медиавлияния, и анализирует два основных научных направления, рассматривающие данное явление: исследования виртуальной реальности и исследования нарративов. Данная проблематика затрагивает области психологии, коммуникативистики, феноменологии, культурологии, компьютерных и когнитивных наук.

This paper describes the process of experiencing immersive interaction with simulated environment... more This paper describes the process of experiencing immersive interaction with simulated environments and divides it by means of two basic traditions in immersion research: the theory of presence in virtual reality and the theory of narrative transportation. The primary theoretical approach to this analysis is based upon the possibilistic model of consciousness (O’Connor & Aardema, 2005b). This model relies on a quantum view of consciousness where imagination and perception dualistically determine what is possible and what is not. According to this approach, the main differences between two types of immersion are based on a mutual understanding of the environment with which we interact and our consequent experience. In other words, a virtual environment is meant to be perceived and a narrative is meant to be imagined. The main focus of this paper is to extend and unify a theoretical framework for future research.

˜The œcommunication review/˜The œCommunication review (Philadelphia, Pa. Online), Jul 2, 2024

PRESENCE: Virtual and Augmented Reality

This article discusses boundaries of immersive technologies applied for storytelling by exploring... more This article discusses boundaries of immersive technologies applied for storytelling by exploring the experiential differences between sensory/technological and mental/narrative immersions as distinct cognitive states. While storytelling, as a reproduction of narratives, can be immersive in itself, the way immersive technologies are afforded by users can be better described in terms of the sense of presence. Understanding differences between immersions is necessary because sensory and mental immersions can contradict each other as they rely on different sides of cognition to gain experiences. Their differentiation can help to better incorporate storytelling with immersive technologies or virtual simulations, as well as to study its effects (e.g., in terms of empathy) and factors that contribute to it.

Psychology of Popular Media, 2022

Although researchers have explored how, when, or why players may choose avatars or player charact... more Although researchers have explored how, when, or why players may choose avatars or player characters that are like or unlike them (Ducheneaut et al., 2006; Lim & Reeves, 2009; Martey et al., 2014; MacCallum-Stewart, 2008; Shaw, 2014; Thompson et al., 2010), there has been little experimental research on the relationship between being in a dominant or marginalized subject position and character choice. This study used an experimental online survey design to investigate if there are behavioral differences between the members of the dominant and marginalized groups in how they select playable characters. As these groups have dissimilar cultural experiences and unequal representation in media, it was hypothesized that members of marginalized groups would be more likely to select characters that share their gender and/or race than White male participants. The results confirmed that White male participants, occupying dominant subject positions, did not recognize and did not look for characters “like them” in comparison with the non-White nonmale participants. This was an interdisciplinary study that attempts to connect critical scholarship and social/psychological sciences via the issue of representation, with potential implications for video game makers to consciously diversify the unnecessarily homogeneous playable character options.

Discourse & Communication

This article examines and exposes substantial fragments of the crucial for the Russian autocracy ... more This article examines and exposes substantial fragments of the crucial for the Russian autocracy discursive formation that hegemonically produces disempowered identities and relationships, inactive social practice and representations for ordinary Russian people. Employing a multi-sited critical discourse analysis of a school textbook, TV coverage of protests, and an annual press-conference with Vladimir Putin, this study looks at the contexts, representations and identities constructed via interrelated means of power, participation and change. The analysis shows how the state perpetually and diversely propagates via the discourse of non-participation a necessity to leave the matter of the social change to those in power. As a result, non-participation represents both the politically intentional absence of participatory practices among citizens, and forms of ‘participation’ suggested and mediated by the state. Overall, the study illustrates the suppressive ideological work that the R...

2021 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW), 2021

This is a research project that involves development and further validation of the VR application... more This is a research project that involves development and further validation of the VR application that can be used by researchers as a behavioral measure of the sense of presence in VR, more specifically, of the factors unrelated to the virtual content. Another side of the project relates to one of the possible factors, which is priming via preamble, or a virtual replica of the immediate physical environment, used to stimulate presence. It is planned to manipulate the realisticness of the preamble, where less realistic preamble can lower expectations towards the next virtual environment increasing chances for the sense of presence to appear. The project is on the ‘pre-research stage’ due to the difficulties that the pandemic has brought in many aspects of our life. Therefore, one of the questions that is necessary to discuss is how to conduct a subject-based research at the times of ‘social’ distancing.

International Journal of Cyber Behavior, Psychology and Learning, 2015

The author employs a theoretic construct based on self-presentation approach and a self-concept w... more The author employs a theoretic construct based on self-presentation approach and a self-concept which is taken as a complex structure of self-schema and possible selves. Within the framework of this model (or “self-matrix”), self-presentation is observed under the conditions of virtual reality, in which the usual ties between various aspects of one's self may be lost, producing uncharacteristic performance. The author claims that immersive interaction within the simulated environment of virtual reality may be experienced to such an extent that new properties of the self are obtained, bringing a change in real behavior. The resultant performance might contradict existing social circumstances and vice versa.

В данной статье автор исследует понятие «иммерсия» - основополагающий механизм осуществляемого ме... more В данной статье автор исследует понятие «иммерсия» - основополагающий механизм осуществляемого медиавлияния, и анализирует два основных научных направления, рассматривающие данное явление: исследования виртуальной реальности и исследования нарративов. Данная проблематика затрагивает области психологии, коммуникативистики, феноменологии, культурологии, компьютерных и когнитивных наук.

This paper describes the process of experiencing immersive interaction with simulated environment... more This paper describes the process of experiencing immersive interaction with simulated environments and divides it by means of two basic traditions in immersion research: the theory of presence in virtual reality and the theory of narrative transportation. The primary theoretical approach to this analysis is based upon the possibilistic model of consciousness (O’Connor & Aardema, 2005b). This model relies on a quantum view of consciousness where imagination and perception dualistically determine what is possible and what is not. According to this approach, the main differences between two types of immersion are based on a mutual understanding of the environment with which we interact and our consequent experience. In other words, a virtual environment is meant to be perceived and a narrative is meant to be imagined. The main focus of this paper is to extend and unify a theoretical framework for future research.