Presence as an emotional experience (original) (raw)
Related papers
Sense of presence in emotional virtual environments
2004
Most definitions on presence have been based on cognitive or environmental aspects. However, we think that presence, like all human experiences, is influenced by emotions. EMMA project (IST-2001-39192) is aimed to study the nature of this relationship between emotions and presence. One of the main hypotheses proposed by EMMA is that emotions may enhance presence. In this line, the main objective of the present paper is to study the differences in presence between "emotional" environments and "neutral" environments. In order to achieve this objective, we have designed a Mood Induction Procedure using VR (VR-MIP, to induce different moods (sadness, joy, anxiety and relax) in experimental subjects. Our results point out that VR-MIPs are able to induce different moods in the users. Regarding the role of mood on the sense of presence, our results show differences between emotional and neutral environments in some presence measurements.
Affective Interactions Using Virtual Reality: The Link Between Presence and Emotions
Cyberpsychology & …, 2007
Many studies showed the ability of movies and imagery techniques to elicit emotions. Nevertheless, it is less clear how to manipulate the content of interactive media to induce specific emotional responses. In particular, this is true for the emerging medium virtual reality (VR), whose main feature is the ability to induce a feeling of "presence" in the computer-generated world experienced by the user. The main goal of this study was to analyze the possible use of VR as an affective medium. Within this general goal, the study also analyzed the relationship between presence and emotions. The results confirmed the efficacy of VR as affective medium: the interaction with "anxious" and "relaxing" virtual environments produced anxiety and relaxation. The data also showed a circular interaction between presence and emotions: on one side, the feeling of presence was greater in the "emotional" environments; on the other side, the emotional state was influenced by the level of presence. The significance of these results for the assessment of affective interaction is discussed. 45
Research on Presence in Virtual Reality: A Survey
CyberPsychology & Behavior, 2001
Virtual Reality (VR) is starting to be used in psychological therapy around the world. However, a thorough understanding of the reason why VR is effective and what effect it has on the human psyche is still missing. Most research on this subject is related to the concept of presence. This paper gives an up-to-date overview of research in this diverse field. It starts with the most prevailing definitions and theories on presence, most of which attribute special roles for the mental process of attention and for mental models of the virtual space. A review of the phenomena thought to be effected by presence shows that there is still a strong need for research on this subject because little conclusive evidence exists regarding the relationship between presence and phenoma such as emotional responses to virtual stimuli. An investigation shows there has been substantial research for developing methods for measuring presence and research regarding factors that contribute to presence. Knowledge of these contributing factors can play a vital role in development of new VR applications, but key knowledge elements in this area are still missing.
Immersion and Emotion: Their Impact on the Sense of Presence
2004
The present study is designed to test the role of immersion and media content in the sense of presence. Specifically, we are interested in the affective valence of the virtual environments. This paper describes an experiment that compares three immersive systems (a PC monitor, a rear projected video wall, and a head-mounted display) and two virtual environments, one involving emotional content and the other not. The purpose of the experiment was to test the interactive role of these two media characteristics (form and content). Scores on two self-report presence measurements were compared among six groups of 10 people each. The results suggest that both immersion and affective content have an impact on presence. However, immersion was more relevant for non-emotional environments than for emotional ones.
Frontiers in Psychology, 2015
Virtual reality (VR) has made its way into mainstream psychological research in the last two decades. This technology, with its unique ability to simulate complex, real situations and contexts, offers researchers unprecedented opportunities to investigate human behavior in well controlled designs in the laboratory. One important application ofVR is the investigation of pathological processes in mental disorders, especially anxiety disorders. Research on the processes underlying threat perception, fear, and exposure therapy has shed light on more general aspects of the relation between perception and emotion. Being by its nature virtual, i.e., simulation of reality, VR strongly relies on the adequate selection of specific perceptual cues to activate emotions. Emotional experiences in turn are related to presence, another important concept in VR, which describes the user's sense of being in a VR environment. This paper summarizes current research into perception of fear cues, emotion, and presence, aiming at the identification of the most relevant aspects of emotional experience in VR and their mutual relations. A special focus lies on a series of recent experiments designed to test the relative contribution of perception and conceptual information on fear in VR. This strand of research capitalizes on the dissociation between perception (bottom-up input) and conceptual information (top-down input) that is possible in VR. Further, we review the factors that have so far been recognized to influence presence, with emotions (e.g., fear) being the most relevant in the context of clinical psychology. Recent research has highlighted the mutual influence of presence and fear in VR, but has also traced the limits of our current understanding of this relationship. In this paper, the crucial role of perception on eliciting emotional reactions is highlighted, and the role of arousal as a basic dimension of emotional experience is discussed. An interoceptive attribution model of presence is suggested as a first step toward an integrative framework for emotion research in VR. Gaps in the current literature and future directions are outlined.
2 Media Presence and Inner Presence: The Sense of Presence in Virtual Reality Technologies
Citeseer
Presence is widely accepted as the key concept to be considered in any research involving human interaction with Virtual Reality (VR). Since its original description, the concept of presence has developed over the past decade to be considered by many researchers as the essence of any experience in a virtual environment. The VR generating systems comprise two main parts: a technological component and a psychological experience. The different relevance given to them produced two different but coexisting visions of presence: the rationalist and the psychological/ecological points of view. The rationalist point of view considers a VR system as a collection of specific machines with the necessity of the inclusion of the concept of presence. The researchers agreeing with this approach describe the sense of presence as a function of the experience of a given medium (Media Presence). The main result of this approach is the definition of presence as the perceptual illusion of non-mediation produced by means of the disappearance of the medium from the conscious attention of the subject. At the other extreme, there is the psychological or ecological perspective (Inner Presence). Specifically, this perspective considers presence as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the control of the human activity. Given its key role and the rate at which new approaches to understanding and examining presence are appearing, this chapter draws together current research on presence to provide an up to date overview of the most widely accepted approaches to its understanding and measurement.
Presence as the defining factor in a VR application
1994
The sense of presence that a user experiences in a virtual environment is perhaps the bestknown attribute of virtual reality. It is an appeal to this sense of presence that is used to distinguish virtual reality as something different from merely a multimedia system or an interactive computer graphics display. Our basic understanding of presence, however, is still primarily anecdotal in nature. We have yet to rigorously explore basic questions about the nature of presence.
7 Measuring Presence: Subjective, Behavioral and Physiological Methods
Abstract. Virtual reality (VR) systems enable the user to feel as if they are present in a computer generated environment. But how do we determine the extent to which a user feels present in the virtual environment? This chapter examines three categories of methods commonly used for measuring presence; their use in the field, advantages, and disadvantages. Subjective measures rely on self-assessment by the user.
Presence: concept, determinants, and measurement
Human Vision and Electronic Imaging V, 2000
The concept of presence, i.e. the sensation of 'being there' in a mediated environment, has received substantial attention from the virtual reality community, and is becoming increasingly relevant both to broadcasters and display developers. Although research into presence is still at an early stage of development, there is a consensus that presence has multiple determinants. To identify and test which parameters affect presence, a reliable, robust and valid means of measuring presence is required. In this paper, we describe the categories of factors thought to have an impact on presence. Furthermore, we present an overview of various approaches taken to measuring presence, which can be divided into two general categories: subjective measures and objective corroborative measures. Since presence is a subjective experience, the most direct way of assessment is through users' subjective report. This approach has serious limitations however, and should be used judiciously. Objective measures, such as postural, physiological or social responses to media, can be used to corroborate subjective measures, thereby overcoming some of their limitations. At present, the most promising direction for presence measurement is to develop and use an aggregate measure of presence that is comprised of both subjective and objective components, tailored to the specific medium under study.
Presence: Concept, determinants and measurement
2000
ABSTRACT The concept of presence, ie the sensation of 'being there'in a mediated environment, has received substantial attention from the virtual reality community, and is becoming increasingly relevant both to broadcasters and display developers. Although research into presence is still at an early stage of development, there is a consensus that presence has multiple determinants. To identify and test which parameters affect presence, a reliable, robust and valid means of measuring presence is required.