Presence In VR Research Articles

Finger Tapping as a Behavioral Indicator of Presence in VR

Abstract The sense of spatial presence in virtual environments (VEs) is typically measured using self-report methods after task completion. Recent years have seen efforts to measure presence via physiological markers, with mixed results. Behavioral indicators might better track variations in presence over time. We propose finger tapping as an indicator of changing attentional demands corresponding to low and high presence conditions in VEs. Participants completed “virtual plank” (raised vs lowered to reflect high or low presence) and VR video (90- vs 360-degree) conditions while attempting to tap their fingers at a specified rate. Participants wore a data glove to measure finger taps, and we analyzed variations in the inter-tap intervals. We trained a neural net classifier to distinguish between low and high presence conditions using features derived from the positional finger-tap timeseries (e.g., power spectral density, autocorrelation). The trained network classified test epochs with a success rate of 80% for both video and plank conditions.

Investigating finger-tapping and pupillometry as potential indicators of presence in VR

Investigating finger-tapping and pupillometry as potential indicators of presence in VR

Perceptual Thresholds for Radial Optic Flow Distortion in Near-Eye Stereoscopic Displays.

We provide the first perceptual quantification of user's sensitivity to radial optic flow artifacts and demonstrate a promising approach for masking this optic flow artifact via blink suppression. Near-eye HMOs allow users to feel immersed in virtual environments by providing visual cues, like motion parallax and stereoscopy, that mimic how we view the physical world. However, these systems exhibit a variety of perceptual artifacts that can limit their usability and the user's sense of presence in VR. One well-known artifact is the vergence-accommodation conflict (VAC). Varifocal displays can mitigate VAC, but bring with them other artifacts such as a change in virtual image size (radial optic flow) when the focal plane changes. We conducted a set of psychophysical studies to measure users' ability to perceive this radial flow artifact before, during, and after self-initiated blinks. Our results showed that visual sensitivity was reduced by a factor of 10 at the start and for ~70 ms after a blink was detected. Pre- and post-blink sensitivity was, on average, ~O.15% image size change during normal viewing and increased to ~1.5- 2.0% during blinks. Our results imply that a rapid (under 70 ms) radial optic flow distortion can go unnoticed during a blink. Furthermore, our results provide empirical data that can be used to inform engineering requirements for both hardware design and software-based graphical correction algorithms for future varifocal near-eye displays. Our project website is available at https://gamma.umd.edu/ROF/.

Virtual reality environment for exposure therapy in obsessive–compulsive disorder: a validation study

IntroductionObsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterised by recurrent, repetitive, and unwanted thoughts or impulses triggering significant anxiety. Exposure and response prevention is currently the first-line therapy for OCD. The goal of this validation study was to confirm the potential of the VR house environment that incorporates OCD-specific items that cluster around major symptom dimensions: ‘contamination’, ‘symmetry’, ‘checking’ and ‘hoarding’ to induce anxiety and compulsive behaviour in patients with OCD.MethodWe assessed a sample of OCD patients (n = 44) that was compared to a group of healthy controls (n = 31). The severity of OCD symptoms was assessed in all subjects. During a single session, participants were asked to approach a set of 10 stimuli (covering four OCD dimensions) and rate their current intensity of distress/anxiety and compulsive tendencies (scales 0–5) provoked by observing each stimulus. Before and after the VR exposure, participants completed questionnaires assessing subjective levels of anxiety (before/after VR exposure), their sense of presence in VR and experienced simulator sickness.ResultsThe results show that the OCD group reports elevated levels of distress and compulsive behaviour when confronted with VR exposure stimuli compared to the control group, but no increase in anxiety levels has been observed after the VR exposure. The subjective ratings of provoked distress and compulsive behaviour are not associated with severity of OCD symptoms, perceived sense of presence, association with cybersickness symptoms is weak.ConclusionOur data suggest that the VR house environment is a suitable tool for VR exposure therapy in OCD patients as it demonstrates OCD symptom provocation relevant for individual patients.

A comparison of interactive immersive virtual reality and still nature pictures as distraction-based analgesia in burn wound care

PurposeNon-pharmacologic adjuncts to opioid analgesics for burn wound debridement enhance safety and cost effectiveness in care. The current study explored the feasibility of using a custom portable water-friendly immersive VR hardware during burn debridement in adults, and tested whether interactive VR would reduce pain more effectively than nature stimuli viewed in the same VR goggles. MethodsForty-eight patients with severe burn injuries (44 adults and 4 children) had their burn injuries debrided and dressed in a wet wound care environment on Study Day 1, and 13 also participated in Study Day 2. InterventionThe study used a within-subject design to test two hypotheses (one hypothesis per study day) with the condition order randomized. On Study Day 1, each individual (n = 44 participants) spent 5 min of wound care in an interactive immersive VR environment designed for burn care, and 5 min looking at still nature photos and sounds of nature in the same VR goggles. On Study Day 2 (n = 12 adult participants and one adolescent from Day 1), each participant spent 5 min of burn wound care with no distraction and 5 min of wound care in VR, using a new water-friendly VR system. On both days, during a post-wound care assessment, participants rated and compared the pain they had experienced in each condition. Outcome measures on Study Days 1 and 2Worst pain during burn wound care was the primary dependent variable. Secondary measures were ratings of time spent thinking about pain during wound care, pain unpleasantness, and positive affect during wound care. ResultsOn Study Day 1, no significant differences in worst pain ratings during wound care were found between the computer-generated world (Mean = 71.06, SD = 26.86) vs. Nature pictures conditions (Mean = 68.19, SD = 29.26; t < 1, NS). On secondary measures, positive affect (fun) was higher, and realism was lower during computer-generated VR. No significant differences in pain unpleasantness or “presence in VR” between the two conditions were found, however. VR vs. No VR. (Study Day 2)Participants reported significantly less worst pain when distracted with adjunctive computer generated VR than during standard wound care without distraction (Mean = 54.23, SD = 26.13 vs 63.85, SD = 31.50, t(11) = 1.91, p < .05, SD = 17.38). In addition, on Study Day 2, “time spent thinking about pain during wound care” was significantly less during the VR condition, and positive affect was significantly greater during VR, compared to the No VR condition. ConclusionThe current study is innovative in that it is the first to show the feasibility of using a custom portable water-friendly immersive VR hardware during burn debridement in adults. However, contrary to predictions, interactive VR did not reduce pain more effectively than nature stimuli viewed in the same VR goggles.

Perspective: Does Realism Improve Presence in VR? Suggesting a Model and Metric for VR Experience Evaluation

The concepts of “immersion” and “presence” have been considered as staple metrics for evaluating the quality of virtual reality experiences for more than five decades, even as the concepts themselves have evolved in terms of both technical and psychological aspects. To enhance the user’s experience, studies have investigated the impact of different visual, auditory, and haptic stimuli in various contexts to mainly explore the concepts of “plausibility illusion” and “place illusion”. Previous research has sometimes shown a positive correlation between increased realism and an increase in presence, but not always, and thus, very little of the work around the topic of presence reports an unequivocal correlation. Indeed, one might classify the overall findings within the field around presence as “messy”. Better (or more) visual, auditory, or haptic cues, or increased agency, may lead to increased realism, but not necessarily increased presence, and may well depend on the application context. Rich visual and audio cues in concert contribute significantly to both realism and presence, but the addition of tactile cues, gesture input support, or a combination of these might improve realism, but not necessarily presence. In this paper, we review previous research and suggest a possible theory to better define the relationship between increases in sensory-based realism and presence, and thus help VR researchers create more effective experiences.

Evaluating the effect of multi-sensory stimulations on simulator sickness and sense of presence during HMD-mediated VR experience

Some lines of evidence have shown that sensory input, especially related to vestibular and somatosensory stimulation, may reduce the symptoms related to simulator sickness and increase the sense of presence in VR. The present study aims at understanding how mechanical vibration and auditory stimulation can be used to improve user experience in the context of VR mediated by head-mounted displays. Four different groups comprising a total of 80 participants were tested under different conditions of sensory input (visual and vibration, visual-auditory, combined visual-auditory and vibratory, and visual only), during a VR roller-coaster experience. No significant differences in simulator sickness were found between the groups exposed to seat vibration and/or audio. However, sense of presence showed to be increased when vibratory stimuli were included. Post-hoc analyses showed that female users but not male ones, experienced an increase of sense of presence when vibratory stimulation was used. Practitioner summary: The study showed that including sound or vibration stimulation during VR experience does not reduce simulator sickness. However, sense of presence is promoted by vibratory stimulation. Post-hoc analyses showed that female users experienced an increase of sense of presence by vibratory stimulation, but not male ones.

VR Sickness Versus VR Presence: A Statistical Prediction Model.

Although it is well-known that the negative effects of VR sickness, and the desirable sense of presence are important determinants of a user's immersive VR experience, there remains a lack of definitive research outcomes to enable the creation of methods to predict and/or optimize the trade-offs between them. Most VR sickness assessment (VRSA) and VR presence assessment (VRPA) studies reported to date have utilized simple image patterns as probes, hence their results are difficult to apply to the highly diverse contents encountered in general, real-world VR environments. To help fill this void, we have constructed a large, dedicated VR sickness/presence (VR-SP) database, which contains 100 VR videos with associated human subjective ratings. Using this new resource, we developed a statistical model of spatio-temporal and rotational frame difference maps to predict VR sickness. We also designed an exceptional motion feature, which is expressed as the correlation between an instantaneous change feature and averaged temporal features. By adding additional features (visual activity, content features) to capture the sense of presence, we use the new data resource to explore the relationship between VRSA and VRPA. We also show the aggregate VR-SP model is able to predict VR sickness with an accuracy of 90% and VR presence with an accuracy of 75% using the new VR-SP dataset.

Does what we dream feel present? Two varieties of presence and implications for measuring presence in VR

What’s presented in our normal waking perceptual visual experiences feels present to us, while what we “see” in pictures and imagine does not. What about dreams? Does what we “see” in a dream feel present? Jennifer Windt has argued for an affirmative answer, for all dreams. But the dreams which flow from the brain’s registration of myoclonic twitches (body-driven dreams) present a challenge to this answer. During these dreams (so I argue) motion-guiding vision is shut off, and, as Mohan Matthen has argued, motion-guiding vision seems to be a key mechanism underlying the feeling of presence. I propose that the feeling of presence in fact involves two components: the feeling of immersion, and the feeling of availability for action. I suggest that only the feeling of availability for action derives from motion-guiding vision, and, hence, hypothesize that body-driven dreams lack this component to the feeling of presence (while still having the feeling of immersion). Finally, the distinction between these two varieties of presence has implications for measures of presence in virtual environments, as these measures can diverge over which of the two varieties they track.

Experiencing Presence in a Gaming Activity Improves Mood After a Negative Mood Induction

Research suggests that immersion in computer games is beneficial for recovering from stress and improving mood. However, no study linked explicit measures of presence—individually experienced immersion—to mood enhancement. In the present experiment, immersion of a gaming activity was varied, and levels of presence and enjoyment were measured and connected to mood repair after a stress-induction. The participants (N = 77) played a game in virtual reality (VR; high immersion), on the desktop (medium immersion), or watched a recording of the game (low immersion). Positive emotions were enhanced in the high and medium, but not the low immersion condition. Presence was a significant predictor in the VR condition. Furthermore, an explanatory mediation analysis showed that enjoyment mediated the effect of presence on mood repair. These findings demonstrate positive effects of presence experiences in gaming. Strong presence in VR seems especially helpful for enhancing mood and building up positive emotional resources.

Virtual Reality Experience: Immersion, Sense of Presence, and Cybersickness

IntroductionVirtual reality (VR) is a recent topic in healthcare education. Little is known about the factors affecting the immersion and the sense of presence in VR. This study aimed to understand the elements that influence the sense of presence among undergraduate healthcare students and postgraduate (PG). MethodsUndergraduate healthcare students (n = 42) and PG (n = 19) were immersed in a mass casualty incident–immersive simulation. Participants completed questionnaires before (immersion propensity, stress) and after immersion (sense of presence, stress, cybersickness, and satisfaction). The qualitative component of the study provided the context for the quantitative results. ResultsThe sense of presence was high among both groups but higher among PG (p = .02) and was positively correlated to immersion propensity (r = 0.36; p < .001). The level of cybersickness was low despite a discomfort induced by the VR material. A significant group-by-time effect was found for stress (p < .001). Stress levels increased more in the PG through the immersion without effect on the sense of presence. ConclusionIn accordance with the results, the mass casualty incident–immersive simulation induced a high level of sense of presence and a low level of cybersickness. The sense of presence was correlated with the individual immersion propensity.

HapticSnakes: multi-haptic feedback wearable robots for immersive virtual reality

Haptic feedback plays a large role in enhancing immersion and presence in VR. However, previous research and commercial products have limitations in terms of variety and locations of delivered feedbacks. To address these challenges, we present HapticSnakes, which are snake-like waist-worn robots that can deliver multiple types of feedback in various body locations, including taps-, gestures-, airflow-, brushing- and gripper-based feedbacks. We developed two robots, one is lightweight and suitable for taps and gestures, while the other is capable of multiple types of feedback. We presented a design space based on our implementations and conducted two evaluations. Since taps are versatile, easy to deliver and largely unexplored, our first evaluation focused on distinguishability of tap strengths and locations on the front and back torso. Participants had highest accuracy in distinguishing feedback on the uppermost regions and had superior overall accuracy in distinguishing feedback strengths over locations. Our second user study investigated HapticSnakes’ ability to deliver multiple feedback types within VR experiences, as well as users’ impressions of wearing our robots and receiving novel feedback in VR. The results indicate that participants had distinct preferences for feedbacks and were in favor of using our robots throughout. Based on the results of our evaluations, we extract design considerations and discuss research challenges and opportunities for developing multi-haptic feedback robots.

Virtual Reality Analgesia for Pediatric Dental Patients.

Background: Dental procedures often elicit pain and fear in pediatric dental patients.Aim: To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of immersive virtual reality as an attention distraction analgesia technique for pain management in children and adolescents undergoing painful dental procedures.Design: Using a within-subjects design, five patients (mean age 13.20 years old, SD 2.39) participated. Patients received tethered immersive interactive virtual reality distraction in an Oculus Rift VR helmet (experimental condition) during one dental procedure (a single dental filling or tooth extraction). On a different visit to the same dentist (e.g., 1 week later), each patient also received a comparable dental procedure during the control condition “treatment as usual” (treatment order randomized). After each procedure, children self-rated their “worst pain,” “pain unpleasantness,” “time spent thinking about pain,” “presence in VR,” “fun,” and “nausea” levels during the dental procedures, using graphic rating scales.Results: Patients reported significantly lower “worst pain” and “pain unpleasantness,” and had significantly more fun during VR, compared to a comparable dental procedure with No VR. Using Oculus Rift VR goggles, patients reported a “strong sense of going inside the computer-generated world,” without side effects. The dentist preferred having the patients in VR.Conclusion: Results of this pilot study provide preliminary evidence of the feasibility of using immersive, interactive VR to distract pediatric dental patients and increase fun of children during dental procedures.

VR 게임에서 체성감각 · 촉각이 현존감에 미치는 영향 연구 : VR · PC 〈Superhot〉게임을 중심으로

VR관련 감각연구에서 대부분 360도 시각에 대한 연구가 많았지만 촉각 · 체성 감각연구는 적었다. 실제 머리의 움직임도 체성감각에 속하고 VR게임에서 현존감을 느끼게 하는 지각요소로써 깁슨이 주장하는 행동유도성개념에 바탕을 둔 촉각 · 체성감각이 가장 중요한 역할을 담당할 것으로 본다. 행동유도성개념은 지각자가 물체의 속성과 제한사항을 정의하고 행위를 유도한다는 이론이다. 인간은 오랜 문화와 사회적 경험을 통해 관습화된 행위를 하는데 VR게임에서도 이 행위가 게임상황과 신체 · 사물 맵핑이 일치할 때 현존감이 높아질 것이라 예상한다. 따라서 동일한 게임이면서 체성감각·촉각의 경험치가 다른 PC게임과 VR게임을 비교하여 현존감의 차이를 t-검정으로 비교하고, 맵핑(체성감각 · 촉각)이 현존감에 미치는 영향을 단순회귀분석으로 검증하였다.BR 실험방법은 다음과 같다. 서울의 한 대학의 46명의 대학생을 PC게임집단, VR게임집단으로 나누고 동일한 일인칭 액션게임을 이용하도록 하고 설문지를 통한 통계분석을 하였다. 그리고 VR경험이 많은 5명의 인터뷰참가자를 통해 행동유도성 개념과 신체맵핑과의 상관관계를 심층적 질문을 통해 알아보았다. 그 결과, VR게임집단이 PC게임집단보다 높은 차이로 현존감을 더 느끼고 있고 특히 공간관여가 가장 큰 현존감 변인으로 나타났다. 이러한 현존감은 게임입력기의 사물맵핑과 자연스런 신체맵핑이 높을수록 더 크게 영향을 받는 것으로 나타났다. 더불어 현존감이 높을수록 이용자들의 재미와 재이용에 좀 더 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 그리고 VR이용자들은 다양한 감각들의 연합으로 자극정보를 입력받고 관습화된 신체움직임 같은 멘탈모델로 발현되는 과정을 통해서 깁슨의 행동유도성개념이 VR게임에서도 중요하게 작동됨을 확인할 수 있었다.

Study on the Influence of VR Characteristics on User Satisfaction and Intention to Use Continuously -Focusing on VR Presence, User Characteristics, and VR Sickness-

Study on the Influence of VR Characteristics on User Satisfaction and Intention to Use Continuously -Focusing on VR Presence, User Characteristics, and VR Sickness-

Being there again – Presence in real and virtual environments and its relation to usability and user experience using a mobile navigation task

The possibility of using virtual environments instead of real field or laboratory environments is a promising research field. However, before virtual environments are able to replace the traditional environments the differences between the methods must be worked out. We take up on previous studies which compared different real and virtual environments concerning presence and usability and expand the research on the factor of user experience. We compared a virtual field environment (CAVE Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) and a real field environment (city center of Chemnitz, Germany) in a between-subject-design concerning presence, and evaluate its impact on the usability and the user experience of a geocaching game. The data of 60 participants was analyzed and shows significantly higher ecological validity for the real field environment but higher values for engagement and negative effects in the virtual field environment. Concerning usability, significant differences were verified between the two environments. All presence factors correlated significantly with usability in the CAVE, but did not correlate in the real-field environment. Concerning user experience, the CAVE showed significantly higher hedonic quality values, whereas the real field environment had higher pragmatic quality values. In both conditions presence and user experience factors were partly correlated. Our results indicate that virtual environments can be an alternative to real environments for user experience studies, when a high presence is achieved. virtual environments are an alternative for user experience studies.Ratings for usability are correlated with presence in VR.Ratings for user experience are correlated with presence in VR.

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.

Design system of Virtual Reality Environment Based on VR Presence and VR Sickness

Design system of Virtual Reality Environment Based on VR Presence and VR Sickness

Performance-driven facial animation: basic research on human judgments of emotional state in facial avatars.

Virtual reality is rapidly evolving into a pragmatically usable technology for mental health (MH) applications. As the underlying enabling technologies continue to evolve and allow us to design more useful and usable structural virtual environments (VEs), the next important challenge will involve populating these environments with virtual representations of humans (avatars). This will be vital to create mental health VEs that leverage the use of avatars for applications that require human-human interaction and communication. As Alessi et al.1 pointed out at the 8th Annual Medicine Meets Virtual Reality Conference (MMVR8), virtual humans have mainly appeared in MH applications to "serve the role of props, rather than humans." More believable avatars inhabiting VEs would open up possibilities for MH applications that address social interaction, communication, instruction, assessment, and rehabilitation issues. They could also serve to enhance realism that might in turn promote the experience of presence in VR. Additionally, it will soon be possible to use computer-generated avatars that serve to provide believable dynamic facial and bodily representations of individuals communicating from a distance in real time. This could support the delivery, in shared virtual environments, of more natural human interaction styles, similar to what is used in real life between people. These techniques could enhance communication and interaction by leveraging our natural sensing and perceiving capabilities and offer the potential to model human-computer-human interaction after human-human interaction. To enhance the authenticity of virtual human representations, advances in the rendering of facial and gestural behaviors that support implicit communication will be needed. In this regard, the current paper presents data from a study that compared human raters' judgments of emotional expression between actual video clips of facial expressions and identical expressions rendered on a three-dimensional avatar using a performance-driven facial animation (PDFA) system developed at the University of Southern California Integrated Media Systems Center. PDFA offers a means for creating high-fidelity visual representations of human faces and bodies. This effort explores the feasibility of sensing and reproducing a range of facial expressions with a PDFA system. In order to test concordance of human ratings of emotional expression between video and avatar facial delivery, we first had facial model subjects observe stimuli that were designed to elicit naturalistic facial expressions. The emotional stimulus induction involved presenting text-based, still image, and video clips to subjects that were previously rated to induce facial expressions for the six universals2 of facial expression (happy, sad, fear, anger, disgust, and surprise), in addition to attentiveness, puzzlement and frustration. Videotapes of these induced facial expressions that best represented prototypic examples of the above emotional states and three-dimensional avatar animations of the same facial expressions were randomly presented to 38 human raters. The raters used open-end, forced choice and seven-point Likert-type scales to rate expression in terms of identification. The forced choice and seven-point ratings provided the most usable data to determine video/animation concordance and these data are presented. To support a clear understanding of this data, a website has been set up that will allow readers to view the video and facial animation clips to illustrate the assets and limitations of these types of facial expression-rendering methods (www. USCAvatars.com/MMVR). This methodological first step in our research program has served to provide valuable human user-centered feedback to support the iterative design and development of facial avatar characteristics for expression of emotional communication.