Story Guided Virtual Environments in Educational Applications

Combination of logic-based artificial intelligence with virtual reality in intelligent agent systems is an approach not extensively sought after to date. It is our belief that significant gain is to be expected if the technical challenges involved are overcome. In this paper, we describe the mVlTAL intelligent agent system, which is our latest effort towards this direction. The system is a contemporary intelligent agent system with applications in numerous areas, including intelligent virtual environments and formal artificial intelligence research. The system focuses largely on logic-based approaches, which are present in almost every aspect of it, including modeling, knowledge representation, definition of agent behaviors and inter-agent communication. In addition, virtual manifestation of the world and agents is also an inherent characteristic of the system. The system, even if still in a development and evaluation stage, has already been employed in experimental and educational applications, demonstrating the potential benefits of such an approach.

Download Full-text

The sense of presence in virtual environments:

Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie ◽

10.1026//1617-6383.15.2.69 ◽

2003 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 69-71 ◽

Cited By ~ 84

Author(s):

Thomas W. Schubert

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Coding Theory ◽

Model Building ◽

Self Report ◽

Survey Study ◽

Spatial Presence ◽

Component Structure ◽

Sense Of Presence ◽

Being There ◽

Measure Sense

Abstract. The sense of presence is the feeling of being there in a virtual environment. A three-component self report scale to measure sense of presence is described, the components being sense of spatial presence, involvement, and realness. This three-component structure was developed in a survey study with players of 3D games (N = 246) and replicated in a second survey study (N = 296); studies using the scale for measuring the effects of interaction on presence provide evidence for validity. The findings are explained by the Potential Action Coding Theory of presence, which assumes that presence develops from mental model building and suppression of the real environment.

Download Full-text

Dreamlike and Playful Virtual Environments to Inspire Children’s Divergent Thinking

Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications ◽

10.1027/1864-1105/a000279 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Jérôme Guegan ◽

Claire Brechet ◽

Julien Nelson

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Divergent Thinking ◽

Idea Generation ◽

Combined Processes ◽

Office Environment ◽

School Aged Children

Abstract. Computers have long been seen as possible tools to foster creativity in children. In this respect, virtual environments present an interesting potential to support idea generation but also to steer it in relevant directions. A total of 96 school-aged children completed a standard divergent thinking task while being exposed to one of three virtual environments: a replica of the headmistress’s office, a replica of their schoolyard, and a dreamlike environment. Results showed that participants produced more original ideas in the dreamlike and playful environments than in the headmistress’s office environment. Additionally, the contents of the environment influenced the selective exploration of idea categories. We discuss these results in terms of two combined processes: explicit references to sources of inspiration in the environment, and the implicit priming of specific idea categories.

Download Full-text