Task‐level interaction with virtual environments and virtual actors

With advanced technology there are new possibilities to interact in virtual environments. Game players are being given more and more new opportunities to intervene as avatars in what is happening in the game, take on roles, and alter the flow of the stories. Through the interaction of many users new storylines and plot constructs are developed, which demonstrate many typical characteristics of modern dramas which are performed in real theatres – the plot is, for example, non-linear and attention is no longer paid to uniting time, place, and plot. These digital “performances” differ greatly from plays performed on real stages, however they are programmed as computer games with the result that the plot must fit into a pre-defined interaction pattern. The players are not casted like real actors. They step out onto the virtual stage as non-trained avatar actors and apart from the usual help options there is initially no director to instruct them. Also, the actions of the virtual actors are not foreseeable and the stories told have no distinct dramatic composition. One of the challenging problems of tomorrow’s iTV is how to generate a digital drama that looks like a real movie but which emerges out of the interaction of many users. The problem of actors’ credibility has been widely discussed in the relevant literature, however only in the context of the traditional theatre play. This chapter describes the concept of a future digital drama and investigates some fundamental aspects of acting in digital environments. The focus is put on the “competitive acting”, a new paradigm for digital stage plays of the future which combine drama with interaction-driven dialogue and action elements in converged media.

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Task-Level Assembly Modeling in Virtual Environments

Computational Science and Its Applications — ICCSA 2003 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science ◽

10.1007/3-540-44842-x_73 ◽

2003 ◽

pp. 721-730 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Bernhard Jung

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Assembly Modeling ◽

Task Level

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Control and coordination of head, eyes and facial expressions of virtual actors in virtual environments

Proceedings of 1993 2nd IEEE International Workshop on Robot and Human Communication ◽

10.1109/roman.1993.367697 ◽

2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

S.K. Singh ◽

S.D. Pieper ◽

D.O. Popa ◽

J. Guinness

Keyword(s):

Virtual Environments ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Virtual Actors

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Control and Coordination of Head, Eyes, and Facial Expressions of Virtual Actors in Virtual Environments

Presence Teleoperators & Virtual Environments ◽

10.1162/pres.1996.5.4.402 ◽

1996 ◽

Vol 5 (4) ◽

pp. 402-415

Author(s):

Sunil K. Singh ◽

Steven D. Pieper ◽

Jethran Guinness ◽

Dan O. Popa

Keyword(s):

Finite Element ◽

Virtual Environments ◽

Facial Expressions ◽

Inverse Kinematics ◽

Virtual Human ◽

Motion Computation ◽

Key Issues ◽

Virtual Actors ◽

Human Actors ◽

Tissue Deformations

This paper addresses the modeling and computational issues associated with the control and coordination of head, eyes, and facial expressions of virtual human actors. The emphasis, as much as possible, is on using accurate physics-based computations for motion computation. Some key issues discussed in this work include the use of kinematics and inverse kinematics, trajectory planning, and the use of finite element methods to model soft tissue deformations.

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Factors Influencing Cognate Performance for Young Multilingual Children's Vocabulary: A Research Synthesis

American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology ◽

10.1044/2020_ajslp-19-00167 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 29 (4) ◽

pp. 2170-2188

Author(s):

Lindsey R. Squires ◽

Sara J. Ohlfest ◽

Kristen E. Santoro ◽

Jennifer L. Roberts

Keyword(s):

Test Validity ◽

Reaction Times ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Second Grade ◽

High Quality Research ◽

Word Level ◽

Research Questions ◽

Word Characteristics ◽

Study Inclusion ◽

Task Level

Purpose The purpose of this systematic review was to determine evidence of a cognate effect for young multilingual children (ages 3;0–8;11 [years;months], preschool to second grade) in terms of task-level and child-level factors that may influence cognate performance. Cognates are pairs of vocabulary words that share meaning with similar phonology and/or orthography in more than one language, such as rose – rosa (English–Spanish) or carrot – carotte (English–French). Despite the cognate advantage noted with older bilingual children and bilingual adults, there has been no systematic examination of the cognate research in young multilingual children. Method We conducted searches of multiple electronic databases and hand-searched article bibliographies for studies that examined young multilingual children's performance with cognates based on study inclusion criteria aligned to the research questions. Results The review yielded 16 articles. The majority of the studies (12/16, 75%) demonstrated a positive cognate effect for young multilingual children (measured in higher accuracy, faster reaction times, and doublet translation equivalents on cognates as compared to noncognates). However, not all bilingual children demonstrated a cognate effect. Both task-level factors (cognate definition, type of cognate task, word characteristics) and child-level factors (level of bilingualism, age) appear to influence young bilingual children's performance on cognates. Conclusions Contrary to early 1990s research, current researchers suggest that even young multilingual children may demonstrate sensitivity to cognate vocabulary words. Given the limits in study quality, more high-quality research is needed, particularly to address test validity in cognate assessments, to develop appropriate cognate definitions for children, and to refine word-level features. Only one study included a brief instruction prior to assessment, warranting cognate treatment studies as an area of future need. Supplemental Material https://doi.org/10.23641/asha.12753179

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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.

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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.

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