Correlations Between Physiological Response, Gait, Personality, and Presence in Immersive Virtual Environments

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lane Phillips ◽  
Victoria Interrante ◽  
Michael Kaeding ◽  
Brian Ries ◽  
Lee Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Stress Response ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Personality Measures ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Different Types

In previous work, we have found significant differences in the accuracy with which people make initial spatial judgments in different types of head-mounted, display-based immersive virtual environments (IVEs; Phillips, Interrante, Kaeding, Ries, & Anderson, 2010). In particular, we have found that people tend to less severely underestimate egocentric distances in a virtual environment that is a photorealistic replica of a real place that they have recently visited than when the virtual environment is either a photorealistic replica of an unfamiliar place, or a nonphotorealistically (NPR) portrayed version of a familiar space. We have also noted significant differences in the effect of environment type on distance perception accuracy between individual participants. In this paper, we report the results of two experiments that seek further insight into these phenomena, focusing on factors related to depth of presence in the virtual environment. In our reported first experiment, we immersed users (between-subjects) in one of the three different types of IVEs and asked them to perform a series of well-defined tasks along a delimited path, first in a control version of the environment, and then in a stressful variant in which the floor around the marked path was cut away to reveal a 20-ft drop. We assessed participants' sense of presence during each trial using a diverse set of measures, including: questionnaires, recordings of heart rate and galvanic skin response, and gait metrics derived from tracking data. We computed the differences in each of these measures between the stressful and nonstressful versions of each environment, and then compared the changes due to stress between the different virtual environment conditions. Pooling the data over all participants in each group, we found significant physiological indications of stress after the appearance of the pit in all three environments, but we did not find significant differences in the magnitude of the stress response between the different virtual environment locales. We also did not find any significant difference in the level of subjective presence reported in each environment. However, we did find significant differences in gait: participants in the photorealistic replica room showed a significantly greater reduction in stride speed and stride length between the control and pit version of the room than did participants in either the photorealistically rendered nonreplica environment or the NPR replica environment conditions. Our second experiment, conducted with a new set of participants, sought to more directly investigate potential correlations between distance estimation accuracy and personality, stress response, and reported sense of presence, comparatively across different immersive virtual environment conditions. We used pretest questionnaires to assess a variety of personality measures, and then randomly immersed participants (between-subjects) in either the photorealistic replica or photorealistic non-replica environment and assessed the accuracy of their egocentric distance judgments in that IVE, followed by control trials in a neutral, real-world location. We then had participants go through the same set of tasks as in our first experiment while we collected physiological measures of their stress level and tracked their gait, and we compared the changes in these measures between the neutral and pit-enhanced versions of the environment. Finally, we had people fill out a brief presence questionnaire.Analyzing all of these data, we found that participants made significantly greater distance estimation errors in the unfamiliar room environment than in the replica room environment, but no other differences between the two environments were significant. We found significant positive correlation between several of the personality measures, but we did not find any notable significant correlations between personality and presence, or between either personality or presence and gait changes or distance estimation accuracy. These results suggest to us that the relationship between personality, presence, and performance in IVEs is complicated and not easily captured by existing measures.

Finding the Value of Immersive, Virtual Environments Using Competitive Usability Analysis

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kurt M. Satter ◽  
Alley C. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Individual Performance ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Cost Avoidance ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Cave System ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Usability Analysis

Competitive usability studies are employed providing empirical results in a design evaluation and review context. Populations of novice and experienced users are tested against benchmarks. Benchmark 1 is used to evaluate error identification and correction. Benchmark 2 is employed to evaluate the user’s ability to understand spatial relationships. Both benchmarks 1 and 2 compare individual performance with performance of teams. Benchmarks 3 measures quantity of errors found in a 4 min time frame. For benchmark 1, there is a statistically significant difference, but for benchmark 2, there is no statistical difference. For benchmark 3, there is a statistically significant increase in errors found. This increase is evaluated for impact as cost avoidance. It is concluded that cost avoidance by using a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE) immersive virtual environment easily justifies the CAVE system.

Landmark Direction and Distance Estimation in Large Scale Virtual Environments

1997 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 1213-1217 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Allen ◽  
Daniel P. McDonald ◽  
Michael J. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Distance Estimation ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Estimation Accuracy ◽  
Display Control

The current paper describes our classification of errors participants made when estimating direction and distances in a large scale (2000 m × 2000 m) Virtual Environment (VE). Two VE configuration groups (Low or High Interactivity) traversed a 400 m route through one of two Virtual Terrain's (Distinctive or Non-Distinctive or Terrain 1 and 2, respectively) in 100 m increments. The High VE group used a treadmill to move through the VE with head tracked visual displays; the Low VE group used a joystick for movement and visual display control. Results indicate that as experience within either terrain increased, participants demonstrated an improved ability to directionally locate landmarks. Experience in the environment did not affect distance estimation accuracy. Terrain 1 participants were more accurate in locating proximal, as opposed to distal, landmarks. They also overestimated distances to near landmarks and underestimated distances to far landmarks. In Terrain 2, the Low VE group gave more accurate distance estimations. We believe this result can be explained in terms of increased task demands placed on the High VE Group.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of Sense of Presence of Virtual Reality and Immersive Environments

2016 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Max M. North ◽  
Sarah M. North
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Head Tracking ◽  
Virtual Reality Environment ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Environment Simulation ◽  
Immersive Environment ◽  
Tracking Device

The study of sense of presence experienced in virtual reality environments has become an important area of research. The continued advancement of immersive technology offers more opportunities to examine how a subject becomes immersed in and interacts with a variety of virtual environments. The primary purpose of this research is to study the sense of presence while interacting with a traditional Virtual Reality Environment (Helmet-based system with a Head-tracking device) and compare it with a virtual reality environment using an Immersive Environment (Spherical-based Visualization environment). Two empirical experiments were investigated in this study, each consisting of thirty-five subjects. A virtual airplane scenario was created and simulated for the participants of both environments. Participants were given several questionnaires after completing the simulation. This study mainly focused on question 9 and 10 of that survey, which dealt with how much the participant felt present in the virtual environment, and if the presence of the real world could still be experienced while in the virtual environment. We found that the subjects felt more involved with the virtual environment while using the Immersive Environment simulation versus using the traditional helmet-based Virtual Reality Environment. There was a statistically significant difference in questions 9 and 10 between the Immersive Environment and traditional Virtual Reality Environment when those questions are considered in isolation. However there was not a significant difference in the total sense of presence between the two environments after analyzing the questions together. The primary differences between the questions were analyzed using the overall mean and the standard deviation. The Immersive Environment has a smaller deviation than the traditional Virtual Reality Environment, implying that the sense of presence response is more concentrated. However, the overall results demonstrate that both environments are almost equally effective, with the Immersive Environment having several slight advantages.

scholarly journals Virtual Reality and Assistive Technologies: A Survey

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-57
Author(s):  
Shamima Yasmin
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Assistive Technologies ◽  
Sensory Substitution ◽  
Body Movements ◽  
Rehabilitation Therapy ◽  
Extensive Survey ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Mental Exercise

This paper conducts an extensive survey on existing Virtual Reality (VR)-based rehabilitation approaches in the context of different types of impairments: mobility, cognitive, and visual. Some VR-based assistive technologies involve repetitions of body movements, some require persistent mental exercise, while some work as sensory substitution systems. A multi-modal VR-based environment can incorporate a number of senses, (i.e., visual, auditory, or haptic) into the system and can be an immense source of motivation and engagement in comparison with traditional rehabilitation therapy. This survey categorizes virtual environments on the basis of different available modalities. Each category is again subcategorized by the types of impairments while introducing available devices and interfaces. Before concluding the survey, the paper also briefly focuses on some issues with existing VR-based approaches that need to be optimized to exploit the utmost benefit of virtual environment-based rehabilitation systems .

Visiting Tourist Landmarks in Virtual Reality Systems by Real-Walking

2010 ◽  
pp. 180-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Steinicke ◽  
G. Bruder ◽  
J. Jerald ◽  
H. Frenz
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Reality ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
User Interfaces ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Interaction Space ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Redirected Walking ◽  
Virtual City

In recent years virtual environments (VEs) have become more and more popular and widespread due to the requirements of numerous application areas in particular in the 3D city visualization domain. Virtual reality (VR) systems, which make use of tracking technologies and stereoscopic projections of three-dimensional synthetic worlds, support better exploration of complex datasets. However, due to the limited interaction space usually provided by the range of the tracking sensors, users can explore only a portion of the virtual environment (VE). Redirected walking allows users to walk through large-scale immersive virtual environments (IVEs) such as virtual city models, while physically remaining in a reasonably small workspace by intentionally injecting scene motion into the IVE. With redirected walking users are guided on physical paths that may differ from the paths they perceive in the virtual world. The authors have conducted experiments in order to quantify how much humans can unknowingly be redirected. In this chapter they present the results of this study and the implications for virtual locomotion user interfaces that allow users to view arbitrary real world locations, before the users actually travel there in a natural environment.

The Modulation of Ownership and Agency in the Virtual Hand Illusion under Visuotactile and Visuomotor Sensory Feedback

2014 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel A. Padilla-Castañeda ◽  
Antonio Frisoli ◽  
Silvia Pabon ◽  
Massimo Bergamasco
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Sensory Feedback ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Hand ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environment ◽  
Simulated Environment ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Upper Limb Movements ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Natural Tasks

It is well known by the virtual hand illusion (VHI) that simultaneous and synchronous visuotactile sensory feedback within a virtual environment elicits the feeling of ownership of a virtual hand, by observing for some seconds in a scene a virtual hand being touched while at the same time receiving tactile stimulation on the real hand in the corresponding positions. In this paper, we investigate possible modulations in the feeling of ownership (sensation of owning a virtual hand) and of agency (sensation of owning virtual movements and actions) according to whether or not the participant's own motor acts (1) induce coherent self-activated visuotactile sensory stimulations; and (2) generate plausible consequences in the simulated environment. For this purpose, we elicited the VHI within a group of participants through a cross-modal integration of visuo-tactile sensory stimulations within a dynamic and physically plausible immersive virtual environment, where they were able to perform natural tasks in both passive and active agency conditions. Our results indicate that both feelings of ownership and agency can be achieved in immersive virtual environments, when the subject is realistically interacting and performing natural upper limb movements. We did not observe any significant difference in the VHI in terms of ownership and agency between the active and passive conditions, but we observed that a physically incongruent simulated interaction with the virtual world can lead to a significant disruption of ownership. Moreover, in the passive agency condition, a plausible physical behavior of the virtual hand was sufficient to elicit a partially complete sense of ownership, if measured in terms of proprioceptive drift, even in the presence of an asynchronous visuotactile sensory feedback. All these findings suggest that the multisensory feedback associated with a subject's own actions and the physical plausibility of the environment both act as determinant factors, influencing and modulating the vividness of the VHI.

Presence within Virtual Environments as a Function of Visual Display Parameters

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 274-289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Hendrix ◽  
Woodrow Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Visual Image ◽  
Visual Display ◽  
Field Of View ◽  
Head Tracking ◽  
The Third ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Being There

This paper reports the results of three studies, each of which investigated the sense of presence within virtual environments as a function of visual display parameters. These factors included the presence or absence of head tracking, the presence or absence of stereoscopic cues, and the geometric field of view used to create the visual image projected on the visual display. In each study, subjects navigated a virtual environment and completed a questionnaire designed to ascertain the level of presence experienced by the participant within the virtual world. Specifically, two aspects of presence were evaluated: (1) the sense of “being there” and (2) the fidelity of the interaction between the virtual environment participant and the virtual world. Not surprisingly, the results of the first and second study indicated that the reported level of presence was significantly higher when head tracking and stereoscopic cues were provided. The results from the third study showed that the geometric field of view used to design the visual display highly influenced the reported level of presence, with more presence associated with a 50 and 90° geometric field of view when compared to a narrower 10° geometric field of view. The results also indicated a significant positive correlation between the reported level of presence and the fidelity of the interaction between the virtual environment participant and the virtual world. Finally, it was shown that the survey questions evaluating several aspects of presence produced reliable responses across questions and studies, indicating that the questionnaire is a useful tool when evaluating presence in virtual environments.

scholarly journals The Factor Structure of the Presence Questionnaire

2005 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 298-312 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bob G. Witmer ◽  
Christian J. Jerome ◽  
Michael J. Singer
Keyword(s):  
Cluster Analysis ◽  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Factor Structure ◽  
Factor Model ◽  
Strong Relationship ◽  
Valid Measure ◽  
Interface Quality ◽  
Immersive Virtual Environments ◽  
Best Fit

Constructing a valid measure of presence and discovering the factors that contribute to presence have been much sought after goals of presence researchers and at times have generated controversy among them. This paper describes the results of principal-components analyses of Presence Questionnaire (PQ) data from 325 participants following exposure to immersive virtual environments. The analyses suggest that a 4-factor model provides the best fit to our data. The factors are Involvement, Adaptation/Immersion, Sensory Fidelity, and Interface Quality. Except for the Adaptation/Immersion factor, these factors corresponded to those identified in a cluster analysis of data from an earlier version of the questionnaire. The existence of an Adaptation/Immersion factor leads us to postulate that immersion is greater for those individuals who rapidly and easily adapt to the virtual environment. The magnitudes of the correlations among the factors indicate moderately strong relationships among the 4 factors. Within these relationships, Sensory Fidelity items seem to be more closely related to Involvement, whereas Interface Quality items appear to be more closely related to Adaptation/Immersion, even though there is a moderately strong relationship between the Involvement and Adaptation/Immersion factors.

The Sense of Presence within Auditory Virtual Environments

1996 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-301 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claudia Hendrix ◽  
Woodrow Barfield
Keyword(s):  
Virtual Environments ◽  
Virtual Environment ◽  
Sound Source ◽  
Virtual World ◽  
Auditory Display ◽  
Auditory Cues ◽  
Navigation Task ◽  
Perceived Realism ◽  
Sense Of Presence ◽  
Survey Questions

Two studies were performed to investigate the sense of presence within stereoscopic virtual environments as a function of the addition or absence of auditory cues. The first study examined the presence or absence of spatialized sound, while the second study compared the use of nonspatialized sound to spatialized sound. Sixteen subjects were allowed to navigate freely throughout several virtual environments and for each virtual environment, their level of presence, the virtual world realism, and interactivity between the participant and virtual environment were evaluated using survey questions. The results indicated that the addition of spatialized sound significantly increased the sense of presence but not the realism of the virtual environment. Despite this outcome, the addition of a spatialized sound source significantly increased the realism with which the subjects interacted with the sound source, and significantly increased the sense that sounds emanated from specific locations within the virtual environment. The results suggest that, in the context of a navigation task, while presence in virtual environments can be improved by the addition of auditory cues, the perceived realism of a virtual environment may be influenced more by changes in the visual rather than auditory display media. Implications of these results for presence within auditory virtual environments are discussed.

scholarly journals Heat-Not-Burn cigarette induces oxidative stress response in primary rat alveolar epithelial cells

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (11) ◽  
pp. e0242789
Author(s):  
Yoko Ito ◽  
Kana Oshinden ◽  
Naokata Kutsuzawa ◽  
Chinatsu Kohno ◽  
Sanae Isaki ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Stress Response ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Oxidative Stress Response ◽  
Alveolar Epithelial Cells ◽  
Target Cells ◽  
Type I ◽  
Alveolar Epithelial ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Different Types

There has been an increase in the usage of heat-not-burn (HNB) cigarette products. However, their effects on alveolar epithelial cells (AECs) remain unknown. AECs are the target cells of conventional cigarette smoking-related respiratory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and lung cancer whose pathogenesis involves oxidative stress. In this study, primary rat AECs were isolated, cultured and stimulated by HNB cigarette smoke extract (CSE). Our data indicate that rat AECs exposed to HNB CSE induced oxidative stress response genes (e.g. Hmox-1, Gsta1, Gsta3 and Nqo1). We also compared the oxidative stress response between two different types of AECs, alveolar type I-like (ATI-like) cells and type II (ATII) cells, and between two different types of cigarette, HNB cigarettes and conventional cigarettes. The expressions of Gsta1, Gsta3 and Nqo1 were higher in ATII cells than ATI-like cells in response to HNB and conventional cigarettes, but there was no significant difference in their expression levels between HNB cigarette and conventional cigarette. Taken together, our results suggest that HNB cigarettes have the similar potential as conventional cigarette products to induce oxidative stress response in AECs.

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