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An Experimental Study of the Effect of Presence in Collaborative Virtual Environments
Abstract
This chapter explores one aspect of interaction in virtual environments, namely the degree of "presence" experienced by participants in relation to the avatar style used to represent them. A prototype virtual art gallery was created as a vehicle for conducting a series of online experiments designed to measure and compare the effects of different forms of avatar on presence. The choice of experimental procedure, together with analysis and interpretation of the results, are presented.
... It is strongly argued [17] that it is more effective to use simple but very recognisable virtual models to represent human faces in a VE, rather than trying to represent the human face photorealistically in the virtual environment. Furthermore, [24,25] suggest more complex virtual humans, from the point of view of the body and facial animation of the avatar, would increase the interaction between the participants and increase the sense of presence (the sense of being there). Garau, et al. [23] argue that even simple animated behaviours, such as eye gaze, are important during avatar conversations that could make a contribution to improving and enhancing the quality of the communication. ...
... In particular, an avatar could be considered as the visual-spatial metaphor of the human body of the participant in the virtual environment. Experiments have corroborated the superior effectiveness of a human model compared with a primitive object-avatar [24], [25], [31] so that metaphors in virtual environments could be used in order to make the experience more believable and familiar [41]. ...
... Agents are autonomous entities capable of self governing in the virtual environments [7] and are usually represented by animated characters [24,25]. They can control their own actions up to a 'certain predefined degree', and they can communicate and interact with other agents and humans. ...
This research began with a preliminary exploratory study that observed the relationship between the facial expressions of three human lecturers in a real academic lecture theatre and the reactions of the students to those expressions. Results informed the design of the first experiment that aimed to investigate the effectiveness of a virtual lecturer's expressions on the students' learning outcomes in a virtual pedagogical environment. A second follow-up experiment then focussed on the effectiveness of a single facial expression (the smile) on student performance. Both experiments involved virtual lectures, with virtual lecturers teaching real students. Results indicated that students performed better (by 86%) in the lectures where the virtual lecturer performed facial expressions compared to the results of the lectures that did not use facial expressions. However, this applied only for reasonably complex instructional material; when simple or basic instructional material was used the facial expressions of the virtual lecturer had no substantial effect on the students' learning outcome. Finally, it was demonstrated that the appropriate use of smiling increased the interest of the students and consequently their performance.
... Since presence cannot be directly measured or manipulated in a concrete way, it was the intervening variable of this experimental setting. Evidence presented elsewhere (Gerhard et al., 2002) suggests that copresence increases the level of presence as experienced by participants. In the current experiment, the effects of copresence simulated by agents were investigated; copresence was therefore the independent variable to be manipulated to determine how it affected the degree of presence the participants experienced during the trials. ...
As collaborative computer systems are evolving, the use of spatial, three-dimensional interfaces for multiplayer games, groupware systems, and multi-user chat systems, for example, is increasing rapidly. This paper provides a theoretical underpinning for understanding the relevance of user embodiments and copresence within such three-dimensional collaborative computer interfaces. Firstly, the issue of embodiment is traced back through its origins in philosophy and psychology literature, and theories are identified, potentially helpful in understanding key issues concerning user embodiments in collaborative virtual environments. A hybrid avatar/agent model to achieve permanent user embodiments in such environments is discussed. Since copresence of other users within such environments has been shown to be an important factor for the experience of presence, a prototype embodied conversational agent has been designed to simulate copresence. A series of controlled experiments involving the prototype agent is discussed, highlighting the effects of simulated copresence on users’ experience of presence. Results suggest that, despite its shortcomings, the prototype agent does seem to have increased participants’ experience of presence. Evidence was found that even limited copresence as provided by the current prototype agent is sufficient to help users feel presence in the environment. The results seem to confirm that copresence simulated by agents can complement avatar technology and therefore that a hybrid avatar/agent model can potentially achieve permanent virtual presence of all participants.
... Presence refers to the subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when one is physically situated in another [24]. Gerhard et al. state that the use of avatars to embody users within multi-user virtual environments encourages a sense of presence in those users [25]. It also helps users to understand the persona of the other users, and facilitates social encounters with those users. ...
Virtual agents are traditionally constrained in their embod- iment, as they are restricted to one form of body. We propose allowing them to change their embodiment in order to expand their capabili- ties. This presents users with a number of diculties in maintaining the identity of the agents, but these can be overcome by using identity cues, certain features that remain constant across embodiment forms. This pa- per outlines an experiment that examines these identity cues, and shows that they can be used to help address this identity problem.
... Simply put, when a person believes that others are present, she exerts more effort in seeking social information such as others' reactions to her pronouncements. This information helps individuals better comprehend their own identities as seen by others (Erickson et al. 2002, Erickson and Kellogg 2000, Gerhard et al. 2002, Lerner and Tetlock 1999), which in turn may attenuate the attribution difference between members and lead to a high perceived identity verification. Furthermore , a feeling of copresence also motivates individuals to engage in more identity communication, facilitating the elimination of others' ignorance and bias toward themselves. ...
A variety of information technology (IT) artifacts, such as those supporting reputation management and digital archives of past interactions, are commonly deployed to support online communities. Despite their ubiquity, theoretical and empirical research investigating the impact of such IT-based features on online community communication and interaction is limited. Drawing on the social psychology literature, we describe an identity-based view to understand how the use of IT-based features in online communities is associated with online knowledge contribution. Specifically, the use of four categories of IT artifacts---those supporting virtual co-presence, persistent labeling, self-presentation, and deep profiling---is proposed to enhance perceived identity verification, which thereafter promotes satisfaction and knowledge contribution. To test the theoretical model, we surveyed more than 650 members of two online communities. In addition to the positive effects of community IT artifacts on perceived identity verification, we also find that perceived identity verification is strongly linked to member satisfaction and knowledge contribution. This paper offers a new perspective on the mechanisms through which IT features facilitate computer-mediated knowledge sharing, and it yields important implications for the design of the supporting IT infrastructure.
The customization of avatars can help students immerse themselves in game-based learning. However, different individuals have distinct characteristics, especially game experience (GE) and cognitive styles, which may lead to different preferences for the customization of avatars. Thus, this study aims to investigate how GE and cognitive styles affect students’ reactions toward customizable avatars. Two studies, quantitative and qualitative, were conducted for system evaluation. A total of 82 students participated in Study One, where they interacted with both a customizable avatar and an ordinary avatar. The findings from Study One indicated that the students using the customizable version experienced a stronger sense of presence and flow experience than those who used the ordinary version. Regarding GE, the low GE students showed an enhanced sense of presence whereas the high GE students expressed deeper engagement. Regarding cognitive styles, Pask’s Holism/Serialism was adopted. Holists experienced an enhanced feeling of presence whereas Serialists showed deeper engagement. On the other hand, Study Two was conducted with a qualitative approach, where 11 students were further interviewed. The results showed that GE considerably affected their reactions, in terms of favored preferences and engagement, whereas cognitive styles did not have great effects. Based on the findings, a design framework was proposed for the development of personalized game-based learning systems in the future.
This paper presents a comparative analysis between a set of virtual worlds in order to facilitate the process of selecting a virtual world to serve as a platform for application development. Based on exhaustive research in the area, we selected a set of criteria, based on the work of Mannien in 2004 and Robbins in 2009. After this identification we applied the Quantitative Evaluation Framework (QEF) developed by Squire in 2007 with the aim of assessing quantitatively the platforms under consideration. The results showed that Second Life, OpenSim and Active Worlds are platforms that offer more services and tools for developing applications with quality. Palavras-chave: Mundos Virtuai Sociais; MMGOs; Qualidade; Norma ISO/IEC 9126; SCORM; QEF
Each day, one day is added to our past, and thus one day subtracted from our future. That is why the future ought to be simpler than the past. Why is it then, that we always wrestle with the future? Because the new and changing concepts are increasingly complex. In this paper, we endeavour to describe some novel and intricate concepts in the ICT world such as presence, virtual mobility and avatars. They will have a crucial impact in our economic and social lives. These themes are positioned and explained as a logical evolution, a concatenation of breakthroughs in man's capabilities, such as speech, counting, writing, and the first steps in (tele)communication. The evolutionary sophistication in (tele)communication can be caught in three main parameters: distance, time and richness. These three entities behave in time as communicating vessels, but the 'ceiling' of the product of the param-eter-values increases steadily. Furthermore, an iden-tity matrix is described, highlighting an explosion in telecommunication far beyond human beings.
The project aims to study and design an alternative user interface for collaborative virtual environments (CVE's) software also known as networked virtual environments (NVE's). To reduce cost, most current and operative CVE's use the Internet and standard PC to create a visual virtual environment (VE), which can be shared by a large number of users. This project also involves an image processing technique (morphing technique using thin plate spline) for creating a facial expression for the CVE software and in volves OpenGL API for implementation. This project discusses communication aspects in the CVE system and suggests the different types of communication that are suitable for the project. It also suggests a suitable user interfaces for the software.
This paper is concerned with the evaluation of user embodiments in educational collaborative virtual environments by exploring
an important aspect of interaction in virtual environments, namely the degree of ‘presence’ experienced by participants. Firstly,
the influence of different avatar styles is examined using a specially designed prototype virtual art gallery. The choice
of experimental procedure, together with analysis and interpretation of the results are presented and discussed. A second
possible factor influencing presence, namely the continuous representation of users is examined within the same prototype
environment, but this time using a hybrid avatar-agent model featuring an animated conversational agent to control the avatar
during absence of its underlying user. The consequences of continuous presence in a collaborative virtual environment, particularly
in respect of possible benefits for learning environments, are discussed and a forthcoming set of experiments to evaluate
the effect of such an agent on users' experience of presence is outlined.
Telepresence, or the sense of “being there”, has been discussed in the literature as an essential, defining aspect of a virtual
environment, including definitions rooted in behavioral response, signal detection theory, and philosophy, but has generally
ignored the emotional aspects of the virtual experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the concept of presence in
terms of people’s emotional engagement within an immersive mediate environment. Three main theoretical statements are discussed:
a). Objective telepresence: display viewpoint; b). Subjective telepresence: emotional factors and individual self-transcendence
styles; c). Social telepresence: program-controlled entities in an on-line game environment. This study has implications for
how research could be conducted to further our understanding of telepresence. Validated psychological subjective techniques
for assessing emotions and a sense of telepresence will be applied. The study results could improve our knowledge of the construct
of telepresence, as well as better inform us about how a virtual environment, such as an online game, can be managed in creating
and designing emotional effects.
Results of a field study of an open-access collaborative virtual environment in actual use suggested that awareness of others significantly increases the level of presence experienced by participants. Given the importance of copresence, this paper argues that, in the absence of other human collaborators in a collaborative virtual environment, copresence can potentially be simulated using agent technology. A controlled experiment deploying a prototype embodied conversational agent was conducted to investigate the potential of such agents to simulate copresence. This paper briefly introduces the concepts of presence and copresence, summarizes experiences drawn from the field study, reports on the controlled experiment, and discusses its results. Results suggest that even limited copresence as provided by the current prototype agent is sufficient to help users feel presence in the environment.
This paper offers an explanation for cognitive immersion with telepresence by making use of the psychological literature and its empirical evidence about absorption and attention. The Theory of Distal Attribution is used to create a framework of understanding. An overview of literature and empirical research relevant for understanding cognitive immersion is provided. It is proposed that the questionnaires designed by the researchers of hypnotic susceptibility can be used to provide an independent measure of immersion, and a means of establishing the individual difference in susceptibility to experience immersion with telepresence.
This paper provides an introduction to the technology of virtual reality (VR) and its possibilies for education and training. It focuses on immersion as the key added value of VR, and analyzes what cognitive variables are connected to immersion, how it is generated in synthetic environments, what immersion is, and what its benefits are. The central research question is the value of tracked, immersive visual displays over non-immersive simulations. The paper provides a brief overview of existing VR research on training and transfer, education, and procedural, cognitive and maintenance training.
We describe an experiment to assess the influence of body movements on presence in a virtual environment. In the experiment 20 participants were to walk through a virtual field of trees and count the trees with diseased leaves. A 2 x 2 between subjects design was used to assess the influence of two factors on presence: tree height variation and task complexity. The field with greater variation in tree height required participants to bend down and look up more than in the lower variation tree height field. In the higher complexity task participants were told to remember the distribution of diseased trees in the field as well as to count them. The results showed a significant positive association between reported presence and the amount of body movement in particular, head yaw--and the extent to which participants bent down and stood up. There was also a strong interaction effect between task complexity and gender: Women in the more-complex task reported a much lower sense of presence than in the simpler task. For applications in which presence is an important requirement, the research in this paper suggests that presence will be increased when interaction techniques are employed that permit the user to engage in whole-body movement.
this paper is funded by the U.K. Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC), and Department of Trade and Industry, through grant CTA/2 of the London Parallel Applications Centre. Thanks to Anthony Steed for his continued help with the experiments described in this paper. The Virtual Treadmill is the subject of a patent application in the UK and other countries.
ly for all of these types of things metrics can be established which are descriptions of the system, and not descriptions of people's responses to the system. Witmer and Singer, however, define immersion as the person's response to the VE system. This difference in terminology is unfortunate, but not a matter of any great concern. In order to Measuring Presence 2 avoid further confusion I will use the term `system immersion' to denote my meaning of the word, and `immersive response' to denote W&S's meaning. On a second reading of their paper, I realised that this terminological difference was a sign of a very profound difference in methodology regarding the elicitation of presence. The purpose of this note is to explain why I would never use the W&S questionnaire for studying presence - even though I am sure that in itself it can lead to useful insights about the nature of VE experience. About the meaning of presence itself, I find W&S's var
There is currently a great deal of interest in the use of multi-user 3D spaces to support collaborative working. These, however, are typically used for prearranged meetings and do not assist in the “chance meeting” of one person with colleagues or visitors typical of the workplace. Emerging forms of working such as telecommuting and virtual organizations threaten many of these aspects by reducing the number of such encounters, as people are not present in the same physical space at the same time.
In an article that discussed both the conceptual aspects of presence and the practical considerations of measuring the concept (Witmer & Singer, 1998), we argued that both involvement and immersion are necessary for experiencing presence. The article also presented two questionnaires we have developed, an Immersive Tendencies Questionnaire (ITQ) and a Presence Questionnaire (PQ). Our analyses showed that they are internally consistent with high reliability, there is a weak but consistent positive relation between presence and performance, the ITQ predicts presence as measured by the PQ, and individuals reporting more simulator sickness symptoms report less presence than those reporting fewer symptoms. In this issue, Slater (1999) critiques our approach to measuring presence as represented by the PQ. Dr. Slater finds our definitions of presence helpful and that our concept of immersion is part of his understanding of the meaning of presence. Dr. Slater then argues that both our approach to measuring presence and the PQ are conceptually flawed. In his critique, he raises statistical questions about our measure, concluding that the PQ is not a measure of presence at all. He concludes by arguing against the validity of the measure and stating that he would not use the PQ in his research. In this article, we argue that the PQ is based in the same conceptual structure that is accepted by Dr. Slater, and that the PQ represents a fundamentally sound approach---although not the only approach---to measuring presence. Dr. Slater's statistical arguments are shown to be incorrect simplifications, as he acknowledges in his critique. We also demonstrate that individual PQ items still correlate significantly with the PQ total score even when the PQ total is adjusted to remove the score on individual items from that total. Finally, we rebut Slater's argument concerning the validity of the measure, and suggest that researchers not be constrained by an equipment-oriented model of the presence experience.
Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) provide a tightly coupled
human-computer interface; input to the sensory organs of the human
participant are directly generated through computer displays, in the
visual, auditory, tactile and haptic modalities. Some of the results of
a pilot experimental study of presence in IVEs are outlined. This is a
contribution to a project involved in constructing a system for
architectural walkthrough, where architects and their clients are able
to navigate through and effect changes to a virtual building interior.
Emphasis is placed on the interface provided by the virtual environment
generator (VEG) to the human user, and initially on the problem of the
establishment of the presence of the human inside the virtual
environment (VE)
The effectiveness of virtual environments (VEs) has often been linked to the sense of presence reported by users of those VEs. (Presence is defined as the subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when one is physically situated in another.) We believe that presence is a normal awareness phenomenon that requires directed attention and is based in the interaction between sensory stimulation, environmental factors that encourage involvement and enable immersion, and internal tendencies to become involved. Factors believed to underlie presence were described in the premier issue of Presence: Teleoperators and Virtual Environments. We used these factors and others as the basis for a presence questionnaire (PQ) to measure presence in VEs. In addition we developed an immersive tendencies questionnaire (ITQ) to measure differences in the tendencies of individuals to experience presence. These questionnaires are being used to evaluate relationships among reported presenc...
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