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The Cyborg's Dilemma: Progressive Embodiment in Virtual Environments [1]
Abstract
How does the changing representation of the body in virtual environments affect the mind? This article considers how virtual reality interfaces are evolving to embody the user progressively. The effect of embodiment on the sensation of physical presence, social presence, and self presence in virtual environments is discussed. The effect of avatar representation on body image and body schema distortion is also considered. The paper ends with the introduction of the cyborg's dilemma, a paradoxical situation in which the development of increasingly “natural” and embodied interfaces leads to “unnatural” adaptations or changes in the user. In the progressively tighter coupling of user to interface, the user evolves as a cyborg.
... On the other hand, human-likeness could also increase a service robot's social presence, that is the degree to which the service robot is perceived as a social being (Heerink et al. 2010). Because social presence gives customers the impression that the service robot has its own intentions and objectives (Biocca 1997), we argue that higher levels of social presence make customers feel less comfortable. Therefore, based on existing literature, it remains unclear whether customers feel more or less comfortable when interacting with human-like service robots. ...
... Here, we argue that these threatening and eerie effects do not directly stem from human-likeness itself but rather from the social presence of the service robot. In particular, Biocca (1997) argues that social presence provokes the attribution of intentions. Similar to Gray and Wegner (2012) who show that people find it unnerving when a robot appears to have its own thoughts, the present work argues that people feel threatened and uncomfortable if a service robot appears to have its own goals and objectives. ...
... We had previously argued that customers would feel less comfortable when interacting with a human-like service robot because they perceive it as having its own thoughts and intentions (Biocca 1997). However, as customers would no longer perceive a human-like service robot as being socially present following a service failure, this realization would also take their fears. ...
Customer comfort during service interactions is essential for creating enjoyable customer experiences. However, although service robots are already being used in a number of service industries, it is currently not clear how customer comfort can be ensured during these novel types of service interactions. Based on a 2 × 2 online between-subjects design including 161 respondents using pictorial and text-based scenario descriptions, we empirically demonstrate that human-like (vs machine-like) service robots make customers feel more comfortable because they facilitate rapport building. Social presence does not underlie this relationship. Importantly, we find that these positive effects diminish in the presence of service failures.
... The current study expands the scope of this interactivity-asdemand model to VR-based video games, given that VR systems might make more salient some demands over others (Bowman et al., 2021b;Harris et al., 2020). For example, VR systems are designed to embody the user's sensory inputs to varying degrees (Biocca, 1997) and are well-suited for facilitating a sense of presence (Lombard & Ditton, 1997;Tamborini & Skalski, 2006) that is key to various entertainment (Hartmann & Fox, 2021) and ...
... These demands fall into two discrete categories: a focus on players' handling of the controllers themselves and the amount of physical exertion during any given gaming session. Controller demands are related to how controllers are perceived by players as intuitive for gameplay, either because they are naturally mapped (adapted to the human perceptual system: Biocca, 1997;Skalski et al., 2011) or perceived as more intuitive by players (Liebold et al., 2020;Rogers et al., 2015). Exertional demands are aligned with more holistic energy expenditure especially relevant for games that emphasize haptic or motion input (Skalski et al., 2011). ...
... p < .001. This makes sense given the progressive embodiment design of most VR-based system in which natural human inputs are used to control in-game action (Biocca, 1997;Shafer et al, 2014). Overall low scores for social demand make also sense given that most participants (n = 90) reported playing alone-Welch's t-test confirmed that solo players (M = 2.40, SD = 1.34) felt less social demand than those n = 45 playing with others (M = 3.99, SD = 1.60; t(75) = 5.74, p< .001, ...
... Biocca's theory of presence posits that presence is a multidimensional construct that is influenced by various factors [16]. According to Biocca's theory, presence is comprised of three subdimensions: physical, social, and self. ...
... In Lee's model, presence is defined as a "psychological state" where physical objects, social actors and the self/selves are all experienced to some degree in "sensory or nonsensory ways". This contrasts with Biocca, who formulates presence as the "perceptual sensation of being in a place other than where your physical body is located" [16]. Lee's model expands on all three sub-dimensions to encompass additional technological mediums, simulated social interactions or alternative constructions of self-identity. ...
Rhythm games are known for their engaging gameplay and have gained renewed popularity with the adoption of virtual reality (VR) technology. While VR rhythm games have achieved commercial success, there is a lack of research on how and why they are engaging, and the connection between that engagement and immersion or presence. This study aims to understand how the design of two popular VR rhythm games, Beat Saber and Ragnarock, leverages presence to immerse players. Through a mixed-methods approach, utilising the Multimodal Presence Scale and a thematic analysis of open-ended questions, we discovered four mentalities which characterise user experiences: action, game, story and musical. We discuss how these mentalities can mediate presence and immersion, suggesting considerations for how designers can leverage this mapping for similar or related games.
... Virtual-reality AVGs (VRAVGs) are a unique type of AVG that leverages the progressive embodiment of virtual reality (VR; Biocca, 1997) and resultant natural mapping of these systems (Skalski et al., 2006) to allow for more physical exertion by incorporating the entire body into the experience. There has been a surge of VRAVGs applications and games explicitly promoting exercise or gameplay requiring players' physical movements (see, Bowman et al., 2021), including Beat Saber -the first VR video game to earn more than $100 million on a singleplatform (Bowman, 2021). ...
... The vector magnitude was calculated as the square root of the sum of the squares of the movements on the three axes (x, y, and z). Subjective vitality was measured using a seven-item scale developed by Biocca (1997), M = 4.99, SD = 1.10, α = .92, sample item: "At this moment‚ I feel alive and vital." ...
Physical inactivity is a global problem, and active video games (AVGs) have been demonstrated as effective at motivating players to be more physically active. Virtual-reality AVGs (VRAVGs) further encourage engagement with exerting gameplay by challenging players to move in a full 360-degree range of motion. As a unique feature of VRAVGs, we examined the influence of using multiple playable angles in Beat Saber on players’ physical activity and psychological outcomes. A between-subjects experiment randomly assigned participants (N = 240) to one of the three playable angles (single fixed angle, 90-degree, and 360-degree modes). Informed by the interactivity-as-demand model, a moderated mediation model of playable angles on enjoyment was supported. Players perceive higher cognitive and exertional demands in both multi-angle modes than those in single-angle mode, which leads to greater perceived difficulty and further enhances the enjoyment for players with a higher need for cognition, but negatively affects the enjoyment for players with a lower need for cognition. Multi-angle modes also led to greater motivation for future play and subjective vitality through greater cognitive demands, and more physical activity via higher exertional demands. We conclude that, in VR exercise, multiple playable angles are a unique feature that positively influences physical activity outcomes.
... Non-verbal emotional cues, such as gestures and facial expressions, can also contribute to one's sense of being with others. Biocca (1997) aired that concretization, covering sensory interaction, motor interaction, and sensorimotor coordination in virtual environments, can affect one's sense of togetherness. ...
... In this emergency situation, schools deployed distance education using virtual classroom applications with diverse methods and tools to ensure the continuation of educational activities. In this period, the literature shifted its focus on teachers' views on distance education in virtual classrooms, particularly on the difficulty of using non-verbal communication in distance education (Wang & Reeves, 2007) regarding emotion transfer (Biocca, 1997). Therefore, the present study aimed to explore emotion transfer-related views of teachers holding online classes in emergency remote teaching during the pandemic. ...
The present study explored emotion transfer-related views of teachers holding online classes in emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. We carried out the study with 630 teachers, the majority of whom were primary school teachers, serving at public and private K-12 schools. This was a descriptive survey study as it described the teachers’ views as they were. The data were collected using the “Emotional Presence in Online Learning Scale” (EPOLS) and analyzed using descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). The findings revealed that the majority of teachers used the EBA Virtual Classroom application in emergency remote teaching while a small number of them utilized other virtual classroom applications. In addition, the teachers reported using messaging applications effectively, but it was not the case for social media. The private school teachers found virtual classroom applications efficient in transferring (conveying and receiving) emotions compared to public school teachers. The scores on the EPOLS and receiving emotions subscale pointed out that the female teachers found virtual classroom applications more effective than their male counterparts. Moreover, it was found that the preschool teachers and classroom teachers found virtual classroom applications more effective in receiving emotions than the high school teachers and middle school teachers, respectively. Finally, those with undergraduate and postgraduate education recognized emotion transfer in virtual classrooms more efficient than the teachers with an associate degree.
... Our starting point is the analysis in Biocca (1997), which identifies three forms in which users can feel present in a virtual environment: Spatial Presence (the sense of "being physically there"), Social Presence ("being with another body"), and Self Presence ("this body is really me"). ...
... As shown in Section 2.3, those elements are closely related to the technology components of the communication system. Besides, they have a similar structure as the main components of presence proposed by Biocca (1997), so we could hypothesize that Face or Meet property should have a positive impact in social presence, Visit in place presence, and Move in self-presence. Even though the hypothesis is probably correct for many existing systems, it must be used carefully: system factors can significantly influence sense of presence, but the relationship between system and presence is not trivial. ...
Several technological and scientific advances have been achieved recently in the fields of immersive systems (e.g., 360-degree/multiview video systems, augmented/mixed/virtual reality systems, immersive audio-haptic systems, etc.), which are offering new possibilities to applications and services in different communication domains, such as entertainment, virtual conferencing, working meetings, social relations, healthcare, and industry. Users of these immersive technologies can explore and experience the stimuli in a more interactive and personalized way than previous technologies (e.g., 2D video). Thus, considering the new technological challenges related to these systems and the new perceptual dimensions and interaction behaviors involved, a deep understanding of the users’ Quality of Experience (QoE) is required to satisfy their demands and expectations. In this sense, it is essential to foster the research on evaluating the QoE of immersive communication systems, since this will provide useful outcomes to optimize them and to identify the factors that can deteriorate the user experience. With this aim, subjective tests are usually performed following standard methodologies (e.g., ITU recommendations), which are designed for specific technologies and services. Although numerous user studies have been already published, there are no recommendations or standards that define common testing methodologies to be applied to evaluate immersive communication systems, such as those developed for images and video. Taking this into account, a revision of the QoE evaluation methods designed for previous technologies is required to develop robust and reliable methodologies for immersive communication systems. Thus, the objective of this paper is to provide an overview of existing immersive communication systems and related user studies, which can help on the definition of basic guidelines and testing methodologies to be used when performing user tests of immersive communication systems, such as 360-degree video-based telepresence, avatar-based social VR, cooperative AR, etc.
... The impacts of multi-robot systems can be either positive or negative. From the viewpoint of information processing, an interaction with multiple sources is likely to be perceived more positively than one with a single source in terms of social presence, perceived expertise, attitude, and perceived information quality [74][75][76][77][78]. On the other hand, exchanging information about individuals with multiple entities may increase privacy concerns [79]. ...
Data are one of the important factors in artificial intelligence (AI). Moreover, in order for AI to understand the user and go beyond the role of a simple machine, the data contained in the user’s self-disclosure is required. In this study, two types of robot self-disclosures (disclosing robot utterance, involving user utterance) are proposed to elicit higher self-disclosure from AI users. Additionally, this study examines the moderating effects of multi-robot conditions. In order to investigate these effects empirically and increase the implications of research, a field experiment with prototypes was conducted in the context of using smart speaker of children. The results indicate that both types of robot self-disclosures were effective in eliciting the self-disclosure of children. The interaction effect between disclosing robot and involving user was found to take a different direction depending on the sub-dimension of the user’s self-disclosure. Multi-robot conditions partially moderate the effects of the two types of robot self-disclosures.
... Owing to "progressive embodiment", the process introduced by Biocca (1997) to define "the steadily advancing immersion of sensorimotor channels to computer interfaces through a tighter and more pervasive coupling of the body to interface sensors and displays," the functionalities of avatars and virtual technology in general provide an immersive experience with a steadily increasing level of reality of the virtual world that would eventually become the faithful technological translation of physical reality. ...
... Alongside using the ITC-Sense of Presence Inventory to measure sense of presence in the VR environments, perceived levels of social presence in particular will be assessed. That is, the subjective experience of being with the NPCs and being able to read their thoughts and emotions as if they are real people (Biocca, 1997). Social presence will be measured because it may be predictive of an anxiety response in SAD even more so than physical presence (Felnhofer et al., 2019), and because the degree of social presence experienced by autistic individuals can be impacted by the design features of the VR environment (Wang et al., 2016). ...
Autistic individuals are at disproportionately high risk of experiencing mental health issues, and the quality and accessibility of mental health care are reduced in this population. Investigating the impact of using digital technology in mental health research, assessment, treatment, and care for autistic individuals (i.e. digital mental health, DMH) may help to reduce this disparity. This is suggested because of its apparent potential in aiding adaptations that are recommended for autistic individuals to reduce autism-associated complexities in these domains, but equally because it may introduce challenges which are important to identify given the increasing popularity of DMH. The recommended adaptations that digital technology may aid in these domains include the use of individualised and multi-modal approaches.
This thesis thus aims to explore DMH for autistic individuals, specifically directly for autistic individuals themselves, rather than solely for or via parents/supporters. Objectives include identifying its potential feasibility and acceptability, alongside challenges, benefits, facilitators, and other considerations.
... In terms of learning influences, various forms of the feeling of presence, technological characteristics, internal cognitive processes, learner traits and states, individual context variables as well as ethical and safety aspects affect the learning activities and outcomes. Presence, as the perception of non-mediation (Lombard & Ditton, 1997) occurs in the forms of physical presence, social presence, and self-presence (for a discussion on this, see Biocca, 1997). The theoretical frameworks of Dalgarno andLee (2010), Fowler (2015), and Dengel and Mägdefrau (2018) emphasize the important role of these different types of presence in the learning process. ...
This chapter discusses theoretical models for immersive learning and immersive teaching. The subjective and objective factors used in these models are distinguished by levels: micro, meso, and macro. We discuss the terms immersive teaching and immersive learning and possible strategies for implementing learning experiences in the everyday classroom.KeywordsAugmented realityClassroom integrationConstructive alignmentImmersive learningImmersive Media in SchoolsImmersive teachingVirtual reality
... Reproducing human touch is one of the primary goals of virtual reality research; thus, a significant part of the research aiming to improve touch perception is centered on sensory stimulation, avatar mobility, and avatar representativeness. The user is deeply engaged in the VR experience, regardless of whether changes impact their cognition, emotions, or bodily functions (interaction with objects, etc.) [47,48]. From the need to recreate the interconnection with the surrounding environment for increasing the efficiency of biomedical systems, haptic interfaces were used to develop modern health instruments. ...
Human–machine interaction (HMI) refers to systems enabling communication between machines and humans. Systems for human–machine interfaces have advanced significantly in terms of materials, device design, and production methods. Energy supply units, logic circuits, sensors, and data storage units must be flexible, stretchable, undetectable, biocompatible, and self-healing to act as human–machine interfaces. This paper discusses the technologies for providing different haptic feedback of different natures. Notably, the physiological mechanisms behind touch perception are reported, along with a classification of the main haptic interfaces. Afterward, a comprehensive overview of wearable haptic interfaces is presented, comparing them in terms of cost, the number of integrated actuators and sensors, their main haptic feedback typology, and their future application. Additionally, a review of sensing systems that use haptic feedback technologies-specifically, smart gloves- is given by going through their fundamental technological specifications and key design requirements. Furthermore, useful insights related to the design of the next-generation HMI devices are reported. Lastly, a novel smart glove based on thin and conformable AlN (aluminum nitride) piezoelectric sensors is demonstrated. Specifically, the device acquires and processes the signal from the piezo sensors to classify performed gestures through an onboard machine learning (ML) algorithm. Then, the design and testing of the electronic conditioning section of AlN-based sensors integrated into the smart glove are shown. Finally, the architecture of a wearable visual-tactile recognition system is presented, combining visual data acquired by a micro-camera mounted on the user’s glass with the haptic ones provided by the piezoelectric sensors.
... "The minimum level of social presence occurs when users feel that a form, behavior, or sensory experience indicates the presence of another intelligence. The amount of social presence is the degree to which a user feels access to the intelligence, intentions, and sensory impressions of another" [46]. More definitions on social presence can be found in [47]. ...
In this paper, we studied the effects of using Microsoft HoloLens 2 in a Metaverse-based collaborative mixed reality environment on the driver’s social presence while using an autonomous driving system. In (semi-) autonomous vehicles the driver is the system’s monitor, and the driving process becomes a secondary task. Our approach is motivated by the advent of Microsoft Mesh XR technology that enables immersion in multi-person, shared mixed reality environments. We conducted a user study comparing the effects on social presence in two scenarios: baseline and mixed reality collaboration. During the baseline condition, participants communicated and interacted with another person using Skype/Meet which was installed on a mobile tablet. In the second scenario the participants used the Microsoft Mesh application installed on HoloLens 2 to collaborate in a mixed reality environment where each user is represented by an augmented 3D avatar. During the experiment, the participant had to perform a social interaction tell-a-lie task and a remote collaborative tic-tac-toe game, while also monitoring the vehicle’s behavior. The social presence was measured using the Harms and Biocca questionnaire, one of the most widely used tools for evaluating the user’s experience. We found that there are significant statistical differences for Co-presence, Perceived Emotional Interdependence, and Perceived Behavioral Interdependence, and participants were able to easily interact with the avatar in the mixed reality scenario. The proposed study procedure could be taken further to assess the driver’s performance during handover procedures, especially when the autonomous driving system encounters a critical situation.
... Among the characteristics included would be appearance, abilities, traits, or behaviours that can either reflect reality or not. Apart from providing a form of embodiment that enables navigation through virtual spaces, avatars can also facilitate non-verbal communication via gestures, body posture, proxemics and even haptics (Biocca, 1997). As avatars have an influence on beliefs, attitudes and behaviours in communication, differences in representations are notable (Nowak & Fox, 2018). ...
Avatar-based virtual reality (VR) is becoming more prevalent in industry and educational settings. There is, however, limited research on the extent to which gender stereotypes are present in this environment. The university laboratory study presented in this paper was conducted in a VR environment with participants who were randomly assigned to male or female avatars and instructed to negotiate the role of a manager or member of staff. The results reveal differences in satisfaction regarding their roles and gender. Participants who embodied a female avatar were less happy when they were subordinates interacting with a male avatar, compared to participants embodying a male avatar in the staff role (interacting with a female avatar). Male avatars with staff roles were also more content with their avatar than male avatars with manager roles and also reported being more comfortable in the VR experience. Relevant for diversity management when integrating VR in education and business, the results are discussed in regard to self-similarity and social identity dynamics and provide insight into understanding the extent to which gender stereotypes may be present in avatar-based VR.
... Even if no other real person is present, human-like attributes could spark feelings of social presence (van Doorn et al., 2017). Social presence refers to an individual's subjective perception that another person or entity is real and present (Biocca, 1997). In their conceptual paper, van Doorn et al. (2017) distinguish between human social presence, which is evoked by the interaction with a human, and automated social presence, evoked in an interaction with technology that engages customers socially. ...
Companies are increasingly employing text-based chatbots as a time and cost-efficient way to interact with customers. While companies begin to explore anthropomorphic chatbot designs by imbuing chatbots with human-like characteristics, the effectiveness of chatbot anthropomorphism remains unclear. We conducted three experiments to assess the effectiveness of chatbot anthropomorphism in customer–chatbot interactions. By equipping chatbots with human-like linguistic cues, we evoke different levels of chatbot anthropomorphism. Our results show significant positive effects of chatbot anthropomorphism on trust, purchase intention, word of mouth, and satisfaction with the shopping experience. More importantly, we identify social presence as the underlying mediating mechanism of these effects. These effects are robust and not contingent on different shopping contexts distinguished by hedonic versus utilitarian shopping motivations or the disclosure of (non-)sensitive information by customers. The present research derives managerial implications for companies that seek to effectively employ chatbots in customer interactions. Further, this study advances research on customers’ reactions towards anthropomorphized chatbots and demonstrates that social presence is a critical driver of successful customer-chatbot interactions.
... VEs digitally reproduce realistic sensory information (Ahn, 2021;Biocca, 1997;Blascovich & Bailenson, 2011;Slater & Wilbur, 1997), offering the opportunity to design highly controlled interventions (Blascovich et al., 2002). There are two primary approaches found in research using VEs to study racial prejudice. ...
Virtual environments (VEs) provide novel ways for users to experience computer generated people and places, which can be used by researchers to examine and reduce racial bias. However, unless researchers consider the systemtic structures of racial inequities when designing their simulations, they may unintentionally create experiences that could prime or entrench racist beliefs or attitudes. A critical Whiteness framework guides this systematic review of 20 years of prejudice and bias reduction research in VEs. Of the 68 articles, findings indicated that virtual experiences are a promising tool in anti-bias interventions. Future research must expand to more longitudinal, behaviorally focused studies while prioritizing predictive theoretical models and meaningfully reflecting on inclusive practices within the broader bias reduction space. We discuss best practices for future research in anti-bias and anti-prejudice in VEs.
... When users become enveloped by layers of sensorimotor cues via their avatar bodies, this interaction is likely to induce the subjective experience of "being there" in the mediated environment, a psychological state labeled presence (Biocca 2006;Lombard and Ditton 2006;Slater and Usoh 1993). If immersion is the objective capacity of immersive technologies, presence is the subjective experience of users who actively engage with its high fidelity features, varying as a result of the dynamic relationship between media features and the user, neither independent from the other. ...
The concept of the metaverse was first coined in the science fiction novel Snow Crash published 30 years ago, serving as the pregenesis concept of the next groundbreaking development in communication and technology fields for several decades. Today, the concept of the metaverse is complicated and often discussed as a multidimensional notion, generally referring to multiple interconnected virtual worlds where large numbers of users can simultaneously interact in embodied form. In this article, we propose the bifold triadic relationships model to help advertising scholars understand how advertising may work in the metaverse and to guide future research endeavors. Although the metaverse as a concept has yet to fully form, we hope that this primer presents a clearer layout of how advertising can be studied at the unit level of triadic relationships among consumer, media, and engagement behaviors in the metaverse space. Using what we know thus far about immersive virtual environments and how they relate to advertising practice and scholarship, the present article serves as an impetus for new directions in advertising theory and research in the metaverse in the years to come.
... Milgram, et al., 1995), is justified by concepts such as immersion and interactivity (technical dimension) and the construction of presence (psychological dimension) (e.g. Biocca, 1997). As such, the Hotel Academy project aimed at the development of a joint curriculum that allows for virtual interdisciplinary, international, and intercultural collaboration and virtual exchange (COIL) between three European universities from Cyprus, France, and Germany in the field of hospitality management. ...
... 65)" (Short et al., 1976). Biocca (2006) stressed that social presence can be felt whether individuals communicate with humans or artificial beings. Lee (2004) defined the concept of social presence from the perspective of technology users, especially when they interact with virtual social objects. ...
Although voice commerce using voice assistants (VA) in shopping is burgeoning, little is known about the effect of the manner of interaction with VAs in shopping. To fill this gap, this study applied the concept of message interactivity by investigating the key factors that influence intention to use VAs embedded in smart speakers for online shopping. Specifically, we analyzed consumers’ responses to the adoption of VAs with the mediating variable, such as social presence and performance risk as well as the moderating variable, machine heuristic using a lab experiment (N = 62). Our results showed that individuals who experienced contingent conversations with Alexa reported greater feelings of social presence, and less perceptions of performance risk. Moreover, these social presence and performance risk mediated the effect of message interactivity on perceived usefulness, which in turn, predicted the intention to use a VA for an online commerce platform. These results also suggested that voice commerce platforms can increase the positive impact of message interactivity by amplifying machine heuristic.
... This scenario is evident in immersive virtual environments. The environment involves the body, often involving the senses (Biocca, 1997). ...
This paper approaches agency as the primary mode of involvement with information design. We are particularly interested in the design of information in a digital interface. We consider that agency as a mode of involvement can frame the dimension of information design in a digital interface. In order to do so, the close reading method was applied to investigate how the interface supports the agency on two websites. Personal interest, points of contact, and information processing performed as analytical lenses. The findings suggest that the agency involvement with the information design supports designing the information in its concrete aspect. Information design tends to facilitate the entire scope of the agency in receiving this interface. Mastering action is the most evident due to the haptic dimension of interactivity and its immediate effect on the interface. Thus, recognizing the importance of agency involvement can benefit both the analysis and production of information design.
... Social presence is particularly important as it provides individuals with the possibility of developing a relationship or having a social interaction with one another, as they recognize each other as "social beings" (Biocca et al., 2003). Social presence is commonly defined as the sensation of being in the presence of a real person and having access to their feelings (Biocca, 1997), and can be assessed with a 5-item survey (e.g., "I feel that the person is watching me and is aware of my presence") (Bailenson et al., 2001) and the Networked Minds Questionnaire (e.g., "The other individual didn't notice me in the room") (Biocca et al., 2001), as used by Kulms et al. (2011). ...
Virtual learning environments often use virtual characters to facilitate and improve the learning process. These characters, known as pedagogical agents, can take on different roles, such as tutors or companions. Research has highlighted the importance of various characteristics of virtual agents, including their voice or non-verbal behaviors. Little attention has been paid to the gender-specific design of pedagogical agents, although gender has an important influence on the educational process. In this article, we perform an extensive review of the literature regarding the impact of the gender of pedagogical agents on academic outcomes. Based on a detailed review of 59 articles, we analyze the influence of pedagogical agents' gender on students' academic self-evaluations and achievements to answer the following questions: (1) Do students perceive virtual agents differently depending on their own gender and the gender of the agent? (2) Does the gender of pedagogical agents influence students' academic performance and self-evaluations? (3) Are there tasks or academic situations to which a male virtual agent is better suited than a female virtual agent, and vice versa, according to empirical evidence? (4) How do a virtual agent's pedagogical roles impact these results? (5) How do a virtual agent's appearance and interactive capacities impact these results? (6) Are androgynous virtual agents a potential solution to combatting gender stereotypes? This review provides important insight to researchers on how to approach gender when designing pedagogical agents in virtual learning environments.
... Social presence stands for a mental simulation of other intelligences (34). According to Lee (35), in the context of HCI, social presence represents a "psychological state in which virtual social actors are experienced as actual social actors in either sensory or non-sensory ways" [(35) p. 27]. ...
Background:
Automated conversational agents, or chatbots, have a role in reinforcing evidence-based guidance delivered through other media and offer an accessible, individually tailored channel for public engagement. In early-to-mid-2021, young adults and minority populations disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in the U.S. were more likely to be hesitant toward COVID-19 vaccines, citing concerns regarding vaccine safety and effectiveness. Successful chatbot communication requires purposive understanding of user needs.
Objective:
We sought to review the acceptability of messages to be delivered by a chatbot named VIRA from Johns Hopkins University. The study investigated which message styles were preferred by young, urban-dwelling Americans as well as public health workers, since we anticipated the chatbot would be used by the latter as a job aid.
Methods:
We conducted four virtual focus groups with 20 racially and ethnically diverse young adults 18-28 and public health workers 25-61 years old living in or near eastern U.S. cities. We tested six message styles, asking participants to select a preferred response style for a chatbot answering common questions about COVID-19 vaccines. We transcribed, coded, and categorized emerging themes within discussions of message content, style, and framing.
Results:
Participants preferred messages that began with an empathetic reflection of a user concern and concluded with a straightforward, fact-supported response. Most participants disliked moralistic or reasoning-based appeals to get vaccinated, although public health workers felt such strong statements appealing to communal responsibility were warranted. Responses tested with humor and testimonials did not appeal.
Conclusions:
To foster credibility, chatbots targeting young people with vaccine-related messaging should aim to build rapport with users by deploying empathic, reflective statements, followed by direct and comprehensive responses to user queries. Further studies are needed to inform the appropriate utilization of user-tailored testimonials and humor in the context of chatbot communication.
Clinicaltrial:
... The combination of various technological devices (visual, auditory, and haptic) and tracking systems that accurately reproduce stimuli creates a significant sense of presence. The user has the sensation of "being there, " and as a result, can forget that the situation is not real, and therefore behave (both cerebrally and physically) as if the VR experience were real life (Biocca, 1997;Slater, 2009;Pillai et al., 2013). These technologies allow information to be collected directly from the user in realtime (e.g., decision-making responses and times). ...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the viability of a new selection procedure based on machine learning (ML) and virtual reality (VR). Specifically, decision-making behaviours and eye-gaze patterns were used to classify individuals based on their leadership styles while immersed in virtual environments that represented social workplace situations. The virtual environments were designed using an evidence-centred design approach. Interaction and gaze patterns were recorded in 83 subjects, who were classified as having either high or low leadership style, which was assessed using the Multifactor leadership questionnaire. A ML model that combined behaviour outputs and eye-gaze patterns was developed to predict subjects’ leadership styles (high vs low). The results indicated that the different styles could be differentiated by eye-gaze patterns and behaviours carried out during immersive VR. Eye-tracking measures contributed more significantly to this differentiation than behavioural metrics. Although the results should be taken with caution as the small sample does not allow generalization of the data, this study illustrates the potential for a future research roadmap that combines VR, implicit measures, and ML for personnel selection.
... The UAB relates to multiple previous areas of avatar-related research. Their many theoretical constructs have been developed to describe users' psychological connections with their avatars, such as embodiment (Kilteni et al., 2012;Peck and Gonzalez-Franco, 2021), monadic identification (Klimmt et al., 2010), polythetic identification (Downs et al., 2019), self-presence (Biocca, 1997;Ratan, 2012), avatar-self relevance (Ratan and Dawson, 2016), and the player-avatar relationship typology (Banks, 2015). Although distinct in name, these constructs often contain overlapping concepts, such as embodiment as a facet of avatar identification (Van Looy et al., 2012). ...
... Using compensatory adaptation theory, he points out that encoders (the instructor) make more efforts than decoders (learners) via electronic communication (Kock, 2007), owing to reduced communication fluency between the actors. The more the learners deal with interface, the more the natural interaction is impacted (Biocca, 1997). Accordingly, the more smoothly knowledge transfer occurs by integrating richer human communication cues akin to physical conditions, the higher the compliance and transfer of emotional communication (Hertenstein et al., 2006). ...
Set in a French higher education context, this paper contributes to the knowledge management literature by arguing that the digital transformation of knowledge transfer via distance learning includes negative outcomes, in addition to many benefits. Based on quantitative and qualitative data, via an online survey from learners and instructors, our findings show that while online modes of delivery are convenient and cost-effective, they overlook many aspects that enable users to engage in knowledge transfer.
Virtual reality (VR) has been described as the ultimate empathy machine; but does it deserve this reputation? Thanks to its features of embodied technology, VR can let users virtually walk in someone else's shoes. In addition, multi-sensory VR experiences can present evocative and heart-wrenching stimuli. For these reasons, VR seems to be a likely candidate to foster empathy. However, the published literature indicates that the impact of VR on empathy is complex and depends both on the type of VR and also the type of empathy being evaluated. The present chapter compares two meta-analyses which suggest that VR can elicit empathy, but the theoretical factors on which the technology has more efficacies are in contrast. In this chapter, these discordant meta-analyses are discussed, and the reasons why they find different results are theorized. We attempt to answer when and how VR could be an empathy machine. We conclude that low-tech but evocative storytelling is most likely to yield emotional empathy, and embodied experiences that encourage perspective-taking will improve cognitive empathy. Although we attempt to present the latest empirical evidence about empathy and VR, we are aware that the scientific consensus around this topic is likely to evolve in the future.
This study examined the impact of news modality (print news vs. 360° journalism) on psychological mechanisms of information seeking intention, as well as individual differences that moderate the observed outcomes. The results of a two condition between-subjects experiment (N = 100) conducted on a community sample showed that news modality affected information seeking intentions, enjoyment of news story, and the feelings of spatial presence, but did not affect actual information seeking behavior and information recall. Exposure to 360° journalism led to the increase in spatial presence, which led to a linear increase in enjoyment, ultimately resulting in greater intentions to seek further information. Participants with a higher need for cognitive closure enjoyed consuming news more when the story was presented as 360° journalism than those with a lower need for cognitive closure. Results contribute to expanding the theories of information seeking and the role of affective responses and spatial presence on news consumption in journalism and communication scholarship.
Humans have been fascinated with the notion of submerging themselves in other spaces since antiquity, or even before. As the contemporary media landscape seeks to employ newer immersive practices, particularly in today’s Metaverse environment, storytelling in immersive media such as virtual reality (VR) is still developing and being described. The notion of scale and (newfound) viewer agency afforded by VR has challenged VR film-makers, particularly in directing attention towards story beats and handling user interaction. The video gaming industry, as a platform that is built with immersion as the core of the experience, leads this development. The advent of virtual reality (VR) video games is developing an amalgamation of immersive strategies to induce the sense of presence within virtual worlds. In this article I look at current approaches and challenges faced when directing attention in films and storytelling in VR. I then consider strides taken in VR video games, namely Half-Life: Alyx (2020), to propose that directing techniques and immersive strategies employed in VR video games can be used to develop new strategies in VR films and storytelling.
Users' personality traits reveal different social media behavior characteristics. In order to explore the intrinsic relationships between personality traits and social media behavior, this study analyzes the influence of users' personality traits on social media content creation and information dissemination behavior, as well as the moderating effect of social presence. We collect users' personality data via questionnaires, crawl social media behavior data of samples from social media sites, and then establish regression models to test the research hypotheses. The results show that extraversion has a positive impact on content creation and information dissemination behavior, conscientiousness has a negative impact on content creation behavior, openness and agreeableness have no significant impact on social media behavior, and social presence has significant moderating effects on the relationships between personality traits and social media behavior.
This chapter deals with the key issue, of creating a meaningful sense of place. This chapter outlines limitations of the ‘cyberspace’ theorists’ notions of place and suggests how these limitations adversely affect virtual heritage environments. A fivefold description of different features of place that may be appropriate for virtual environments is proposed. These five features of place are summarized as:
Uniqueness of atmosphere, selection of artifacts etc.
Some places in nature have the ability to shock or overawe the spectator.
Memorable places have the power of evoking memories and associations.
Some places act as either stage or framework on which communal and individual activity can ‘take place’.
Communal places have the ability to identify and reflect individual participants.
Combing literature and various creative arts suggest various components that help create the above place-experiences. Embodiment and dynamic attenuating environmental features as well as phobic triggers; social embedding and cultural agency; place as an inscribable artifact; and causal feedback are all suggested. I note here that there is a danger in automatically simulating all of the above elements digitally. From the point of view of the designer, a roadmap for designing for three distinct audiences and intentions is instead suggested. The three types of environments are categorized as visualization-based, activity affording, or hermeneutically enriched. The last type of virtual environment is a new addition to the literature of place and cyberspace, and will be focused on, for the importance of place as a cultural site is a central concern in this book. For virtual heritage environments in particular, we need to have a clear and distinct idea of what place as a cultural site and the related sense of ‘cultural presence’ entails.KeywordsVirtual realityVirtual environmentVirtual worldCultural perspectiveDigital environment
Virtual collaborative learning and teaching benefits from using immersive technologies to develop key competences, such as collaboration, virtual communication, and problem-solving skills, as well as social and digital skills. Based on the formative evaluation of the skills in the Hotel Academy project, which aimed at the development and implementation of a transnational desktop/VR-based roleplay, this chapter will draw attention to both the potential of virtual reality and the learners’ experiences of presence and immersion during its experimentation. Additionally, findings from the summative validation of the underlying didactical framework to develop transnational and cross-institutional blueprints for the implementation of this specific VR environment in higher education institutions will be presented. Finally, conclusions will be drawn regarding the future use of such roleplaying in social work management education.
The evolvement of IT has open new doors in connecting many devices to the worldwide web that successively produce data around the physical setting using the IoT. However, the system of message turns out to be slightly intricate in human specialization-internet of things communication for the reason that the IoT is a system including diverse objects transferring data This study examines the hypothetical pathway by which the changes in source attribution that is multiple against single and specialization that is multi-functionality against single functionality of IoT devices affect the quality of human- internet of things interaction. The result from the study obtained from 80 participants that took part in the experiment shows that multiple source attribution improves the condition of information basically for the low-involvement people supports further probes the multiple source effects. However, this study recommends improvement of attribution source and human specialization-IoT.
In July 2021, Canadian performance company Mammalian Diving Reflex premiered The Lockdown Resolution at Arnolfini, a contemporary art centre in Bristol, UK. Combining virtual reality (VR) hardware, 360° film and Zoom teleconferencing, the performance connected ten ‘in real life’ (IRL) audience members to ten remote audience members around the world. Through conversations and immersive, tech-mediated interaction, audiences found out about each other and the lives of three young Bristolians during lockdown. Drawing on research in VR and social dynamics, this paper examines human-tech interfacing in The Lockdown Resolution, exploring synchrony, social presence and intimacy to social cohesion. Examining social engagement through multiple-reality performance, producer Nadia Abdelaziz and Mammalian Founder Darren O’Donnell investigate digital intimacy in performance and its role in creating an opportunity for civic development. At the centre of this activity, Mammalian create space for young people to lead these interactions. Bristol-based young performers Chris Lewis (18), Alke Schwarz (19) and Germain Loud (21) co-devised the show working with local creatives over a series of workshops, meetings and rehearsals. Offering insight into Mammalian Diving Reflex’s working methods, we imagine and discuss the civic potential of new social contracts that might be created through intimate and immersive digital performance.
Due to the lockdown, more and more people are used to communicating with AI voice assistants during the post-COVID era. This study investigates the relationship between the perceived cuteness of AI voice assistants and the intention to purchase via a moderated serial-mediation model. We tested a PLS-SEM model with 284 survey data from an online experiment. The findings indicate that: (1) different cuteness appearances lead to different levels of perceived cuteness; (2) perceived cuteness positively affects intention to purchase; (3) the positive direct effect is serial mediated by social presence and user engagement; (4) the serial mediation effect is negatively moderated by perceived risk of service failure, which means the positive influence of perceived cuteness on intention to purchase is weakened at a high level of perceived risk. Our research has both theoretical and managerial contributions, which also reminds enterprises to grasp the cuteness degree of the product.
Conventionally, human-controlled and machine-controlled virtual characters are studied separately under different theoretical frameworks based on the ontological nature of the particular virtual character. However, in recent years, the technological advancement has made the boundaries between human and machine agency increasingly blurred. This manuscript proposes a theoretical framework that can explain how various virtual characters, regardless of their ontological agency, can be treated as unique social actors with a focus on perceived authenticity. Specifically, drawing on the authenticity model in computer-mediated communication proposed by Lee (2020) and a typology of virtual characters, a multi-layered perceived authenticity model is proposed to demonstrate how virtual characters do not have to be perceived as humans and yet can be perceived as authentic to their human interactants.
Since Mark Zuckerberg's announcement about the development of new three-dimensional virtual worlds for social communication, a great debate has been raised about the promise of such a technology. The metaverse, a term formed by combining meta and universe, could open a new era in mental health, mainly in psychological disorders, where the creation of a full-body illusion via digital avatar could promote healthcare and personal well-being. Patients affected by body dysmorphism symptoms (i.e., eating disorders), social deficits (i.e. autism) could greatly benefit from this kind of technology. However, it is not clear which advantage the metaverse would have in treating psychological disorders with respect to the well-known and effective virtual reality (VR) exposure therapy. Indeed, in the last twenty years, a plethora of studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of VR technology in reducing symptoms of pain, anxiety, stress, as well as, in improving cognitive and social skills. We hypothesize that the metaverse will offer more opportunities, such as a more complex, virtual realm where sensory inputs , and recurrent feedback, mediated by a "federation" of multiple technologies-e.g., artificial intelligence, tangible interfaces, Internet of Things and blockchain, can be reinterpreted for facilitating a new kind of communication overcoming self-body representation. However, nowadays a clear starting point does not exist. For this reason, it is worth defining a theoretical framework for applying this new kind of technology in a social neuro-science context for developing accurate solutions to mental health in the future.
Initially the province of telecommunication and early computer-mediated communication (CMC) literature, multiple systematic reviews suggest “social presence” is now used for an increasingly diverse set of phenomena across various communication settings. Drawing upon Chaffee’s (1991) description of concept explication as the dialectic process between the conceptual and operational aspects of research, this study provides a mixed methods analysis of social presence measures to evaluate construct validity and inform a modified conceptual definition. Results reveal several distinct constructs commonly measured in the empirical literature on social presence, including salience, perceived actorhood, co-location/non-mediation, understanding, association, involvement, and medium sociability. Based on the frequencies and co-occurrences of these constructs within instruments and across different research fields, we conclude that social presence, in practice, most commonly consists of the perceptual salience of another socialactor. Implications for the measurement and theorizing of social presence—and its distinction from other social experiences with media—are then considered.
The goal of this study is to offer an overview of the trends that characterize the current research on prosocial media effects. To this end, we conducted a systematic literature review. The period reviewed was from 2017 to 2021. It found four general trends: The first one is related to research on prosocial children´s media. The second deals with the examination of the effects of mixing prosocial and violent content and practices in the same media text. The third reflects the importance of exploring what happens during media use in relation to user behaviors above all in multiplayer video games social dynamics. Finally, the fourth trend found is related to the exploration of the possibilities opened up by immersive media.
Corporations are personifying their brands, particularly when communicating via social media. Applying the theoretical underpinnings of brand social presence and personification, this experimental study investigates whether and how personified brand visuals increase consumer engagement. Results find that personified visuals are more effective in engaging consumers than non-personified visuals, and this effect is mediated by the social presence consumers perceive from brands that further increases consumer-brand connections. The study highlights that brand personas matter in visual communication in garnering consumer engagement on social media, and this event occurs indirectly through the perceptions that brands are socially present and connected as human-like communicators. The findings also highlight the direct effect of personified visuals on consumer engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is one of the most crucial diseases of our century affecting millions of persons every year. Negative emotions such as anxiety, frustration, and apathy are common in AD patients which reduce their wellbeing significantly. Virtual Reality is a means of providing the patients with a sense of presence in an environment that isolates them from external factors able to induce negative emotions. In this goal we have developed several interactive virtual environments able to relax the patients and reduce negative emotions. Virtual travels, natural environments, music therapy, Zootherapy, discovering environments can be used to calm the patients. Artificial Intelligence can bring a valuable contribution if these environments can be modified dynamically according to brainwaves reactions. Neurofeedback techniques can be used to adapt the virtual environments in order to dynamically reduce negative emotions and foster positive emotions. We will present several examples of interactive virtual environments driven by the brain of Alzheimer’s patients and able to improve their cognitive capabilities.
This study integrates theorizing about supportive communication and computer-mediated communication to investigate how features of the interactional context, social presence, and evaluations of supportive messages shape recipients’ emotional improvement. Participants (N = 139) reported to the lab with a friend, where they were randomly assigned to experimental conditions that varied the lighting quality of the physical setting and screen size of the device for a video-mediated supportive conversation, which are relevant and impactful features of video chat interactions. Results were consistent with theorizing: Lighting quality exerted a positive serial indirect effect on receivers’ emotional improvement because of its influence on social presence, which in turn influenced evaluations of support. Findings are discussed as they relate to the role of social presence in explaining how contextual features shape video-mediated supportive conversations.
Interaction between people and virtual characters through digital and electronic devices is a reality. In this context, the design of virtual characters must incorporate emotional expression at a nonverbal level looking for effective communication with the user. This exploratory study investigates the design features of an avatar functioning as a virtual assistant in educational contexts. From a multidisciplinary approach, the user's research was elaborated by a semi-open questionnaire of self-perception of emotional characteristics: likeability, attractiveness, and applicability of a set of six 2D and 3D characters. The results extracted from a sample of 69 university students provide a relevant information on design features and open new lines for future research. Aspects such as Ekman's basic emotion discrimination and the design of facial expression are analyzed. The incorporation of other body parts, their spatial orientation and contextual elements, seems to contribute to effective emotional communication. The results also highlight how the design of a virtual character should take into consideration the complexity involved in facial gestures and changes in relation to the vertical axis and planes of movement. Finally, this article discusses the complexity involved in expressing a given emotion in a virtual character.
Virtual Reality (VR) has proven to be a flexible tool used to simulate unusual scenarios, with the purpose of improving the training of future engineering professionals. Currently, a large number of articles referring to VR in education are published, so this review is necessary to give guidance to those researchers interested in the subject. In this review, 3 unknowns were resolved: 1) focusing areas of VR in engineering education 2) leading nations and 3) funding importance. 74 articles downloaded from the Web of Science database were reviewed using the PRISMA guide. It was found that VR is applied in a wide range of subjects focused on engineering in general. Taking a deeper look, Computer Science is the area that is receiving the most attention from VR. In addition, the United States is the country leading these investigations and the importance of financing is also seen in the present research. Finally, the lack of a common evaluative methodology was analyzed, as well as the problems of massification of VR and the impact of this technology on student´s motivation
An axiom of Per Aage Brandt’s approach to conceptual blending, known colloquially as the “Aarhus model”, is that semiosis only makes sense when grounded in communicative interaction. Here we adopt that approach in relation to the reality of current, daily communication which is increasingly mediated by digital audio-visual technology platforms. We pursue this goal via a small set of case studies that explore how this technology changes and challenges social interaction and how participants exploit and adapt cognitive, embodied, technological, and semiotic resources in creating meaningful, collective, virtual spaces of joint social activity. In so doing, we expand the horizon of inquiry and contribute insights that have relevance for the new media ecology. This application of cognitive semiotic analyses of video meetings confronts the nature of “mediation” and its accomplishment, the status of “virtual spaces”, and “social presence.”
Research showed that immersive technologies can significantly improve the design process. However, it is important to consider the ease of implementation of solutions (e.g. price, simplicity). Therefore, the objective of this study was to analyze the uses of two types of virtual environments that are relatively simple to implement: a basic model of a room and its 3D scan. Participants made sketches using a virtual reality application, provided by the instructors, in each of the two different VR environments. The sketches are proposals to a furniture co-creation task. Results indicate a better co-creation process during the second session than during the first, which reveals that training is an important criterion in this case. Furthermore, co-creation is felt to be better in the case of the modeled place compared to the 3D scan. This result could be due to the presence of useless virtual objects that can cause a distraction to the participants. These results are discussed from an applicative standpoint.
Although virtual reality technology is increasingly being used in tourism, its potential as a shopping tool and as an avenue for marketing and selling tourism products and services has not yet been examined. Likewise, very little is known about how exploring holiday packages through virtual reality affects behavioral intention to visit tourist destinations. This study aims to compare the visit intentions evoked and the process of booking holiday travel packages between an immersive virtual reality environment (displayed through Oculus head-mounted glasses) and a traditional web-based 2D platform. A causal model is proposed and tested for both designs. Using a between-subjects experimental design with a sample of 202 individuals, the experiences of two randomly selected groups were observed as they bought holiday tour packages to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The first group made a simulated purchase in an immersive virtual reality environment using a head-mounted device, and the second group made the purchase on a traditional e-commerce website. The findings revealed that the scores given to sense of presence, attitude change, and perceived ease of use were greater among those who made the purchase in the more immersive virtual reality environment. However, the relationships between the variables in the causal model were stronger for the classic website than for the virtual reality setting. Attitude change positively affected intention to visit a destination more in the virtual reality environment.
Pictorial Communication in Virtual and Real Environments, (S. Ellis, M. Kaiser, A. Grunwald, Eds.), Taylor & Francis, Ltd., London, 1993, 232-246.
This paper discusses factors that may contribute to the participant's sense of presence in immersive virtual environments. We distinguish between external factors, that is those wholly determined by the hardware and software technology employed to generate the environment, and subjective factors, that is how sensory inputs to the human participant are processed internally. The therapeutic technique known as neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is used as a basis for measuring such internal factors. NLP uses the idea of representation systems (visual, auditory and kinesthetic) and perceptual position (egocentric or exocentric) to code subjective experience. The paper also considers one external factor, that is how the virtual environment represents a participant-either as a complete body, or just an arrow cursor that responds to hand-movements. A case-control pilot experiment is described, where the controls have self-representation as an arrow cursor, and the experimental group subjects as a simple virtual body. Measurements of subjects' preferred representation systems and perceptual positions are obtained based on counts of types of predicates and references used in essays written after the experiment. These, together with the control variable (possession/absence of a virtual body) are used as explanatory variables in a regression analysis, with reported sense of presence as the dependent variable. Although tentative and exploratory in nature, the data analysis does suggest a relationship between reported sense of presence, preferred representation system, perceptual position, and an interaction effect between these and the virtual body factor.
Among the most critical issues in the design of immersive virtual environments are those that deal with the problem of technologically induced intersensory conèict and one of the results, sensorimotor adaptation. An experiment was conducted to sup- port the design of a prototype see-through, head-mounted display (HMD). When wearing video see-through HMDs in augmented reality systems, subjects see the world around them through a pair of head-mounted video cameras. The study looked at the effects of sensory rearrangement caused by a HMD design that displaced the user's ''virtual'' eye position forward (165 mm) and above (62 mm) toward the spatial position of the cameras. The position of the cameras creates images of the world that are slightly downward and inward from normal. Measures of hand-eye coordination and speed on a manual pegboard task revealed substantial perceptual costs of the eye displacement initially, but also evidence of adaptation. Upon érst wearing the video see-through HMD, subjects' pointing errors increased signiécantly along the spatial dimensions displaced (the y dimension, above-below the target, and z dimension, in front-behind the target). Speed of performance on the pegboard task decreased by 43% compared to baseline performance. Pointing accuracy improved by approxi- mately 33% as subjects adapted to the sensory rearrangement, but it did not reach baseline performance. When subjects removed the see-through HMD, there was evidence that their hand-eye coordination had been altered. Negative aftereffects were observed in the form of greater errors in pointing accuracy compared to base- line. Although these aftereffects are temporary, the results may have serious practical implications for the use of video see-through HMDs by users (e.g., surgeons) who depend on very accurate hand-eye coordination.
A visually coupled system (VCS) has been defined as “ . . . a special ‘subsystem’ which integrates the natural visual and motor skills of an operator into the system he is controlling” (Birt and Task, 1973). A basic VCS consists of three major components: (1) a head- or helmet-mounted (or head-directed) visual display, (2) a means of tracking head and/or eye pointing direction, and (3) a source of visual information which is dependent on eye/head viewing direction. The concept of a VCS is relatively simple: an operator looks in a particular direction, the head or eye tracker determines what that direction is, and the visual information source produces appropriate imagery to be viewed on the display by the operator. In this manner the operator is visually coupled to the system represented by the visual information source. The visual information source could be a physical imaging sensor such as a television camera or it could be a synthetic source such as computer-generated imagery (the basis for a virtual reality (VR) or virtual environment system). Thus, a VR system is really a subset of a VCS which can present both real-world and virtual information to an operator, often on a see-through display. The display is usually a helmet/head-mounted display (HMD) but it could also be the interior of a dome capable of displaying a projected image or it could be a mechanically mounted display that is not supported by the head but is attached to the head which in recent times has been referred to as a binocular omni-oriented monitor (BOOM) display. Both eye-tracking and head-tracking devices have been developed but by far the least expensive and most widely used is head tracking (this is based on the reasonable assumption that the eyes will be looking in the general direction that the head is pointing). Figures 6-1 through 6-4 are photographs of some early helmet-mounted and BOOM displays. In this chapter we will concentrate primarily on helmet/head-mounted displays and helmet/head trackers. This section describes each of the three main components of a visually coupled system and defines characteristics that are used in the specification of these components.
When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message" in 1964, no-one could have predicted today's information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet. Yet McLuhan's insights into our engagement with a variety of media led to a complete rethinking of our entire society. He believed that the message of electronic media foretold the end of humanity as it was known. In 1964, this looked like the paranoid babblings of a madman. In our twenty-first century digital world, the madman looks quite sane. Understanding Media: the most important book ever written on communication. Ignore its message at your peril.
Modernist Cuisine, a gigantic five volumes guide to kitchen science that could transform the way we eat, is created by Nathan Myhrvold, a former CEO of Microsoft. The book comprise 1,522 recipes and 1,150,000 words of text on 2,438 pages. To research the book, Myhrvold built a 4,000-square-foot laboratory, kitchen, and photo studio, where a team of cooks experimented with machinery usually restricted to doctor's offices, hospitals, and commercial food processing, using powders and essences and chemicals similarly typical of the food industry. The first volume alone contains a long, definitive introduction to food pathogens and food safety, a subject cooks ignore at their peril. The other volumes give basic information on science, ingredients, and techniques common to all cooking, not only modernist cuisine.
The widespread diffusion of immersive virtual environments (VE) is threatened by persistent reports that some users experience simulation sickness, a form of motion sickness that accompanies extended use of the medium. Experience with the problem of simulation sickness is most extensive in the military where the illness has accompanied the use of various simulators since the 1950s. This article considers the obstacles presented by simulation sickness to the diffusion of VE systems, its physiological and technological causes, and, finally, the remedies that have been suggested to fix the problems. This issue is also considered in light of previous reports of purported illnesses that accompanied the diffusion of other communication technologies.
Reconstruction of the evolution of language and social behaviour depends on our ability to infer higher order cognitive capacities from evidence of hominid tool use and other artefactual remains. This article summarizes the proceedings of a recent conference held to explore the possible connexions between tool-making and use, forms of cognition, social organization and language. One result of the conference was the demonstration that cognitive differences between humans and apes are narrower than have previously been supposed. Commonalities were suggested between some, but not all neural and cognitive substrates of tool use and language; moreover, language and tool using were shown to be related in ontogenetic development. Though imitation, not language, is critically required for the transmission of tool techniques, tool use in humans is integrated within a larger, linguistically transmitted technology.
The emphasis the media place on the thin ideal body image may be responsible for body size overestimations that women make, and indirectly cause increases in anorexia nervosa and bulimia. In this experimental study, two variables - ideal-body programming and ideal-body commercials - had an effect on female subjects' self-perceived body images and moods. Ideal-body image commercials lowered body size overestimations and subjects' depression levels. This study supports the notion of an elastic body image in which actual body size is in conflict with a mediated ideal body image and an unstable self-perceived body image. Results of this study suggest that watching even 30 minutes' worth of television programming and advertising can alter a woman's perception of the shape of her body
Social scientists who study the mass media share a widely held "ideal of conservation" which assumes that face-to-face interpersonal communication is characterized by continuous feedback between participants, multichannel communication, spontaneous utterance, and egalitarian norms. Compared to this image of what face-to-face conversation is like, communication by mass media seems inferior. It is argued, however, that this "ideal of conversation" does not correspond closely to most actual conversations. It is argued further that the rise of the mass media is itself responsible for the development of an ideal of conversation and is responsible for making ideal conversations more often realized in practice. The contribution of the mass media to face-to-face conversation has been to make conversation, particularly between men and women and between adults and children, more egalitarian and to enlarge the possibility of spontaneous conversation. It is suggested, finally, that research on the mass media will be improved if it appraises the nature of conversation more realistically.
It was the purpose of this project to review the state of the art of the technology associated with remote manipulation with the intention of providing parameters by which the operator of the remote system could achieve a sense of operator presence. This psychological sense of 'presence,' or immediacy, reflects the extent to which the sensor, display and control technology can be made transparent to the operator. The present sensor, display and control technology for remote manipulation is sufficient, if properly configured, to produce a laboratory prototype of a telepresence manipulation system. The manipulator arm technology, given impetus by interest in industrial robotics, is sufficient to provide the tight kinematic and dynamic loop required for effective manipulation. The articulated end effector and its interface with associated articulated master hand controller is an area requiring some design effort. There is sufficient technological power to support design work. There is a gap in the state of knowledge concerning the display of tactile and proprioceptive information to the operator. Specification of particular task environments will direct the research required to protect the manipulator and sensor from each environment's hostile elements.
The purpose of the book was to review previous thought and research on the subject and describe the authors' own formulations and their program of investigation regarding the phenomenon. One phase of the research was conof which were found by use mainly of projective macerned with body image boundaries, the dimensions terial to be Barrier and Penetration of Boundary. The second phase of the research dealt with B-I boundaries and behavior variations. The third phase concerned development of boundaries. The fourth phase related to boundary and body reactivity. The book is concluded with a group of theoretical formulations. A set of illustrative Rorschach protocols and a bibliography of 361 titles are appended. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Posted 05/23/1992. Reviews evidence for the functional equivalence of spatial representations of observed environments and environments described in discourse. It is argued that people possess a spatial representation system that constructs mental spatial models on the basis of perceptual and linguistic information. Evidence for a distinct spatial system is reviewed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This study assesses a scale measuring appropriateness of media for a variety of organizational communication activities and then compares seven media across six organizational sites. The ranking of media were face-to-face, telephone, meetings, desktop video and videoconferencing, voice mail, text, and electronic mail. Although information exchange and socioemotional relations dimensions emerged, the first provided a parsimonious solution. Multidimensional scaling placed traditional media in separate clusters, and new media together with some instances of text and phone, along interpersonal-mediated and synchronous-asynchronous axes. The appropriateness of face-to-face and meetings did not change over time, whereas ratings of phone and text (to some extent) and new media did. Appropriateness of new media was weakly associated with use. finally, there was very little evidence of social information processing influence on appropriateness, except for organizational newcomers’ratings of the newest medium, desktop video.
The purpose of this paper is to focus on two main conceptions at the origin of hypertext technology, and contrast the associationist and the connectionist views. From the starting point provided by this conceptual opposition, it surveys the relationships between users and developers of new computerized communication technologies as inscriptions at the interface. Upgrading Brenda Laurel's models of the interface, it proposes a new conception of the personal interface that acknowledges the virtual presence of the designer, and locates the space of the screen as a dialogic space of mutual engagement.
To be truly useful for media theory, the concept of presence should be applicable to all forms of virtual environments including those of traditional media like television and traditional content such as advertising. This study reports the results of an experiment on the effects of the visual angle of the display (sensory saturation) and room illumination (sensory suppression) on the sensation of telepresence during normal television viewing. A self-report measure of presence yielded two factors. Using [Gerrig's (1993)] terminology for the sense of being transported to a mediated environments, we labeled the two factors “arrival,” for the feeling of being there in the virtual environment, and “departure,” for the feeling of not being there in the in physical environment. It appears that being in the virtual environment is not equivalent to not being in the physical environment. A path analysis found that these two factors have very different relationships to viewer memory for the experience and for attitude change (i.e., buying intention and confidence in product decision). We theorize that the departure factor may be measuring the feeling that the medium has disappeared and may constitute a deeper absorption into the virtual environment. The study did not find evidence that visual angle and room illumination affected the sensation of telepresence
If the medium is the message, what is the message of virtual reality (VR)? This article examines virtual reality communications media. Some forms of VR, for example immersive virtual reality, literally situate the user inside an informed computational space. The essence of VR is the inclusive relationship between the participant and the virtual environment. Communication takes place through direct experience in the immersive, digital environment. Thus, these environments may directly implicate what we can say about our very ability to know, that is, about consciousness itself. In this sense, VR brings metaphysical inquiry within the purview of an empirical testbed that conjoins human psychology, or the psychological "presence" of the knowing self, with configurable digital phenomena to define "there." This essay argues that a fundamental message of VR may be to illumine timeless philosophical inquiries concerning the nature of knowing and being and thus direct our attention to what Aristotle called the eternal question: What is reality? VR directs our attention to the nature of reality by directing our attention to consciousness as the experie.
This paper is a survey of position-tracking technologies and their use
in virtual reality (VR) applications. A framework is established to
evaluate the suitability of a position-tracking implementation for
virtual reality use. Mechanical, optical, magnetic, and acoustic
implementations are discussed with examples of each. Also, the effect of
position tracking on a virtual reality user is discussed, especially
with regard to the position tracker's role as a cause of simulation
sickness. A catalog of implementations and uses is included in an
appendix.
Flight simulators are examples of virtual environment (VE) systems that often give rise to a form of discomfort resembling classical motion sickness. The major difference between simulator sickness and other forms of motion sickness is that the former exhibits more oculomotor-related symptoms and far less actual vomiting. VEs of the future are likely to include more compellingly realistic visual display systems, and these systems can also be expected to produce adverse symptoms. The implications of simulator sickness for future uses of VEs include adverse consequences for users' safety and health, user acceptance, training effectiveness, and overall system performance. Based on data from a factor analysis of over 1000 Navy and Marine Corps pilot simulation exposures, a new scoring procedure for simulator sickness has recently been developed (Lane & Kennedy, 1988; Kennedy, Lane, Berbaum, & Lilienthal, 1992). The factor analytic scoring key provides subscales for oculomotor stress (eyestrain), nausea, and disorientation. Simulators are being examined in terms of these factor profiles to identify causes of simulator sickness. This approach could also be used in evaluating motion sickness-like symptomatology that occurs in connection with the use of VEs. This paper describes the use of the multifactor scoring of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) in diagnosing sources of simulator sickness in individual simulators. Reanalysis by this new methodology was employed to standardize existing simulator sickness survey data and to determine whether relationships existed that were missed by the more traditional scoring approaches.