Immersion and Presence

A psychological state characterized by perceiving oneself to be enveloped by, included in, and interacting with an environment that provides a continuous stream of stimuli and experiences.

(Witmer und Singer 1998)

• Not easy measurable

• Effect-based

• Human-oriented

Extent to which the computer displays are capable of delivering an inclusive, extensive, surrounding and vivid illusion of reality to the senses of a human participant.

see (Slater und Wilbur 1997)

• Easier to measure.

• Cause-based

• Tech-oriented

• (I)nclusive indicates the extent to which physical reality is shut out.

• (E)xtensive indicates the range of sensory modalities accommodated.

• (S)urrounding indicates the extent to which this virtual reality is panoramic rather than limited to a narrow field.

• (V)ivid indicates the resolution, fidelity, and variety of energy simulated within a particular modality (for example, the visual and colour resolution). Vividness is concerned with the richness, information content, resolution and quality of the displays.

• What you see and what you don’t see matters.

• Artificial stimuli that signal the presence of a display should be minimized.

• Measurement devices in the virtual or teleworld should be well disguised or hidden.

The subjective experience of being in one place or environment, even when one is physically situated in another.

Subjective evaluation of one’s degree of being there, the extent to which one thinks of the virtual environment as “place like” (subject to suspension of disbelief).

Observable behavioural phenomenon, the extent to which individuals behave in a VE similar to the way they would behave in similar circumstances in everyday reality.

Presence realized by means of an artificial stimulus generation by computer simulation.

Refers to the degree to which one believes that he or she exists within a mediated space.

Presence realized by means of an stimulus communication based on telecommunication.

Refers to feelings of social interaction with a virtual or remote partner.

• Related to immediacy and intimacy and the extent to which the other person is salient and appears to react to the interaction (Heeter 1992; Shin 2002).

• Dependent … on the full range of verbal and nonverbal cues, and the communication context (Rice 1993).

• A measure of social distance and enhanced by immediate behaviors such as nodding and smiling.

Is consciously maintained relative to the appropriateness of the interaction. Higher levels of social presence imply a behavioral engagement where actions are linked, reactive, and interdependent.

Extent to which the environment appears to acknowledge one’s existence and react, i.e., is responsive to perturbations of the user.

• Breaking of a glass when dropped.

• Changing shadows by shifts in light.

The illusion that the scenario being depicted is actually occurring, i.e., what is perceived.

Constrained by the sensorimotor contingencies, i.e., how the world is perceived.

Presence is the central goal of “virtual reality”, perhaps a defining feature.

1. structure using a goal/meaning, rules and feedback;

2. augmentation to achieve multimodal and mixed experiences;

3. replacement with a synthetic/fictional one.

1. Locates the Self in an external physical and/or cultural space: the Self is “present” in a space if he/she can act in it.

2. Provides feedback to the Self about the status of its activity: the Self perceives the variations in presence and tunes its activity accordingly.

3. Allows the evolution of the Self through the incorporation of tools: tools do not enable us only to extend our reaching space, but when mastered become part of a plastic neural representation of our body that allows their use without further cognitive effort (intuitively).

Design striving to provide customers with rewarding, engaging, and holistic experiences.

1. Sensory: Perception of stimuli during exp.

2. Cognitive: Mental engagement with exp.

3. Affective: Emotional state from exp.

4. Active: Personal connection to exp.

5. Relational: Social aspects of exp