Eye fixations and electrodermal activity during low‐budget virtual reality embodiment

Abstract

As motion-sensing devices become more accessible to consumers, it is important to understand how users experience embodiment when using these devices. In our 3 × 2 between-groups study, we explored eye fixations and electrodermal activity (EDA) in order to more objectively understand potential interaction effects between the self-avatar body, and the presence of a mirror within the context of low-budget embodiment. We developed six experimental conditions concerning Body (human, mannequin, and zombie self-avatars) and Mirror (mirror and no mirror) factors, and presented participants with a virtual environment in which they could control their self-avatars by using HTC Vive controllers and trackers. In addition to eye fixations and EDA, we assessed self-reported data concerning body ownership, agency, self-location, as well as enjoyment of the experience. Our results suggest that the Body may have been more influential in eliciting body ownership than the Mirror, and that an interaction effect between Gender and Body may influence eye gaze behavior. Additionally, female participants reported significantly higher agency than males. We consider logical next steps for similar research which might elaborate upon our findings.

Understanding the effects of hand design on embodiment in virtual reality

“…Although there is no significant effect with the five hands, the application of the implicit method in this study could be a reference for further research about exploring the sense of self-location in VR. In this study, there was no relationship between selfreported self-location and eye tracking data, while the correlation between self-location and time to fixation was reported from a previous finding (Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020). Therefore, the current conclusion about the relationship between self-location and eye tracking is unclear.…”

“…Based on previous studies (Dohan and Mu, 2019; Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020, 2021), the data on eye gaze behaviors could be collected and analyzed by fixation count, fixation length, and time to fixation in this study. The fixation count shows the entire number of eye fixations recorded on these virtual hands, the fixation length refers to the amount of time each fixation lasted, and the period it takes to first fixation at these virtual hands is explained as time to fixation.…”

“…The most common subjective method is self-report (questionnaire). Moreover, eye tracking as one objective physiological method can be used to explore the sense of body ownership in the literature (Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020, 2021). It has been shown that more body ownership could be reported from participants when they looked at a virtual avatar sooner.…”

“…It is an inspiration to evaluate the self-location by this proprioceptive position method. In addition, a recent work reported a weak negative correlation between the data of eye tracking and self-location, and it found less self-location when participants watched their virtual avatar for more time (Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020).…”

“…Besides, compared with the traditional research method, biometric measures are valuable methods to assist researchers in understanding the user experience (Borgianni and Maccioni, 2020; Krogmeier and Mousas, 2021). Recent studies suggested adding physiological detection to experiments for objective measurements, and eye tracking is a promising objective method for investigating user experiences in VR (Lu et al , 2019; Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020, 2021; Zhang et al , 2022 a ), such as eye tracking for exploring the sense of embodiment (Krogmeier and Mousas, 2020, 2021; Zhang et al , 2022 a ). In addition, the degrees of user attention can also be analyzed by classifying eye tracking data, which could help us understand the relationship between the embodiment and user attention.…”