Impact of Different Sensory Stimuli on Presence in Credible Virtual Environments

Abstract

Multiple factors can affect presence in virtual environments, such as the number of human senses engaged in a given experience or the extent to which the virtual experience is credible. The purpose of the present work is to study how the inclusion of credible multisensory stimuli affects the sense of presence, namely, through the use of wind, passive haptics, vibration, and scent. Our sample consisted of 37 participants (27 men and 10 women) whose ages ranged from 17 to 44 years old and were mostly students. The participants were divided randomly into 3 groups: Control Scenario (visual and auditory -N = 12), Passive Haptic Scenario (visual, auditory, and passive haptic -N = 13) and Multisensory Scenario (visual, auditory, wind, passive haptic, vibration, and scent -N = 12). The results indicated a significant increase in the involvement subscale when all multisensory stimuli were delivered. We found a trend where the use of passive haptics by itself has a positive impact on presence, which should be the subject of further work.

Virtual Reality for Neurorehabilitation and Cognitive Enhancement

“…Present-day VR, however, is a brilliant new medium that exceeds illusion and brings about tangible results in reality with unlimited potential for large-scale application in art, entertainment, relaxation, learning, exercise, training, and treatment or therapy. VR visualizes not only events but also psychological conditions and personalized perceptions [217][218][219][220], induces a sense of ownership [221,222] and of presence [223][224][225][226][227], offers immersion [228], and renders the self in different reality modes, such as being represented by avatar or having a different gender [229,230]. It also influences physical sensations in interventions, such as pain management [231,232] or stress and anxiety reduction [233]; induces necessary emotions, such as empathy [234]; or aims at achieving higher goals, such as self-development [235].…”

Correlation between Game Experience and Presence in immersive virtual reality games

“…No contexto deste estudo, presenc ¸a pode ser definido como a sensac ¸ão subjetiva de nos encontrarmos dentro de um ambiente virtual como se este fosse real. Este sentimento é muitas vezes usado na literatura para avaliar ambientes virtuais [8], [10], [14]- [17], tornando-se pertinente estudar os fatores influenciam este mesmo sentimento de Presenc ¸a. Existem várias maneiras de avaliar Presenc ¸a, sendo que podem ser utilizadas métricas subjetivas através de questionários [18]- [20] ou entrevistas, através do comportamento do utilizador [21], [22]; ou métricas objetivas como sinais fisiológicos [23]- [25].…”

Systematic Review on Realism Research Methodologies on Immersive Virtual, Augmented and Mixed Realities

“…Due to how the overlay works, virtual objects cannot completely occlude the real environment as they will always be transparent. [48], [49], [75], [76], [78] Custom User Preference 10 (11.1%) [36], [60], [67]- [69], [73], [86], [95], [97], [105] Presence Questionnaire (PQ) [57] Presence 7 [59], [60], [66], [74], [84], [ [43], [43], [56], [72], [96], [108], [113], [118], [119] Custom User Performance 7 (100%) [106], [112], [120]- [124] Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ) [125] Physiologic Responses 8 [56], [61], [66], [106], [110], [112], [126] Motion Sickness Assessment Questionnaire [127] Physiologic Responses 1 [109]…”

“…The Scent is by far the least studied stimulus (in the context of realism studies in IVE), being found in one document together with visual, audio and haptic [110]. No studies were found that focused on how scent alone influences the realism of an IVE.…”