Social Presence as a Moderator of the Effect of Agent Behavior on Emotional Experience in Social Interactions in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Background: Exposure therapy involves exposure to feared stimuli and is considered to be the gold-standard treatment for anxiety disorders. While its application in Virtual Reality (VR) has been very successful for phobic disorders, the effects of exposure to virtual social stimuli in Social Anxiety Disorder are heterogeneous. This difference has been linked to demands on realism and presence, particularly social presence, as a pre-requisite in evoking emotional experiences in virtual social interactions. So far, however, the influence of social presence on emotional experience in social interactions with virtual agents remains unknown.Objective: We investigated the relationship between realism and social presence and the moderating effect of social presence on the relationship between agent behavior and experienced emotions in virtual social interaction.Methods: Healthy participants (N = 51) faced virtual agents showing supportive and dismissive behaviors in two virtual environments (short interactions and oral presentations). At first, participants performed five blocks of short one-on-one interactions with virtual agents (two male and two female agents per block). Secondly, participants gave five presentations in front of an audience of 16 agents. In each scenario, agent behavior was a within subjects factor, resulting in one block of neutral, two blocks of negative, and two blocks of positive agent behavior. Ratings of agent behavior (valence and realism), experience (valence and arousal), and presence (physical and social) were collected after every block. Moderator effects were investigated using mixed linear models with random intercepts. Correlations were analyzed via repeated measures correlations.Results: Ratings of valence of agent behaviors showed reliable relationships with experienced valence and less reliable relationships with experienced arousal. These relationships were moderated by social presence in the presentation scenario. Results for the interaction scenario were weaker but potentially promising for experimental studies. Variations in social presence and realism over time were correlated but social presence proved a more reliable moderator.Conclusion: Our findings emphasize the role of social presence for emotional experience in response to specific agent behaviors in virtual social interactions. While these findings should be replicated with experimental designs and in clinical samples, variability in social presence might account for heterogeneity in efficacy of virtual exposure to treat social anxiety disorder.

Public speaking training in front of a supportive audience in Virtual Reality improves performance in real-life

“…In the present study we did not find an effect on audience behavior on the feeling of pleasantness during the VR practice. This finding was unexpected as a previous study found that supportive and unsupportive audience behavior differed with respect to valence 16 . One possible explanation for this discrepancy might be related to the presentation mode.…”

“…One possible explanation for this discrepancy might be related to the presentation mode. In the present study, participants could see their actual presentation slides on a computer screen during the VR presentation, while in Pfaller et al 16 only the topic was presented on the screen. As a result, participants might have been less attentive to the audience, especially, when negative audience behavior was shown, resulting in diminished differences between conditions.…”

“…Disinterest behaviors, like averted gaze, have been shown to result in low evaluations of audience arousal and might therefore account for the present finding of reduced social presence in the unsupportive group 17 , 18 . It is important to note, that low engagement of an audience might in fact lead to high arousal in the person giving the presentation, as low engagement might be interpreted as a negative evaluation of one’s performance 16 . While the goal of the present study was to investigate general effects of audience behavior on performance in real-life situations, future studies should investigate the role of specific behavioral patterns.…”

“…It remains unclear whether supportive audience behavior in Virtual Reality might be less effective in realizing the feeling of a positive social evaluation indicated by a supportive audience. On a perceptual level, however, speakers seem to be able to differentiate supportive and unsupportive audience behavior in VR 16 , 19 . Another mechanism mediating the relationship of audience behavior and public speaking might be self-efficacy 4 .…”

“…the feeling of being in the virtual environment together with other persons 15 . A recent study demonstrated that social presence influenced the degree to which audience behavior affected participants’ emotional experience in a public speaking scenario 16 . Overall, VRET can be effective in the treatment of SAD fear of public speaking, but more studies are required to investigate the contributing mechanisms.…”