Time Flies: Investigating Duration Judgments in Virtual Reality

Abstract

Virtual reality is becoming increasingly popular in today’s society. With this proliferation it becomes even more important to study the effects such environments may have on one’s perception of reality. Two pilot studies were run in order to provide insight into the relationship between time perception and flow in a virtual environment. In Experiment 1 participants played a music-oriented virtual game for 2 minutes. In Experiment 2 participants played a space-shooter virtual game for 5 minutes. Duration Judgment Ratio (DJR) and Flow State Scale (FSS-2) measures were taken and compared to one another. Though a relationship between DJR and Flow was not found in each experiment individually, insights gained from the comparison of the two experiments may provide additional understandings. The results of this pilot study could aid researchers in developing objective ways to measure components of flow especially with respect to virtual environments. Additional insights and applications are discussed.

Flow in VR: A Study on the Relationships Between Preconditions, Experience and Continued Use

“…Perhaps the most seminal line of research on flow has been led by Csikszentmihalyi and colleagues (e.g., [12,13,34]) where they identified nine constructs to describe the experience of flow. A plethora of research around the flow state employed this conceptualization to measure and characterize flow in various contexts [10,21,29,49,52] and to specially understand how to design technologies, activities and services that induce flow [16,35].…”

“…sight, hearing) are purposefully directed to a singular context [50], which may facilitate a higher concentration on task and provide grounds for autotelic experiences and immersion. VR, hence, appears to be a likely environment for flow to emerge [49,50]. The experience of being in flow in VR is thought to be a manifestation of efficient telepresence and immersion from these technologies [14,49,50].…”

“…VR, hence, appears to be a likely environment for flow to emerge [49,50]. The experience of being in flow in VR is thought to be a manifestation of efficient telepresence and immersion from these technologies [14,49,50]. The more VR became accessible to the average consumer, the more the hype around it and expectations of flow and immersion out of it grew [3].…”

“…While such findings may paint a positive picture of flow in VR, there is a dearth in our understanding of flow in VR. For example: work carried out to compare experiences of flow across different VR content types and use lengths did not reach a clear conclusion on the extent to which individuals lose their sense of time and experience flow in VR [49]. Another experimental research failed to identify a significant correlation between different VR technologies and experiences of flow, specifically pointing towards a need for revisiting the flow theory in the context of VR so as to identify whether it holds in this new context [32].…”

“…It is hence of value, to understand the degree to which VR has been able to engulf users [25], namely to investigate the experience of being in flow in VR. Flow, by its nature of being a multi-dimensional experience, flow, encompasses concepts central to VR experiences such as of transportation and immersion [14,49,50], further strengthening the importance of its research.…”