Research on Presence in VR: a Survey

Virtual Reality (VR) is starting to be used in psychological therapy around the world. However, a thorough understanding of the reason why VR is effective and what effect it has on the human psyche is still missing. Most research on this subject is related to the concept of presence. This paper gives an up-to-date overview of research in this diverse field. It starts with the most prevailing definitions and theories on presence, most of which attribute special roles for the mental process of attention and for mental models of the virtual space. A review of the phenomena thought to be effected by presence shows that there is still a strong need for research on this subject because little conclusive evidence exists regarding the relationship between presence and phenoma such as emotional responses to virtual stimuli. An investigation shows there has been substantial research for developing methods for measuring presence and research regarding factors that contribute to presence. Knowledge of these contributing factors can play a vital role in development of new VR applications, but key knowledge elements in this area are still missing. 1 Department of Information Systems and Software Engineering, Faculty of Information Technology and Systems , Delft University of Technology 2 Department of Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology, University of Amsterdam INTRODUCTION Virtual Reality (VR) is quickly becoming a serious tool for psychiatrists and therapists. However, even though research has shown VR to be effective in psychological therapy there is still much uncertainty about the reasons behind all this. For this, we need an understanding of the effect VR has on the human psyche. Current research on this subject is focussed primarily on the concept of presence. The main goal of this paper is to investigate the current knowledge on presence to gain an understanding of the psychological mechanism underlying an experience in VR. This understanding is necessary for determining those aspects of the VR-system and the context in which it is used that contribute to an effective and efficient treatment. Another goal of this article is to make a clear distinction between theory and empirical findings. Whenever possible, a description is made of the experiments supporting certain findings. The number of participants mentioned are those who's responses have been included in the statistical analysis underlying the findings. About statistical relationships between variables the fact whether these are significant is reported and a measure of the correlation is provided when it is available and independent of the used unit of measure. After reviewing the most common definitions of presence and theories on the nature of presence this article will describe those phenomena that are thought to be explained by presence. These ‘results of presence’ are followed by a description of the various methods for measuring presence. To bridge the gap between presence and system and user characteristics the research on factors that can cause presence is then reviewed. VR is a technology that typically provides interaction and immerses the user's senses. This Accepted for publication in the journal Cyberpsychology and Behavior Delft, 7 jan 2001, [email protected] 2 sets it apart from other technologies such as television or books. This paper deals primarily with presence in VR, even though this concept is also applied to non-immersive and non-interactive media. ON THE NATURE OF PRESENCE In presence research several definitions and theories have been proposed; the prominent ones will be described here.