Factors Affecting Sense of Presence in a Virtual Reality Social Environment: A Qualitative Study

Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking
Simon RichesLucia Valmaggia

Abstract

Sense of presence is an important factor influencing the quality of the virtual reality (VR) experience. However, there is limited understanding of what factors affect presence in virtual environments. This study uses a qualitative methodology, specifically thematic analysis, to investigate factors affecting sense of presence in a VR social environment that has been designed for psychological assessment. After experiencing a virtual bar-room that contained interactions with multiple avatars, participants (n = 76) took part in a semistructured interview. Eight key themes and associated subthemes were identified: emotions about self (anxiety, paranoid ideation, and detachment), emotions about others (loneliness, retrospective emotions, and recognition of self), thoughts about self (memories and social judgment), thoughts about others (paranoid ideation and narrative), physiological reactions (anxiety and cybersickness), behavior of avatars (narrative, duration of interaction, and characteristics), interactivity with environment (movement and familiarity), and environmental characteristics (restrictions). Sense of presence was facilitated when the VR elicited genuine cognitive, emotional, and behavioral responses, and when partici...Continue Reading

References

Sep 16, 2003·The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease·Daniel FreemanVinoba Vinayagamoorthy
Apr 2, 2005·Nature Reviews. Neuroscience·Maria V Sanchez-Vives, Mel Slater
Jan 19, 2008·The British Journal of Psychiatry. Supplement·Lucia R ValmaggiaPhilip K McGuire
Jul 24, 2010·Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking·Alessandra GoriniGiuseppe Riva
Aug 16, 2015·Schizophrenia Research·Lucia R ValmaggiaPhilip McGuire
Oct 23, 2018·Cyberpsychology, Behavior and Social Networking·Simon RichesLucia Valmaggia

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Citations

Dec 22, 2019·International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health·Iva Georgieva, Georgi V Georgiev
Sep 16, 2020·Sensors·Javier Marín-MoralesMariano Alcañiz
Jul 22, 2021·Cognitive Neuropsychiatry·Clara Della LiberaFrank Larøi
Nov 3, 2020··Andrew PerkisShafaq Irshad

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