<p>Visitors’ expectations of museums in the modern world consist of both utilitarian and hedonic aspects. Given visitors’ diverse expectations and demands, traditional museums have taken actions to attract more visitors. Taking advantage of new technologies is the current action and trend in the museum industry. The emergence of digital museums is the reflection of this tendency, which use digital technologies such as projectors, surrounded sound, ambient lights, and multisensory cues to present a virtual environment. In the virtual environment, emotional state and sense of presence are considered to be useful to provide a more engaging experience. Therefore, this research empirically investigated digital museum visitor experience perceptions and the influence of emotional state and sense of presence on experience perceptions. The different impact of multisensory cues on experience and the relative mediation effect were also examined.</p> <p>Data were collected with a scenario-based online survey conducted through Amazon Mechanical Turk (MTurk). A split-sample approach with a total of 382 respondents was used for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis were used to explore visitor experience perceptions of the digital museum. Structural equation modeling was used to discover the impact of emotional state and sense of presence. One-way analysis of variance was used to compare the difference in impact of multisensory cues on overall visitor experience. This research also employed the PROCESS macro in SPSS for demonstrating the mediating effect of emotional state and sense of presence through the impact of multisensory cues on overall visitor experience. The findings of this study revealed three experience perceptions—respectively, joviality, personal escapism, and localness experiences—of digital museums. Also, this research presented the positive effect of emotional state on joviality experience and negative effect of emotional state on localness experience. In addition, a notable positive impact of sense of presence on joviality, personal escapism, and localness experience perceptions was found. No significant effect of emotional state on personal escapism was found in this research. Moreover, visual and auditory cues together were confirmed as the most powerful indicator for triggering the greatest experience level. The impact was found to be valid due to the mediating role of emotional state and sense of presence.</p> <p>This research contributed theoretically and practically to museum literature and experience research. Theoretical implications were discussed to indicate this research as the framework to measure digital museum visitor experience based on the proposed three-factor structure. Practical implications were provided for museum managers. Limitations and future research were discussed.</p>

Advertisers keep seeking new ways to target a wider audience while game developers are trying to monetize their game. This study investigates how Virtual Reality (VR) interactions influence user's sense of presence and brand awareness; specifically brand recall and brand recognition. A 2 (familiar/unfamiliar brands) x 2 (high/low game interactions) between subject design user study was created where 40 participants were recruited to participate in a self-made Virtual Reality game built in Unity. The game objective was to walk through a virtual city and locate the stadium while passing by billboards with static advertisements which the users were not informed about. The data have been collected through post and pre-experiment surveys in addition to two memory tests; brand recall and brand recognition. The results show that users that have the option to interact more with the VR environment can have a slight increase in their sense of presence as well as their recognition to both familiar and unfamiliar brands. Virtual reality in-game advertising can make advertisers unlock new audiences who can not target with traditional media while developers can unlock new revenue streams through entire gaming sessions without disrupting the user experience. / Marknadsförare letar ständigt efter nya vägar att nå ut till en bredare målgrupp samtidigt som spelutvecklare strävar efter att utveckla spel som genererar inkomster. Denna studie undersöker hur interaktioner i Virtual Reality (VR) påverkar användares känsla av närvaro och medvetenhet gällande varumärken; specifikt vad gäller varumärkesåterkallelse och varumärkesigenkänning. En 2 (kända/okända varumärken) x 2 (hög/låg spelinteraktion) mellan-ämnesdesign har använts i en användarstudie där 40 deltagare rekryterades till att delta i ett egentillverkat VR-spel skapat i Unity. Spelet gick ut på att gå genom en virtuell stad för att hitta Stadion och samtidigt passera skyltar med statisk reklam som användaren inte informerades om i förväg. Data har samlats in genom undersökningar före och efter experimentet och två minnestester har genomförts; varumärkesåterkallelse och varumärkesigenkänning. Resultaten visar att användare som har möjlighet att interagera i större utsträckning med VR-miljön kan ha en ökad känsla av närvaro och igenkänning av kända och okända varumärken. Genom att marknadsföra i VR in-game kan marknadsförare nå ut till nya målgrupper de inte når via vanlig media samtidigt som spelutvecklare kan skapa nya inkomstströmmar i spelsessioner utan att störa användarupplevelsen.

Η αίσθηση παρουσίας όπως και η αλληλεπίδραση θεωρούνται βασικά χαρακτηριστικά των συστημάτων εικονικής πραγματικότητας. Στην παρούσα εργασία έγινε η διερεύνηση αυτής της σχέσης της αίσθησης παρουσίας και της αλληλεπίδρασης σε εκπαιδευτικά εικονικά περιβάλλοντα, μέσα από ερευνητικές εργασίες, και η καταγραφή των συμπερασμάτων που προέκυψαν από αυτές. Δηλαδή, μελετήθηκε κατά πόσο ο συμμετέχων μπορεί να αισθανθεί παρών στην εικονική πραγματικότητα μέσα από την περιπλάνηση του σε χώρους, την αντιμετώπιση φαινομένων και την αλληλεπίδραση με αντικείμενα, που στην πραγματικότητα πιθανόν να μην ήταν εφικτά, και επίσης κατά πόσο μέσω της αλληλεπίδρασης και της αίσθησης παρουσίας του δίνεται η δυνατότητα να οικοδομήσει τη γνώση. / -

The ever increasing popularity and enormous growth in 3D movie industry is the stimulating phenomenon for the penetration of 3D services into home entertainment systems. Providing a third dimension gives intense visual experience to the viewers. Being a new eld, there are several researches going on to measure the end user&apos;s viewing experience. Research groups including 3D TV manufacturers, service providers and standards organizations are interested to improve user experience. Recent research in 3D video quality measurements have revealed uncertain issues as well as more well known results. Measuring the perceptual stereoscopic video quality by subjective testing can provide practical results. This thesis studies and investigate three di erent rating scales (Video Quality, Visual Discomfort and Sense of Presence) and compares them by subjective testing, combined with two viewing distances at 3H and 5H, where H is the hight of display screen. This thesis work shows that single rating scale produces the same result as three di erent scales and viewing distance has very less or no impact on Quality of Experience (QoE) of 3DTV for 3H and 5H distances for symmetric coding impairments. / indirajithv@gmail.com

Denna studie har undersökt effekterna som spatiala och diegetiska användargränssnitt har på känslan av närvaro i VR-miljöer för att lokalisera fallgropar och bidra till att fastställa uppdaterade designkonventioner vid utveckling av VR-applikationer. Introduktionen ger en överblick över hur arbetet gått till och vad frågeställningen varit. I bakgrunden förklaras och definieras viktiga termer samt fokus för arbetet. Därefter beskrivs metoden som nyttjades under undersökningen. Två artefakter togs fram i samband med undersökningen. Utvecklingsprocessen av dessa artefakter beskrivs i kapitel 4: genomförande. Artefakterna kombinerades med semistrukturerade kvalitativa intervjuer och observationer för att samla in data till slutsatserna. Från datan som samlades in kunde det utläsas att det diegetiska användargränssnittet verkade ha en positiv inverkan på användarnas känsla av närvaro i VR-miljön samtidigt som det spatiala var lättare och effektivare att använda. Framtida forskning kan använda denna studie som stöd för att utforska användargränssnitt i fler genrer, användningsområden och applikationer inom VR.

This paper investigates problems connected to measuring presence in virtual environments through analyzing an investigation about what importance the level of detail has for the sense of presence. This is done by performing an experiment, testing participants’ sense of presence in two versions of one scenario where one has a high level of details and one has a low level of details. To measure the participants’ level of presence two methods were used, one subjective method and one objective method. The result of the experiment showed that the level of details doesn’t have a significant importance for the sense of presence which surprised both us and our employer. A problem found surrounding the measuring of presence was that there are different levels of presence which in turn require different methods of measurement. The challenge lies in identifying what kind of presence you want to measure and then base the method on that. Subjective presence requires subjective measures and objective presence require objective measures. Also, it is possible that presence may not always be the thing to measure when it comes to user experience in a virtual environment. The purpose of the virtual environment needs to be identified before one can decide whether the sense of presence is relevant or not. When virtual reality is used in commercial purposes there are probably other aspects that are more important than the user’s sense of presence.

E' ben noto che la dimensione affettiva è una componente importante dell'esperienza mediata e molti studi dimostrano l'abilità dei media interattivi nell'induzione di emozioni. Ciò nonostante, è meno chiaro come manipolare le caratteristiche dei media per indurre risposte emozionali specifiche. In particolare questo è vero per un medium emergente, qual la Realtà Virtuale, la cui caratteristica principale è l'abilità di indurre una sensazione di “presenza” nell'utilizzatore che fa esperienza del mondo generato dal computer. Noi abbiamo investigato la relazione esistente tra processi comunicativi mediati, emozioni e “sensazione di esserci” (senso di presenza) in esperienze mediate, attraverso tre studi sperimentali che miravano a: 1) manipolare e verificare l'impatto delle caratteristiche della RV: la narrativa e le caratteristiche dell'ambiente virtuale; 2) utilizzare la RV per manipolare esperienze relative alle emozioni e al rilassamento; 3) applicare i risultati in un protocollo focalizzato sulla gestione delle emozioni. Eravamo interessati a valutare l'efficacia del protocollo supportato da diversi media. I risultati saranno discussi all'interno della Tesi: da un lato, la relazione tra caratteristiche dei media e senso di presenza e, dall'altro, la relazione tra presenza e dimensione affettiva nei media interattivi. / It is well known that affective dimension is an important part of user experience in interactive media and many studies showed their ability to elicit emotions. Nevertheless it is less clear how to manipulate the interactive media features to induce specific emotional responses. In particular this is true for an emerging medium, such as Virtual Reality (VR), which main feature is the ability to induce a feeling of “presence” in the computer‐generated world experienced by the user. We investigated the relationship among mediated communication processes, emotions and the “feeling of being there” (sense of presence) in mediated experiences, through three experimental studies aiming: 1) to manipulate and to verify the impact of the characteristics of VR: the narrative background and the features of the virtual environment. 2) to use VR to manipulate experience‐related relaxation and mood. 3) to apply the found results in a protocol focused on emotional management. We were interested to evaluate the efficacy of the protocol by using different media. Results will be discussed in depth within the Thesis: on one side, the relationship between media characteristics and presence and, on the other side, the relationship between presence and affective response in interactive media.

La Thérapie Avatar (TA) est une nouvelle psychothérapie en réalité virtuelle. Celle-ci a été développée pour traiter les hallucinations auditives verbales (HAV) chez les patients atteints de schizophrénie résistante au traitement (SRT). Diverses composantes psychothérapeutiques, telles que les émotions et le sentiment de présence, pourraient contribuer à la réponse clinique dans le cadre de thérapies psychologiques. De plus, dans le contexte des interventions basées en réalité virtuelle, le sentiment de présence pourrait être associé à la réponse émotionnelle. Néanmoins, ces éléments ont été peu explorés dans le contexte de la TA. Ainsi, ce mémoire visait à explorer les liens entre le sentiment de présence, les émotions et la réponse clinique dans la TA. Pour mener cette étude, les données d’essais de TA antérieurs et en cours ont été utilisées. Au total, les données de 123 participants atteints de SRT ou d’un trouble schizoaffectif résistant au traitement ont été utilisées. Cet échantillon comprenait 84 individus de sexe masculin et 39 individus de sexe féminin, dont l’âge moyen était de 41,9 ans. À la fin de chaque séance de TA, le sentiment de présence et les émotions ressenties lors des séances de réalité virtuelle immersive ont été évalués à l’aide de questionnaires standardisés. Une échelle d’évaluation graphique et le questionnaire de présence Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) ont été utilisés pour évaluer le sentiment de présence. Une échelle d’évaluation graphique a également été utilisée pour évaluer la réponse émotionnelle. La variation au niveau de la sévérité des HAV a été évaluée à l’aide de la sous-échelle des hallucinations auditives du Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS-AH). Des corrélations de Spearman ont été utilisées pour évaluer les associations entre le sentiment de présence et les émotions. Les corrélations entre le sentiment de présence et la variation de sévérité des HAV après la TA ont également été évaluées. Un test U de Mann-Whitney a été utilisé pour comparer les scores de sentiment de présence (IPQ et échelle d’évaluation graphique) entre les participants ayant une réduction de 20% ou plus du score au PSYRATS-AH (répondeurs) et les participants ayant eu une réduction de moins de 20 % du score au PSYRATS-AH (non-répondeurs). Les résultats obtenus montraient que le sentiment de présence était positivement corrélé avec le sentiment de contrôle (échelle d’évaluation graphique : rs = 0,337, p < 0,01 ; IPQ : rs = 0,225, p < 0,05). Le même résultat a été observé pour le sentiment de sérénité, mais uniquement avec l’échelle d’évaluation graphique (rs = 0,242, p < 0,05). Aucune association significative n’a été observée entre le sentiment de présence et les émotions négatives (anxiété, colère, peur et tristesse). De plus, un sentiment de présence plus élevé, mesuré à l’aide de l’échelle d’évaluation graphique, était associé à une diminution plus importante des HAV (rs = −0,384, p < 0,01), mais aucune association significative n’a été trouvée avec l’IPQ (rs = −0,257, p = 0,15). Enfin, des scores plus élevés de sentiment de présence étaient associés à une réponse clinique optimale (réduction de 20% ou plus du score au PSYRATS-AH), mais uniquement en utilisant l’échelle d’évaluation graphique (d de Cohen = 0,543, p = 0,047). En conclusion, les émotions positives semblent être associées au sentiment de présence dans la TA, alors que les émotions négatives pourraient ne pas l’être. Le sentiment de présence semble également être impliqué dans la réponse thérapeutique, ce qui suggère que celui-ci pourrait être une composante importante de la réponse clinique. Des résultats différents ont été obtenus pour l’échelle d’évaluation graphique et l’IPQ, ce qui semble indiquer que ces questionnaires pourraient mesurer différents aspects du sentiment de présence. D’autres études seront nécessaires pour confirmer ces observations et pour évaluer l’uniformité des méthodes de mesure du sentiment de présence dans le cadre des interventions en réalité virtuelle. / Avatar therapy (AT) is a novel virtual reality-based psychotherapy that has been developed to treat auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) in treatment-resistant schizophrenia patients. Studies have shown that various psychotherapeutic components, such as emotions and sense of presence, could contribute to clinical outcomes in psychological interventions. Moreover, in the context of virtual reality-based interventions, sense of presence may be associated with emotional response. Nevertheless, these aspects have seldom been investigated in the context of AT. Therefore, this thesis aimed to explore the interplay between sense of presence, emotions, and clinical outcomes in AT. To conduct this investigation, data from previous and ongoing AT trials were used. Data from a total of 123 participants with treatment-resistant schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder were used. This sample included 84 individuals of the male sex and 39 individuals of the female sex, with a mean age of 41,9 years. After each AT session, the sense of presence and the emotions that were felt during immersive virtual reality sessions were assessed using standardized questionnaires. A graphic rating scale and the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) were used to evaluate the sense of presence. A graphic rating scale was also used to evaluate emotional response. Change in the main clinical outcome, AVH, was evaluated using the auditory hallucinations subscale of the Psychotic Symptom Rating Scales (PSYRATS-AH). Spearman correlations were used to assess the associations between sense of presence and emotions. Correlations between sense of presence and change in AVH after AT were also evaluated. A Mann-Whitney U test was used to compare sense of presence scores (IPQ and graphic rating scale) between participants with a reduction of 20% or more in PSYRATS-AH score (responders) and participants who had a reduction of less than 20% in PSYRATS-AH score (non-responders). Sense of presence was found to be positively correlated with feelings of control (graphic rating scale: rs = 0,337, p <0,01; IPQ: rs = 0,225, p < 0,05). The same was observed for serenity, but only with the graphic rating scale (rs = 0,242, p < 0,05). No significant associations were observed between presence and negative emotions (anxiety, anger, fear and sadness), regardless of the scale. Moreover, a higher sense of presence, measured with the graphic rating scale, was associated with a bigger decrease in AVH (rs = −0,384, p < 0,01), but no significant association was found with the IPQ (rs = −0,257, p = 0,15). Finally, higher levels of sense of presence were associated with a positive clinical outcome (reduction of 20% or more in PSYRATS-AH score) but only when using the graphic rating scale (Cohen’s d = 0,543, p = 0,047). In conclusion, positive emotions seem to be associated with sense of presence in AT, whereas negative emotions might not be. Sense of presence also seems to be involved in the therapeutic outcome, thereby suggesting that this could be an important component related to clinical response. Results differed between the graphic rating scale and the IPQ, which seems to indicate that these questionnaires may measure different aspects of presence. More studies will be needed to confirm these trends, which could be generalized to other psychotherapeutic interventions using virtual reality. Moreover, further studies will be needed to assess the consistency of methods used to measure sense of presence in virtual reality interventions.

This quantitative research aims to explore how fostering a sense of presence in a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) affects students' motivation to learn a topic, specifically by examining the mediating roles of engagement and motivation for exploration within the VLRE in influencing the motivation to learn a given topic. To evaluate these relationships, users' sense of presence was experimentally manipulated using two VRLE versions: one for high-presence and one for low-presence. The research uses the Igroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) to measure VR presence, and an original motivational learning questionnaire designed by the researcher to assess student engagement, motivation to explore the VR environment, and motivation to learn the VRLE topic. Data was analyzed using SPSS, including correlations, t-tests, and multiple regression. The findings from this study suggest that there are positive correlations between the sense of presence, engagement, motivation to explore, and motivation to learn. While there was not significant evidence to support engagement as a mediator, there was significant evidence to support motivation to explore as a mediator in the relationship between the sense of presence and motivation to learn the VRLE topic. User comments suggested VRLE improvements and expressed enjoyment from the VRLE. Recommendations for future research are included and practical implications for incorporating VRLEs to motivate students are noted.