Abstract
To assess and improve the user experience in entertainment products, developers need results of evaluation methods, which in detail measure the relationship between the mediated content and the resulting media experience. This paper proposes a method applying adjustable distraction (AD) to determine presence as immersion (Lombard and Ditton in At the heart of it all: the concept of presence, Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media, Temple University, 1997) at selectable events (approximated real-time). Two experiments were conducted to investigate its applicability in computer games and movies with respectively visual and tactile AD. The first experiment examined whether the experienced intensity in a survival-shooter game, measured through questionnaires, was proportional to results from the AD method. The intrusiveness of the AD method was also addressed in the experiment by comparing the immersive presence ratings in a between-groups design. The second experiment investigated whether heart rate measurements, intensity ratings and the results of the AD method with vibration as the distraction signal were proportional when test participants watched a movie clip. The outcome of the first experiment indicated that no significant intrusion is caused by the method. In addition, results showed no proportionality between the AD method and intensity ratings. However, as the AD measurements were supported by flow theory, it might be that the results from the AD method using visual distraction are giving a more comprehensive indication of presence as immersion (rather than just the intensity dimension). The second experiment revealed proportionality between the intensity ratings and the heart rate measurements, while the results from the tactile AD method were not proportional. We suspect that this was caused by the great variance found across the test participants’ thresholds of perceivable vibration. Because of this, it is suggested that a thorough screening process is conducted pre-test if the AD method should apply vibration as the distracting stimulus.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams E, Rollings A (2006) Fundamentals of game design, 1st edn. Pearson Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ
Baren J, Ijsselsteijn W (2004) Measuring presence: a guide to current measurement approaches. Available via: http://www.informatik.umu.se/~jwworth/PresenceMeasurement.pdf. Accessed 30 Jan 2009
Bordwell D, Thompsen K (2004) Film art: an introduction, 7th edn. McGraw Hill Higher Education, New York
Brown E, Cairns P (2004) A grounded investigation of game immersion. CHI ‘04 extended abstracts on Human factors in computing systems. ACM, New York
Buchsbaum M, Callaway E (1965) Influence of respiratory cycle on simple RT. Percept Mot Skills 20:961–966
Cameron P, Ballard M (2002) High versus low aggressive priming during video-game training: effects on violent action during game play, hostility, heart rate, and blood pressure. J Appl Soc Psychol 32(12):2458–2474
Csikszentmihalyi M (1990) Flow: the psychology of optimal experience. Harper Perennial, New York
Darken R et al (1999) Quantitative measures of presence in virtual environments: the roles of attention and spatial comprehension. Cyberpsychol Behav 2(4):337–347
Dane S, Erzurumluoglu A (2003) Sex and handedness differences in eye-hand visual reaction times in handball players. Int J Neurosci 113(7):923–929
del Toro G (2006) The Spanish movie “El laberinto del fauno”. Official site available via: http://www.panslabyrinth.com. Accessed 30 Jan 2009
Der G, Deary I (2006) Age and sex differences in reaction time in adulthood: results from the United Kingdom health and lifestyle survey. Psychol Aging 21(1):62–73
Ermi L, Mäyrä F (2005) Fundamental components of the gameplay experience: analysing immersion. Proceedings of the DiGRA conference 2005
Etnyre B, Kinugasa T (2002) Postcontraction influences on reaction time (motor control and learning). Res Q Exerc Sport 73(3):271–282
Freeman J et al (2000) Using behavioral realism to estimate presence: a study of the utility of postural responses to motion stimuli. Presence 9(2):149–164
Ijsselsteijn W et al (2000) Presence: concept, determinants and measurement. Proceedings of the SPIE 3959, pp 520–529
ISPR (2000) International society for presence research. Available via: http://www.temple.edu/ispr/frame_measure_t.htm. Accessed 30 Jan 2009
Jang D et al (2002) Analysis of physiological response to two virtual environments: driving and flying simulation. Cyberpsychol Behav 5(1):11–18
Klimmt C et al (2005) The value of reaction-time measures in presence research: empirical findings and future perspectives. Proceedings of the 8th international workshop on presence
Laarni J et al (2003) Using eye tracking and psychophysiological methods to study spatial presence, proceedings of the 6th international workshop on presence
Likert R (1932) A technique for the measurement of attitudes. Arch Psychol 22(140):1–55
Lombard M et al (2000) Presence and television: the role of screen size, Hum Commun Res 26(1)
Lombard M, Ditton T (1997) At the heart of it all: the concept of presence. Department of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media, Temple University
Luchies C et al (2002) Effects of age, step direction, and reaction condition on the ability to step quickly. J Gerontol 57A(4):M246–M249
Nordahl R, Korsgaard D (2008) On the use of presence measurements to evaluate computer games. Proceedings of the 11th international workshop of presence, pp 174–177
Philip P et al (2004) Age, performance, and sleep deprivation. J Sleep Res 13(2):105–110
Reeves B et al (1992) Faces on the screen: pictures or natural experience? Paper presented to the mass communication division of the international communication association, Miami, FL
Reeves B et al (1993) New televisions: the effects of big pictures and big sound on viewer responses to the screen. Paper presented at the information systems division of the conference of the international communication association, Washington, DC
Rose L (2006) Hollywood’s most expensive movies. Fobes.com. Available via: http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/18/movies-budget-expensive-tech-media-cx_lr_1214moviebudget.html. Accessed 29 Apr 2009
Rosmarin R (2006) Why gears of war costs $60. Fobes.com. Available via: http://www.forbes.com/technology/2006/12/19/ps3-xbox360-costs-tech-cx_rr_game06_1219expensivegames.html. Accessed 29 Apr 2009
Schlögl A et al (2002) Presence research and EEG. Proceedings of the 5th international workshop on presence
Slater M, Steed A (2000) A virtual presence counter. Presence Teleoper Virtual Environ 9(5):413–434
Steed A et al (2005) Breaks in presence as usability criteria. Proceedings of HCI international 2005
Sweetser P, Wyeth P (2005) Gameflow: a model for evaluating player enjoyment in games. Comput Entertain 3(3):3
Tan E (1995) Film-induced affect as a witness emotion. Poetics 23(1–2):7–32
Verrillo R (1962) Investigation of some parameters of the cutaneous threshold for vibration. J Acoust Soc Am 34(11):1768–1773
Verrillo R, Bolanowski S (1986) The effects of skin temperature on the psychophysical responses to vibration on glabrous and hairy skin. J Acoust Soc Am 80(2):528–532
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nordahl, R., Korsgaard, D. Distraction as a measure of presence: using visual and tactile adjustable distraction as a measure to determine immersive presence of content in mediated environments. Virtual Reality 14, 27–42 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-009-0140-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-009-0140-3