A new method of vital stimulation apart from the visual and auditory senses using modulated far-infrared rays is proposed. The somatic sense is stimulated to provide the feeling of presence of a human being. Fundamental experiments are performed, and the specifications of the stimulating device are defined. The heartbeat, breathing, and temperature change of parts of the face are observed during the irradiation of the modulated far-infrared rays. The change in the vital data of the human reaction towards the stimulation is < 3.5% and no remarkable characteristics are observed. When three subjects are questioned, a somatic sensation is reported; thus, the possibility of detecting the feeling of presence using other vital data is suggested. Further development of detection techniques using the vital data is planned in order to confirm the effectiveness of the detection of the feeling of presence.

1. [1] M. Supa, M. M. Cotzin, and K. M. Dallenbach, “ “Facial Vision”: The Perception of Obstacles by the Blind,” American J. of Psychology, Vol. 57, No. 2, pp. 133-183, 1944.
2. [2] S. Zhao, A. Ishii, Y. Kuniyasu, T. Hachisu, M. Sato, S. Fukushima, and H. Kajimoto, “Augmentation of Acoustic Shadow for Presenting a Sense of Existence,” Int. Workshop on Modern Science and Technology (IWMST2012) proc., 2012.
3. [3] T. Miura, J. Suzuki, T. Muraoka, and T. Ifukube, “Aurally presentation technique of virtual acoustic obstacle by manipulation of acoustic transfer function,” ICAT, 2010.
4. [4] K. Matsuo, Y. Okano, Y. Hashimoto, and H. Kajimoto, “Augmentation of atmosphere by presenting of acoustic shadow,” Proc. of Virtual Reality Soc. Jpn. Annual Conf., 2007.
5. [5] K. Sato, K. Yamamoto, and K. Kato, “Consideration of recognition of human’s KEHAI in peripheral vision,” The papers of Technical Meeting on “Information Processing,” IEE Japan IP, pp. 27-30, 2009.
6. [6] M. Melo, S. Sampaio, L. Barbosa, J. Vasconcelos-Raposo, and M. Bessa, “The impact of different exposure times to 360^◦ video experience on the sense of presence,” 23rd Portuguese Meeting on Computer Graphics and Interaction (EPCGI), pp. 1-5, 2016.
7. [7] K. Takiguchi and S. Toyama, “Does a dog recognize his master by an electric field? Generation and transmission of an electric field around a walker,” J. of Int. Society of Life Information Science (ISLIS), Vol.21, No.2, pp. 428-441, 2003.
8. [8] K. Takiguchi, “What is the Kehai of a person?,” The Nikkei, January 24, 2010, Nikkei Inc., 2010 (in Japanese).
9. [9] H. Sakaniwa, F. Dong, and K. Hirota, “A Visualization Method of Kansei Texture and Its Individual Difference,” J. of Information Assurance and Security, Vol.9, No.7, pp. 288-296, 2014.
10. [10] H. Sakaniwa, F. Dong, and K. Hirota, “Fuzzy Set Representation of Kansei Texture and its Visualization for Online Shopping,” J. Adv. Comput. Intell. Intell. Inform., Vol.19, No.2, pp. 284-292, 2015.
11. [11] H. Sakaniwa, T. Kanemaru, A. Date, and N. Fukuda, “Cross-Modal Perception of Tactile Sensation by Vision, Onomatopoeia and Auditory Sense,” 7th Int. Symp. on Computational Intelligence and Industrial Applications (ISCIIA), 2016.
12. [12] A. B. Redondo, E. A. Sánchez, and J. Z. Zaballa, “All-optical networks and switching technologies for a 3D videoconference system with feeling of presence,” The 13th Int. Telecommunications Network Strategy and Planning Symp., pp. 1-7, 2008.
13. [13] P. Caserman, P. Krabbe, J. Wojtusch, and O. von Stryk, “Real-time step detection using the integrated sensors of a head-mounted display,” IEEE Int. Conf. on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC), pp. 3510-3515, 2016.
14. [14] C. Liu and S. Uang, “A Study of Effects of Perceptual Cues on Presence for the Elderly in 3D Virtual Store,” Int. Symp. on Computer, Consumer and Control (IS3C), pp. 283-286, 2016.
15. [15] J. J. Choi and S. S. Kwak, “Can you feel me?: How embodiment levels of telepresence systems affect presence,” 25th IEEE Int. Symp. on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN), pp. 606-611, 2016.
16. [16] F. Biocca, J. Kim, and Y. Choi, “Visual Touch in Virtual Environments: An Exploratory Study of Presence, Multimodal Interfaces, and Cross-Modal Sensory Illusions,” Presence, Vol.10, Issue 3, pp. 247-265, 2001.
17. [17] S. Bouchard, J. St-Jacques, G. Robillard, and P. Renaud, “Anxiety Increases the Feeling of Presence in Virtual Reality,” Presence, Vol.17, Issue 4, pp. 376-391, 2008.
18. [18] Y. Machi, “Measurements of Qi-gong and Radiative External Qi-gong,” Medical Imaging Technology, Vol.13, No.1, pp. 39-46, 1995.
19. [19] H. Sakaida, H. Kokubo, M. Yamamoto, M. Hirasawa, K. Kawano, and Y. Machi, “A Study of Infrared Measurements during Qigong,” J. of Int. Society of Life Information Science, Vol.18, No.1, pp. 276-282, 2000.
20. [20] Z. Shen, A. Tone, and M. Asayama, “Physiological Changes Caused by Wai Qi Fa Gong,” J. of Int. Society of Life Information Science, Vol.17, No.1, pp. 90-104, 1999.
21. [21] P. Shinnick, “The Science of Whole Person Healing: Research Data Summary on Qi into Body Pathways, the Physiology and Properties of Mind/Body Wholeness and its Clinical Application to Disease and Athletics,” R. Rustum (Ed.), The Science of Whole Person Healing, 1st edition, pp. 87-127, iUniverse, Inc., 2004.
22. [22] J. C. Shen and C. L. Sun, “The magnetic effects of human acupuncture-point field under the special status,” Chinese J. of Somatic Science, Vol.1, No.5, pp. 208-210, 1991.
23. [23] C. Nieß ner, S. Denzau, E. P. Malkemper, J. C. Gross, H. Burda, M. Winklhofer, and L. Peichl, “Cryptochrome 1 in Retinal Cone Photoreceptors Suggests a Novel Functional Role in Mammals,” Nature, Scientific Reports 6, Article number:21848, 2016.
24. [24] J. Watanabe, Y. Kawaguchi, K. Sakakura, and H. Ando, “Heartbeat Picnic: Workshop for Touching Heartbeats,” Trans. of the Virtual Reality Society of Japan, Vol.16, No.3, pp. 303-306, 2011.
25. [25] A. Osman, J. Turcot, and R. E. Kaliouby, “Supervised learning approach to remote heart rate estimation from facial videos,” 11th IEEE Int. Conf. and Workshops on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition (FG), pp. 1-6, doi:10.1109/FG.2015.7163150, 2015.
26. [26] Tokyo Medical and Dental University, http://www.tmd.ac.jp/med/phy1/ptext/somat_2.html, (in Japanese). [accessed December 25, 2018]
27. [27] Y. Sugiyama, “The book which understands the difference between person and monkey,” Ohmsha, p. 168, 2010 (in Japanese).