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Omnidirectional videos have become a leading multimedia format for Virtual Reality applications. While live 360 videos offer a unique immersive experience, streaming of omnidirectional content at high resolutions is not always feasible in bandwidth-limited networks. While in the case of flat videos, scaling to lower resolutions works well, 360 video quality is seriously degraded because of the viewing distances involved in head-mounted displays. Hence, in this paper, we investigate first how quality degradation impacts the sense of presence in immersive Virtual Reality applications. Then, we are pushing the boundaries of 360 technology through the enhancement with multisensory stimuli. 48 participants experimented both 360 scenarios (with and without multisensory content), while they were divided randomly between four conditions characterised by different encoding qualities (HD, FullHD, 2.5K, 4K). The results showed that presence is not mediated by streaming at a higher bitrate. The trend we identified revealed however that presence is positively and significantly impacted by the enhancement with multisensory content. This shows that multisensory technology is crucial in creating more immersive experiences.

In the wake of COVID-19, enthusiasm is growing for hybrid and other blended forms of teaching. Before celebrating the hybrid future of education, however, it is instructive to interrogate its hybrid presence. Accordingly, this article explores pedagogical challenges prompted by the pandemic pivot to online teaching. Analysing qualitative survey data from Danish university teachers (n = 488), we identify five critical stances towards educational technology: (1) technologies are fine when used correctly; (2) technical issues are a major obstacle; (3) hybrid teaching is overwhelming; (4) one's sense of students suffers online; and (5) students hide behind their screens. Based on these results, this article identifies two challenges for the hybrid future of education: the problem of presence and the webcam-related tension between surveillance and care.

— The goal of this project is to develop a virtual reality based model for the purpose of immersive and interactive learning environment for students. The initiative focuses on using VR technology to give students a better learning experience. The project starts with the production of a VR environment using tools like Unity or Blender, which enable the creation of 3D models and environments that are as realistic as possible. Then, different VR hardware tools can be used to interact with the environment, enabling students to experience a simulated environment as if they were physically present. Examples of these tools include Oculus Rift and HTC Vive. To improve the learning experience for students, the project also entails creating numerous interactive features like quizzes or simulations. In general, using VR technology in online learning has the ability to completely change how students interact with and learn from educational contents.

This work explores utilizing representations of one’s physiological breath (embreathment) in immersive experiences, for enhancing presence and body awareness. Particularly, embreathment is proposed for reducing claustrophobia and associated negative cognitions such as feelings of restriction, loss of agency, and sense of sufocation, by enhancing agency and interoception in circumstances where one’s ability to act is restricted. The informed design process of an experience designed for this purpose is presented, alongside an experiment employing the experience, evaluating embodiment, presence, and interoception. The results indicate that embreathment leads to signifcantly greater levels of embodiment and presence than either an entrainment or control condition. In addition, a modest trend was observed in a heartbeat detection task implying better interoception in the intervention conditions than the control. These fndings support the initial assumptions regarding presence and body awareness, paving the way for further evaluation with individuals and situations related to the claustrophobia use case.

Virtual Reality (VR) offers potential for theatre makers to rehearse remotely in settings which are uniquely immersive. In collaboration with a major drama school in the United Kingdom, a longitudinal diary study was completed to examine the utility of consumer-grade VR for theatre rehearsals. Utilising commonly affordable headsets and general-purpose Social VR applications, 10 experienced students (2 directors, 8 actors) rehearsed scenes in VR over 3 weeks, before performing them in person. Participants detailed their experiences in diary logs and interviews, expressing the ability to work through spatial arrangements (blocking) as a full body avatar to be positively beneficial. Limitations included the absence of facial expressions and gestural nuance. Our overarching conclusion is that low-tech VR can be a useful aid in theatre rehearsals and early stages of production. In conclusion we outline design recommendations for a) using VR in theatre production and b) research and development of Social VR.

What is it to be alien? This article considers the debate concerning alienation/de-alienation launched by Hegel and revisited a half-century ago by Jacques Derrida. It examines the systemic reduction of legal rights of presence that migrants in contemporary Europe regularly encounter. Such experiences lead people to undergo a ‘loss of presence’ in the sense that they question their relationship with the world and the people around them. As Ernesto de Martino proposed, these occurrences constitute a ‘subjective alienation’ brought about by ‘objective alienation’. In this way, they impact one’s personal ontogeny, producing what I call a ‘habitus of migrancy’. As a contribution toward ethnographic theory, the article engages the role of long-term self-reflection in anthropological analysis.

For software applications with a significant level of user involvement, the traditional concept of usability has evolved into the more complex idea of user experience, which also covers emotional, cognitive or physical responses. In virtual reality, user experience also depends on the user perception related to some peculiarities of immersive environments, where also the devices employed for user interaction play a determinant role. This has led to the design of the Presence Questionnaire (PQ) for the evaluation of the effectiveness of virtual environments. This work analyzes the effects of two different interaction modalities on usability and sense of presence: in particular, the Myo armband, a gesture-based device for touchless interaction, is compared with the Vive handheld controller bundled with the HTC Vive headset. A total of 84 subjects were recruited to test the virtual environment and asked them to fill in a questionnaire obtained by combining the Usability Metric for User eXperience (UMUX) questionnaire, the System Usability Scale (SUS) and the presence questionnaire (PQ), which was specifically designed for virtual environments. A comparison between the scores obtained for the two interaction modalities revealed which questionnaire items are significantly influenced by the input interface and deduce some insights about the consequences on human factors.

The practice of walking allows us to engage with the city slowly, through kinaesthetic skill and the multisensorial apparatus of the body. Studying the city through this immersed practice-on-the-move facilitates attention to the direct contact with the urban environment, and hence brings forth analytical orientations that highlight ‘being there’ on the move. Indeed, if not including immersed experiences of mobility, fluidity, and contingency in the study of the city, we run a risk of losing sight of the actual complex and multiple cities, we live in. The paper explores how immersed and creative visual methods might be used to capture and convey the city through walking. It reports on two field studies, which sought to provide records of walking, contribute to embrace mundane phenomena that tend to be less considered, and support experientially-informed approaches in urban design, planning and decision making. It offers a discussion on the capture and convey of ‘noise’—the movement and activity that is often omitted from visual digital accounts, the ‘slices’ acknowledging the partial and situated nature of the urban records, and the limits of visual methods in the attempt to not only capture and represent, but also animate the city through these methodological accounts.

In this article we report on an experiment examining audience experience when two different audio description (AD) intonation types are used. Following the classification put forward by Cabeza-Cáceres (2013), we tested twenty participants with vision loss who were asked to listen to twenty film clips with AD voiced following the adapted and emphatic intonation. All clips were rated as evoking emotions, either positive or negative. Participants’ experience was measured through heart rate variability, a self-assessment emotional response (Self-Assessment Manikin), a self-assessment presence questionnaire (ITC-SOPI) and an interview. Results show that participants strongly preferred adapted intonation, particularly when presented clips were evoking negative emotions. Higher rating of intonation type was also linked to greater intensity of the emotional experience and immersion, both self-reported and measured as psychophysiological reaction. The qualitative analysis of the participants’ reports on their experience indicated that adapted intonation is considered a golden mean between emotionless and melodramatic intonation. Film genre, voice type and emotional valence can be influencing factors. Emphatic intonation could be beneficial for certain genres, but a poorly-matched voice can distract the audiences.

The tabernacle is a Biblical institution as a place of God's presence among His people that was not suddenly created, just as the existence of God's people itself has historical traces and did not suddenly form. This paper provides a chronological view of God's presence until His presence is accommodated by an institution as the place where God dwells called the Tabernacle. The chronology will be discussed from the point of view of Biblical history by presenting facts that state explicitly or implicitly regarding the presence of God, and which are also related to the promise in the "Tabernacle’s Tripartite" formula from Genesis to the book of Revelation, which apparently coincides with "evolution". the place of God's presence, from the Tabernacle which is "non-permanent" to the Temple which is more impressed "permanent", then it is in the "tent" of the body of Jesus, as well as believers so that the place of God's presence becomes spiritual. Then the implications for believers as a "Tabernacle or Temple" where God's presence in the Holy Spirit., The tabernacle is a Biblical institution as a place of God's presence among His people that was not suddenly created, just as the existence of God's people itself has historical traces and did not suddenly form. This paper provides a chronological view of God's presence until His presence is accommodated by an institution as the place where God dwells called the Tabernacle. The chronology will be discussed from the point of view of Biblical history by presenting facts that state explicitly or implicitly regarding the presence of God, and which are also related to the promise in the "Tripartite" formula from Genesis to the book of Revelation, which apparently coincides with "evolution". the place of God's presence, from the Tabernacle which is "non-permanent" to the Temple which is more impressed "permanent", then it is in the "tent" of the body of Jesus, as well as believers so that the place of God's presence becomes spiritual. Then the implications for believers as a "Tabernacle / Temple" where God's presence in the Holy Spirit.

Combining immersive virtual reality (VR) using head-mounted displays (HMDs) with assisting robotic devices might be a promising procedure to enhance neurorehabilitation. However, it is still an open question how immersive virtual environments (VE) should be designed when interacting with rehabilitation robots. In conventional training, the robot is usually not visually represented in the VE, resulting in a visuo-haptic sensory conflict between what users see and feel. This study aimed to investigate how motivation, embodiment, and presence are affected by this visuo-haptic sensory conflict. Using an HMD and a rehabilitation robot, 28 healthy participants performed a path-tracing task, while the robot was either visually reproduced in the VE or not and while the robot either assisted the movements or not. Participants’ performance and visual attention were measured during the tasks, and after each visibility/assistance condition, they reported their motivation, presence, and embodiment with questionnaires. We found that, independently of the assistance, the robot visibility did not affect participants’ motivation, presence, embodiment, nor task performance. We only found a greater effort/importance reported when the robot was visible. The visual attention was also slightly affected by the robot’s visibility. Importantly, we found that the robotic assistance hampered presence and embodiment, but improved motivation. Our results indicate no disadvantage of not reproducing robotic devices in VEs when using HMDs. However, caution must be put when developing assisting controllers, as they might hamper users’ affect.

Addressing complex sustainability issues in higher education requires the combination and integration of various disciplines, perspectives and approaches. Challenge-Based Learning (CBL) can support interdisciplinary collaboration on sustainability issues. It requires students to actively explore, discuss, reflect on and integrate information and methods from various disciplines. Online learning could enhance interdisciplinary collaboration since it is associated with greater geographical and educational flexibility and accessibility. Applying an active learning approach such as CBL in an online setting is believed to support interdisciplinary learning and collaboration. We present a case study that took place in a 10-week online interdisciplinary, inter-university undergraduate course on sustainability education. Our research is based on well-known online learning theories “Transactional distance” and “Community of Inquiry” (CoI). The aim of this study was to investigate how transactional distance, presence and (online) interdisciplinary learning are perceived by students. 23 undergraduate students from three universities were enrolled in the course. Quantitative survey data (N = 13) and qualitative data from student reflection papers and interviews (N = 15) were collected. Students perceived low levels of transactional distance and high levels of presence. Unexpectedly, a small increase in perceived distance between students was measured which could be explained by reported limitations of the course design. Students valued the open, interactive and creative character of the course and the online format was not perceived as hindering. Students reflected on interdisciplinary competences that they developed during the course. This study is a first step towards future national as well as international interdisciplinary, inter-university educational collaboration on sustainability issues.

Dynamically Difficulty Adjustment (DDA) has been widely used to preserve engagement in serious and entertaining games, reach better learning, and enhance user performance. A variety of studies suggests that in DDA, task performance (score) rises until hitting a plateau associated with the skill level. However, the sense of engagement is individual and context-dependent, and the effect of DDA on other engagement indicators for immersive virtual environments is still unclear. This study measured objective indicators of engagement while study subjects played an immersive virtual game with DDA to find evidence of dynamic response, similar to game performance. Participants were demanded to perform repetitive upper-limb motions while recording the following indicators: Response Latency as perceptive engagement (elapsed time after sensory stimulus), Exercise Intensity as motion engagement (hand velocity), and psychophysiological responses as emotional engagement (Heart Rate, Skin Conductance, and Respiratory Rate). In addition, 30 features were extracted from the signals to evaluate their variations between time windows. Results indicate that response latency, vertical hand velocity, and heart rate showed significant changes over time during DDA and grew until hitting a plateau, i.e., at the subject's maximum performance. Moreover, some of the features extracted from the signals showed significant differences between time windows, and having strong correlation with the mean of score: max Latency, min velocity on the Y-axis, and mean heart rate, which suggest a promising application for evaluating changes in engagement between different experimental conditions in VR.

A brief introduction is advisable in order to be clear in what way one upsurging field of awareness, for example music, can appear through another, a painting, storytelling or a public lecture. Chudovski, writing about Čiurlionis, points out that Čiurlionis painted his music and even his poetry. How can one field become a calling, creating an entire mood or atmosphere in which daily events, people and environment are encompassed by a dif- ferent vision? It seems that we are confronted by an awareness called synesthesis. The term signifies a basic domain of overlapping and interpenetrating awareness in which one field, such as the visual field, is transcribed directly into another, such as audial or tactile. One sees loud, exciting, hot colors, hears angular and sharp voices, tactile, scary and encasing darkness. Synesthetic awareness opens an understanding of how a written text and visual art allow access to the voices, feelings, joys and anxieties of another culture, another time. This is evident in personality cults, for example those originating in the Middle East, where the will of the father written in stories, depicted in paintings, chanted in temples, or the promises of the son, heard after thousands of years. It is evident in the voices of shamans, or the resonances in a desert cave, commanding “repeat”, send millions into “holy wars”. Such events show a presence of awareness which does not have any specific features, although everything is pervaded by it as being in excess of every specific event, and yet present in our own daily encounter with and in indefinite ever-surging fields. This excess will be called in this presentation aesthetic and in some narrower sense, dimensional.

Virtual Reality (VR) is widely used in various sectors, however problems of cybersickness (motion sickness symptoms induced by VR) and perceptual aftereffects remain barriers for uptake. These negative problems may be caused by conflicts between sensory modalities which signal self-motion, such as vision, proprioception, and the vestibular system (Gallagher & Ferrè, 2018; Rebenitsch & Owen, 2016). These modalities are also implicated in the perception of gravity (Jörges & López-Moliner, 2017; Lacquaniti et al., 2015). Accordingly, it may be possible that gravitational conflicts may cause cybersickness and VR-induced aftereffects. We are currently undertaking a study investigating whether reducing visuo-gravitational conflicts in VR can reduce cybersickness and VR-induced aftereffects, as well as improve the VR experience (https://osf.io/6zpbf). Participants will play a VR game set in a Zero-Gravity environment while their bodyweight is supported by an anti-gravity treadmill (Low-G Condition). In this condition, visual, proprioceptive and somatosensory signals indicate that the participant is in a reduced-gravity environment, reducing visuo-gravitational conflicts. In a control condition (Normal-G), bodyweight is not supported by the treadmill, creating conflicts between vision and body-related gravity signals. We predict lower cybersickness, fewer aftereffects, and increased presence and immersion in the experimental condition. In the present study we aim to investigate the stability of responses to VR gravitational conflicts by re-testing individuals from 5-12 days following the initial study. All procedures will remain identical. Analysis of this data will only be conducted if at least two-thirds of the original sample (n=40, 20 per condition) return for the re-test session.

Virtual Reality (VR) has gained significant popularity since the release of commercial Head-Mounted Displays, with applications ranging from recreation and gaming to training and rehabilitation. Despite advancements in VR technology, implications of VR on cognition and perception have not been fully explored. One outstanding issue which may hamper VR uptake and impair the user experience is Cybersickness, symptoms of motion sickness induced by VR exposure. Cybersickness is believed to arise from conflicts between sensory modalities signalling self-motion (Gallagher & Ferrè, 2018; Rebenitsch & Owen, 2016). For example, when viewing a VR rollercoaster, vision signals that the user is moving in a certain direction with a certain acceleration, while the vestibular system signals that the user is stationary. These visuo-vestibular self-motion conflicts may also cause aftereffects following VR exposure, such as altered vestibular perception and reflexes, and disrupted proprioceptive coordination (Di Girolamo & Pic, 2001; Gallagher et al., 2019, 2020; Harm et al., 2008). While visuo-vestibular self-motion conflicts have been given some attention in the literature, far less attention has been given to conflicts between other senses which signal self-motion, for example proprioception and somatosensation. Moreover, the sensory modalities implicated in self-motion perception are also crucial for the perception of gravity (Jörges & López-Moliner, 2017; Lacquaniti et al., 2015), and it is unclear whether conflicts relating to gravity (such as vision signalling an altered orientation or reduced strength of gravity with respect to true gravity) may also cause cybersickness and VR aftereffects. The aim of our research is to investigate whether reducing visuo-gravitational conflicts can reduce cybersickness and VR aftereffects, as well as improve the overall VR experience. Participants will play an off-the-shelf VR application which visually signals that they are in a Zero-Gravity environment. In the experimental condition (Low-G), visuo-gravitational conflicts will be reduced by supporting the participants’ bodyweight on an Anti-gravity Treadmill (Alter-G) such that the participant feels almost weightless. Accordingly, visual, proprioceptive and somatosensory signals will all indicate that the participant is in a reduced-gravity environment, reducing visuo-gravitational conflicts. In the control condition (Normal-G), participants will stand on the treadmill but they will remain at 100% body weight, creating gravitational conflicts between visual and proprioceptive/somatosensory systems. In both conditions, we will take objective (heart rate, blood pressure, Dennison et al., 2016) and subjective (Kennedy et al., 1993; Keshavarz & Hecht, 2011) measures of cybersickness, while VR aftereffects will be assessed through a psychophysical verticality detection task (Arshad et al., 2023). The user experience will be assessed through measuring immersion (the feeling of engagement by the virtual environment, Jennett et al., 2008) and presence (the feeling of being located within the virtual environment, Witmer & Singer, 1994).

This study aims to assess how attention to a virtual reality experience influences presence in that experience. Presence is defined as the "sense of being there", and has been shown to be a factor of the success of a variety of VR-based interventions.

Decolonization is a situated effort as it relates to the relations of privilege, power, politics, and access (3P-A, in Albarrán González’s terms) between the people involved in design in relation to wider societies. This complexity creates certain challenges for how we can understand, learn about, and nurture decolonization in design towards pluriversality, since such decolonizing effort is based on the relationship between specific individuals and the collective. In this paper, we present and discuss the ‘River project’, a participatory space for decolonizing design, created for designers and practitioners to reflect on their own 3P-A as a way to create awareness of their own oppressive potential in design work. These joint reflections challenged ideas of participation and shaped learning processes between the participants, bringing to the foreground the importance of seeing and allowing for a plurality of life and work worlds to be brought together. We build on the learnings from this project to propose the notions of pluriversal participation, pluriversal presence, and pluriversal directionality, which can help nurture decolonizing designs towards pluriversality. We conclude by arguing that, for nurturing pluriversality through Participatory Design, participation, presence, and direction must be equally pluriversal. Originally included in thesis in manuscript form.

Over the years, the various mediums available for storytelling have progressively expanded, from spoken to written word, then to film, and now to Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). In 2016, the cutting-edge Head-Mounted Display (HMD) AR Microsoft HoloLens was released. However, though it has been several years, the quality of the user experience with narration using HMD-based AR technology has been rarely discussed. The present study explored interactive narrative in HMD-based AR regarding different user interfaces and their influence on users' presence, narrative engagement and reflection. Inspired by an existing exhibition at the National Holocaust Centre and Museum in the U.K., a HoloLens narrative application, entitled The AR Journey, was developed by the authors using two different interaction methods, Natural User Interface (NUI) and Graphical User Interface (GUI), which were used to perform an empirical study. As revealed from the results of the between-subject design experiment, NUI exhibited statistically significant advantages in creating presence for users without 3D Role Playing Game (RPG) experience, and GUI was superior in creating presence and increasing narrative engagement for users with 3D RPG experience. As indicated by the results of the interviews, the overall narrative experience in HMD-based AR was acceptable, and the branching narrative design was engaging. However, HoloLens hardware issues, as well as virtuality and reality mismatch, adversely affected user experience. Design guidelines were proposed according to the qualitative results.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11042-021-11723-0.

In a context of pervasive digitalization of the social world, both before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, the field of education has undergone major changes with the development of digital practices and settings. However, the physical presence of the subjects and the body remain something primordial and irreplaceable in traditional educational processes. Thus, it is often assumed that virtuality is opposed to the corporeal reality of the subjects involved in teaching, learning and studying. In this paper we aim to critically challenge this assumption by addressing the phenomenon of virtuality in a more original sense: as a fundamental dimension of corporeality itself. Drawing on Merleau-Ponty’s phenomenological insights, we argue that the experience of the virtual is inherently embodied and fully real. We understand corporeality and virtuality as entangled and multidimensional phenomena. At the same time, this leads us to rethink the digital as only one possible medium in which virtuality can appear as inherent to embodied experience. We develop our phenomenological approach in three instances. First, we question and bracket two common assumptions about corporeality. From our critical perspective, assumptions about a disembodied digitality and a devirtualized corporeality represent extremes within which educational discourses currently move. Second, we address the inherent virtuality of embodied experience. We outline the heuristic concept of the virtual body (Merleau-Ponty) to describe corporeality and virtuality as entangled and multidimensional phenomena that encompass extension, intercorporeality and intermediality. Finally, we make some remarks on the relationships of corporeality and virtuality considering the challenges of digital education.

Departing from popular imaginations around artificial intelligence (AI), this article engages in the I in the AI acronym but from perspectives outside of mathematics, computer science and machine learning. When intelligence is attended to here, it most often refers to narrow calculating tasks. This connotation to calculation provides AI an image of scientificity and objectivity, particularly attractive in societies with a pervasive desire for numbers. However, as is increasingly apparent today, when employed in more general areas of our messy socio-cultural realities, AI- powered automated systems often fail or have unintended consequences. This article will contribute to this critique of AI by attending to Nicholas of Cusa and his treatment of intelligence. According to him, intelligence is equally dependent on an ability to handle the unknown as it unfolds in the present moment. This suggests that intelligence is organic which ties Cusa to more contemporary discussions in tech philosophy, neurology, evolutionary biology, and cognitive sciences in which it is argued that intelligence is dependent on having—and acting through—an organic body. Understanding intelligence as organic thus suggests an oxymoronic relationship to artificial.

Le recours à la vidéo dans la justice pénale ne cesse de s’étendre. L’erreur serait de croire que, parce que l’utilisation de la vidéo est circonstancielle et limitée à un temps relativement court, son usage resterait neutre. En effet, en pratique, le déploiement exponentiel de la vidéo développe une autre justice, une « vidéojustice », c’est-à-dire une justice intermédiaire en construction entre la justice classique et la justice numérique. Nous proposons de l’aborder ici par deux formes particulières du recours à la vidéo en ce qu’elles bouleversent l’espace et le temps de la justice pénale, à savoir la justice rendue en visiojustice et celle diffusée en téléjustice, en soulignant les enjeux fondamentaux qui les sous-tendent. The use of video in criminal justice continues to expand. The mistake would be to believe that, because the use of video is circumstantial and limited to a relatively short time, its use would remain neutral. In practice, the exponential deployment of video is developing another form of justice, a “video-justice”, that is to say an intermediate justice system under construction between traditional justice and digital justice. We propose to approach it here through two particular forms of recourse to video insofar as they disrupt the space and time of criminal justice, namely justice rendered in visiojustice and that broadcast in telejustice, while underlying the fundamental issues that arise from it.

Cet article relate l’expérience d’un atelier d’écriture menée à l’université depuis trois ans dans le cadre d’une réflexion sur les modalités d’enseignement de la sociologie dans la formation des enseignants. À l’aide d’un matériau de type ethnographique (carnets de bord, observations, entretiens, textes produits par les participants), la présence corporelle est envisagée à la fois comme un indice de la transformation visée chez les participants et un levier de celle-ci. Dans la première partie, nous repérons les habitudes tenaces qui font obstacle à la constitution d’un rôle d’étudiant acteur. L’écart souhaité par rapport à un enseignement conventionnel met en avant ses normes et les modalités de leur relâchement. Dans la deuxième partie, nous identifions les principaux leviers qui permettent de générer l’atmosphère particulière d’un atelier d’écriture, rendant possible un engagement authentique et sensible des participants. La présence apparait à la fois « tournée vers l’autre » et « tournée vers soi ». Cela nous conduit in fine à interroger ce dispositif à l’aune des effets produits en termes d’apprentissage. This article relates the experience of a writing workshop conducted at the university for three years as part of a reflection on the methods of teaching sociology in teacher education. Using an ethnographic material (logbooks, observations, interviews, texts produced by the participants), the bodily presence is considered both as an index of the transformation targeted and a lever of it. In the first part, we identify the stubborn habits that stand in the way of building a student actor role. The wanted deviation from traditional education at university highlights its standards and the ways in which they are relaxed. In the second part, we identify the main levers that make it possible to generate the special atmosphere of a writing workshop, making possible an authentic and sensitive engagement of the participants. Presence appears both "turned towards the other" and "turned towards oneself". Finally, this leads us to question the effects produced in terms of learning.

In previous research we found that immersion into historical VR is related to empathy and moral orientation (e.g., Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022a; Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022b; Frentzel-Beyme & Lewers, 2022). Based on these findings the current investigation aims to examine whether the recipients’ immersion and actual involvement into historical VR (physiological arousal) affects these relations. Furthermore, we ask whether the recipients’ experiences of historical VR support their actual prosocial/moral behavior (e.g., donation behavior). Previous research already indicated that immersion and the experience of empathy are related to an increase in skin conductance response (MacDowell & Mandler, 1989; Eisenberg & Fabes, 1990; Knaust et al., 2022). Therefore, the present investigation aims to investigate based on the Anne Frank House VR application whether the recipients’ immersion into historical VR accompanied by their physiological reactions supports the experience of empathy, content-related moral attitudes (e.g., “No one should be persecuted based on their religion.”) and content-related moral foundations (e.g., harm/care; Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022b; Tamborini, 2012). We assume that the recipients’ involvement (e.g., immersion, physiological reactions) supports these effects. Therefore, in a first step we compare whether the presentation of the historical content (VR vs. textual) affects the recipients’ immersion (self-reported & physiological reactions) and empathy (towards Anne Frank) assuming that VR leads to a stronger experience of immersion and empathy (e.g., Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022a). In line with the Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplification (Tamborini, 2012) we furthermore assume that the exposure to historical VR affects the salience of content-related moral foundations (e.g., harm/care). Building on previous investigations we, furthermore, assume that these effects are supported by the experience of immersion and empathy (e.g., Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022b). Additionally, we expect that the recipients’ immersion and empathy positively predict content related moral attitudes according to universal ethical principles of Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (1958; “No one should be persecuted based on their religion.”), prosocial/moral behavioral intention and behavior (e.g., helping; Frentzel-Beyme & Krämer, 2022a).

AimTo evaluate the utility of opportunistic data from citizen science programmes for forecasting species distributions against forecasts with a model of individual-based population dynamics.LocationSweden.MethodsWe evaluated whether alternative methods for building habitat suitability models (HSMs) based on opportunistic data from citizen science programmes produced forecasts that were consistent with forecasts from two benchmark models: (1) a HSM based on data from systematic monitoring and (2) an individual-based model for spatially explicit population dynamics based on empirical demographic and movement data. We forecasted population numbers and habitat suitability for three realistic, future forest landscapes for a forest bird, the Siberian jay (Perisoreus infaustus). We ranked simulated forest landscapes with respect to their benefits to Siberian jays for each modelling method and compared the agreement of the rankings among methods.ResultsForecasts based on our two benchmark models were consistent with each other and with expectations based on the species’ ecology. Forecasts from logistic regression models based on opportunistic data were consistent with the benchmark models if species detections were combined with high-quality inferred absences derived via retrospective interviews with experienced “super-reporters.” In contrast, forecasts with three other widely used methods were inconsistent with the benchmark models, sometimes with misleading rankings of future scenarios.Main conclusionsOur critical evaluation of alternative HSMs against a spatially explicit IBM demonstrates that information on species absences critically improves forecasts of species distributions using opportunistic data from citizen science programmes. Moreover, high-quality information on species absences can be retrospectively inferred from surveys of the consistency of reporting of individual species and the identification skills of participating reporters. We recommend that citizen science projects incorporate procedures to evaluate reporting behaviour. Inferred absences may be especially useful for improving forecasts for species and regions poorly covered by systematic monitoring schemes. published

An online experiment, testing the effects of loss on perceptual decisions in a detection task.

An online experiment, testing the effects of loss on perceptual decisions in a detection task.

Pre-registered replication of Schiestel & Schönbrodt: "Does the experience of presence restore self-control?"

Memorial places and museums make use of Virtual Reality (VR) to make the past more attractive and tangible for young people (Schofield et al., 2018). For instance, some applications can bring contemporary witnesses which tell something about the Second Worl War as holograms in your living room and the memorial site Berlin Hohenschönhausen (Germany) offers visitors the possibility to get the impression what it was like to be a prisoner in the Stasi (state security service) Prison of the German Democratic Republic (GDR) in the 1980s. Reporting the atrocities of the past (e.g., second world war) is always emotional and those applications often make use of this emotionality to deeply involve individuals into the content and make the application more interesting (Rosenwein, 2001). Historiographers warn that especially producers of those VR applications must be aware about this extent of emotions that the VR content elicits as it could lead to emotional overload which has to be prevented to ensure the cognitive reflection of the seen content (e.g., Bunnenberg, 2020). Therefore, we ask which role the content’s emotionality of history VR applications plays when focusing on the potential for (historical) education. We will investigate whether the content’s emotionality evokes higher engagement into the presented historical content (subjective immersion (transportation, presence), emotional response). Furthermore, we will examine based on the Transportation-Imagery Model of Green and Brock (2002) the effects of engagement into historical VR applications on the individual’s cognitive and affective processing and enjoyment. Additionally, we will ask whether opportunities which encourage reflection processes can prevent emotional overload and persuasiveness of the presented historical content. Moreover, we will analyze the differences in individual’s engagement depending on different media types, to examine which role the presentation form of the (historical) VR content plays. We will investigate differences in presence, transportation, and emotional response between the usage of VR glasses (cardboards) and desktop VR. Moreover, we will examine outcomes to follower’s democratic/moral education, as to learn from the past is often mentioned as an important aim of the historical education (Brauer & Lücke, 2013). As the Model of Intuitive Morality and Exemplars (MIME, Tamborini, 2012) suggests that media content affects the individual’s moral, we assume that also historical immersive media affects the recipient’s moral values. Therefore, will examine the effects of historical VR on the individual’s moral values (Moral Foundations, Haidt & Joseph, 2006 ). As perspective taking is considered as the basis of moral development, and historical immersive media enables recipients to gain experiences there could not do otherwise, we will ask whether historical VR can support the moral development according to Kohlberg’s Theory of Moral Development (1958).

Biofeedback based method for measuring presence in mediated environments

Virtual reality applications enable users to dip into new worlds of experience through immersive media content. Users have the opportunity to experience what it is like to be someone else, for example a person of a different skin color, gender, age or generation. Previous research indicates that virtual reality offerings are able to generate empathy (e.g., Herrera et al., 2018; Shin, 2018; Troeger & Tümler, 2020). Research on immersive media, like virtual realities, often concentrates on the concept of presence (“the sense of being there”; Steuer et al., 1992). Studies indicate that the more presence a medium creates, the more empathy is experienced by users (e.g., Herrera et al., 2018). Moral reasoning is considered as an outcome of the cognitive development of individuals and finds its origin in empathy and perspective taking (Kohlberg, 1958). Therefore, empathy and perspective taking can be considered as requirements for the moral development of individuals. This gives raise to the question whether virtual reality offerings can be used to support moral development.

This project contains files submitted to the 2021 Society for Affective Science Annual Conference.

The use of tangibles to provide haptic feedback during interaction in virtual reality has been researched for several years. One option is to represent each virtual object by exactly one physical one. Doing so makes the number of virtual objects directly affect the number of tangibles needed. It is, therefore, not possible to interact with a more sophisticated scene without first providing the required number of tangibles for the interaction. Since the user can see virtual objects in VR independently of whether they currently have a physical representation, it is not necessary to provide all virtual objects with a physical representation at the same time. In this thesis we present methods which allow multiple virtual objects to be represented by a limited number of physical objects. For this purpose we develop motorized tangibles and let them dynamically assume the identity of different virtual objects in real-time. We present a study that validates our implementation by evaluating its impact on the usability and presence of the user in VR. Finally, we discuss expected results of the planned study regarding the practical relevance of our methods.

This is a review and analysis of the questionnaires most used in empirical research about psychological phenomena labelled as “presence,” “flow,” and “narrative absorption,” mostly for experiences mediated by technology (printed books, screens for games and films, and virtual reality).

Virtual reality (VR) technology involves computer visualization of a simulated (virtual) environment (e.g., coral reef) presented using a head mounted display (HMD), typically together with accompanying audio (music, sounds, e.g., sea creatures, passing boat). The user may simply view the environment but typically interacts with it in some determined way, e.g., through selection of buttons or hand movements that mimic behaviors appropriate to the virtual environment (e.g., snorkeling in the reef). Research including our own previous studies have already shown that practicing guided meditations using a HMD is associated with positive affect as compared with non-VR meditation. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic yoga studios were mandated to move their classes into virtual format. However, to our knowledge the application of immersive VR technology to yoga instruction has not yet been explored. This pilot study proposes to investigate the satisfaction and sense of presence experienced during the different online delivery of yoga instruction in 5 formats, specifically: 1) traditional in-person; 2) pre-recorded 360° videos viewed by HMD; 3) pre-recorded 360° videos viewed without HMD (i.e., on standard flatscreen such as laptop or smartphone); 4) live streamed 360° videos viewed with HMD; and 5) live streamed 360° videos viewed without HMD.

Porcine cytomegalovirus (PCMV), a porcine roseolovirus (PRV) that is closely related to human herpesviruses 6 and 7, is commonly found in commercial pigs. PCMV/PRV is important in xenotransplantation, because in preclinical trials in which pig organs were transplanted into non-human primates, transmission of PCMV/PRV was shown to be associated with significantly reduced survival of the xenotransplants. PCMV/PRV was also transmitted in the first transplantation of a pig heart into a human patient worldwide and apparently contributed to the death of the patient. The prevalence of PCMV/PRV in wild boars is largely unknown. In this study, we screened wild boars from several areas of northern Italy and Germany to test for the presence of PCMV/PRV using PCR-based and Western blot assays. By Western blot analysis, 54% and 82% of Italian and German wild boars, respectively, were found to be PCMV/PRV positive, while 36% and 60%, respectively, tested positive by real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). These data indicate that the virus is common in German and Italian wild boars and that the Western blot assay detected a PCMV/PRV infection more often than did real-time PCR. The data also indicate that pigs raised for xenotransplantation should be protected from contact with materials from wild boars and commercial pigs.

Each year, 2.5 million children in the US are homebound due to illness (NHIS, 2016; US Census Bureau, 2016). This paper explores the possible implications of being homebound for child development and well-being, drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological systems theory of human development and Ryan and Deci’s self-determination theory. This paper also explores the potential role of robotic avatars and robot-mediated presence to provide homebound children with more appropriate developmental experiences. To better understand their robot-mediated developmental experiences, what is known about human development and human psychology in organic environments (i.e., bioecological systems theory, self-determination theory) is synthesized with concepts of presence theory from virtual environments. These theoretical supports form the foundation of a framework to evaluate the robot-mediated presence of homebound children. Findings from the first systematic, multi-case study on the robot-mediated presence of homebound children in schools provide empirical data to inform three identified levels of presence: co-present, cooperating, collaborating. This framework provides a first step to consistent evaluation of robot-mediated presence and engagement for this population. Understanding the social contexts and developmental needs of homebound children and how they can be achieved via robotic avatars will aid in developing more effective interventions for improved social supports and technological systems.

The didactic-performative experience at a distance, centred on the body in action of the training laboratories activated at the University of Study Cattolica del Sacro Cuore of Milan and the University of Study Suor Orsola Benincasa of Naples, encouraged, through the exercise of ‘simplex property’ of the separation of functions, the crossing of borders of ‘presence/distance’, using Didactics at Distance (DAD) as an opportunity to search in everyone the potential patrimony of the action, able to go beyond the classical meanings of interaction, relationship, experience, emotion, through an effort of imagination and simulation, which even interaction with the machine can stimulate. The research work recalls the ambivalence and the plurality of interpretative keys of the teaching experience and includes its analogies with the performing arts. Starting from the ‘stage presence’, as a scenic ‘bios’ and source of energy, a third energetic space has been investigated, which can amplify the relational dimension. A space which the biologist Sheldrake defines as ‘morphogenetic field’ is the one in which it is possible, through the activation of an empathic climate, to make all the processes of emotional sharing, expressive rediscovery and acquisition of awareness sprout, making the experience of DAD a formative and transformative one.

Numerous studies have explored the effects of virtual reality (VR) on adults’ cognition. Little is known, however, of these effects in children. The aim of this study was to explore, in both children and adults, the respective roles of the specific factors of VR, such as immersion, sense of presence and emotion, on memory performance. To do so, we used a head-mounted display to present a VR experience in which we manipulated immersion by varying 3D asset quality (High and Low) and emotion by presenting negative, neutral and positive stimuli. 48 adults (Mage = 20.65) and 40 children (Mage = 11.63) were both divided into two experimental groups (High vs. Low 3D model quality). Valence, arousal, and sense of presence were self-assessed by means of questionnaires, while memory of the presented stimuli was assessed using a free recall task. We also performed physiological measurements to provide objective support for our data. Results showed that memory performance was better for emotional than for neutral stimuli regardless of age group, even though children seemed to avoid looking at negative stimuli compared to neutral ones. Memory was predicted by arousal and presence in adults and only by arousal in children. Memory was not impaired by using poor image quality when highly arousing content was displayed. This study revealed that, contrary to adults, the use of poor image quality did not protect children from strong emotional experiences in VR. The roles of familiarity and arousal are discussed to help explain these results. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10055-021-00537-y.

I argue that virtual reality (VR) documentaries mandate that users employ a fictional attitude toward their presence in a virtual environment (VE) for the purpose of engaging with nonfictional content. The most salient feature of VR is that VR users typically feel as though their bodies were present in a VE. This paper explores presence in VR as a perceptual illusion facilitated by certain technological features. Drawing on Kendall Walton’s concept of fiction, I argue that the illusion of presence in VR also requires a fictional attitude that VR users employ when imagining themselves in a VE. In the case of VR documentaries, while users’ attitude in regards to the feeling of presence is best characterized as make-belief, they nevertheless employ an attitude of belief in regards to the content of the documentary and accept this content as nonfictional. Publisher PDF

This study aimed to investigate the perception of presence of 43 prospective teachers participating in a virtual reality (VR) environment with an immersion function and to describe their opinions and experiences regarding the implementation process. The case study model, a qualitative research approach, was used. Participants experienced the VR environment using an HTC Vive device with an immersive feature. Qualitative data were collected through a structured interview form at the end of the application. Findings indicated that most participants provided positive perceptions regarding their VR experience. Additionally, the perceptions of participants were categorized into three main areas: technology, design, and individual characteristics. These categories and the participants' experiences may contribute to the process of integrating VR systems into educational environments and developing novel VR applications., Agri Ibrahim Cecen University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit [EF.19.002], This study was supported and funded by the Agri Ibrahim Cecen University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit (Project No: EF.19.002).

Refereed/Peer-reviewed Identifying and characterizing the factors that affect presence in virtual environments has been acknowledged as a critical step to improving Virtual Reality (VR) applications in the built environment domain. In the search to identify those factors, the research objective was to test whether three-dimensional perception affects presence in virtual environments. A controlled within-group experiment utilizing perception and presence questionnaires was conducted, followed by data analysis, to test the hypothesized unidirectional association between three-dimensional perception and presence in two different virtual environments (non-immersive and immersive). Results indicate no association in either of the systems studied, contrary to the assumption of many scholars in the field but in line with recent studies on the topic. Consequently, VR applications in architectural design may not necessarily need to incorporate advanced stereoscopic visualization techniques to deliver highly immersive experiences, which may be achieved by addressing factors other than depth realism. As findings suggest that the levels of presence experienced by users are not subject to the display mode of a 3D model (whether immersive or non-immersive display), it may still be possible for professionals involved in the review of 3D models (e.g., designers, contractors, clients) to experience high levels of presence through non-stereoscopic VR systems provided that other presence-promoting factors are included.

Objectives The need for remote delivery of mental health interventions including instruction in meditation has become paramount in the wake of the current global pandemic. However, the support one may usually feel within the physical presence of an instructor may be weakened when interventions are delivered remotely, potentially impacting one’s meditative experiences. Use of head-mounted displays (HMD) to display video-recorded instruction may increase one’s sense of psychological presence with the instructor as compared to presentation via regular flatscreen (e.g., laptop) monitor. This research therefore evaluated a didactic, trauma-informed care approach to instruction in mindfulness meditation by comparing meditative responses to an instructor-guided meditation when delivered face-to-face vs. by pre-recorded 360° videos viewed either on a standard flatscreen monitor (2D format) or via HMD (i.e., virtual reality [VR] headset; 3D format). Methods Young adults (n = 82) were recruited from a university introductory course and experienced a 360° video-guided meditation via HMD (VR condition, 3D format). They were also randomly assigned to practice the same meditation either via scripted face-to-face instruction (in vivo [IV] format) or when viewed on a standard laptop display (non-VR condition, 2D format). Positive and negative affect and meditative experience ratings were self-reported and participants’ maintenance of focused attention to breathing (i.e., meditation breath attention scores [MBAS]) were recorded during each meditation. Results Meditating in VR (3D format) was associated with a heightened experience of awe overall. When compared to face-to-face instruction (IV format), VR meditation was rated as less embarrassing but also less enjoyable and more tiring. When compared to 2D format, VR meditations were associated with greater experiences of relaxation, less distractibility from the process of breathing, and less fatigue. No differences were found between VR and non-VR meditation in concentration (MBAS). Baseline posttraumatic stress symptoms were risk factors for experiencing distress while meditating in either (VR and non-VR) instructional format. Of those who reported a preference for one format, approximately half preferred the VR format and approximately half preferred the IV format. Conclusions Recorded 360° video instruction in meditation viewed with a HMD (i.e., VR/3D format) appears to offer some experiential advantage over instructions given in 2D format and may offer a safe—and for some even preferred—alternative to teaching meditation face-to-face. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12671-021-01612-w.

In recent times, the European Union’s external engagement has expanded in originally internal policy areas. This process is particularly intriguing in areas where the EU possesses only supplementary competences. Examining the case of EU higher education policy, this contribution sets out to understand and explain EU external engagement in such areas. To this end, it employs an explanatory framework that argues that EU external action emerges when a structural policy window of external ‘opportunity’ and domestic ‘presence’ opens, which is exploited by ‘policy entrepreneurs’. The contribution compares two pillars of EU higher education policy – the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus programmes – which it sets in relation to the emergence of external action in other EU higher education initiatives. Offering an explanation of why the EU engages externally in higher education, the contribution concludes by discussing the broader generalizability of its findings.

In this study we develop a didactic unit, in which we try to determine the cases in which the presence, absence and alternation of the null subject in the Spanish language will be necessary, the purpose of the work will be to support the task of the teacher and the student in the process of teaching Spanish as a second language or as a foreign language.

The Covid-19 crisis changed the educational landscape. In Sweden, as in many other countries, school leaders, teachers, and students faced a completely new situation, as teaching would immediately be conducted remotely. It offered an opportunity to continue teaching in a crisis, while giving rise to new questions and dilemmas. This study aims to explore aspects of interaction in the virtual classroom. The context is four high schools in Sweden. Data includes a teacher survey and ten workshops with teachers and school leaders. The interaction order framework is used as an analytic lens. The results draw a multifaceted picture of interaction that involves both increased and reduced contact with, and control over, the students and their activities. Some students find a place in the virtual classroom that they previously lacked, while others “disappear behind the screen.” Contributions include unpacking the complex role of interaction in the virtual classroom and providing implications for teachers and school leaders.

This paper presents findings from a qualitative study among 50 secondary school students from 10 schools in the Netherlands, aiming to understand how they experience ‘presence’ – being fully (with one’s entire being) engaged in the here-and-now – in class⁠. Although presence was a non-regular experience, students experienced it as personally relevant for a broadened worldview and becoming more confident and autonomous in their thinking and acting⁠. Using a phenomenological approach, the authors found three general themes, as well as many variations and nuances within them, in students’ experiences of presence, related to the subject matter, interaction and students’ self⁠. The similarities found in the situational contexts in which presence occurred – meaningfulness, student participation, responsivity and otherness – can inform teaching⁠. Implications for teaching in order to realise such a situational context are discussed⁠.

We review the concept of presence in virtual reality, normally thought of as the sense of “being there” in the virtual world. We argued in a 2009 paper that presence consists of two orthogonal illusions that we refer to as Place Illusion (PI, the illusion of being in the place depicted by the VR) and Plausibility (Psi, the illusion that the virtual situations and events are really happening). Both are with the proviso that the participant in the virtual reality knows for sure that these are illusions. Presence (PI and Psi) together with the illusion of ownership over the virtual body that self-represents the participant, are the three key illusions of virtual reality. Copresence, togetherness with others in the virtual world, can be a consequence in the context of interaction between remotely located participants in the same shared virtual environments, or between participants and virtual humans. We then review several different methods of measuring presence: questionnaires, physiological and behavioural measures, breaks in presence, and a psychophysics method based on transitions between different system configurations. Presence is not the only way to assess the responses of people to virtual reality experiences, and we present methods that rely solely on participant preferences, including the use of sentiment analysis that allows participants to express their experience in their own words rather than be required to adopt the terminology and concepts of researchers. We discuss several open questions and controversies that exist in this field, providing an update to the 2009 paper, in particular with respect to models of Plausibility. We argue that Plausibility is the most interesting and complex illusion to understand and is worthy of significant more research. Regarding measurement we conclude that the ideal method would be a combination of a psychophysical method and qualitative methods including sentiment analysis.