A Neurophysiological Approach for Measuring Presence in Immersive Virtual Environments

A. Dey , J. Phoon , S. Saha , C. Dobbins , M. Billinghurst

ISMAR

Presence is typically measured with post-experience questionnaires that suffer from bias, faulty memory, and fatigue. In a between-subjects study with 24 participants comparing high and low presence, this paper found clear physiological and neurological signatures: higher presence went with higher heart rate, less visual stress, greater theta and beta activity in the frontal region, and greater alpha activity in the parietal region. These signals point toward an objective alternative for measuring presence in VR.

@inproceedings{dey2020,
  author    = {A. Dey and J. Phoon and S. Saha and C. Dobbins and M. Billinghurst},
  title     = {A Neurophysiological Approach for Measuring Presence in Immersive Virtual Environments},
  booktitle = {ISMAR},
  pages     = {474-485},
  doi       = {10.1109/ISMAR50242.2020.00072},
  year      = {2020}
}