The Effect of Vibro-tactile Sensations on Presence in Virtual Reality

Presence is the psychological state of perceiving oneself as being in the VR. Studying factors that increase presence is crucial as it increases the benefits of virtual reality training. The higher the degree of presence, the more people behave as in real life, which leads to improved skill learning. The present study examined the research question if there is an effect of vibro-tactile feedback on presence in virtual reality (VR). The hypotheses were that vibro-tactile feedback has an effect on presence and on its subscales, namely: being there, spatial presence, involvement and realness. In comparison to previous studies, this study uses vibro-tactile feedback delivered by a haptic vest, instead of force feedback. The experiment was one hour long and took place at TNO. Thirty-eight participants took part in the study. The participants were split into two conditions: the first condition received haptic feedback and the second did not receive haptic feedback. Both groups watched six...Show morePresence is the psychological state of perceiving oneself as being in the VR. Studying factors that increase presence is crucial as it increases the benefits of virtual reality training. The higher the degree of presence, the more people behave as in real life, which leads to improved skill learning. The present study examined the research question if there is an effect of vibro-tactile feedback on presence in virtual reality (VR). The hypotheses were that vibro-tactile feedback has an effect on presence and on its subscales, namely: being there, spatial presence, involvement and realness. In comparison to previous studies, this study uses vibro-tactile feedback delivered by a haptic vest, instead of force feedback. The experiment was one hour long and took place at TNO. Thirty-eight participants took part in the study. The participants were split into two conditions: the first condition received haptic feedback and the second did not receive haptic feedback. Both groups watched six 360VR videos and filled in one presence questionnaire after each video. Afterwards, the data was analysed with 5 ANCOVAs and 5 Bayesian ANCOVAs. The results showed no significant effect of vibro-tactile feedback on presence and its subscales in VR. The results highlight the importance of differentiating between vibro-tactile and haptic force feedback when studying the effect of haptic feedback on presence. Another implication is to include videos in which the participants associate sensational memory with. This indicates that the participants should have prior experience with the scenario in order to increase presence. Concluding, further studies must be conducted to clearly state that vibrotactile effect has no effect on presence.Show less

Leiden University Student Repository

Documents

In Collections

The Effect of Vibro-tactile Sensations on Presence in Virtual Reality