Week 10 summaries
Physiological measure of Presence in Virtual Environment
This study explores three new metrics to judge the efficiency of VEs in a stressful environment. Those three metrics are the heart rate, the skin conductance and the skin temperature. The conclusion of the study is the heart rate seems to be the best metric. Indeed, the skin temperature is not a “real-time” measure and need experimentation that last at least two minutes. Skin conductance does not seem consistence. The study uses a quite simple experience. Users wear an HMD device. The world displayed is a first room bound to a second room by a door. In that second room, there is a hole in the middle of floor. Users have to place an object from the first room into the second room. To use “virtual” and “real” feelings, in the real world, the user is walking on a surface that are slightly higher than the ground. This surface represents the walkable area. So, when an user is need the hole in the virtual environment, his feet also feels an hole in the real world. The first room, which is not stressful, ensures that there is always a change in the physiological measurement. Surprisingly, multiple exposure to that experiment does not decrease the change in the heart rate.
Variations in Physiological Responses of Participants During Different Stages of an Immersive Virtual Environment Experiment
This paper explores how the nervous system reacts to a novel situation. Previous experimentation has been made in situation or environment that contains shocking stimuli. This experiment want to overcome this limit. The idea is to monitor some physiological factors while users are walking in a representation of a street using a CAVE-like system. The user moves through the street using a joystick. Two factors can be adapted. The texture can be either use twice in the environment or can be unique. The visual aspect of the virtual characters can also either be cartoon-like or semi-realistic. Those two factors give four possible configurations. Galvanic skin response, also known as skin conductance, respiration and electrocardiogram are recorded. In this paper, only the ECG measurements are detailed. The experiment is split into four phases. There is the baseline, then a training part that can last as long as the user wants. Then, the user explores the first segment of the street for 90s and the second segment for 90s. The results show that there is an increase of the physical and mental stress between the baseline and the training part. Then there is a decrease between the training part and the first segment. Finally, the stress increases between the first and the second segment. The decrease can be explained by the assimilation by the user of the system. The second increase can be explained by the notification by the user of the limit of the system. Indeed, walking virtual characters do not interact with him and the space of the simulation is quite reduce.
The Uncanny Valley: Effect of Realism on the Impression of Artificial Human Faces
The uncanny valley is a really simple theory. When a robot becomes too realistic but not perfectly human, people get unpleasant feelings. This paper focus on finding where the uncanny valley appears. Experiments are web-based. An artificial face is progressively merged into a real face. Users have to report their feeling about the displayed face. The first experiment consists of trying to find the uncanny valley. Indeed, in the theory, it is supposed to appear for a certain degree of realism. The authors use different set and try to find a tendency but they failed. So, they switch to the second experiment, which consist a still merging artificial face with human face but now, at the begging, the artificial faces do not look like human. It appears the uncanny valley emerges when the face is realist enough but the eyes are abnormal. So, authors switch to experiment 3. They make the eye’s size change. it appears that the uncanny valley emerges if the eyes are scaled by a factor of 150%.
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