Virtual Perspectives: Effects of Spatial Presence and Agency on Affective and Cognitive Virtual Reality Perspective-Taking

Paper Title

Virtual Perspectives: Effects of Spatial Presence and Agency on Affective and Cognitive Virtual Reality Perspective-Taking

Publication Info

• Topic area: Investigating how VR qualities (spatial presence and agency) affect perspective-taking.
• Keywords: Virtual reality, perspective-taking, spatial presence, agency, cognitive perspective-taking, affective perspective-taking, embodiment, self-avatar overlap, anchoring task, immersive environments.

Background and Problem

• Problem / challenge: The mechanisms by which VR qualities like spatial presence and agency influence perspective-taking are unclear. Prior studies often conflate VR qualities with contextual effects, making it difficult to isolate their contributions.
• Significance: Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for designing effective VR applications in empathy training, education, and social cognition enhancement.
• Motivation and related work: Prior research shows VR can enhance empathy and reduce bias, but lacks clarity on how specific VR qualities (e.g., spatial presence, agency) contribute to these effects. This study aims to systematically investigate these qualities' effects on cognitive and affective perspective-taking.

Solution

• Proposed approach: Systematic manipulation of spatial presence and agency in VR to study their effects on cognitive and affective perspective-taking.
• Novelty:
  1. First systematic investigation of spatial presence and agency's independent effects on cognitive and affective perspective-taking.
  2. Use of controlled experiments to disentangle VR qualities from contextual influences.
  3. Introduction of task and no-task conditions to explore cognitive load's role in perspective-taking.
  4. Application of validated psychological measures (anchoring task, self-avatar overlap) in VR research.
• Procedure and key techniques:
  • Experiment 1: Manipulated spatial presence (3D vs. 2D environments) and measured cognitive perspective-taking (anchoring task) and affective perspective-taking (self-avatar overlap).
  • Experiment 2: Manipulated agency (synchronous vs. delayed avatar motion) and task presence (with vs. without a task), using the same dependent measures.
  • Statistical analyses included paired t-tests, linear mixed-effects models, and nonparametric ANOVAs.

Results

• Concrete findings:
  • Higher spatial presence and agency significantly enhanced affective perspective-taking (self-avatar overlap).
  • Neither spatial presence nor agency significantly affected cognitive perspective-taking (anchoring task).
  • The highest self-avatar overlap occurred in high-agency, no-task conditions, suggesting cognitive load influences affective engagement.
• Advantage over baselines: Demonstrated dissociation between affective and cognitive perspective-taking, challenging assumptions that embodiment automatically enhances cognitive alignment.
• Experiments / evaluation:
  • Experiment 1: 23 participants; spatial presence manipulated via 3D vs. 2D environments.
  • Experiment 2: 24 participants; agency manipulated via synchronous vs. delayed avatar motion, with/without a task.
  • Metrics: Spatial presence (Likert scale), cognitive perspective-taking (anchoring task), affective perspective-taking (self-avatar overlap).
• Limitations and future work:
  • Modest manipulation strength for spatial presence and agency.
  • Anchoring task may not fully capture cognitive perspective-taking.
  • Small sample sizes and controlled lab settings limit generalizability.
  • Future work should explore stronger manipulations, longitudinal effects, and diverse participant samples.

Summary

This study systematically investigated how spatial presence and agency, two key VR qualities, influence cognitive and affective perspective-taking. Across two experiments, higher spatial presence and agency enhanced affective perspective-taking (self-avatar overlap) but did not significantly affect cognitive perspective-taking (anchoring task). The findings highlight a dissociation between affective and cognitive alignment, suggesting that embodiment fosters emotional connection without necessarily enhancing cognitive alignment. These results provide actionable insights for designing VR applications in empathy training, education, and social interaction, emphasizing the need to balance scene fidelity, task complexity, and cognitive load.