Imagine That! Imaginative Suggestibility Affects Presence in Virtual Reality

Title of the Paper

Imagine That! Imaginative Suggestibility Affects Presence in Virtual Reality

Paper Information

• Field of Study: Virtual Reality (VR), User Experience, Immersion and Presence
• Keywords: Virtual Reality, Presence, Imaginative Suggestibility, Cognitive Priming, Individual Differences

Research Background and Problem

• Identified Challenges or Issues:

  • Despite the significant potential of virtual reality technology, its user base remains relatively limited due to technical barriers (e.g., device weight and insufficient display quality) and design-related issues such as gender adaptability (e.g., women experiencing more VR-induced dizziness).
  • Current research on "presence" in VR predominantly focuses on technical aspects, often neglecting individual differences, such as how personality traits influence immersive experiences.
  • Imaginative suggestibility, an underexplored individual trait, may profoundly affect how users perceive the realism of virtual environments.

• Importance of the Problem:

  • Presence is a critical factor in encouraging users to continue engaging with and enjoying VR experiences, playing a vital role in the widespread adoption of VR technology.
  • Exploring ways to optimize user experience can better meet the needs of diverse demographic groups, promoting VR's popularity among the general public.

• Research Motivation and Related Work:

  • While previous studies have touched on the impact of personality traits on VR presence, findings are often inconsistent and lack systematic investigation into the three subtypes of presence: "spatial presence," "social presence," and "self-presence."
  • The significant roles of suggestibility and cognitive priming in other fields suggest their potential influence on VR immersion and presence.

Proposed Solution

• Methods or Solutions:

  • The study addresses two core questions: 1) How does imaginative suggestibility influence spatial, social, and self-presence? 2) Can individuals with higher suggestibility achieve greater levels of presence in VR through cognitive priming?
  • An experiment is designed using a virtual reality environment and the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) to measure suggestibility and the three subtypes of presence.

• Innovative Contributions:

  • Investigates how gender and suggestibility, as individual differences, influence VR presence.
  • Provides the first demonstration of whether imaginative suggestibility affects different subtypes of presence and their formation processes in virtual environments.
  • Compares the effects of cognitive priming on different subtypes of presence, contrasting with findings from previous studies.

• Implementation Steps and Key Techniques:

  1. Virtual Environment Design:
     • Develop a virtual environment based on the ancient Greek Dodona Oracle (VRO) to enhance historical authenticity and avoid familiarity bias affecting presence.
  2. Cognitive Priming Experiment:
     • Design three types of priming materials (spatial priming, social priming, self-priming) presented to participants in audio format.
  3. Measurement Tools:
     • Use the Multimodal Presence Scale (MPS) to measure spatial, social, and self-presence.
     • Use the Creative Imagination Scale (CIS) to measure imaginative suggestibility.
  4. Experimental Setup:
     • Randomly assign participants to a control group or three test groups, measuring the different subtypes of presence and imaginative suggestibility in each group.
     • Group conditions include a baseline environment without priming (BaselineVE) and three priming conditions.

Research Findings

• Specific Results:

  • Imaginative suggestibility is significantly correlated with all three subtypes of presence, and this effect surpasses the influence of gender.
  • Cognitive priming does not significantly enhance presence, contradicting some existing research findings.

• Comparative Advantages:

  • Among studies explaining the mechanisms of presence formation, imaginative suggestibility demonstrates higher explanatory power than other personality traits, such as extraversion and empathy.
  • Offers new insights into whether higher presence in women stems from suggestibility, addressing inconsistencies in previous research on gender and presence.

• Experimental or Evaluation Results:

  • Significant correlations between presence and suggestibility were observed across all groups (p<0.01) for spatial, social, and self-presence.
  • Only "self-presence" showed a direct gender effect, with suggestibility playing an important mediating role in explaining this effect.
  • Regression analysis revealed no significant main effects of different priming conditions on the three subtypes of presence.

• Limitations and Future Directions:

  • The experiment was conducted in a specific virtual environment, and its applicability to other types of VR environments requires further validation.
  • Surveys were conducted outside the VR environment, which may affect consistency; future studies could adopt real-time measurement methods within VR.
  • Proposes exploring richer priming methods, such as visual or multisensory combinations, to test whether the lack of effect was due to insufficient modality or information.
  • Calls for the development of new simplified tools to measure suggestibility and expand research to include more gender categories.

Conclusion

By investigating the relationship between individual suggestibility and presence, this study provides new perspectives for optimizing virtual reality design and enhancing group experiences. The significant impact of suggestibility on VR immersion is an innovative finding that can guide designers in creating personalized experiences while deepening the understanding of the complex interactions between gender, traits, and technological design.