EECS 4471 |VIRTUAL REALITY

Variance of Physiological Fear

Response with Respect to

Immersion

Measuring presence in

VEs using heartbeat

rate

Presence - /prezəns/ (noun)

subjective psychological response of user to the virtual

environment.

Immersion - /iˈmərSHən/ (noun)

objective level of sensory fidelity a VR system

provides.

Independent

Variables:

Various

Measured

Conditions

HYP#1:

Highest fear and presence for the

Oculus Rift with Speakers.

HYP#2:

The objective measures matches

the questionnaires.

Samsung PC monitor 60Hz refresh rate

Oculus Rift DK2

Samsung personal computer

Arduino UNO

Infrared “Pulse sensor” heartbeat sensor (bpm)

Python for recording and plotting

Total: 16 participants

6 females

10 males *mainly computer science majors

*ages 19 to 24

Each user was allowed to try the system for 4-5

minutes.

Welcome user

Informed consent

Demographic questionnaire

Familiarize with equipment

Allow user to explore interface

Hook heartbeat sensors

Instruct user go through task

Record measurements and observations

Post-test questionnaire

Users were instructed to look at moon

Users were instructed to approach the church steps.

Users were instructed to search the church for a

monster. Once found, they were told to back away

from the monster, and exit the opposite door.

Outside the door & once in the forest, they were told

that there are two creatures in the forest, one in the

tree tops and one on the ground, and to find both of

them.

The

Software development was

done in Unity 3D

Experiment

Results & Analysis

Why not add the graphs?

Why not add the graphs?

Discussion

• Are questionnaires still useful?

• How can we maximize presence?

Summary

• Fear was maximum in most

immersive environments

• Objective measures confirmed the

subjective questionnaires