Start Date

16-2-2022

Mentor

Mathew Desjardins

Description

Studies of how users experience Virtual Reality (VR) have thus far failed to address the extent to which rendering resolution and rendering frame rate affect users’ sense of immersion in VR, including applications of VR involving simulators, treatments for psychological and mental disorders, explorations of new and nonexistent structures, and ways to understand the human body in medical applications better. This study investigated if rendering resolution affected users’ sense of immersion in VR. The study compared the responses of two groups relative to two measures of participant immersion: (a) participant’s sense of presence and (b) participant’s sense of embodiment. The treatment levels were (a) low 512 pixels per inch (ppi) and (b) high 2048 ppi rendering resolution. One potential moderating variable, game type, varied over three levels: narrative, objective, and situational. The participants were randomly assigned to a treatment level to account for previous VR experience. Neither participants nor the research observer knew the treatment level. Data indicated that the rendering resolution did not affect user immersion; however, game type did affect immersion. The situational game type was determined to be significantly more immersive than the other game types.

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Feb 16th, 12:00 AM

Stumbling into Virtual Worlds. How Resolution Affects Users’ Immersion in Virtual Reality and Implications for Virtual Reality in Therapeutic Applications

Studies of how users experience Virtual Reality (VR) have thus far failed to address the extent to which rendering resolution and rendering frame rate affect users’ sense of immersion in VR, including applications of VR involving simulators, treatments for psychological and mental disorders, explorations of new and nonexistent structures, and ways to understand the human body in medical applications better. This study investigated if rendering resolution affected users’ sense of immersion in VR. The study compared the responses of two groups relative to two measures of participant immersion: (a) participant’s sense of presence and (b) participant’s sense of embodiment. The treatment levels were (a) low 512 pixels per inch (ppi) and (b) high 2048 ppi rendering resolution. One potential moderating variable, game type, varied over three levels: narrative, objective, and situational. The participants were randomly assigned to a treatment level to account for previous VR experience. Neither participants nor the research observer knew the treatment level. Data indicated that the rendering resolution did not affect user immersion; however, game type did affect immersion. The situational game type was determined to be significantly more immersive than the other game types.