Benny Liebold

Continuous Measurement of Breaks in Presence: Psychophysiology and Orienting Responses

Assessing presence using questionnaires can yield interesting insights into the user experience in virtual environments, but is also limited both in terms of reliability and validity. Breaks in presence (BIPs) are an interesting alternative, given that the researcher can assess them correctly. Prior studies on the psychophysiology of BIPs followed an exploratory approach by not providing a cognitive mechanism for BIPs and lacking in external validity. We argue that BIPs can be considered a special form of orienting responses involving both the real and the virtual world. In the first of the presented studies, we investigated which types of BIPs can be differentiated and to what degree they affect the user experience. In the second study, we modified a commercial video game by introducing the previously identified BIPs and recorded psychophysiological measurements. The results are in line with findings on orienting responses and should provide fertile ground for future research.

Human Capacities for Emotion Recognition and their Implications for Computer Vision

Abstract Current models for automated emotion recognition are developed under the assumption that emotion expressions are distinct expression patterns for basic emotions. Thereby, these approaches fail to account for the emotional processes underlying emotion expressions. We review the literature on human emotion processing and suggest an alternative approach to affective computing. We postulate that the generalizability and robustness of these models can be greatly increased by three major steps: (1) modeling emotional processes as a necessary foundation of emotion recognition; (2) basing models of emotional processes on our knowledge about the human brain; (3) conceptualizing emotions based on appraisal processes and thus regarding emotion expressions as expressive behavior linked to these appraisals rather than fixed neuro-motor patterns. Since modeling emotional processes after neurobiological processes can be considered a long-term effort, we suggest that researchers should focus on early appraisals, which evaluate intrinsic stimulus properties with little higher cortical involvement. With this goal in mind, we focus on the amygdala and its neural connectivity pattern as a promising structure for early emotional processing. We derive a model for the amygdala-visual cortex circuit from the current state of neuroscientific research. This model is capable of conditioning visual stimuli with body reactions to enable rapid emotional processing of stimuli consistent with early stages of psychological appraisal theories. Additionally, amygdala activity can feed back to visual areas to modulate attention allocation according to the emotional relevance of a stimulus. The implications of the model considering other approaches to automated emotion recognition are discussed.

Development and Evaluation of an Easy-to-Use Stereoscopic Ability Test to Assess the Individual Ability to Process Stereoscopic Media

With the rise of 3D cinema in recent years, 3D stereoscopic images have quickly conquered the entertainment industry. As a consequence, many scholars from different research disciplines study the effects of stereoscopy on user experience, task performance, or naturalism. However, parts of the population suffer from stereoblindness and are unable to process stereo images. For scientific studies, it is important to assess stereoblindness to avoid bias in the gathered data. Several clinical tests are available to measure deficiencies in stereo vision, but they often require special equipment and a trained investigator. We developed an easy to use and economic Stereoscopic Ability Test (SAT) that can be used directly within the intended experimental environment. Initial evaluation data for the test and guidelines for the test application are discussed.

Good Newbie or Poor Newbie? Determinants of Video Game Skill Acquisition at an Early Stage

For several years now, game-based learning is deemed as one of the most innovative approaches in educational practice. Nevertheless, little research has been undertaken examining individual determinants of skill acquisition in video games. The presented paper offers empirical data from a nine-week training curriculum for novices in a racing simulation game. Regression analyses revealed that general video game experience and real-world driving experience significantly predicted both initial and later performance. Additionally, perceptual speed also became strongly influential after consistent training. Conversely, while achievement was affected at least occasionally by divided attention, focused attention and dispositions towards aggressive driving showed no effects. Although preliminary, these results provide evidence that those learners without certain beneficial skills may struggle with cutting-edge virtual learning scenarios. Thus, both individual assistance as well as early promotion of video game literacy might be needed to make full use of the potential of game-based learning.

Do We Differ in Our Dispositional Tendency to Perceive Virtual Agents as Animate Beings

With few exceptions, the role of user factors in the evaluation of virtual agents has largely been neglected. By taking them into account properly, researchers and virtual agent developers might be able to better understand interindividual differences in virtual agent evaluations. We propose the animacy attribution tendency as a novel user factor that assesses a users individual threshold to accept virtual entities as living and animate beings. Users scoring higher in animacy attribution tendency should accept anomalies in virtual agent behavior more easily and thus provide favorable evaluations. To investigate the impact of this novel concept along with other user factors, we first developed a test to assess interindividual differences of animacy attribution and subsequently carried out an online-study, during which participants had to evaluate video recordings of different virtual agents.