Neurophysiological Effects of Presence in Calm Virtual Environments

Presence, the feeling of being there, is an important factor that affects the overall experience of virtual reality. Presence is measured through post-experience subjective questionnaires. While questionnaires are a widely used method in human-based research, they suffer from participant biases, dishonest answers, and fatigue. In this paper, we measured the effects of different levels of presence (high and low) in virtual environments using physiological and neurological signals as an alternative method. Results indicated a significant effect of presence on both physiological and neurological signals.