Abstract
Immersion describes the extent to which an observer feels involved in a virtual experience. In immersive environments, observers report high levels of sensory interaction, story engagement, and an impression of reality. Does immersion affect perceptual and cognitive performance? The current experiment examined the effect of immersive environments on inattentional blindness-like (IB-like) phenomena and memory. To that end, we used two model theaters to manipulate observers' sense of being immersed. The realistic condition used a scaled down model of a realistic movie theater (complete with patrons), and the haphazard condition used a model with the same dimensions, but materials were haphazardly placed around so as not to resemble an actual theater. Participants (N = 31) watched the first 10 minutes of a movie. Five minutes into the movie, a computer-controlled motor moved an unexpected stimulus (either a model movie patron or a bolt) across the stage area of the model. Upon completion of the clip, participants were first asked if they noticed the unexpected object as an IB-like measure (IB-like since it's possible people saw, and then forgot, the unexpected object). Immersion was then measured using Jennett et al.'s (2008; International Journal of Human Computer Studies) questionnaire, and memory was assessed with a 10-question multiple-choice test about the movie clip. The results from the immersion questionnaire replicated previous research: the realistic model induced higher levels (M = 5.68) of immersion than the haphazard model (M = 5.05; p < .05). However, IB was about the same in both conditions (realistic: 22.2%, haphazard: 23%). Memory test accuracy was similar for both conditions too (realistic M = 89.23%; haphazard M = 89.44%). These results suggest that environments designed to induce immersion may do so successfully without having large effects on performance measures like memory
Meeting abstract presented at VSS 2017