Exploring the Possibility of Using Physical Signals in Video Games as a Way to Gauge Immersiveness
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A recent study investigates the potential of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and task-irrelevant Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) as objective indicators of presence in video games [1].
The research, conducted on 34 participants divided into low or high presence groups based on their self-reported presence while experiencing a horror game, aimed to explore the relationship between presence and attentional resources.
The study hypothesized that presence is associated with attentional resources being fully absorbed by the game, which would lead to less or insufficient perceptual resources available for processing the concurrent game-irrelevant oddball-task. It was also anticipated that presence would make players react to emotion-eliciting events as if they were real, resulting in more GSR peaks throughout the game.
The findings support these hypotheses, suggesting that GSR peaks per minute and early ERP components, specifically the N1 and Mismatch Negativity (MMN), correlate positively with presence in video games.
Participants who experienced higher subjective presence showed increased frequency of GSR peaks, reflecting heightened emotional response to game events as if they were real. Moreover, higher presence was associated with reduced early ERP amplitudes for task-irrelevant stimuli, indicating attentional focus on the game and decreased processing of irrelevant tones.
However, no significant differences were found in GSR response magnitude between the presence groups, meaning the strength of individual responses was not a presence indicator—only their frequency was.
The study's findings indicate two relationships: - GSR Peaks/Min: Higher presence corresponds to more frequent skin conductance peaks. - Early ERPs (N1, MMN): Higher presence is associated with reduced early ERP amplitudes for task-irrelevant stimuli.
Together, these results validate these physiological measures as objective markers of the sense of presence in video gaming contexts. The study thus contributes promising objective measures for presence, which until now has lacked standardized physiological indicators, enhancing Games User Research methodologies.
References: [1] [Citation needed]
- Future research in the field of health-and-wellness could explore the application of Galvanic Skin Response (GSR) and task-irrelevant Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) as objective indicators in various contexts, such as fitness-and-exercise or mental-health interventions.
- The growth of data-and-cloud-computing in health-and-wellness sectors could enable scientists to store and analyze these objective markers of presence on a larger scale, enhancing our understanding of how these markers are affected by different factors such as nutrition or artificial-intelligence-assisted therapies.
- In the realm of technology, the development of cybersecurity measures is crucial to ensure the protection and privacy of sensitive physiological data collected through GSR and ERP measurements, and similar biometric data in health-and-wellness and gaming contexts.
- As video gaming becomes an increasingly immersive experience with advancements in technology and artificial-intelligence, understanding objective markers of presence will be key in improving user experiences, and may potentially lead to novel applications for entertainment, education, and rehabilitation.
