Presence: Concept, determinants and measurement Wijnand A. IJsselsteijn ★a , Huib de Ridder b , Jonathan Freeman c , and S.E. Avons d a IPO, Center for User-System Interaction, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands b Delft University of Technology, Dept. of Industrial Design, Delft, The Netherlands c Goldsmiths College, University of London, London, UK d Dept. of Psychology, University of Essex, Colchester, UK ABSTRACT The concept of presence, i.e. the sensation of ‘being there’ in a mediated environment, has received substantial attention from the virtual reality community, and is becoming increasingly relevant both to broadcasters and display developers. Although research into presence is still at an early stage of development, there is a consensus that presence has multiple determinants. To identify and test which parameters affect presence, a reliable, robust and valid means of measuring presence is required. In this paper, we describe the categories of factors thought to have an impact on presence. Furthermore, we present an overview of various approaches taken to measuring presence, which can be divided into two general categories: subjective measures and objective corroborative measures. Since presence is a subjective experience, the most direct way of assessment is through users’ subjective report. This approach has serious limitations however, and should be used judiciously. Objective measures, such as postural, physiological or social responses to media, can be used to corroborate subjective measures, thereby overcoming some of their limitations. At present, the most promising direction for presence measurement is to develop and use an aggregate measure of presence that is comprised of both subjective and objective components, tailored to the specific medium under study. Keywords: presence, telepresence, determinants, measurement, subjective measures, objective corroborative measures 1. INTRODUCTION “When the curtain swept up to reveal the now-legendary wide-screen roller coaster ride, I realized that the film’s creators were no longer content to have me look at the roller coaster but were trying to put me physically on the ride. The audience no longer surrounded the work of art; the work of art surrounded the audience – just as reality surrounds us. The spectator was invited to plunge into another world. We no longer needed the device of identifying with a character on the other side of the ‘window.’ We could step through it and be a part of the action!” – Morton Heilig commenting on his experience with Cinerama in New York, 1952. 1.1 The concept of presence As Heilig’s quote illustrates, there has long been a tendency to reproduce reality with increasing levels of fidelity, especially in the arts and in cinema. The psychological effect that Heilig described is nowadays more commonly known as presence, i.e. the sense of ‘being there’ in a mediated environment. This user experience is of particular interest to us today, since the current pace of technological development in networks, computing power and displays, as well as improvements in human- computer interfaces, increasingly enable the creation of services that are capable of eliciting a sense of presence in the user. The concept of presence has potential relevance for the design and evaluation of a broad range of interactive and non- interactive media, and applications in areas such as training and education, telecommunications, medicine, and entertainment. The term telepresence was coined by Marvin Minsky in 1980 1 , and refers to the phenomenon that a human operator develops a sense of being physically present at a remote location through interaction with the system’s human interface, i.e. through the user’s actions and the subsequent perceptual feedback he/she receives via the appropriate teleoperation ★ Corresponding author: E-mail: W.A.IJsselsteijn@tue.nl; Telephone: +31 (0)40 2475214; Fax: +31 (0)40 2471930; WWW: http://www.ipo.tue.nl/homepages/wijssels/