Social exclusion threatens fundamental needs (i.e. belonging, self-esteem, meaningful existence, and control) and impairs emotional well-being. Previous research on media as a tool to mitigate these detrimental effects has predominantly focused on traditional devices, leaving the role of immersive technologies, such as virtual reality (VR), underexplored. Our preregistered laboratory experiment ( N = 114) investigates whether VR-based coping facilitates need restoration and emotion regulation compared to conventional 2D media. After inducing ostracism via Cyberball, participants watched a short video of a social interaction on either a VR headset or a 2D screen. Whereas both coping conditions yielded comparable increases in emotional well-being, VR exposure led to significantly higher need restoration than the same video presented in 2D. Mediation analyses indicated indirect effects of VR exposure on both need restoration and emotion regulation via spatial presence, but not via social presence or self-presence. These findings underscore VR’s potential as an effective coping tool following social exclusion.

The concept of presence examines users' immersive experiences in virtual environments. This study investigates Breaks in Presence (BIPs) by examining attentional and cognitive mechanisms through psychophysiological measures and a modified secondary task reaction time (STRT) paradigm. Two experiments (Study 1: N = 78; Study 2: N = 63) required participants to play a desktop video game while responding to auditory stimuli either integrated into the game's narrative (narrative stimuli) or external to the virtual environment (external stimuli), potentially disrupting presence. Results showed consistent orienting response (OR) patterns across psychophysiological channels, including electrodermal activity, cardiac activity, and pupil diameter, confirming their reliability as indicators of breaks in presence. Cardiac recovery responses were stronger for external stimuli, suggesting heightened attentional shifts. STRT differences between conditions were limited to early trials, with general learning effects observed in both studies. Habituation patterns emerged in Study 1 but were less pronounced in Study 2, reflecting increased task complexity. Cognitive load measures did not differ significantly. Both studies advance presence research by 1) demonstrating the utility of psychophysiological measures for identifying attentional mechanisms underlying BIPs and 2) highlighting the potential of STRT paradigms for assessing cognitive processing in virtual environments. Future research should explore immersive setups, refine STRT methodologies, and consider individual differences, such as gaming experience, to deepen our understanding of presence dynamics.

With increasing automation beyond a professional level and into private and public life, one can assume that the ironies of automation explained by Bainbridge have been experienced by most of the members of our hybrid society – one where interaction between humans and embodied digital technology (EDT) becomes the agenda. In order to realise the full potential of hybrid teams we propose taking a new perspective, where EDTs do not operate on a fixed level of automation but become cognisant of their supervisor’s capabilities through a shared interface. This enables mutual perception and thus the dynamical adjustment between joint or autonomous activity.

A large number of previous studies have examined the effects of thin-ideal avatars on body image in virtual reality (VR), reporting mixed results. A possible explanation is that individuals' sense of embodiment (SoE) can influence the effects of avatars. Using the body discontinuity paradigm, a paradigm rarely used in prior studies, this study explores how SoE affects users' body image when using thin-ideal avatars in VR. A group of 77 female participants were randomly assigned to one of the SoE conditions to complete a VR task using a thin-ideal avatar. The body image was assessed not only using explicit but also with implicit measures. The result shows that participants in a high SoE condition were more likely to have a more positive actual body image than others in a low SoE condition, regardless of whether implicit or explicit measures were used. Furthermore, the ownership subcomponent of the SoE significantly mediated the relationship between thin-ideal avatars exposure and the actual body image using implicit measures. However, no substantial difference in ideal body image was found. These findings extend our understanding of avatar effects in VR, thereby providing additional evidence for using avatars to explore body image-related phenomena and to use them in psychotherapeutic applications such as treatments for eating disorders.

Video games can be understood as a series of interesting decisions, and the game controllers are key to making those decisions. Advances in gaming technology have encouraged the development of natural user interfaces (NUIs), which should provide a superior user experience as players are able to use preexisting mental models from physical interaction rather than learning an abstract mapping schema. However, anecdotal and previous empirical research suggest the opposite-gamers prefer more familiar-albeit-abstract gamepad controllers. Because the exact nature and mechanism of this preference remains open for investigation, we suggest two rivaling mechanisms related to novelty and learning. Comparing self-identified gamer regarding their last gamepad and NUIs experience in an online quasi-experimental survey design (N = 248), participants in the current study had less experience using NUIs, resulting in lower self-efficacy and enjoyment. Learning effects (via experience with a controller), rather than novelty effects (via exposure to a unique controller), seem to be the most relevant mechanism to understanding how controllers impact game enjoyment. However, both controller novelty and learning effects were significant mediators of the link between controller type and perceived controller naturalness. Our data suggest that perceptions of "natural" do not only depend on technological features of a user interface, but also on the user's previous experiences with the device. As such, users need to build robust mental models of the controllers through experience, which over time become more natural with increasing proficiency.

The connection between player and avatar is understood to be central to the experience and effects of massively multiplayer online (MMO) gaming experiences, and these connections emerge from the interplays of both social and ludic characteristics. The comprehensive social/ludic measure of this player-avatar interaction (PAX), however, features some dimensions with theoretical/operational gaps and limited reliability, and is available only in English (despite evidence of potential cultural variations in player-avatar relations). The present study aimed to a) enhance and refine the PAX metric, and b) translate and validate a common metric that bridges English, German, and traditional Chinese languages to facilitate future comparative research. Through exploratory factor analysis of data from MMO players in each of these language-based populations, an improved 15-item common Player Avatar Interaction (cPAX) scale is presented, with four dimensions: relational closeness, anthropomorphic autonomy, critical concern, and sense of control. The metric is shown to be reliable within and across populations, and construct validity tests show expected associations between scale dimensions and both player-avatar relationship types and senses of human-like relatedness.

Visualizing hierarchical structures is of great importance in many economic and scientific applications. Many different approaches have been developed and enhanced in the last decades. Each of them claims specific advantages over competing methods, usually referring to visual or structural properties. Although several user studies investigated the usefulness of specific approaches, for practitioners it often remains unclear what the practical advantages of the approaches are and in which contexts they are useful. In our user study, we systematically investigated the value of three frequently used visualization types for the intuitive understanding of hierarchical data: treemap, icicle plot, and nodelink. We measured user performance in terms of correctness and time and tracked eye movements for each participant. The results regarding the user performance revealed that nodelink and icicle plot performed well, whereas treemap only exceeded chance level in one easy task. Still, the analysis of eyetracking measures suggests that treemaps draw visual attention better to relevant elements. However, treemap visualizations built up less influential visual gaze patterns, compared to nodelinks and icicle plots. Finally, implications for facilitating human intuition and problem solving strategies are discussed. Keywords–User Study; Hierarchy Visualization; Perception; Eye-tracking; Eye-gaze Patterns.

Visualizing hierarchical structures is of great importance in many economic and scientific applications. Many different approaches have been developed and enhanced in the last decades. Each of them claims specific advantages over competing methods, usually referring to visual or structural properties. Although several user studies investigated the usefulness of specific approaches, for practitioners it often remains unclear what the practical advantages of the approaches are and in which contexts they are useful. In our user study, we systematically investigated the value of three frequently used visualization types for the intuitive understanding of hierarchical data: treemap, icicle plot, and nodelink. We measured user performance in terms of correctness and time and tracked eye movements for each participant. The results regarding the user performance revealed that nodelink and icicle plot yield expected and comparable results, whereas treemap is only exceeding chance level for one easy task. Still, the analysis of eye-tracking measures suggests that treemaps draw visual attention better to relevant elements. Finally, implications for facilitating human intuition and problem solving strategies are discussed.

This research report sought to understand how gamers experienced recent gaming sessions using traditional game controllers (gamepads) or natural user interfaces (NUIs, such as the Nintendo Wiimote). A secondary qualitative analysis of N=238 open-ended comments to a larger game controller experience survey were analysed for emergent themes, with chi(2) tests used to compare the frequency of their mention between the two controller types. While the same eleven discussion themes emerged when players described either gamepad or NUI experiences, participants discussing gamepads were more likely to comment on the controller's precision, comfort, success using the controller, and their past experience with the controller. Likewise, participants discussing NUIs were more likely to comment on the controller's lack of precision, feeling unnatural, having less success during the game session, and seeing the controller as more novel. No differences in controller simplicity or the overall enjoyment were found. Additionally, game genre differences were found suggesting shooting games (first- and third-person shooters) to be more frequently played with gamepads and sports games to be more frequently played with NUIs, and gamepad session were as much as 50 per cent longer on average. This research supports and extends prior findings which suggest that NUIs might not be as natural and intuitive as they are designed to be.

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.