Physiological compliance for social gaming analysis: Cooperative versus competitive play

Abstract

aalto.fi (J.M. Kivikangas), niklas.ravaja@aalto.fi (N. Ravaja). AbstractWe report the results of an empirical study demonstrating the value of using physiological compliance as a measure of social presence during digital game playing. The physiological activity (facial EMG, electrodermal activity, cardiac activity and respiration) of 21 dyads were acquired synchronously while they were playing a digital game either cooperatively or competitively and either at home or in the laboratory. Physiological compliance was defined as the correlation between the physiological signals of the dyad members. The results of this study confirm that physiological compliance is higher in a conflicting situation than when playing cooperatively. Importantly, the results also demonstrate that physiological compliance is related to self-reported social presence. This suggests that physiological compliance is not limited to negative situations but rather increases due to rich interactions. Only minor differences in physiological compliance were observed between home play and laboratory play, suggesting the ecological validity of laboratory measures. Finally, we propose that compliance measures can be considered as objective indices of social presence in digital gaming.

Towards Understanding the Importance of Co-Located Gameplay

“…This study sought to understand a player's level of arousal as a primary measure of player experience. This is in accordance with the literature, which studies arousal as an indicator of excitement [2,7,10]. However, all permutations of the environment, game choice, and study design are not explored.…”

Assessment of Computer-Supported Collaborative Processes Using Interpersonal Physiological and Eye-Movement Coupling

“…The correlation between the two features and emotion management was found to be negative indicating that the participants reported spending less time managing their emotions when IBI variance was shared at the VLF and LF frequencies. Physiological coupling has been shown to increase with emotionally intense situations [9], [17]. One explanation could be that the dyads who reported spending more time managing their emotions regulated (i.e.…”

“…Physiological coupling was also found to be related to empathy [16]; people who accurately evaluated the negative emotions of others also displayed a high degree of shared physiology. In [17] physiological coupling was found to be correlated with social presence in the context of social games. Studies have also examined the relationships of physiological coupling with group performance.…”

Investigating collaborative learning success with physiological coupling indices based on electrodermal activity

“…PCC of heart rate in dyads has been reported to predict task completion time [23]. Also in dyads, PC has been associated to interaction and self-reported social presence [25,10]. Conflicting interactions have been reflected in a significantly higher PC increment than that of collaborative interactions by means of the PCC index [10].…”

“…Also in dyads, PC has been associated to interaction and self-reported social presence [25,10]. Conflicting interactions have been reflected in a significantly higher PC increment than that of collaborative interactions by means of the PCC index [10]. The directionality of the PC might point to who is the group leader [11].…”