Virtual Reality with 360-Video Storytelling in Cultural Heritage: Study of Presence, Engagement, and Immersion

Abstract

This paper presents a combined subjective and objective evaluation of an application mixing interactive virtual reality (VR) experience with 360° storytelling. The hypothesis that the modern immersive archaeological VR application presenting cultural heritage from a submerged site would sustain high levels of presence, immersion, and general engagement was leveraged in the investigation of the user experience with both the subjective (questionnaires) and the objective (neurophysiological recording of the brain signals using electroencephalography (EEG)) evaluation methods. Participants rated the VR experience positively in the questionnaire scales for presence, immersion, and subjective judgement. High positive rating concerned also the psychological states linked to the experience (engagement, emotions, and the state of flow), and the experience was mostly free from difficulties linked to the accustomization to the VR technology (technology adoption to the head-mounted display and controllers, VR sickness). EEG results are in line with past studies examining brain responses to virtual experiences, while new results in the beta band suggest that EEG is a viable tool for future studies of presence and immersion in VR.

Effects of Changes to Architectural Elements on Human Relaxation-Arousal Responses: Based on VR and EEG

“…They articulated a negative view that such characteristics masked the statistically significant differences in the results. Filip Škola et al [ 9 ] measured the EEG response of users who were experiencing a 360° immersive VR application program, and reported that a high beta band substantially increased in the later phase of EEG measurement. They deduced the participants’ VR experience raised their cognitive processing.…”

“…VR has been combined with mobile brain/body imaging (MoBI), which synchronously records movement and brain dynamics during active exploration of the virtual environment [ 33 ]. Furthermore, prior work has utilized EEG techniques when performing evaluations of virtual reality environments [ 8 , 9 , 11 ].…”

“…Studies of changes in brain waves in environmental and spatial stimuli have been conducted on a variety of topics, including studies of human emotions and relationships with architectural space [ 36 , 37 , 38 ], stress and anxiety [ 11 , 39 , 40 ], studies of positive and negative emotions [ 41 , 42 ], concentration and attention [ 43 , 44 ], and cognitive and emotional processing [ 9 , 14 , 45 ]. These studies have demonstrated that EEG is an appropriate tool for achieving research objectives.…”

“…The four frequency bands of EEG signals are important to analyze data and represent different brain activities. First, the Delta band (0.5-4 Hz) is activated in the state of deep sleep and waking, the Theta band (4-8 Hz) in the state of excitement, deep meditation, creative inspiration, and flow of awareness, the Alpha band (8)(9)(10)(11)(12) in the state of relaxed awareness free from being attentive, and the Beta band (12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30) in the state of active thinking and attention and problem-solving [26]. The relaxation-awakening reaction of brain waves is mainly related to alpha and beta waves.…”

“…Among the various methods, the electroencephalogram (EEG) has been used by researchers in the design and architectural environments since the 1980s to gain new insight into how people perceive the characteristics of built environments and design [ 8 ]. Moreover, a number of authors have performed experiments on EEG measurements in combination with virtual reality (VR) technology with a view to addressing the limitations of the EEG-related literature and pushing the boundaries of research [ 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 ].…”