Putting the Virtual into Reality: Assessing Object-Presence with Projection-Augmented Models

Abstract

A projection-augmented model is a type of nonimmersive, coincident haptic and visual display that uses a physical model as a three-dimensional screen for projected visual information. Supporting all physiological depth cues and two sensory modalities should create a strong sense of the object's existence. However, conventional measures of presence have been defined only for displays that surround and isolate a user from the real world. The idea of object-presence is thus suggested to measure “the subjective experience that a particular object exists in a user's environment, even when that object does not” (Stevens & Jerrams-Smith, 2000). A correlation study was conducted to demonstrate the reliability and validity of objectpresence as a construct. The results of a modified Singer and Witmer Presence Questionnaire suggest the existence of a reliable construct that exhibits face validity. However, the Presence Questionnaire did not correlate significantly with a user's tendency to become immersed in traditional media, which would support the assertion that this construct was object-presence. Considering previous work, the results of the current correlation study exhibited a pattern evident in previous studies of presence suggesting that object-presence and presence could be gender biased by the task to be completed or by the presence measure.