Presence, a critical feature of interactive media is here described as a neuropsychological phenomenon, evolved from the interplay of our biological and cultural inheritance, whose goal is the enaction of the volition of the self: presence is the non mediated (prereflexive) perception of successful intentions in action.

1. The Neuropsychology of Presence Giuseppe Riva , Ph.D. Department of Psychology Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Milan, Italy ATN-P Lab. Istituto Auxologico Italiano, Milan, Italy E-mail: [email_address] http://www.emergingcommunication.com http://www.e-psychology.net http://www.ambientintelligence.org Applied Technology for Neuro-Psychology Lab .

9. Is this true? What is better (Slater, 2004)? => Static vs dynamic Stereoscopic vs 2D Immersive vs non Immersive Tracking vs Mouse Meaningful vs Boring

11. VR SYSTEMS Other Haptic Aural Visual VR - DISPLAYS Other Haptic Aural Visual VR - RENDER Other Haptic Aural Visual REPRESENTATION SENSORY ORGANS INPUT DEVICES Augmented Reality REAL WORLD VIRTUAL WORLD THE USER

12. VR SYSTEMS INPUT USER MONITORING (USER INPUT TO THE VIRTUAL WORLD) Tracking SENSORS Body Tracking Head Hands & Fingers Eyes Torso Feet Other: Temperature Perspiration Heart Rate Respiration Rate Emotional State Brain Waves Props Platforms Buttons Switches Valuators Ring Platform Kiosk Platform Ambulatory Platform Vehicle Platform (Cockpit) Stationary VR Display Platform Physical Input Devices Position Orientation Electromagnetic Mechanical Optical Videometric Ultrasonic Inertial Neural Direct Indirect Physical Controls Prop Platforms Sliders Dial

19. Presence: The holy grail

21. Presence: the efforts

25. Presence Summary (EMMA project, 2004) Slater and Usoh (1993) “ Psychology is the physics of VR in the sense that the virtual environment is manufactured towards creating a cognitive state” ( R. Lauria, 1997 ) FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO PRESENCE EXTERNAL FACTORS INTERNAL FACTORS COMMON PROCESSES INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES STRUCTURAL ASPECTS PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS EMOTIONS

36. Presence as feeling of being in an external world Presence as selection mechanism

42. The Mental States of Presence