Social Presence and Learning in VR
As Virtual Reality (VR) technology advances, developers are building increasingly detailed experiences to keep up with users and organisations who are pushing for greater realism and fidelity. Companies like Epic Games have advanced avatar building technology with their latest development: meta-humans, allowing software technology companies to build experiences with very high fidelity avatars (Multimedia Publisher, 2018).
While the visual rendering of simulations is important for one’s experience in VR, the immersive nature suggests that engaging interactions might supersede high visual fidelity; assuming that users comprehend the boundaries of VR, principles about human-machine interactions reiterate the importance of natural social engagement and interactions (Williams, 2008). So while the visual detail of graphics in VR are important for creating an engaging simulated world for users to navigate, to further advance the experience one has in VR, social learning theories can be drawn on to ensure that users can interact in meaningful ways.
The Importance of Social Presence
Researchers are exploring the phenomena of social presence – the extent to which one perceives another user as being real and present. In the context of VR, it can be described simply as how realistic a social interaction with another avatar is. This includes both the visual experience and the social or physical (albeit, virtual) interactions they have. A captivating VR experience will allow users to interact with one another and even work on common problems as we do in the physical world.
Social presence is a key part of the overall quality of a VR experience, and it has a positive impact on the outcomes of the experience. If applied to a training scenario, the presence of, and interaction with, others can increase the uptake of learning for users. As such, it’s important for developers and practitioners to understand how the meaningful presence of others in VR can improve the experience for all users.
Social experiences in VR can affect both virtual and real world experiences. As a distraction tool, social interactions in VR have been shown to increase pain tolerance for users compared to VR experiences with no social presence. (Won, Pandita & Kruzan, 2020). While this research explores VR as a tool for managing pain and discomfort, it sets a premise for VR, and the design elements used in a VR experience, as tools to alter or enhance a users’ lived experience of either the real world or virtual environment/stimulus.
In a social learning sense, quality social interactions involving group problem-solving lead to better experiences and positive social interactions between users. The evidence suggests that cooperative interactions between users in VR led to a more meaningful experience where users reported more positive emotions and more positive social behaviours were observed (e.g. helping other users) (Collange & Guegan, 2020), just as you’d expect to see in real life. For those wishing to incorporate social learning in VR, this finding could prove useful for engaging learners and improving transfer of learning.
The benefits of social learning are well understood in traditional settings, but we now know that the same theories apply to virtual interactions. In VR and AR (Augmented Reality) settings, social learning theories explain the enhanced learning outcomes observed across various studies, validating VR and AR as learning delivery platforms. Constructivism is a social learning process which describes how a collection of perspectives allow learners to learn through doing. If done so in a high-risk setting or with geographically dispersed learners, it can be a practical, effective, and exciting opportunity for learners to engage with innovative technological solutions. (Scavarelli, et al., 2020)
Increasing social presence
We know that VR allows for greater social presence compared to conventional computer screens (e.g. traditional multiplayer games) (Guimarães, Prada, Santos, Dias, Jhala, & Mascarenhas, 2020). But what considerations can VR/learning designers employ to elicit greater social presence at the design stage? Literature to date suggests designers should:
Allow users to create their own avatar and contribute to the narrative of events,
Maximise genuine social connections with other avatars,
Ensure naturalistic interaction with the environment; and,
Generally maximise autonomy and reduce cybersickness with high fidelity experiences (Riches, Elghany, Farety, Rus-Calafell, & Valmaggia, 2019).
Importantly, research suggests that it is the interactions in VR that evoke social presence. It isn’t enough to simply be aware that others are there (Strojny, Duzmanska-Misiarczyk, Lipp, & Strojny, 2020), but social presence increases through experiential social interactions within VR. This provides further support that designers and developers need to consider the boundaries and nature of social interactions for a more realistic experience in VR.
Potential barriers
While important to know what increases social presence, designers should also be aware of the potential barriers to social presence. When humanlike characters behave unnaturally or are rendered with low quality, users often feel uneasy - a phenomenon known as Uncanny Valley (UV). As it can leave users with feelings of discomfort, the overall experience in VR can be undermined if UV is present. Interestingly, research suggests that UV leads to adverse physiological and cognitive reactions, suggesting it is a universal and valid phenomena.
To avoid the UV, designers suggest:
Avoiding atypicalities (i.e. unnaturally large eyes),
Ensuring that eyes move naturally, as research suggests that people rate avatar realism predominately through eye rendering; and,
Allowing users to create their own avatar to avoid self-directed UV.
While UV is indeed an important consideration for designers, studies suggest that users habituate to the rendering of avatars regardless of how realistic they are (Schwind, Wolf, & Henze, 2018). Further, one study found that positive interactions with an imperfect avatar could be more important than the initial reaction to its design (Schwind, et al., 2018). This means that consumers and creators of VR experiences need not wait for human-like avatars to be completely realistic, but that meaningful and comfortable experiences are still possible with imperfect avatars.
Context and user preferences are key
The effects of social presence on VR depend on both the purpose of the application and the individual preferences of users. Studies have found that people differ in their preferences towards communication styles and the preferred channels for communication when interacting with interfaces (Ciechanowski, Przegalinska, Magnuski, & Gloor, 2019). Also, research implies that personality traits like introversion can account for preferences towards robotic as opposed to humanistic avatars (Walters, Syrdal, Dautenhahn, Te Boekhorst, & Koay, 2008). As there appear to be considerations for both the user and the context with which social learning can be effective, organisations should be considering how the implementation of such technology can be deployed so as to be minimally disruptive. Experts in organisational behaviour change can provide suggestions for effective change management to ensure users feel supported to adapt to the new technology. Further, good implementation can use action learning principles to incorporate feedback mechanisms to evaluate whether the design and delivery of VR solutions are a good fit for the organisation, providing opportunities to use iterative feedback to improve a product’s design to be as user-friendly as possible.
What does this all mean?
While the future is uncertain, it does appear that remote working and social distancing will remain apparent for some time. To account for this, organisations could explore the use of VR as a method for safe and meaningful social interaction. Further, as social learning principles suggest that the presence of, and interaction with, others can improve learning outcomes, research suggests that the meaningful social experiences in VR could outweigh any potential drawbacks caused by UV. The visual rendering of VR experiences can improve initial perceptions, but social interactions between users is what really improves the expected outcomes of the experience. So while designers should continue improving graphics quality in VR, organisations hoping to implement VR for training purposes should focus more on how social interactions can be incorporated into their design.
References
Ciechanowski, L., Przegalinska, A., Magnuski, M., & Gloor, P. (2019). In the shades of the uncanny valley: An experimental study of human–chatbot interaction. Future Generation Computer Systems, 92, 539-548.
Collange, J., & Guegan, J. (2020). Using virtual reality to induce gratitude through virtual social interaction. Computers in Human Behavior, 113, 106473.
EPIC GAMES SUPPORTS UNREAL ENGINE DEVELOPERS. (2018, April 1). Multimedia Publisher, 29(4). https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A532854419/ITOF?u=griffith&sid=ITOF&xid=3664c35b
Guimarães, M., Prada, R., Santos, P. A., Dias, J., Jhala, A., & Mascarenhas, S. (2020). The impact of virtual reality in the social presence of a virtual agent. Paper presented at the https://doi.org/10.1145/3383652.3423879
Riches, S., Elghany, S., Garety, P., Rus-Calafell, M., & Valmaggia, L. (2019). Factors affecting sense of presence in a virtual reality social environment: A qualitative study. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 22(4), 288-292.
Scavarelli, A., Arya, Al., Teather R.J. (2020). Virtual reality and augmented reality in social learning spaces: a literature review. Virtual Reality 25, 257–277 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-020-00444-8
Schwind, V., Wolf, K., & Henze, N. (2018). Avoiding the uncanny valley in virtual character design. interactions, 25(5), 45-49.
Strojny, P. M., Duzmanska-Misiarczyk, N., Lipp, N., & Strojny, A. (2020). Moderators of social facilitation effect in virtual reality: Co-presence and realism of virtual agents. Frontiers in Psychology, 11, 1252-1252. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01252
Walters, M. L., Syrdal, D. S., Dautenhahn, K., Te Boekhorst, R., & Koay, K. L. (2008). Avoiding the uncanny valley: robot appearance, personality and consistency of behavior in an attention-seeking home scenario for a robot companion. Autonomous Robots, 24(2), 159-178.
Williams, J. S. (2008). Using human factors engineering principles to strengthen technology management. Biomedical Instrumentation & Technology, 42(3), 211-212. https://doi.org/10.2345/0899-8205(2008)42[211:UHFEPT]2.0.CO;2
Won, A. S., Pandita, S., & Kruzan, K. P. (2020). Social Interaction and Pain Threshold in Virtual Reality. Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking, 23(12), 829-845.
