Cognitive control and a sense of presence in virtual environments

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Abstract

User interaction with a virtual reality system may be accompanied with a sense of presence, the illusion of reality of virtual environment. The emergence of a sense of presence is determined by both technological and psychological factors. The authors show that a sense of presence may depend on the individual characteristics of cognitive control, i.e. the system of metacognition providing cognitive system setting on the solution of specific problems in context. It was found that the expression of a feeling of presence may depend on the efficiency of the control switch functions, interference suppression and updating of working memory. At the same time, the dependence of the severity of the sense of presence on the effectiveness of cognitive control differs in virtual environments with different levels of immersion.

General Information

Keywords: virtual reality, sense of presence, cognitive control, switching between tasks, interference suppression, working memory update

Journal rubric: Cognitive Psychology

Article type: scientific article

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17759/exppsy.2016090102

For citation: Velichkovsky B.B., Gusev A.N., Vinogradova V.F., Arbekova O.A. Cognitive control and a sense of presence in virtual environments. Eksperimental'naâ psihologiâ = Experimental Psychology (Russia), 2016. Vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 5–20. DOI: 10.17759/exppsy.2016090102. (In Russ., аbstr. in Engl.)

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Information About the Authors

Boris B. Velichkovsky, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Chair of Methodology of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Professor, Chair of General Psychology, Moscow Institute of Psychoanalysis, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7823-0605, e-mail: velitchk@mail.ru

Alexey N. Gusev, Doctor of Psychology, Professor, Chair of Personality Psychology, Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9299-7092, e-mail: angusev@mail.ru

V. F. Vinogradova, Student, Department of Psychology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia, e-mail: vvfedorovna@gmail.com

Olga A. Arbekova, PhD in Psychology, psychologist, Regional non-profit social organization “Center for Curative Pedagogics” (CCP) “Special childhood”, Moscow, Russia, ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3628-3981, e-mail: inventa17151@gmail.com

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