PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Sharing biosignals with online gaming partners to enhance a mutual sense of social presence between complete strangers

Sharing biosignals with online gaming partners to enhance a mutual sense of social presence between complete strangers
2024-09-27
(Press-News.org) Tsukuba, Japan—Online communication tools are intended to bring people closer together. However, they often fail to sufficiently meet the human need for fulfilling social interactions. What is missing is a sense of social presence, that is, a "sense of being present with another person." This sense of social presence can be felt during mediated interactions, such as when using web conferencing tools or playing video games.

Researchers at the University of Tsukuba have identified a method for augmenting the sense of social presence in online interactions through the sharing of biosignals. Biosignals such as heart rate can convey a considerable amount of information about one's state of being. If one is anxious, their heart rate increases; if they are relaxed, their heart rate decreases.

The researchers implemented a real-time biosignal-sharing platform and tested it in online gaming sessions between players who were strangers to one another.

The study participants comprised 20 gamers who played a set of five matches of a soccer game, each time against a new opponent. The five matches were played under different conditions: playing online without any information about the opponent, playing while viewing a live video of the opponent's face, playing while viewing the heart rate information of the opponent, playing while viewing a live video of the opponent's face and heart rate information, and playing offline in the same room with the opponent.

The findings revealed that this method of sharing biosignals could augment the sense of social presence. The participants regularly looked at the heart rate information of their opponent during the match, similar to how they often looked at an opponent's face when it was presented to them. This effect was further amplified when the live video and heart rate information were presented together.

Questionnaires designed to measure the level of perceived social presence were administered to participants. The questionnaires revealed that although the augmentation method could not achieve the same level of reported social presence as when individuals play together in the same room, the combination of bio-information and face video was the closest to this optimal condition.

In a world filled with online meetings where people are converted into square portrait representations of themselves, this study presents a method for augmenting online interactions to make them more meaningful and fulfilling.

###
This work was supported by the Interdisciplinary R&D Project in the University of Tsukuba. This work was also supported in part by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI under Grant 21H03475 and Grant 24K03321, in part by the special subject of The Toyota Foundation under Grant D20-ST-0034, and in part by Japan Science and Technology Agency SPRING under Grant JPMJSP2124.

 

Original Paper Title of original paper:
Augmenting the Sense of Social Presence in Online Video Games Through the Sharing of Biosignals

Journal:
IEEE Access

DOI:
10.1109/ACCESS.2024.3429247

Correspondence Assistant Professor MATSUI, Takashi
Institute of Health and Sport Sciences, University of Tsukuba

Assistant Professor Modar Hassan
Institute of Systems and Information Engineering, University of Tsukuba

Related Link Institute of Health and Sport Sciences
Institute of Systems and Information Engineering

END

[Attachments] See images for this press release:
Sharing biosignals with online gaming partners to enhance a mutual sense of social presence between complete strangers

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ABM releases position statement on breastfeeding in emergency situations

ABM releases position statement on breastfeeding in emergency situations
2024-09-27
The Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine (ABM) has released a pioneering position statement that provides comprehensive, global recommendations on protecting, promoting, and supporting breastfeeding in emergency situations. The recommendations are the first of their kind specifically tailored for physicians to support breastfed and non-breastfed infants in emergencies and to serve as an invaluable resource for all emergency relief personnel involved in supporting families with infants during disasters. Click here to read the full position statement, published with Breastfeeding Medicine. “Breastfeeding ...

Elucidating the mechanism underlying de novo membrane formation during gametogenesis

2024-09-27
Tsukuba, Japan—Sexual reproduction, a common mode of reproduction among numerous species, involves gametogenesis in which offspring are produced through fertilization, conjugation, or mating. In plants and animals, eggs and sperm differentiate from germ cells to form gametes. However, in budding yeast, spores are produced within diploid cells. During this process, de novo membrane structures form within the cytosol, encapsulating the meiotic haploid nuclei to produce spores. Despite this knowledge, the precise mechanism underlying the formation of these nascent membrane structures remains poorly understood. To ...

Sensors and devices guided by artificial intelligence for personalized pain medicine

Sensors and devices guided by artificial intelligence for personalized pain medicine
2024-09-27
A review paper by scientists at the Indiana University Bloomington summarized recent engineering efforts in developing various sensors and devices for addressing challenges in the personalized treatment of pain. The new review paper, published on 13 Sept in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, critically examines the role of sensors and devices guided by artificial intelligence (AI) in the field of personalized pain medicine, highlighting their transformative impact on treatment outcomes and patient quality of life. Pain, a complex and subjective experience, ...

Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha

Fruit juice offers a fresh take on kombucha
2024-09-27
Kombucha is a fizzy, tangy drink made by fermenting tea. But brewers are now fermenting other plant-based drinks to explore nutritional properties and flavors. Researchers in ACS Agricultural Science & Technology compared the biochemistry and flavor of kombucha with brews made from apple and passion fruit juices. They found that the apple beverage contained high levels of bioactive compounds called flavonoids and ranked highly among taste testers, signaling its promise as a kombucha alternative. To make kombucha, brewers ferment sweetened tea with a spongy disk of microbes known as a SCOBY, or symbiotic culture of bacteria and yeast. The ...

Sloth survival under threat due to climate change, new study finds

Sloth survival under threat due to climate change, new study finds
2024-09-27
A new PeerJ Life & Environment study has revealed that sloths, the famously slow-moving creatures of Central and South America, may face existential threats due to climate change. The research, conducted by scientists studying the metabolic response of sloths to rising temperatures, suggests that the energy limitations of these animals could make survival untenable by the end of the century, particularly for high-altitude populations. The study, titled "Sloth Metabolism May Make Survival Untenable Under Climate Change Scenarios," investigates how two-fingered sloths (Choloepus hoffmanni), living in both highland and lowland regions, ...

Research sheds light on large-scale cosmic structures

Research sheds light on large-scale cosmic structures
2024-09-27
A new study has mapped out the gravitational “basins of attraction” in the local Universe, offering fresh insights into the large-scale cosmic structures that shape the movement of galaxies. Using advanced data from the Cosmicflows-4 compilation of distances and velocities of roughly 56,000 galaxies, the international research team applied cutting-edge algorithms to identify regions where gravity dominates, such as the Sloan Great Wall and the Shapley Supercluster. This research suggests that our Milky Way most probably resides within the larger Shapley basin, shifting ...

Untapped potential: Study shows how water systems can help accelerate renewable energy adoption

2024-09-27
New Stanford-led research reveals how water systems, from desalination plants to wastewater treatment facilities, could help make renewable energy more affordable and dependable. The study, published Sept. 27 in Nature Water, presents a framework to measure how water systems can adjust their energy use to help balance power grid supply and demand. “If we’re going to reach net zero, we need demand-side energy solutions, and water systems represent a largely untapped resource,” said study lead author Akshay Rao, an environmental engineering PhD student in the Stanford School of Engineering. ...

Clean energy transition: Increasing global equity with finance

2024-09-27
It is widely recognized that finance is one of the critical enablers of accelerating climate action. However, renewable energy deployment (particularly in developing countries) requires more financing than fossil fuel-based alternatives due to a combination of factors, such as higher upfront investment costs. This means that finance itself can become a barrier to mitigation investment, which is particularly problematic in the context of energy justice—making renewable energy more widely accessible in low-income countries and communities.  A new international research effort led by CMCC scientists tackles this issue ...

Orbitronics: New material property advances energy-efficient tech

Orbitronics: New material property advances energy-efficient tech
2024-09-27
Orbital angular momentum monopoles have been the subject of great theoretical interest as they offer major practical advantages for the emerging field of orbitronics, a potential energy-efficient alternative to traditional electronics. Now, through a combination of robust theory and experiments at the Swiss Light Source SLS at Paul Scherrer Institute PSI, their existence has been demonstrated. The discovery is published in the journal Nature Physics. Whereas electronics uses the charge of the electron to transfer information, technology ...

Firearm laws restricting large-capacity magazines effective in reducing child deaths in mass shootings

2024-09-27
ORLANDO, Fla.-- The only firearm restrictions found to be effective in reducing mass shootings involving children were laws banning the sale of firearms equipped with a large-capacity magazines, according to a new analysis presented during the American Academy of Pediatrics 2024 National Conference and Exhibition. Researchers will present, “Do State Gun Laws Affect Pediatric Mass Shootings? A 2009 - 2020 Year Analysis,” during the AAP conference held at Orlando Convention Center Sept. 27-Oct. ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Workforce diversity is key to advancing One Health

Genome Research publishes a special issue on innovations in computational biology

A quick and easy way to produce anode materials for sodium-ion batteries using microwaves

‘Inside-out’ galaxy growth observed in the early universe

Protein blocking bone development could hold clues for future osteoporosis treatment

A new method makes high-resolution imaging more accessible

Tiny magnetic discs offer remote brain stimulation without transgenes

Illuminating quantum magnets: Light unveils magnetic domains

Different types of teenage friendships critical to wellbeing as we age, scientists find

Hawaii distillery project wins funding from Scottish brewing and distilling award

Trinity researchers find ‘natural killer’ cells that live in the lung are ready for a sugar rush

$7 Million from ARPA-H to tackle lung infections through innovative probiotic treatment

Breakdancers may risk ‘headspin hole’ caused by repetitive headspins, doctors warn

Don’t rely on AI chatbots for accurate, safe drug information, patients warned

Nearly $10M investment will expand and enhance stroke care in Minnesota, South Dakota

Former Georgia, Miami coach Mark Richt named 2025 Paul “Bear” Bryant Heart of a Champion

$8.1M grant will allow researchers to study the role of skeletal stem cells in craniofacial bone diseases and deformities

Northwestern to promote toddler mental health with $11.7 million NIMH grant

A new study finds that even positive third-party ratings can have negative effects

Optimizing inhibitors that fight antibiotic resistance

New Lancet Commission calls for urgent action on self-harm across the world

American Meteorological Society launches free content for weather enthusiasts with “Weather Band”

Disrupting Asxl1 gene prevents T-cell exhaustion, improving immunotherapy

How your skin tone could affect your meds

NEC Society, Cincinnati Children's, and UNC Children’s announce NEC Symposium in Chicago

Extreme heat may substantially raise mortality risk for people experiencing homelessness

UTA professor earns NSF grants to study human-computer interaction

How playing songs to Darwin’s finches helped UMass Amherst biologists confirm link between environment and the emergence of new species

A holy grail found for catalytic alkane activation

Galápagos finches could be singing a different song after repeated drought—one that leads to speciation

[Press-News.org] Sharing biosignals with online gaming partners to enhance a mutual sense of social presence between complete strangers