The actor-observer effect in virtual reality presentations

The use of virtual reality (VR) presentations are becoming a more and more frequent means of communicating information and displaying data to large groups of viewers. VR presentations put heavy demands on reproduction of visual, aural, and tactile information. A common situation in VR presentations is that one actor acts in the virtual environment (VE), while a group of people observes the actors actions in the VE, often from the perspective of the actor. The current paper aims to study actors' (participants actively interacting with the VE) and observers' (participants passively observing; the actors' interaction with the VE) evaluations of the VR presentation. In an experiment, 16 actors and 16 observers either acted in or observed a VE and performed ratings of the quality of the presentation. The results showed that actors experienced higher presence and realism, and enjoyed the VR experience more than observers did. Observers, on the other hand, experienced that external events distracted their attention more than actors did. Finally, actors experienced more symptoms of simulation sickness. However, no differences between actors and observers were found for ratings of audio quality.