With advances in biosensing and artificial intelligence, we are seeing fast developments of recursive biocybernetic closed-loop systems. These media technologies adapt the content in real-time based on users’ psychophysiological input, with the goal of modulating users’ affective responses. However, existing research primarily focuses on technical design aspects.

Virtual reality (VR) is considered a technological megatrend that is driving the digitization of all aspects of human life. Avatars, virtual bodies controlled by users, play an important role in VR. Many scholars consider the sense of embodiment as a key affordance of avatars. However, our understanding of how to optimize embodiment through avatar representation in VR remains underdeveloped. This study systematically reviewed a body of 43 studies from 41 research papers that investigated the manipulations of avatars in VR. The corpus was coded with head-mounted display (HMD) models, avatar creation tools, mirror use, task context, and avatar manipulations. Based on these experiment-based studies, we discuss how different types of avatar representations affect users’ embodiment. Based on the findings, we indicate practical implications of avatar design in VR applications.

• The study experimentally compared the novel VR interfaces that use current state-of-the-art kinesthetic gloves as manipulation tools with the traditional controller-based VR interface in accurate 3D object manipulation. • The experiment demonstrated the strengths of finger-based multipoint interaction provided by kinesthetic gloves, in terms of task completion time, accuracy, perceived workload and user preference. • The results also revealed the advantages and disadvantages of force feedback from the gloves for 3D manipulation and demonstrated the direction of future technology improvement. One of the challenges facing virtual reality (VR) is the pursuit of efficient and natural object manipulation, required by many applications, such as computer-aided medical diagnosis, surgery planning and industrial prototyping. Current hand-based three-dimensional (3D) manipulation allows users to interact with virtual objects intuitively, enabled primarily by using motion controllers with single-point interaction. There are promising avenues to increase naturalness of interaction through kinesthetic gloves that provide finger-based multipoint interaction with force feedback. These novel gloves could have more potential for 3D object manipulation in VR, however, their practical usability in this field remains largely unexplored. This study compared the glove-based VR interfaces (with/without force feedback) with the traditional controller-based VR interface in accurate movement and rotation tasks. The results demonstrated the strengths of finger-based multipoint interaction provided by kinesthetic gloves in accurate 3D manipulation, in terms of task completion time, accuracy, perceived workload and user preference. Additionally, the experiment identified that force feedback from kinesthetic gloves surprisingly did not benefit user task performance and even negatively affected rotation accuracy. However, it was perceived as valuable for object rotation that required complicated finger movement and coordination.

Social virtual reality (VR) enables embodied interactions with others within 3D environments. There has been a growing amount of research on avatar appearance and its influence on social presence and user behaviour, including communicative outcomes. As the focus has often been on the effects of avatar-related intrapersonal processes, it would be necessary to shed more light on the influence of interpersonal processes behind dynamic avatar-mediated interaction. This research aimed to investigate the effects of avatar customisation on social presence and perceived relational messages during a collaborative puzzle task in immersive social VR. The strictly controlled between-subject laboratory experiment (N = 50) with two body-tracked avatar conditions (Custom vs. Assigned) was conducted. Results do not indicate that avatar customisation has a significant effect on social presence or relational communication in the collaborative task-related context. However, it is worth noting that participants in both conditions presented markedly high social presence scores and rated partners' relational messages positively, which might have introduced a ceiling effect diminishing any potential difference in social presence between the conditions.

The production of immersive media often involves 360-degree viewing on mobile or immersive VR devices, particularly in the field of immersive journalism. However, it is unclear how the different technologies used to present such media affect the experience of presence. To investigate this, a laboratory experiment was conducted with 87 participants who were assigned to one of three conditions: HMD-360, Monitor-360, or Monitor-article, representing three distinct levels of technological immersion. All three conditions represented the same base content, with high and mid-immersion featuring a panoramic 360-video and low-immersion presenting an article composed of a transcript and video stills.

Fields such as immersive journalism and VR-based media consumption are expected to holistically engross users and have a deeper emotional impact as well as internationalization of information. ThisWe used a between-subjects repeated-measures experiment (N = 87) to study employs contenteffects of a 360-degree video presented in three levels of immersiveness. High and medium immersion (VR-360 and Screen-360) presented the original video using different technology, whereas low immersion (Article) represented video content in the form of a transcript and video stills. The results suggest that the higher immersiveness has a more prominentgreater effect on the emotional response of consumers. Moreover, higher negative affect after the media experience appears to be associated seems to predictwith lower cued recall memory of the presented content. When it comes to individual differences, age in the range of 18-40 years does not seem to influence the strength of the affect change but females might experience a higher change than males. This study suggests caution when creating informational but highly emotional immersive media content as the negative emotional experience might impede memory of factual information. These implications are further applicable to fields other than journalism, such as education and simulation trainings.

Abstract Recently, there has been a burgeoning of immersive virtual reality (VR) applications in a variety of shapes, including gameful social VR. Despite a longstanding tradition of studying social factors in gameful computing, this perspective in the specific experiences of VR is only gaining traction. This highly multidisciplinary area of interest is immensely complex with potential consequences on individuals and social groups alike. To aid in constituting and systematizing this area of research from the early days, this paper explores 14 state-of-art publications on experimental research of social aspects in gameful VR. These were analysed predominantly based on the included manipulations and the studied outcomes resulting in the extraction of five and seven thematic wholes, respectively. Finally, based on the findings, four broad avenues to consider were emphasized as suggested paths for a comprehensive future of embodied gameful social VR application and research across a variety of disciplines.