Moderating Role of Presence in EEG Responses to Visuo-haptic Prediction Error in Virtual Reality

TL;DR

This study combines EEG and questionnaires to identify neural markers of presence and prediction errors in VR, revealing how immersion levels influence sensorimotor disruption responses and user experience.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach integrating EEG with subjective measures to understand neural responses to prediction errors in immersive VR environments.

Findings

Sensorimotor disruptions elicited specific ERP effects at FCz and Pz.

Higher immersion increased self-presence but not physical presence.

PCC alpha activity was sensitive to disruptions only in visuo-haptic VR.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) can create compelling experiences that evoke presence, the sense of ``being there.'' However, problems in rendering can create sensorimotor disruptions that undermine presence and task performance. Presence is typically assessed with post-hoc questionnaires, but their coarse temporal resolution limits insight into how sensorimotor disruptions shape user experience. Here, we combined questionnaires with electroencephalography (EEG) to identify neural markers of presence-affecting prediction error in immersive VR. Twenty-five participants performed a grasp-and-place task under two levels of immersion (visual-only vs.~visuo-haptic). Occasional oddball-like sensorimotor disruptions introduced premature feedback to elicit prediction errors. Overall, higher immersion enhanced self-presence but not physical presence, while accuracy and speed improved over time irrespective of immersion. At the neural level, sensorimotor disruptions elicited robust event-related potential effects at FCz and Pz, accompanied by increases in frontal midline $\theta$ and posterior $\alpha$ suppression. Through source analyses localized to anterior- and posterior cingulate cortex (ACC/PCC) we found that PCC $\alpha$ activity showed heightened sensitivity to disruptions exclusively in visuo-haptic immersion. Exploratory moderation analyses by presence scores revealed no consistent patterns. Together, these results suggest that higher immersion amplifies both the benefits and costs of sensorimotor coherence.