@phdthesis{Stauffert2022,
  author    = {Stauffert, Jan-Philipp},
  title     = {Temporal Confounding Effects in Virtual and Extended Reality Systems},
  doi       = {10.25972/OPUS-29060},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-290609},
  school      = {Universit{\"a}t W{\"u}rzburg},
  year      = {2022},
  abstract  = {Latency is an inherent problem of computing systems. Each computation takes time until the result is available. Virtual reality systems use elaborated computer resources to create virtual experiences. The latency of those systems is often ignored or assumed as small enough to provide a good experience. This cumulative thesis is comprised of published peer reviewed research papers exploring the behaviour and effects of latency. Contrary to the common description of time invariant latency, latency is shown to fluctuate. Few other researchers have looked into this time variant behaviour. This thesis explores time variant latency with a focus on randomly occurring latency spikes. Latency spikes are observed both for small algorithms and as end to end latency in complete virtual reality systems. Most latency measurements gather close to the mean latency with potentially multiple smaller clusters of larger latency values and rare extreme outliers. The latency behaviour differs for different implementations of an algorithm. Operating system schedulers and programming language environments such as garbage collectors contribute to the overall latency behaviour. The thesis demonstrates these influences on the example of different implementations of message passing. The plethora of latency sources result in an unpredictable latency behaviour. Measuring and reporting it in scientific experiments is important. This thesis describes established approaches to measuring latency and proposes an enhanced setup to gather detailed information. The thesis proposes to dissect the measured data with a stacked z-outlier-test to separate the clusters of latency measurements for better reporting. Latency in virtual reality applications can degrade the experience in multiple ways. The thesis focuses on cybersickness as a major detrimental effect. An approach to simulate time variant latency is proposed to make latency available as an independent variable in experiments to understand latency's effects. An experiment with modified latency shows that latency spikes can contribute to cybersickness. A review of related research shows that different time invariant latency behaviour also contributes to cybersickness.},
  subject      = {Virtuelle Realit{\"a}t},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{StauffertNieblingLatoschik2020,
  author    = {Stauffert, Jan-Philipp and Niebling, Florian and Latoschik, Marc Erich},
  title     = {Latency and Cybersickness: Impact, Causes, and Measures. A Review},
  series = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality},
  volume    = {1},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Virtual Reality},
  doi       = {10.3389/frvir.2020.582204},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-236133},
  year      = {2020},
  abstract  = {Latency is a key characteristic inherent to any computer system. Motion-to-Photon (MTP) latency describes the time between the movement of a tracked object and its corresponding movement rendered and depicted by computer-generated images on a graphical output screen. High MTP latency can cause a loss of performance in interactive graphics applications and, even worse, can provoke cybersickness in Virtual Reality (VR) applications. Here, cybersickness can degrade VR experiences or may render the experiences completely unusable. It can confound research findings of an otherwise sound experiment. Latency as a contributing factor to cybersickness needs to be properly understood. Its effects need to be analyzed, its sources need to be identified, good measurement methods need to be developed, and proper counter measures need to be developed in order to reduce potentially harmful impacts of latency on the usability and safety of VR systems. Research shows that latency can exhibit intricate timing patterns with various spiking and periodic behavior. These timing behaviors may vary, yet most are found to provoke cybersickness. Overall, latency can differ drastically between different systems interfering with generalization of measurement results. This review article describes the causes and effects of latency with regard to cybersickness. We report on different existing approaches to measure and report latency. Hence, the article provides readers with the knowledge to understand and report latency for their own applications, evaluations, and experiments. It should also help to measure, identify, and finally control and counteract latency and hence gain confidence into the soundness of empirical data collected by VR exposures. Low latency increases the usability and safety of VR systems.},
  language  = {en}
}
@article{GallRothStauffertetal.2021,
  author    = {Gall, Dominik and Roth, Daniel and Stauffert, Jan-Philipp and Zarges, Julian and Latoschik, Marc Erich},
  title     = {Embodiment in Virtual Reality Intensifies Emotional Responses to Virtual Stimuli},
  series = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  volume    = {12},
  journal   = {Frontiers in Psychology},
  issn      = {1664-1078},
  doi       = {10.3389/fpsyg.2021.674179},
  url       = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-245624},
  year      = {2021},
  abstract  = {Modulating emotional responses to virtual stimuli is a fundamental goal of many immersive interactive applications. In this study, we leverage the illusion of illusory embodiment and show that owning a virtual body provides means to modulate emotional responses. In a single-factor repeated-measures experiment, we manipulated the degree of illusory embodiment and assessed the emotional responses to virtual stimuli. We presented emotional stimuli in the same environment as the virtual body. Participants experienced higher arousal, dominance, and more intense valence in the high embodiment condition compared to the low embodiment condition. The illusion of embodiment thus intensifies the emotional processing of the virtual environment. This result suggests that artificial bodies can increase the effectiveness of immersive applications psychotherapy, entertainment, computer-mediated social interactions, or health applications.},
  language  = {en}
}