The University of Sheffield
Department of Computer Science

James Shaw Undergraduate Dissertation 2005/06

"Biometric-Computer Interface (BCI)"

Supervised by Dr DM Romano

Abstract

Presence is a degree of belief, measuring this degree is particularly difficult as itvaries form person to person. This study investigated the sense of presence derived from audio and video stimuli. In order to measure a participant's sense of presence objectively involuntary responses from the human physiology were measured including skin conductance, respiration rate, and blood volume pulse. Despite participants reporting in questionnaires they felt more presence with the audio condition, there biometric data tells a different story. Heart rate and skin conductance both support a higher level of presence within the video condition. There was no noticeable change in respiration rate detected.