Presence and television..

TLDR

Film and emerging entertainment technologies create an illusion of presence for media consumers. The study investigates whether television can evoke presence by showing undergraduate students rapid point‑of‑view movement on small or large screens. The experiment used 65 undergraduates viewing rapid POV movement on 12‑inch or 46‑inch TVs, with responses measured by questionnaire and electrodermal activity. Both screen sizes evoked enjoyment and participation, but large screens increased perceived speed, physical movement, excitement, and physiological arousal.

Abstract

Film and a number of emerging entertainment technologies offer media consumers an illusion of nonmediation known as presence. To investigate the possibility that television can evoke presence, 65 undergraduate students were shown brief examples of rapid point-of-view movement from commercially available videotapes on a television with either a small screen (12 inches [30.5 cm], measured diagonally) or a large screen (46 inches [116.8 cm]). Participants' responses were measured via a questionnaire and a computer-based recording of arousal (electrodermal activity). Viewers of both televisions reported an enjoyable sense of physical movement, excitement, involvement, and a sense of participation. Furthermore, as predicted, participants who watched the large screen television thought the movement in the scenes was faster, experienced a greater sense of physical movement, enjoyed the movement to a greater extent, found the viewing experience more exciting, and were more physiologically aroused. Practical and theoretical implications are discussed.