Editorial: Exploring the perceived realism of XR experiences: unveiling the impact of cutting-edge simulation tools and their interplay with human and contextual factors

Abstract

Among the various human and contextual factors, the article by Mal et al. (this volume) suggests that congruence and plausibility could play decisive roles. Supporting previous studies that emphasize the role of coherence (Skarbez, 2016;Skarbez et al., 2017), the authors found that incongruence between the realism of the self-avatar and other social actors in a virtual environment can significantly impact the perception of self-location and self-identification, whereas congruence between the realism of the self-avatar and the user's physical body enhances perceived virtual body ownership and self-identification. These findings emphasize that the referential frame users hold in mind is important in determining the perceived realism of virtual experiences, as they evaluate the discrepancies between the realism of virtual actors (or objects) and their expectations-formed based on previous experiences and knowledge-at a perceptual level, as suggested by Slater et al. (2022).In alignment with these findings, the article by Pouke et al. (this volume) provides another perspective on how coherence influences the perceived realism of physics in virtual environments. By conducting two creative experiments in which the scale of participants (normal vs. reduced) and the physics of virtual models (true vs. movie) are varied based on the virtual characters of a scaled-down robot and a regular-sized cat, the authors found that a key contextual factor-whether the familiarity of a virtual character or expectations regarding its identity match its physics (rigid-body dynamics)-can determine the perceived realism of a virtual character's physics. The findings of this study suggest that the contextual coherence between users' beliefs about a virtual character's identity and its body dynamics, formed based on prior experiences, could act as a perceptual ruler in determining the perceived realism of XR experiences.At the individual level, the article by Kim et al. (this volume) demonstrates that enhancing the realism of virtual objects via stereoscopic visualization improves the reaching performance of participants in a virtual environment-but only for young participants aged 22 to 26, compared to older participants aged 69 to 88. This finding highlights the importance of considering individual differences in perceptual ability, stemming from physical limitations or previous experiences, when understanding how task performance and behavioral realism are influenced by perceptual differences at the individual level.From a technical standpoint, previous literature on XR technologies has predominantly focused on enhancing the perceived realism of virtual experiences through visual and auditory feedback. However, the article by Li et al. (this volume) suggests that perceived realism could be further enhanced by incorporating tactile feedback via a wearable haptic system with kinesthetic feedback. Although several technical challenges must be addressed before this technology becomes commercially viable, the article underscores the importance of integrating multi-sensory feedback to enhance the perceived realism of virtual experiences.Finally, the article by Hameed et al. (this volume) provides a holistic framework supporting the idea that human and contextual factors interact with system (i.e., technical) factors in determining the quality of virtual experiences-namely, realism constructs such as presence, plausibility, and embodiment. By defining virtual experiences through a fivedimensional taxonomy of immersivity, interactivity, explorability, plausibility, and believability, the authors offer a comprehensive perspective on the system, human, and contextual factors that influence the quality of users' virtual experiences, as well as methodological approaches for measuring and assessing them. Notably, this article also underscores the importance of considering plausibility and coherence (i.e., believability) when assessing the quality of virtual experi