Decomposing immersion: effects of game demand and display type on auditory evoked potentials

Immersion is used to describe the degree of psychological engagement with a computer game. A study was performed to investigate the relative contribution of game demand (easy, hard, impossible) and display type (small 5 display, large TV display, head-mounted display) on the experience of immersion. Fifteen participants played a racing game in a range of conditions. Players' experience of immersion was captured via a subjective questionnaire and evoked cortical potentials to an auditory oddball task. Results indicated that slow wave potentials were sensitive to task demand, i.e. impossible demand reduced attention to the game. There was also a weak effect of display type at both frontal and central sites that was indicative of greater immersion for the large TV screen compared to other display types. This study provides preliminary data on the decomposition of immersion into sensory and cognitive components.