Top

AI & SOCIETY

Published in:

08-01-2015 | Original Article

Presence: Is it just pretending?

Author: Phil Turner

Published in: AI & SOCIETY | Issue 2/2016

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

Our sense of presence in the real world helps regulate our behaviour within it by telling us about the status and effectiveness of our actions. As such, this ability offers us practical advantages in dealing effectively with the world. It is also an automatic or intuitive response to where and how we find ourselves in that it does not require conscious thought or deliberation. In contrast, the experience of presence or immersion in a movie, game or virtual environment is not automatic but is the product of our deliberate engagement with it, an engagement which first requires a disengagement or decoupling with the real world. Of course, we regularly decouple from the real world and embrace other, possible worlds every time we daydream, or engage in creative problem solving or, most importantly, for the purposes of this discussion, when we make-believe. We propose that make-believe is a plausible psychological mechanism which underpins the experience of mediated presence.

previous article Erratum to: Artificial super intelligence: beyond rhetoric

next article Human, machines, and the interpretation of formal systems

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 390 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Putnam’s Twin Earth thought experiment asks us to believe (pretend) that elsewhere in the universe there is a planet exactly like Earth in virtually all respects, refer to as “Twin Earth”. Having said “virtually all respects”, Putnam goes on to propose some differences between the two for the purpose of philosophical discourse and exploring the nature of semantics.

Biocca F, Harms C, Burgoon JK (2003) Towards a more robust theory and measure of social presence: review and suggested criteria. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 12(5):456–480CrossRef

Botella C, Baños RM, Perpiñá C, Villa H, Alcañiz M, Rey A (1998) Virtual reality treatment of claustrophobia: a case report. Behav Res Ther 36(2):239–246CrossRef

Buchanan R (1992) Wicked problems in design thinking. Des Issues VIII(2):5–21MathSciNetCrossRef

Calvin WH (2006) The emergence of intelligence. Sci Am Spec 16(2):84–92MathSciNetCrossRef

Carruthers P (2011) Human creativity: its cognitive basis, its evolution, and its connections with childhood. Br J Philos Sci 53(2):225–249CrossRef

Chaiken S, Trope Y (eds) (1999) Dual-process theories in social psychology. Guilford Press, New York

Clark A, Chalmers DJ (1998) The extended mind. Analysis 58:10–23CrossRef

Cosmides and Tooby (2000) Consider the source: the evolution of adaptations for decoupling and metarepresentation. In: Sperber D (ed) Metarepresentations: a multidisciplinary perspective. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Damasio A (1999) The feeling of what happens: body and emotion in the making of consciousness. Harcourt Brace and Co, New York

Dienes Z, Perner J (1999) A theory of implicit and explicit knowledge. Behav Brain Sci 22:735–808CrossRef

Draper J, Kaber D, Usher J (1998) Telepresence. Hum Factors 40(3):354–375CrossRef

Emmelkamp PMG, Krijn M, Hulsbosch L, de Vries S, Schuemie MJ, van der Mast CAPG (2002) Virtual reality treatment versus exposure in vivo: a comparative evaluation in acrophobia. Behav Res Ther 40:25–32CrossRef

Epstein S (1994) Integration of the cognitive and psychodynamic unconscious. Am Psychol 49:709–724CrossRef

Evans JSBT (2003) In two minds: dual process accounts of reasoning. Trends Cogn Sci 7:454–459CrossRef

Fogg BJ, Nass C (1997) Silicon sycophants: the effects of computers that flatter. Int J Hum Comput Stud 46:551–561CrossRef

Garvey C (1990) Play. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

Gendler TS (2008) Alief and belief. J Philos 105:634–663CrossRef

Goldstein TR, Bloom P (2011) The mind on stage: why cognitive scientists should study acting. Trends Cogn Sci 15(4):141–142CrossRef

Green MC (2005) Transportation into narrative worlds: implications for the self. In: Tesser A, Stapel DA, Wood JW (eds) On building, defending and regulating the self: a psychological perspective. Psychology Press, New York, pp 53–75

Guitar (2014) http://www.airguitarworldchampionships.com/. Last retrieved 25 May 2014

Hammond KR (1996) Human judgment and social policy: irreducible uncertainty, inevitable error, unavoidable injustice. Oxford University Press, New York

Harris P (2000) The work of the imagination. Blackwell, London

Heidegger M (1927/1962) Being and time (trans: Macquarrie J and Robinson E). Harper Collins, New York

Held RM, Durlach NI (1992) Telepresence. Presence Teleoperators Virtual Environ 1:109–112CrossRef

Hoffman HG, Seibel EJ, Richards TL, Furness TA, Patterson DR, Sharar SR (2006) Virtual reality helmet display quality influences the magnitude of virtual reality analgesia. J Pain 7:843–850CrossRef

Hutto DD, Myin E (2013) Radicalizing enactivism. MIT Press, Cambridge

Jent JF, Niec LN, Baker SE (2011) Play and interpersonal processes. In: Russ SW, Niec LN (eds) Play in clinical practice: evidence-based approaches. Guilford Press, New York

Kahneman D (2002) Maps of bounded rationality: a perspective on intuitive judgment and choice. Nobel Prize Lecture. http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/economics/laureates/2002/kahnemann-lecture.pdf. Last retrieved 12 Jan 2013

Kahneman D (2011) Thinking, fast and slow. Allen Lane, London

Leslie AM (1987) Pretense and representation: the origins of “theory of mind”. Psychol Rev 94:412–426CrossRef

Leslie A (1994) Pretending and believing: issues in the theory of ToMM. Cognition 50:211–238CrossRef

Lewis-Williams D (2004) The mind in the cave. Thames and Hudson, London

Lillard AS (2001) Pretend play as twin earth: a social cognitive analysis. Dev Rev 21:495–531CrossRef

Lombard M, Ditton T (1997) At the heart of it all: the concept of presence. J Comput Mediat Commun 3(2)

Mithen S (2002) Human evolution and the cognitive basis of science. In: Carruthers P, Stitch S, Siegal M (eds) The cognitive basis of science. CUP, Cambridge, pp 23–40CrossRef

Nakayama H (2013) Changes in the affect of infants before and after episodes of crying. Infant Behav Dev 36(4):507–512CrossRef

Nichols S, Stich S (2005) A cognitive theory of pretense. Oxford University Press, Mindreading

Norman DA (1999) The disappearing computer. Basic Books, New York

Premack DG, Woodruff G (1978) Does the chimpanzee have a theory of mind? Behav Brain Sci 1(4):515–526CrossRef

Prinz W (1984) Modes of linkage between perception and action. In: Prinz W, Sanders A-F (eds) Cognition and motor processes. Springer, Berlin, pp 185–193CrossRef

Pylyshyn ZW (1973) What the mind’s eye tells the mind’s brain: a critique of mental imagery. Psychol Bull 80:1–24CrossRef

Pylyshyn ZW (1981) The imagery debate: analogue versus tacit knowledge. Psychol Rev 86:383–394CrossRef

Rakoczy H, Tomasello M, Striano T (2004) Young children know that trying is not pretending: a test of the ‘behaving-as-if’ construal of children’s understanding of pretense. Dev Psychol 40:388–399CrossRef

Reber AS (1993) Implicit learning and tacit knowledge. Oxford University Press, Oxford

Riva (2009) Is presence a technology issue? Some insights from cognitive sciences. Virtual Real 13:159–169CrossRef

Riva, Waterworth (2014) Being present in a virtual world. In: Grimshaw M (ed) The oxford handbook of virtuality. Oxford University Press, New York, pp 205–221

Riva G, Waterworth JA, Waterworth EL (2004) The layers of presence: a bio-cultural approach to understanding presence in natural and mediated environments. Cyberpsychol Behav 7(4):405–419

Riva G, Waterworth JA, Waterworth EL, Mantovania F (2009) From intention to action: the role of presence. New Ideas Psychol. doi:10.1016/j.newideapsych.2009.11.002

Rothbaum BO, Hodges L, Kooper R, Opdyke D, Williford JS, North M (1995) Virtual reality graded exposure in the treatment of acrophobia: a case report. Behav Ther 26:547–554CrossRef

Rothbaum BO, Hodges L, Watson BA, Kessler GD, Opdyke D (1996) Virtual reality exposure therapy in the treatment of fear of flying: a case report. Behav Res Ther 34:477–481CrossRef

Russ SW (2004) Play in child development and psychotherapy. Earlbaum, Mahwah

Seja AL, Russ SW (1999) Children’s fantasy play and emotional understanding. J Clin Child Psychol 28:269–277CrossRef

Sheridan T (1992) Musings on telepresence and virtual presence. Presence 1(1):120–126CrossRef

Singer DG, Singer JL (2005) Imagination and play in the electronic age. Harvard University Press, CambridgeCrossRefMATH

Slater M, Usoh M, Steed A (1994) Depth of presence in virtual environments. Presence 3:130–144CrossRef

Sloman SA (1996) The empirical case for two systems of reasoning. Psychol Bull 119:3–22CrossRef

Stanovich KE (2004) The robot’s rebellion: finding meaning the age of Darwin. University of Chicago Press, ChicagoCrossRef

Stanovich KE, West RF (2003) Evolutionary versus instrumental goals: how evolutionary psychology misconceives human rationality. In: Over D (ed) Evolution and the psychology of thinking: the debate. Psychology Press, Hove, pp 171–230

Tattersall I (2006) How we became human. Sci Am Spec 16(2):66–73CrossRef

Toon A (2010) Models as make-believe. In: Frigg R, Hunter M (eds) Beyond mimesis and convention. Boston studies in the philosophy of science. Springer, Dordrecht, pp 71–96CrossRef

Turner P, Hetherington R, Turner S (to appear) The limits of pretending. Digit Creat

Vygotski LS (1978) Mind in society: the development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

Walton KL (1990) Mimesis as make-believe: on the foundations of the representational arts. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

Walton KL (1993) Metaphor and prop oriented make-believe. Eur J Philos 1(1):39–57MathSciNetCrossRef

Witmer BG, Singer MJ (1998) Measuring presence in virtual environments: a presence questionnaire. Presence 7:225–240CrossRef

Title: Presence: Is it just pretending?
Author: Phil Turner
Publication date: 08-01-2015
Publisher: Springer London
Published in: AI & SOCIETY / Issue 2/2016
Print ISSN: 0951-5666
Electronic ISSN: 1435-5655
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-014-0579-y

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Springer Professional "Technik"

Other articles of this Issue 2/2016

Technology transfer motivation analysis based on fuzzy type 2 signal detection theory

Clarifying the interaction between ideas and architectural works in the Achaemenid era

Simulation, self-extinction, and philosophy in the service of human civilization

Artificial supper intelligence: beyond rhetoric

Human, machines, and the interpretation of formal systems

Toward a better self-regulation: degree of certainty through fuzzy logic in a formative assessment

Premium Partner