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The Virtual Reality Koinos Method: Analysis of Symmetrical Dyadic Collaboration in Virtual Reality from the perspective of communication models

Eloise Minder, Sylvain Fleury, Solène Neyret, Jean-Rémy Chardonnet

TL;DR

The paper addresses co-presence in VR and how social factors shape the sense of "being there together" beyond hardware quality. It introduces the Koinos Method, which blends Newcomb’s ABX model with Tomasello’s Cooperative Model and a Common Ground Evaluation Grid to analyze VR social interactions. Two symmetrical dyadic VR experiments test how social representations and avatar appearance affect co-presence and task performance, revealing that strong common ground reduces the need for complex communication cues and that AI-controlled partners diminish co-presence relative to human partners. The authors propose a co-presence equation, Co-Presence = Common ground + Communication cues, and offer practical guidance for developers to optimize VR social interactions by focusing on common ground and targeted communication cues rather than avatar appearance alone.

Abstract

Understanding which factors could influence co-presence in Virtual Reality could help develop more qualitative social interactions, or social interactions that generate similar sensations, emotions and feelings than the ones generated during Face-to-Face interactions. Co-presence is studied since the beginning of Virtual Reality (VR); though, no consensus is identified on what factors could influence it, except the consensus on the definition of "being there together" inside the Virtual Environment. In this paper, we introduce the Koinos method to explain social interactions in VR through communication models, (i) theoretically, and (ii) on two VR experiments that change the virtual partner social and physical representations. These analyses lead us to propose an equation to predict and help manage the sense of co-presence in VR.

The Virtual Reality Koinos Method: Analysis of Symmetrical Dyadic Collaboration in Virtual Reality from the perspective of communication models

TL;DR

The paper addresses co-presence in VR and how social factors shape the sense of "being there together" beyond hardware quality. It introduces the Koinos Method, which blends Newcomb’s ABX model with Tomasello’s Cooperative Model and a Common Ground Evaluation Grid to analyze VR social interactions. Two symmetrical dyadic VR experiments test how social representations and avatar appearance affect co-presence and task performance, revealing that strong common ground reduces the need for complex communication cues and that AI-controlled partners diminish co-presence relative to human partners. The authors propose a co-presence equation, Co-Presence = Common ground + Communication cues, and offer practical guidance for developers to optimize VR social interactions by focusing on common ground and targeted communication cues rather than avatar appearance alone.

Abstract

Understanding which factors could influence co-presence in Virtual Reality could help develop more qualitative social interactions, or social interactions that generate similar sensations, emotions and feelings than the ones generated during Face-to-Face interactions. Co-presence is studied since the beginning of Virtual Reality (VR); though, no consensus is identified on what factors could influence it, except the consensus on the definition of "being there together" inside the Virtual Environment. In this paper, we introduce the Koinos method to explain social interactions in VR through communication models, (i) theoretically, and (ii) on two VR experiments that change the virtual partner social and physical representations. These analyses lead us to propose an equation to predict and help manage the sense of co-presence in VR.

Paper Structure

This paper contains 18 sections, 1 equation, 7 figures, 4 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. Related work
  3. Koinos method: applying communication models in VR-mediated systems
  4. Applying the Koinos Method on collaborative VR experiments
  5. VR experiment 1: Effect of the social representation on co-presence and behavior
  6. Experimental design
  7. Results
  8. Discussion
  9. VR experiment 2: Does the avatar appearance really matter?
  10. Experimental design
  11. Procedure and participants
  12. Results
  13. Discussion
  14. Implementing the Koinos Method on the VR experiments
  15. General Discussion: Toward a Co-presence equation?
  16. ...and 3 more sections

Figures (7)

  • Figure 1: Newcomb’s ABX Model newcomb1953approach. A and B can represent individuals and X represents a message transmitted into a context. The double arrow between A and B represents the reciprocal influence, the verbal and non-verbal communication as well as the relationship between them.
  • Figure 2: VR social interaction dynamics viewed through communication models: Newcomb’s ABX model newcomb1953approach and Cooperative model of Human Communication tom2008.
  • Figure 3: Screenshots of the task in VR, completed with a Human virtual partner on the left, with an AI virtual partner on the right.
  • Figure 4: Three different representations used in the first experiment for the virtual collaborator: from left to right, Female human-like, AI, Male human-like.
  • Figure 5: Co-presence results between Human and AI avatars experimental conditions with 52 participants divided equally between the two conditions.
  • ...and 2 more figures