Physiological Linkage of Dyadic Gaming Experience. (February 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Järvelä, Simo; Kivikangas, J. Matias; Kätsyri, Jari; Ravaja, Niklas
• Other Names: Harviainen J. Tuomas guest-editor.; Lainema Timo guest-editor.; Suominen Jaakko guest-editor.; Soinila Erno guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: Simulation & gaming. Volume 45:Number 1(2014:Feb.)
• Page Start: 24
• Page End: 40
• Publication Date: 2014-02
• Subjects: AI agents -- digital games -- gaming experience -- physiological linkage -- psychophysiology; Social sciences -- Study and teaching -- Periodicals; Simulation methods -- Periodicals; Game theory -- Periodicals; Sciences sociales -- Étude et enseignement -- Périodiques; Simulation, Méthodes de -- Périodiques; Jeu de rôle -- Périodiques; Éducation; Jeu d'entreprise; Jeu de simulation; Méthode de simulation; Sciences sociales; Théorie des jeux; Périodique électronique (Descripteur de forme); Ressource Internet (Descripteur de forme); 003.3
• DOI: 10.1177/1046878113513080
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1046-8781

Abstract

Dyadic gaming experience was studied in a psychophysiological experiment where conflict structure and the presence of an artificial intelligence (AI) agent in a turn-based game were varied in four different conditions. Electrocardiographic and electrodermal activity signals of 41 same-gender dyads were recorded to study joint changes in their physiological signals. A strong physiological linkage was found within dyads in all conditions, but the linkage scores did not differentiate between conflict modes. The only significant difference in linkage between conditions was an increase when the AI agents were not present. In addition, linkage was associated with different self-report scales assessing social presence. These results suggest that social presence and physiological linkage within dyads are higher when dyads can focus on each others' actions without distractions.