Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 17, 2025

A Cognitive Paradigm to Investigate Interference in Working Memory by Distractions and Interruptions
Published on: July 16, 2015
Presence, flow, and narrative absorption: an interdisciplinary theoretical exploration with a new spatiotemporal
Federico Pianzola1,2, Giuseppe Riva3,4, Karin Kukkonen5
1Department of Human Sciences for Education "R. Massa", University of Milan Bicocca, Milan, Italy.
Abstract:
Presence, flow, narrative absorption, immersion, transportation, and similar subjective phenomena are studied in many different disciplines, mostly in relation to mediated experiences (books, film, VR, games). Moreover, since real, virtual, or fictional agents are often involved, concepts like identification and state empathy are often linked to engaging media use. Based on a scoping review that identified similarities in the wording of various questionnaire items conceived to measure different phenomena, we categorize items into the most relevant psychological aspects and use this categorization to propose an interdisciplinary systematization. Then, based on a framework of embodied predictive processing, we present a new cognitive model of presence-related phenomena for mediated and non-mediated experiences, integrating spatial and temporal aspects and also considering the role of fiction and media design. Key processes described within the model are: selective attention, enactment of intentions, and interoception. We claim that presence is the state of perceived successful agency of an embodied mind able to correctly enact its predictions. The difference between real-life and simulated experiences ("book problem," "paradox of fiction") lays in the different precision weighting of exteroceptive and interoceptive signals.
More Related Videos
Related Concept Videos
Subconsciousness and No Awareness
An illustrative example of subconscious processing is its role in problem-solving. Often, individuals...
Theories of Dissolution: Diffusion Layer Model
This process starts with a thin layer, saturated with the drug, forming at the interface between the solid and liquid. The solute then diffuses from this layer into the main solution. The Noyes-Whitney equation suggests that the rate of dissolution relies on the diffusion...
Gestalt Psychology
Physiological Pharmacokinetic Models: Blood Flow-Limited Versus Diffusion-Limited Models
High-Level and Low-Level Awareness
Magnetic Resonance Imaging

