Presence Is Reality: Rethinking Virtual and Real-World Consciousness

Area of Science:

• Cognitive Science
• Virtual Reality (VR) Research
• Neuroscience

Background:

• The sense of presence (feeling "there") and the sense of reality (discriminating real from unreal) are often treated as separate.
• Existing literature shows inconsistent and interchangeable use of these terms in cognitive science and VR studies.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the dichotomy between presence and reality.
• To propose that presence and reality are continuous phenomena.
• To integrate perceptual and cognitivist theories of presence.

Main Methods:

• Review and synthesis of cognitive science and VR literature.
• Identification of converging psychophysical findings in multisensory integration, self-embodiment, and agency.
• Analysis of preliminary neuroimaging data.

Main Results:

• Presence and reality share conceptual, mechanistic, and phenomenological continuity.
• Integrative mechanisms likely underpin both presence and reality.
• Converging evidence exists in multisensory integration, self-embodiment, and agency.
• Preliminary neuroimaging suggests a shared frontolimbic neural substrate for "realness."

Conclusions:

• Presence and reality should be viewed as continuous, not dichotomous.
• Virtual reality (VR) is a valid tool for studying the sense of reality and related clinical disorders.
• Future research should directly compare presence and reality to test for functional and neural equivalence.