Spontaneous eye blinks as an alternative measure for spatial presence experiences

Book excerpt: Spatial presence is a state in which media users temporarily overlook the mediated nature of their experience. This study discusses stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior as an alternative to presence selfreport measures. To this end, theories and empirical evidence on presence, spontaneous eye-blink behavior, and existing approaches for presence assessment are used to link antecedent processes of presence, especially attention, to presence and structure in blinking behavior. Three experiments in different media environments relate three different methods for quantification of stimulus-dependent structure to an established presence scale. The results are not conclusive, but raise questions on presence and its measurement, and advance the understanding of stimulus-dependent structure in spontaneous eye-blink behavior.