Electrodermal Activity Evaluation of Player Experience in Virtual Reality Games: A Phasic Component Analysis

Abstract

Electrodermal activity (EDA) is considered to be an effective metric for measuring changes in the arousal level of people. In this paper, the phasic component of EDA data from players is analyzed in relation to their reported experience from a standardized questionnaire, when interacting with a couple of virtual reality games that featured two different input devices: the HTC Vive and Leap Motion controllers. Initial results show that there are no significant differences in the phasic component data, despite having significant differences in their respective player experience. Furthermore, no linear correlations are found between the phasic component data and the evaluated experience variables, with the only exception of negative affect which features a weak positive correlation. In conclusion, the phasic component of EDA data has here shown a limited correlation with player experience and should be further explored in combination with other psychophysiological signals.