Presence and distal attribution: phenomenology, determinants, and assessment

Users of virtual and teleoperator display systems are said to experience "being in" the simulated or remote environment; this experiential state is commonly referred to as "presence" or "telepresence". This article identifies another experiential state, "distal attribution", in which the user experiences "being in touch with" the simulated or remote environment while fully cognizant of being in the real environment in which the display is situated. The focus of the article is on the factors or conditions that promote presence and distal attribution and with empirical methods that might be used to assess the two. Out of the author's conviction that a proper understanding of these states will derive only from explicit consideration of the nature of ordinary perceptual experience, the article begins with some important phenomenological facts.