XR / Spatial Computing
Watching a 360 Film Together in VR: Smaller Shared Space Means More Presence and More Mental Load
Immersive storytelling is studied almost entirely as a solo activity, while cinema has always been social. A Stanford team ran three experiments on co-watching 360-degree stories in social VR, varying the type of spatial boundary, the size of personal space, and how well the group knew each other. The results are consistently paired: shared boundaries raised social presence and mental demand; shrinking personal space raised social presence and disorientation; group familiarity raised attention and physical demand.