The four presence dimensions were assessed with a 16-item questionnaire in French (Table 2, Wagener and Simon, in preparation) that is consistent with Slater’s (2009 (link)) and Biocca and colleagues’ (2003) theoretical conceptions. Participants replied on a 7-point scale ranging from 1 = “totally disagree” to 7 = “totally agree”. The four dimensions included “place illusion” (i.e., the sense of being in the place); “plausibility illusion” (i.e., the feeling that the scenario is actually taking place); “copresence illusion” (i.e., the sense of sharing the environment with other characters); and “social presence illusion” (i.e., the feeling that a psychological link exists between oneself and the other characters). Scores of each dimension range from 4 to 28 with higher scores indicating higher sense of presence. The psychometric qualities of this questionnaire are satisfactory (confirmatory factorial analysis: χ2/dl = 167.63/98 = 1.71; RMSEA = 0.067; SRMR = 0.06; CFI = 0.996; TLI = 0.995, McDonald’s omega: ωplace = 0.89, ωplausibility = 0.88, ωcopresence = 0.80, ωsocial = 0.81).

Items measuring the four dimensions of presence in English and French

Place illusion

I felt like I was “there”, in the immersive environment

J'avais l'impression d'être « là», dans l'environnement immersif

I felt I was present in the environment

J’ai eu l’impression d’être présent(e) dans l'environnement

I felt enfulged by the virtual environment

Je me suis senti(e) enveloppé(e) par l’environnement virtuel

I felt like I was in the same place as the characters and/or objects

J’avais l’impression d’être dans le même lieu que les personnages et/ou objets

Plausibility illusion

The virtual environment seemed real

L’environnement virtuel me semblait réel

It was as if the elements had really happened

Pour moi, c'est comme si les éléments s'étaient réellement produits

The events I experienced seemed real

Les événements vécus me semblaient réels

The world I interacted with felt real

Le monde avec lequel j'ai interagi me semblait réel

Co-presence illusion

I felt like I was interacting with other humans

J'ai eu le sentiment d'interagir avec d'autres êtres humains

I felt the presence of other people in the environment

J'ai ressenti la présence d'autres personnes dans l'environnement

I felt that characters were aware of my presence

J’ai eu l’impression que les personnages étaient conscients de ma présence

I felt that characters could respond to my actions

J’ai eu l’impression que des personnages pouvaient répondre à mes actions

Social presence illusion

I felt psychologically connected to other individuals

Je me suis senti psychologiquement connecté aux autres individus

I describe the social interactions I experienced as intimate and personal

Je peux qualifier les interactions sociales vécues d'intimes et personnelles

I felt part of/excluded from a group

J'avais le sentiment de faire partie / d'être exclu d'un groupe

I felt a positive or negative connection with the characters

J'ai senti un lien positif ou négatif avec les personnages

Cybersickness was assessed with the French version (Bouchard et al. 2011 ) of the Simulator Sickness Questionnaire (SSQ; Kennedy et al. 1993 (link)). The SSQ consists of 16 items distributed across two subscales that assess nausea (SSQN) and oculomotor symptoms (SSQOM). Participants reply on 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 = “not at all” to 3 = “severely” regarding the extent to which the symptom is present. Scores range from 0 to 24 for each subscale with higher scores indicating higher levels of cybersickness.