Publications

A list of current CACHE publications.

2024

Translating Children’s Environmental Health Science Using Virtual Environments: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach

Haley R. Hatfield, Abby Mutic, Morgan Barnes, Gillian Smith, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn

Environmental justice remains a critical issue in the United States, particularly in regions in the Southeast, where underserved and under-resourced communities continue to endure a disproportionate burden of environmental hazards due to systemic inequities. Addressing these disparities requires fostering community-driven partnerships that empower local stakeholders and catalyze meaningful change. This article presents a case study and takeaways of collaborative research efforts between academic institutions and community stakeholders in Georgia, specifically focusing on translating children’s environmental health (CEH) research through virtual environments. The Center for Children’s Health Assessment, Research Translation, and Combating Environmental Racism brings together Emory University, the University of Georgia, Spelman College, and the Center for Black Women’s Wellness to develop effective strategies to translate research findings on CEH to stakeholders in the community, academia, and healthcare. This case study draws upon our experience of leveraging cutting-edge digital technologies, including virtual reality and video games, to integrate experiential learning across all ages and enhance policymakers’ understanding of environmental justice impacts through translational strategies. This article examines the successes and challenges in bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and grassroots action. We offer insights into the broader implications of community-driven partnerships for promoting environmental sustainability and social justice.

Addressing whiteness in communication scholar composition and collaboration across seven decades of ICA journals (1951-2022)

Haley R. Hatfield, Hongtao Hao, Matthew Klein, Jing Zhang, Yijie Fu, Jaemin Kim, Jongmin Lee, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn

The persisting legacies of colonialism have called for scholars to be more active in their efforts to dismantle and decenter the normative foundations of Whiteness in scholarly practices. This article examines the intersectional structures of authorship and collaboration patterns among scholarly teams within five flagship Communication journals. We used a bibliometric analysis to examine the race, gender, institution, and institution type of 11,292 authors from five International Communication Association journals between 1951 and 2022. We found that the dominating representation of white, male, and U.S.-based scholars is decreasing, but stark disparities within the composition of and collaborations among Communication scholars still remain. We offer insights into how these patterns reproduce structural inequities and propose future directions for scholars to support and participate in the ongoing work to dismantle and decenter Whiteness in academia.

Virtual fitness buddy ecosystem: a mixed reality precision health physical activity intervention for children

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Michael D. Schmidt, Allan D. Tate, Stephen Rathbun, James J. Annesi, Lindsay Hahn, Eric Novotny, Christian Okitondo, Rebecca N. Grimsley, Kyle Johnsen

6–11-year-old children provide a critical window for physical activity (PA) interventions. The Virtual Fitness Buddy ecosystem is a precision health PA intervention for children integrating mixed reality technology to connect people and devices. A cluster randomized, controlled trial was conducted across 19 afterschool sites over two 6-month cohorts to test its efficacy in increasing PA and decreasing sedentary behavior. In the treatment group, a custom virtual dog via a mixed reality kiosk helped children set PA goals while sharing progress with parents to receive feedback and support. Children in the control group set PA goals using a computer without support from the virtual dog or parents. 303 children had 8+ hours of PA data on at least one day of each of the 3 intervention time intervals. Conversion of sedentary time was primarily to light-intensity PA and was strongest for children with low baseline moderate-to-vigorous PA than children above 45 min of baseline moderate-to-vigorous PA. Findings suggest that the VFB ecosystem can promote sustainable PA in children and may be rapidly diffused for widespread public health impact.

Conferencing together in social virtual reality: Bringing agency back into affordances-based approaches in communication scholarship

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Allison Eden, Joomi Lee, Andrea S. Won, Angel H.-C Hwang, William S. Guthrie

Technological advancements allow embodied and synchronous communication via social virtual reality (VR), where multiple users interact as avatars in a shared virtual space. However, the affordances of social VR and how users interact with them have been underexplored. We expand the discourse on media affordances by emphasizing user agency in strategic media choices for overcoming constraints in physical and virtual worlds. We qualitatively investigated user experiences of a social VR platform. Findings from semi-structured interviews (N = 28) revealed that media selection is determined through a dynamic relationship between platforms designed to encourage action possibilities and users strategically leveraging media affordances to overcome situational constraints of their physical environment.

Virtual games, real interactions: A look at cross-reality asymmetrical co-located social games

Alexandra Kitson, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Eric J Gonzalez, Payod Panda, Katherine Isbister, Mar Gonzalez-Franco

Multiuser, multi-device environments in extended realities (XR) enable synchronous social interactions. With the freedom and flexibility to choose the most suitable device, we allow for inclusive environments where even spectators can be involved. However, existing research has mostly been conducted in controlled laboratory settings, which limits the applicability of the findings to naturalistic scenarios. We conducted a mixed methods study with social XR experts to explore situated and asymmetrical modalities in the context of XR gaming for enabling social interactions in naturalistic social settings, focusing on two games. We considered variations in available devices, spatial constraints, and users’ motivations and expertise. Our research suggests that asymmetrical interfaces may reduce barriers to entry for XR, support social connection, and promote cross-platform communication and collaboration. Together, our findings provoke critical discussions for future work on the effective deployment of asymmetrical interfaces in naturalistic scenarios and address potential technical, spatial, and social challenges.

Decoding derogation: The impact of environmental values and political ideology on the effect of persuasive message about recycle and reuse behaviors

Prerna Shah, Janet Z. Yang

Although persuasive messages are designed to motivate individuals to engage in intended behaviors, they do not always work. Often, people follow previously established values and ideologies and dismiss persuasive messages. We examine how participants react to a persuasive message related to plastic pollution and how these reactions shape their willingness to recycle and reuse. Results indicate that environmental values and political ideology are associated with message derogation in distinct ways, which, in turn, affect risk perception, self-efficacy, and intention to recycle and reuse. Further, past behavior moderates the relationship between message derogation and perceived risk, but not the relationship between message derogation and self-efficacy. These results suggest that pre-existing values and ideologies play an important role in message derogation, a hitherto under-researched phenomenon that has key implications for self-reported behavioral change. Moreover, past behavior could serve as a powerful lever in steering risk perception and behavioral intent.

What is medical extended reality: A taxonomy defining the current breadth and depth of an evolving field

Brennan M.R. Spiegel, Albert Rizzo, Susan Persky, Omer Liran, Brenda Wiederhold, Susan Woods, Kate Donovan, Korak Sarkar, Henry Xiang, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Rohan Jotwani, Min Lang, Margot Paul, Mike Senter-Zapata, Keith Widmeier, Haipeng Zhang

Medical extended reality (MXR) has emerged as a dynamic field at the intersection of health care and immersive technology, encompassing virtual, augmented, and mixed reality applications across a wide range of medical disciplines. Despite its rapid growth and recognition by regulatory bodies, the field lacks a standardized taxonomy to categorize its diverse research and applications. This American Medical Extended Reality Association guideline, authored by the editorial board of the Journal of Medical Extended Reality, introduces a comprehensive taxonomy for MXR, developed through a multidisciplinary and international collaboration of experts. The guideline seeks to standardize terminology, categorize existing work, and provide a structured framework for future research and development in MXR. An international and multidisciplinary panel of experts was convened, selected based on publication track record, contributions to MXR, and other objective measures. Through an iterative process, the panel identified primary and secondary topics in MXR. These topics were refined over several rounds of review, leading to the final taxonomy. The taxonomy comprises 13 primary topics that jointly expand into 180 secondary topics, demonstrating the field's breadth and depth. At the core of the taxonomy are five overarching domains: (1) technological integration and innovation; (2) design, development, and deployment; (3) clinical and therapeutic applications; (4) education, training, and communication; and (5) ethical, regulatory, and socioeconomic considerations. The developed taxonomy offers a framework for categorizing the diverse research and applications within MXR. It may serve as a foundational tool for researchers, clinicians, funders, academic publishers, and regulators, facilitating clearer communication and categorization in this rapidly evolving field. As MXR continues to grow, this taxonomy will be instrumental in guiding its development and ensuring a cohesive understanding of its multifaceted nature.

360-degree journalism as a gateway to information seeking: The role of enjoyment and spatial presence

Ivanka Pjesivac, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Andrea Briscoe, Solyee Kim

This study examined the impact of news modality (print news vs. 360° journalism) on psychological mechanisms of information seeking intention, as well as individual differences that moderate the observed outcomes. The results of a two condition between-subjects experiment (N = 100) conducted on a community sample showed that news modality affected information seeking intentions, enjoyment of news story, and the feelings of spatial presence, but did not affect actual information seeking behavior and information recall. Exposure to 360° journalism led to the increase in spatial presence, which led to a linear increase in enjoyment, ultimately resulting in greater intentions to seek further information. Participants with a higher need for cognitive closure enjoyed consuming news more when the story was presented as 360° journalism than those with a lower need for cognitive closure. Results contribute to expanding the theories of information seeking and the role of affective responses and spatial presence on news consumption in journalism and communication scholarship.

Metaverse for service industries: Future applications, opportunities, challenges and research directions

Timothy Jung, Justin Cho, Dai-In Danny Han, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Mansi Gupta, Gopal Das, Cindy Yoonjoung Heo, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Marianna Sigala, Mariapina Trunfio, Alexandra Taylor, M. Claudia tom Dieck

Although the metaverse is still in the early stages of development and implementation, it has the potential to revolutionize the way how businesses can interact with customers through both the virtual and real world. In particular, service industries are already exploring the opportunity to utilize the metaverse to provide more immersive, interactive and engaging customer experiences. However, the holistic overview of the future applications, opportunities, and challenges of a metaverse in the context of service industries from academic and expert perspectives is limited. By employing a multi-perspective approach, this study looks into these unexplored aspects of the metaverse in the context of service industries through informed and multifaceted narratives by leading academics and experts from cross-disciplinary backgrounds from media and communication, education, hospitality, financial services, retail, tourism and healthcare. The main opportunities identified include the development of new experiences, the introduction of novel inter-world interactions, and new business-consumer relations within the metaverse. The key challenges covered include current technological boundaries, limitations of the experiences in the metaverse, health issues, and data privacy, security, and legal issues. The paper concludes with formulating future research agendas and presenting contributions to literature and implications for practice.

2023

Metaverse for service industries: Future applications, opportunities, challenges and research directions

Timothy Jung, Justin Cho, Dai-In Danny Han, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Mansi Gupta, Gopal Das, Cindy Yoonjoung Heo, Sandra Maria Correia Loureiro, Marianna Sigala, Mariapina Trunfio, Alexandra Taylor, M. Claudia tom Dieck - Computers in Human Behavior

Although the metaverse is still in the early stages of development and implementation, it has the potential to revolutionize the way how businesses can interact with customers through both the virtual and real world. In particular, service industries are already exploring the opportunity to utilize the metaverse to provide more immersive, interactive and engaging customer experiences. However, the holistic overview of the future applications, opportunities, and challenges of a metaverse in the context of service industries from academic and expert perspectives is limited. By employing a multi-perspective approach, this study looks into these unexplored aspects of the metaverse in the context of service industries through informed and multifaceted narratives by leading academics and experts from cross-disciplinary backgrounds from media and communication, education, hospitality, financial services, retail, tourism and healthcare. The main opportunities identified include the development of new experiences, the introduction of novel inter-world interactions, and new business-consumer relations within the metaverse. The key challenges covered include current technological boundaries, limitations of the experiences in the metaverse, health issues, and data privacy, security, and legal issues. The paper concludes with formulating future research agendas and presenting contributions to literature and implications for practice.

A systematic review of virtual influencers: Similarities and differences between human and virtual influencers in interactive advertising

Kate Jeonghee Byun, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Interactive Advertising

Virtual influencers (VIs), computer-generated characters that serve as influencers, offer novel and cost-effective advertising strategies. VIs’ roles and appearances are comparable to those of human influencers (HIs) in advertising in that they mimic humans in their behavior. However, novel features of these digital entities allow virtual VIs to engage in unique interactions with audiences. With the rise of successful VIs, academic research on VIs has been growing rapidly. Thus, a systematic comparison of VIs and HIs in the context of interactive advertising is a timely endeavor to better understand the conceptual and operational similarities and differences between them and to guide future research. After analyzing 44 final papers on VIs, the current review suggests that there are many similarities between HIs and VIs and their roles as the source of advertising messages, but also critical differences that determine the limitations and potentials of VIs in interactive advertising.

360-degree journalism as a gateway to information seeking: The role of enjoyment and spatial presence.

Ivanka Pjesivac, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Andrea Briscoe, Solyee Kim - Journalism Practice

This study examined the impact of news modality (print news vs. 360° journalism) on psychological mechanisms of information seeking intention, as well as individual differences that moderate the observed outcomes. The results of a two condition between-subjects experiment (N = 100) conducted on a community sample showed that news modality affected information seeking intentions, enjoyment of news story, and the feelings of spatial presence, but did not affect actual information seeking behavior and information recall. Exposure to 360° journalism led to the increase in spatial presence, which led to a linear increase in enjoyment, ultimately resulting in greater intentions to seek further information. Participants with a higher need for cognitive closure enjoyed consuming news more when the story was presented as 360° journalism than those with a lower need for cognitive closure. Results contribute to expanding the theories of information seeking and the role of affective responses and spatial presence on news consumption in journalism and communication scholarship.

Using virtual reality to connect military families together: A diary study with the virtual family room.

Joshua Baldwin, Andrew Rukangu, Kyle Johnsen, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Proceedings of Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference.

Virtual Family Room is an immersive virtual space that allows physically separated military families (e.g., on deployment) to interact with each other through avatars as if they were together, sharing the same space. Preliminary analyses indicated that Virtual Family Room could help maintain family cohesion and address the difficulties introduced by physical distance by encouraging families to continue their rituals and shared experiences. The current study aimed to provide new insights on the efficacy of Virtual Family Room and on the impact that the Virtual Family Room has on family communication practices among military families. The study also demonstrated the feasibility of using the Virtual Family Room over time, outside of the laboratory, in a naturalistic setting…

Using time travel in virtual reality (VR) to increase efficacy perceptions of influenza vaccination.

Joomi Lee, Dai-Yun Wu, Jih-Hsuan (Tammy) Lin, Jooyoung Kim, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

This study examined the unique affordance of time travel in virtual reality (VR) to enhance the perceived efficacy of influenza vaccination. Effective vaccine communication hinges on raising awareness of the risk of contracting a contagious virus and spreading the infection to others. According to the extended-parallel process model, behavioral changes are achieved when an individual perceives sufficient levels of threat and efficacy to prevent negative health outcomes. Findings from a 2 (interactivity: active vs. passive) × 2 (virtual time travel: yes vs. no) between-subjects experiment (N = 178) indicated that virtual time travel to receive vaccination after experiencing negative consequences of influenza in VR increased participants’ perceived efficacy of vaccination for self-protection and community protection. Moreover, interactivity in VR enhanced vaccination intention, mediated by spatial presence, message involvement, and response efficacy.

Mediating social support through sensor-based technologies for children's health behavior change

Joshua Baldwin, Joomi Lee, Allan D Tate, Christian D Okitondo, Kyle Johnsen, Michael D Schmidt, Stephen Rathbun, Eric Novotny, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Sensor-based technologies (SBTs) allow users to track biometric data and feature interactions that foster social support. The social support from SBTs can increase intrinsic motivation to engage in and sustain positive health behaviors. Guided by technological affordances and self-determination theory, this study tested the long-term efficacy of an ecosystem of SBTs to strengthen social support for children’s behavior change, children’s perceived relatedness, and positive physical activity (PA) attitudes. This ecosystem integrated Fitbits tracking each child’s PA, kiosks with virtual agents that synced with Fitbit data, and a messaging system for parents and children. Afterschool programs (N = 19) were randomly set with this ecosystem or a Fitbit with a computer for 6 months. Results suggested that parents of girls provided more social support to children via the ecosystem than parents of boys. Children’s perceived support from the virtual agent was positively associated with perceived relatedness and PA attitudes over time.

Metaverse Marketing: How the Metaverse Will Shape the Future of Consumer Research and Practice.

Yogesh K. Dwivedi, Laurie Hughes, Yichuan Wang, Ali A. Alalwan, Sun J. (Grace) Ahn, Janarthanan Balakrishnan, Sergio Barta, Russell Belk, Dimitrios Buhalis, Vincent Dutot, Reto Felix, Raffaele Filieri, Carlos Flavián, Anders Gustafsson, Chris Hinsch, Svend Hollensen, Varsha Jain, Jooyoung Kim, Anjala S. Krishen, Jared O. Lartey, Neeraj Pandey, Samuel Ribeiro-Navarrete, Ramakrishnan Raman, Philipp A. Rauschnabel, Amalesh Sharma, Marianna Sigala, Cleopatra Veloutsou, Jochen Wirtz - Psychology & Marketing

The initial hype and fanfare from the Meta Platforms view of how the metaverse could be brought to life has evolved into an ongoing discussion of not only the metaverse's impact on users and organizations but also the societal and cultural implications of widespread usage. The potential of consumer interaction with brands within the metaverse has engendered significant debate within the marketing-focused discourse on the key challenges and transformative opportunities for marketers. Drawing on insights from expert contributors, this study examines the marketing implications of the hypothetical widespread adoption of the metaverse. We identify new research directions and propose a new framework offering valuable contributions for academia, practice, and policy makers. Our future research agenda culminates in a checklist for researchers which clarifies how the metaverse can be beneficial to digital marketing and advertising, branding, services, value creation, and consumer wellbeing.

Agreement between Fitbit and ActiGraph estimates of physical activity in young children.

Michael D. Schmidt, Stephen L. Rathbun, Zhixuan Chu, Benjamin D. Boudreaux, Lindsay Hahn, Eric Novotny, Kyle Johnsen, & Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science

Physical activity (PA) estimates from the Fitbit Flex 2 were compared to those from the ActiGraph GT9X Link in 123 elementary school children. Steps and intensity-specific estimates of PA and 3-month PA change were calculated using two different ActiGraph cut-points (Evenson and Romanzini). Fitbit estimates were 35% higher for steps compared to the ActiGraph. Fitbit and ActiGraph intensity-specific estimates were closest for sedentary and light PA, while estimates of moderate and vigorous PA varied substantially depending upon the ActiGraph cut-points used. Spearman correlations between device estimates were higher for steps (rs = .70) than for moderate (rs =.54 to .55) or vigorous (rs =.29 to .48) PA. There was low concordance between devices in assessing PA changes over time. Agreement between Fitbit Flex 2 and ActiGraph estimates may depend upon the cut-points used to classify PA intensity. However, there is fair to good agreement between devices in ranking children’s steps and MVPA.

Virtual Reality as Human-Machine Communication

Eric Novotny, Joomi Lee, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - The SAGE Handbook of Human-Machine Communication

The SAGE Handbook of Human-Machine Communication has been designed to serve as the touchstone text for researchers and scholars engaging in new research in this fast-developing field. Chapters provide a comprehensive grounding of the history, methods, debates and theories that contribute to the study of human-machine communication.

2022

Unintended consequences of spatial presence on learning in virtual reality

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kristine L. Nowak, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Computers & Education

Research on virtual reality (VR) in education and training has found that spatial presence, the perception that the body is inside a mediated environment, increases engagement. However, experiencing spatial presence requires the allocation of limited processing resources, potentially inhibiting the processing of other information…

Confronting whiteness through virtual humans: A review of 20 years of research in prejudice and racial bias using virtual environments

Haley R Hatfield, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Matthew Klein, Kristine L Nowak - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Virtual environments (VEs) provide novel ways for users to experience computer generated people and places, which can be used by researchers to examine and reduce racial bias. However, unless researchers consider the systemtic structures of racial inequities when designing their simulations, they may unintentionally create experiences that could prime or entrench racist beliefs or attitudes...

The Bifold Triadic Relationships Framework: A Theoretical Primer for Advertising Research in the Metaverse

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jooyoung Kim, Jaemin Kim - Journal of Advertising

The concept of the metaverse was first coined in the science fiction novel Snow Crash published 30 years ago, serving as the pregenesis concept of the next groundbreaking development in communication and technology fields for several decades. Today, the concept of the metaverse is complicated and often discussed as a multidimensional notion, generally referring to multiple interconnected virtual worlds where large numbers of users can simultaneously interact in embodied form...

Virtual Tours Encourage Intentions to Travel and Willingness to Pay via Spatial Presence, Enjoyment, and Destination Image

Jihoon (Jay) Kim, Thitapa Shinaprayoon, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Current Issues and Research in Advertising

Virtual reality (VR) tourism provides individuals with a brief, but realistic, preview of travel destinations. Despite the increasing popularity of VR tourism in destination advertising, outcomes and underlying mechanisms of virtual tours remain underexplored. Guided by the theoretical framework of spatial presence, this experiment (N = 118) investigated how VR tourism affected behavioral intention to travel to a physical destination depicted in the virtual world and people’s willingness to pay for travel in the context of destination advertising...

Virtual reality-based distraction pain, performance, and anxiety during and after moderate-vigorous intensity cycling

Carly L.A. Wender, Phillip D. Tomporowski, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Patrick J. O'Connor - Physiology & Behavior

Pain draws attention, yet attention requires cognitive resources to process the pain. While greater attention to pain leads to higher pain intensity (PI) ratings and an absence of habituation to pain stimuli over time, distraction has been shown to decrease pain responses to stimuli and does result in habituation. The attentional load hypothesis states that, due to the sharing of limited total processing resources, attention to one stimulus will decrease the processing of concurrent perceptual information.

Scaling the virtual fitness buddy ecosystem as a school based physical activity intervention for children

Catherine Ball, Eric Novotny, Sun Joo Ahn, Lindsay Hahn, Michael D. Schmidt, Stephen L. Rathbun, Kyle Johnsen - IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications

Childhood obesity is a growing concern as it can lead to lifelong health problems that carry over into adulthood. A substantial contributing factor to obesity is the physical activity (PA) habits that are formed in early childhood, as these habits tend to sustain throughout adulthood. To aid children in forming healthy PA habits, we designed a mixed reality system called the Virtual Fitness Buddy ecosystem, in which children can interact with a virtual pet agent. As a child exercises, their pet becomes slimmer, faster, and able to play more games with them.

Controlling time in a virtual reality game: Impact on time perception, flow, and enjoyment

Eric Novotny, Joomi Lee, Connor Lawhead, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - 72nd International Communication Association, Paris, France. *Top Paper, Game Studies Division

2021

Designing for persuasion through embodied experiences in virtual reality

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Persuasive Gaming in Context

Embodied experiences in virtual reality (VR) involves the reproduction of sufficiently realistic sensory information so that users are able to see, hear, and feel experiences as if they are going through them at the moment. Underlying mechanisms of embodied experiences that produce these outcomes are discussed in the context of media affordances…

IEEEVR2020: Exploring the first steps toward standalone virtual conferences

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Laura Levy, Allison Eden, Andrea Stevenson Won, Blair MacIntyre, Kyle Johnsen - Frontiers in Virtual Reality

The global COVID-19 pandemic forced all large in-person events to pivot to virtual or online platforms. IEEEVR2020 coincided with rising concerns and restrictions on travel and large gatherings, becoming one of the first academic conferences to rapidly adapt its programming to a completely virtual format. The global pandemic provided an impetus to re-examine the possibility of holding social interactions in virtual worlds...

State of XR & Immersive Learning Outlook Report

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, et al. - Immersive Learning Research Network

The Immersive Learning Research Network (iLRN) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that connects educators, developers, and researchers to work together on realizing the scientific, technical, and applied potential of immersive learning. New and emerging virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and other related technologies (collectively known as “Extended Reality”) present unique opportunities for fostering learning that address some of the world’s most capacious societal, environmental, and economic problems…

Overcoming challenges and leveraging opportunities

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Benjamin K. Johnson, Marina Krcmar, Leonard Reinecke - Media Psychology

It is our great pleasure and honor to begin this year as the new co-editors of Media Psychology. For the four of us, Media Psychology has been an intellectual home throughout our academic lives—a central source of inspiration, excellent research, and scholarly debate. We are humbled to serve the journal as co-editors for the next four years…

Conferencing together in social VR: The utility of collaborative virtual spaces for academic conferences

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Allison Eden, Andrea Won, Joomi Lee, Angel Hsing-Chi Hwang, William Guthrie - 71st International Communication Association, Virtual Conference

Presented at the panel "You Can Do Anything You Want Here (Except Share a Pizza): Virtual Reality for Communication and Colleagues," a Communications and Technology panel chaired by James Cummings of Boston University…

2020

Using virtual agents and activity monitors to autonomously track and assess self-determined physical activity among young children: A 6-week feasibility field study.

Lindsay Hahn, Stephen Rathbun, Michael Schmidt, Kyle Johnsen, James Annesi, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

The majority of youth fail to get the recommended amount of physical activity (PA), and there is a precipitous decline in PA among children as they get older. Guided by self-determination theory and social cognitive theory, we designed an interactive, mixed reality PA intervention for 6-10-year-old children…

A Second chance to protect yourself and others: The impact of interactivity and efficacy messages on influenza vaccination intentions in virtual reality (VR)

Glen J. Nowak, Nathaniel J. Evans, Bartosz W. Wojdynski, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Maria E. Len-Rios, Karen Carera, Scott Hale, Deborah McFalls - 107th National Communication Association, Seattle, WA

Only one-third of adults 18–49 years old in the United States receive a recommended annual influenza vaccination. This study examined whether supplementing vaccine information statements (VIS) with an immersive virtual reality (VR), short video or electronic pamphlet story designed to convey the community immunity benefits of influenza vaccination would improve influenza vaccine avoidant participants’ influenza-related perceptions as well as their influenza vaccination-related beliefs, confidence and intentions…

Virtual family room: Bridging the physical distance with virtual reality. Proceedings of Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference. 

Rukangu, A., Mattingly, K., Franzluebbers, A., Tuttle, A., O’Neal, C., Robinson, D., Ahn, S. J., & Johnsen, K - Proceedings of Interservice/Industry Training, Simulation, and Education Conference. *Best Paper in the Simulation Division

The Virtual Family Room provides deployed warfighters the opportunity for meaningful interactions with family members who are at physically remote locations back home. The deployed warfighter shares the same virtual environment as their family members and plays family-oriented games…

DIGITAL INTeractive Media and health behavior change.

Laura Hudgens, Taylor Ramble, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - International Encyclopedia of Media Psychology

Research indicates that the incorporation of digital interactive media may help make health behavior messages more relatable to consumers, as well as improve the perception of viability of behavior change goals…

Agreement between Fitbit and Actigraph estimates of physical activity in young children.

Schmidt, M. D., Rathbun, S. L., Chu, Z., Boudreaux, B. D., Hahn, L., Johnsen, K., & Ahn, S. J. - Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise

Physical activity (PA) estimates from the Fitbit Flex 2 were compared to those from the ActiGraph GT9X Link in 123 elementary school children. Steps and intensity-specific estimates of PA and 3-month PA change were calculated using two different ActiGraph cut-points…

Virtual family room: Bridging the long distance

Andrew Rukangu, Anton Franzluebbers, Alexander Tuttle, Kelsey Mattingly, Catherine O’Neal, Dawn Robinson, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kyle Johnsen - IEEEVR 2020 Workshop on Novel Input Devices and Interaction Techniques

Here, we describe our efforts to design the Virtual Family Room (VFR) which is a customizable and persistent virtual environment that offers an authentic distance parental and bonding tool…

2019

Using immersive virtual reality to improve the beliefs and intentions of influenza vaccine avoidant 18-to-49-year-olds: Considerations, effects, and lessons learned.

Glen Nowak, Nathaniel Evans, Bart Wojdynski, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Maria Len-Rios…Deborah McFalls - Vaccine

Only one-third of adults 18-49 years old in the United States receive a recommended annual influenza vaccination. This study examined whether supplementing vaccine information statements (VIS) with an immersive virtual reality (VR), short video or electronic pamphlet story designed to convey the community…

Feeling the Weight of Calories: Using Haptic Feedback as Virtual Exemplars to Promote Risk Perception Among Young Females on Unhealthy Snack Choices

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jung Min Hahm, Kyle John Johnsen - Media Psychology

Virtual simulations allow users to feel and manipulate objects as they would in the physical world. Guided by exemplification theory and risk communication research, a virtual exemplar was developed to allow users to feel the weight of the caloric density of unhealthy snacks (e.g., potato chips) to heighten risk perceptions on snack choices…

Points-Based Reward Systems in Gamification Impact Children’s Physical Activity Strategies and Psychological Needs

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kyle John Johnsen - Health Education & Behavior

Gamification is an increasingly popular form of health intervention but its efficacy remains elusive due to a lack of clarity in its conceptualization and operationalization. This study aimed to isolate and determine the direct causal…

The Moderating Role of Cultural Background in Temporal Framing: Focusing on Climate Change Awareness Advertising

Kyongseok Kim, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Asian Journal of Communication

Applying the framework of Construal Level Theory (CLT), this study tested the effects of an environmental ad describing the distant-future (i.e., end of the 21st century) vs. near-future (i.e., next summer) consequences of climate change using a sample of college students in the U.S. and South Korea. Consistent with the proposed empirical model…

Interactive Virtual Reality Reduces Quadriceps Pain during High-Intensity Cycling

Carly L. A. Wender, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Patrick J. O’Connor - Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise

Brief, high-intensity cycling is popular because physiological benefits accrue with a short workout time, but burning pain in the quadriceps is a potential barrier to engaging in this type of exercise. Virtual reality (VR) can temporarily decrease pain, but its effect on muscle pain during high-intensity exercise is unknown. The primary purpose …

Design and field study of motion-based informal learning games for a children’s museum

Catherine Ball, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kyle Johnsen - IEEEVR 2019 Workshop on Everyday Virtual Reality

This paper discusses our experiences, lessons learned, and future research directions in designing and running a field study of a motion based gaming system for visitors of a local children’s museum. The system, named Virtual STEM Buddies, uses a large-screen kiosk to present minigames with interactive 3D content…

Designing for persuasion through embodied experiences in immersive virtual environments

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Persuasive Gaming in Context

Embodied experiences in virtual reality (VR) involves the reproduction of sufficiently realistic sensory information so that users are able to see, hear, and feel experiences as if they are going through them at the moment. A growing body of literature evinces that the effects of these virtual experiences carry over into the physical world…

2018

What’s Next? The Future of Digital Entertainment

Allison Eden, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Communication Research Reports

This special issue of Communication Research Reports showcases state-of-the art research on digital entertainment. In recent years, digital media have evolved to include bandwidth-rich, smart, and connected platforms accessed via computers, tablets, smart phones, social media, and video game consoles. The high connectivity…

Virtual Exemplars in Health Promotion Campaigns: Heightening Perceived Risk and Involvement to Reduce Soft Drink Consumption in Young Adults

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Media Psychology Theories Methods and Applications

Virtual simulations allow individuals to concretely view future negative health consequences of present dietary choices. Integrating exemplification theory with risk communication research, the effect of using virtual simulations to exemplify health risks of soft drink consumption was assessed across three weeks. A three-group…

Is Desirability of the Trait a Boundary Condition of the Proteus Effect? A Pilot Study

Jessica Mccain, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, W. Keith Campbell - Communication Research Reports

Although previous research has shown that individuals take on aspects of the avatars they embody in virtual environments, studies have not yet tested whether this phenomenon, known as the Proteus effect, extends to traits that are undesirable to have, such as narcissism. A total of 133 female participants completed a shopping…

Video games and behavior change

Jessica Mccain, Kyle Morrison, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - The Oxford Handbook of Cyberpsychology

This chapter explores how video games interact with individual characteristics to afford unique opportunities for behavior change. It first considers how video games differ from traditional media, and more specifically how they create virtual situations that may be perceived differently from those naturally occurring in reality. In this regard, the…

2017

Immersive Virtual Environments, Avatars, and Agents for Health

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jesse Fox - Encyclopedia of Health and Risk Message Design and Processing

There has been much anticipation of recent regarding the potential of immersive virtual environments, popularly referred to as “virtual reality,” as a viable technology to be applied in everyday clinical settings and a source of self-guided health care for patients. In the 1990s, researchers and clinicians began to recognize the utility…

TV Advertising Engagement as a State of Immersion and Presence

Jooyoung Kim, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Eun Sook Kwon, Leonard N. Reid - Journal of Business Research

Despite widespread theoretical and practical interest in advertising engagement, scholars and practitioners share little consensus as to what it is and how it can be measured. Guided by the theories of immersion and presence, this research investigates the experiential nature of advertising engagement in the television advertising context…

Rewards That Undermine Customer Loyalty? A Motivational Approach to Loyalty Programs

Kyongseok Kim, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Psychology and Marketing

Guided by the framework of Self-Determination Theory (SDT), this study examined the effects of external rewards on undermining customers’ intrinsic motivation to engage in a retail loyalty program. Two experiments revealed that participants who received a salient, controlling reward (i.e., a promise of reward with an explicit requirement…

Self-Endorsing in Digital Advertisements: Using Virtual Selves to Persuade Physical Selves

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Joe Phua, Yan Shan - Computers in Human Behavior

Self-endorsed advertisements (SEAs) are a novel form of digital advertisements, wherein a virtual self that looks like oneself in a digital advertisement persuades the physical self. Study 1 (N = 63) found that for unfamiliar brands, SEAs were more effective in promoting favorable brand attitudes using both verbal (name) and visual…

Face & hair: Looks that change behaviors

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Avatars, Assembled (Chapter 5)

The face is often referred to as the “window to the soul” because it is an essential way of expressing emotions to others. More than 10,000 expressions can be made using facial muscles and among the human body parts used to express and communicate emotions, the face is one of the richest sources of nonverbal information…

2016

How Does Neighborhood Quality Moderate the Association Between Online Video Game Play and Depression? A Population-Level Analysis of Korean Students

Harris Hyun-Soo Kim, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

The main objective of our study is to assess the relationship between playing online video games games and mental well-being of adolescents based on a nationally representative sample. Data come from the Korean Children and Youth Panel Survey (KCYPS), a government-funded multiyear research project. Through a secondary…

Native Advertising as a New Public Relations Tactic

Kaye D Sweetser, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Guy Golan, Asaf Hochman - American Behavioral Scientist

Using a pretest and posttest online experiment (N = 105), this study empirically explored the impact of native advertising sponsorship disclosure on organization–public relationships (OPR), credibility, brand attitude, and attitude toward the advertisement…

Using Virtual Pets to Increase Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in Children: A Technology-Assisted Social Cognitive Theory Approach

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kyle John Johnsen, James N. Moore, Melanie Biersmith, Catherine Ball - Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and Social Networking

A virtual pet in the form of a mid-sized dog was developed based on the framework of social cognitive theory and tested as a vehicle for promoting fruit and vegetable (F&V) consumption in children. Three groups of children (N = 68) between the ages of 7-13 were studied: baseline (no treatment), computer only, and virtual dog. Children in the…

Experiencing Nature: Embodying Animals in Immersive Virtual Environments Increases Inclusion of Nature in Self and Involvement With Nature

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Joshua Bostick, Elise Ogle, Kristine L. Nowak, Kara T. McGillicuddy, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication

Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) produce simulations that mimic unmediated sensory experiences. Three experiments (N = 228) tested how different modalities increase environmental involvement by allowing users to inhabit the body of animals in IVEs or watch the experience on video. Embodying sensory-rich experiences of…

Persuasive Avatars: Extending The Self Through New Media Advertising

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jesse Fox - The New Advertising: Branding, Content, and Consumer Relationships in the Data-Driven Social Media Era

The current chapter aims to discuss avatars and agents who resemble people (i.e., virtual humans), explore how they represent the self and others in virtual worlds, and suggest how they may be developed and applied in advertising contexts. Moreover, we explore theories and empirical findings on how people are influenced…

Explicating the “Like” on Facebook brand pages: The effect of intensity of Facebook use, number of overall “Likes,” and number of friends’ “Likes” on consumers’ brand outcomes

Joe Phua, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Journal of Marketing Communications

This study examined the relationship between the number of overall ‘likes’ and friends’ ‘likes’ on Facebook brand pages in influencing consumers’ brand attitude, brand trust, brand involvement, and purchase intention, drawing upon theoretical concepts including diffusion of innovations, social capital theory, strength of weak ties…

Using avatars and agents to promote real world health behavior changes

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - The Digital Patient: Advancing Healthcare, Research, and Education (Chapter 12)

Fluid, dynamic, and infinitely replicable, virtual worlds have been an enticing yet prohibitively costly platform for health behavior researchers in the past decade. What difficulties that the researchers of the past have faced in incorporating virtual worlds in primary and secondary prevention and intervention programs have dramatically…

Pokémon go is ar’s foot in the door to our world

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - IEEE Spectrum

Taking only 13 hours to reach the top of the highest grossing app chart in the United States, Pokémon Go broke a number of world records in its first week, and is now the phone app with which people spend the most time daily, surpassing Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter. Even Niantic the company behind Pokémon Go, wasn’t prepared for this level of popularity, and its servers are struggling…

2015

Framing virtual experiences: Effects on environmental efficacy and behavior over time.

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jesse Fox, Katherine Dale, Adam Avant - Communication Research

In virtual environments (VEs), users experience visceral simulations that feel like the real world. Virtual experiences are proposed as a novel operationalization of gain and loss framed environmental messages. A 2 (gain vs. loss frame) × 2 (high vs. low interactivity) × 3 (pretest, posttest, delayed posttest) experiment was conducted…

Incorporating Immersive Virtual Environments in Health Promotion Campaigns: A Construal Level Theory Approach

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Health Communication

In immersive virtual environments (IVEs), users may observe negative consequences of a risky health behavior in a personally involving way via digital simulations. In the context…

Avatars Versus Agents: A Meta-Analysis Quantifying the Effect of Agency on Social Influence

Jesse Fox, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Joris H. Janssen, Leo Yeykelis, Kathryn Y. Segovia, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Human-Computer Interaction

Existing research has investigated whether virtual representations perceived to be controlled by humans (i.e., avatars) or those perceived to be controlled by computer algorithms (i.e., agents) are more influential. A meta-analysis (N = 32) examined the model of social influence in virtual environments (Blascovich, 2002) and…

Using Virtual Pets to Promote Physical Activity in Children: An Application of the Youth Physical Activity Promotion Model

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Kyle Johnsen, Tom P. Robertson, James Moore, Scott Brown, Amanda Marable, Aryabrata Basu - Journal of Health Communication

A virtual pet was developed based on the framework of the youth physical activity promotion model and tested as a vehicle for promoting physical activity in children. Children in…

The use of virtual worlds in health promotion

Joan Cowdery, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Essentials of Public Health Communication (Chapter 10)

Virtual reality technology can refer to a variety of applications but typically consists of some type of immersive 3-D experience for the user.  Virtual reality environments are created by digital devices that simulate multiple layers of sensory information so that users are to see, hear, and feel as if they are in the real world…

2014

SHORT- AND LONG-TERM EFFECTS OF EMBODIED EXPERIENCES IN IMMERSIVE VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL LOCUS OF CONTROL AND BEHAVIOR

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson, Dooyeon Park - Computers in Human Behavior

Immersive virtual environments (IVEs) allow individuals to see, hear, and feel digital stimuli as if they were in the physical world. Two studies tested the power of embodied experiences within IVEs by comparing the effects of cutting a virtual tree against reading a print description or watching a video…

Using Virtual Doppelgängers to Increase Personal Relevance of Health Risk Communication

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jesse Fox, Jung Min Hahm - International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

Virtual doppelgängers are human representations in virtual environments with photorealistic resemblance to individuals. Previous research has shown that doppelgängers can be…

Recommendations for Designing Maximally Effective and Persuasive Health Agents

Jesse Fox, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - International Conference on Intelligent Virtual Agents

HCI designers have made significant advancements in the development of health agents. Although these developments are often technologically impressive, social scientific resear…

Self-Endorsed Advertisements: When the Self Persuades the Self

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson - The Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice

Imagine turning on the television and seeing an advertisement for a soft drink. A model eagerly sips the soft drink and looks directly at the camera. The model is you. “This is your favorite drink. Pick up some more of this when you shop for groceries tomorrow,” yourself in the advertisement tells your physical self…

Mixed Reality Virtual Pets to Reduce Childhood Obesity

Kyle John Johnsen, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, James N. Moore, Scott Brown, Amanda Marable, Aryabrata Basu - IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics

Novel approaches are needed to reduce the high rates of childhood obesity in the developed world. While multifactorial in cause, a major factor is an increasingly sedentary lifestyle…

Don’t hurt my avatar: the use and potential of digital self-representation in risk communication

Perry Parks, Rosanna Cruz, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - International Journal of Robots, Education, and Art

Persuasive messages are stronger if they are personally relevant to the audience, and over the decades, risk communicators have shaped risk messages to make them as personal as technology has allowed. Personalization began with crude market segmentation, which developed into algorithm-based computer message tailoring based on the illusion of self-representation. With the development of digital avatars…

2013

The Effect of Embodied Experiences on Self-Other Merging, Attitude, and Helping Behavior

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Amanda Minh Tran Le, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Media Psychology

Immersive virtual environment technology (IVET) provides users with vivid sensory information that allow them to embody another person's perceptual experiences. Three…

Avatars: Portraying, exploring, and changing online and offline identities

Jesse Fox, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn - Handbook of Research on Technoself: Identity in a Technological Society (Chapter 14)

Avatars are defined as virtual representations that are controlled by a human user. Commonly, we observe avatars in video and online games, social networking sites, and virtual worlds. This chapter explores the use of avatars in the expression, exploration, and evolution of users’ identities, both online and offline…

2011

Automatically Analyzing Facial-Feature Movements to Identify Human Errors

Maria E. Jabon, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson - IEEE Journal of Intelligent Systems

Everyday countless human errors occur around the globe. Although many of these errors are harmless, disastrous errors-such as Bhopal, Chernobyl, and Three Mile Island…

Avatars

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jesse Fox, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Leadership in Science and Technology: A Reference Handbook

Self-endorsing versus other-endorsing in virtual environments: the effect on brand attitude and purchase intention

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson - Journal of Advertising

Self-endorsing—the portrayal of potential consumers using products—is a novel advertising strategy made possible by the development of virtual environments. Three experiments 

2010

Using Automated Facial Expression Analysis for Emotion and Behavior Prediction

Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson, Jesse Fox, Maria E. Jabon - Handbook of Emotions and Mass Media

We present an overview of facial expressions and emotions and measurement methodologies used in prior studies. Computer models that classify emotions and predict 

Predicting Performance on a Repetitive Task through Automatic Analysis of Facial Feature Movements

Maria E. Jabon, Sun Joo (Grace) Ahn, Jeremy N. Bailenson

The current work proposes a novel bottom-up approach to human performance prediction using facial features automatically extracted from short video segments of participant faces during laboratory experiments. This bottom-up approach maximizes data usage and gives us the power to create performance models…